Crescent And Cross: The Battle Of Lepanto 1571

by Hugh Bicheno

In the morning of 7 October 1571, at the mouth of the gulf between mainland Greece and the Peloponnese, the fleets of the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League clashed in the last great battle between oared fighting ships. By four o¿clock that afternoon the sea was red with blood. The Muslims lost 230 out of their 277 warships and about 20,000 men. It was the first time in over a century that Christians had successfully taken the offensive against them.
In this important new history, Hugh Bicheno describes the clash of cultures that led to one of the greatest turning-point battles in history, As a description of the age-old conflict between Christianity and Islam, it is a story which still resonates today.

Genres: History, Military History, 16th Century, Nautical, Italy

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

About the author

Hugh Bicheno graduated from Cambridge and later joined the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). He is now a political risk analyst and an historian of conflict.

Reviews

[Fabio Cavaler · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is divided into two parts, the first mostly about the geo-political situation of the Mediterranean and the second dealing with the events that led to Lepanto and the battle itself.
In my opinion, the first part could be reasonably skipped, save for one interesting chapter about weapons, technologies and naval tactics. The other chapters seemed extremely speculative, with the author drawing conclusions with no supporting arguments and even less material evidence. The author is a political risk analyst and I think this bias showed heavily. Another chapter outlines the artistic and poetic legacy of the battle in the following centuries, but in too schematic a way in my opinion.
The second part is definetely more engaging and the maps and diagrams are clear and well designed. My only remark is that there is too litle attention to the aftermath of the battle and its consequence on the short and long term.
I'm not so sure I would suggest this book to anyone approaching this subject for the first time. I feel that I didn't get to know the full story and analysis of such a historical event as well as I hoped.

[Fred Dameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative read. The work tells the back story of what led to Lepanto. Some comment on the Balkan and Greek campaigns of the Ottomans. Also a quick discussion of the Siege of Malta and a longer discussion of the battle for Cyprus and how the end of that campaign led to the determination of the Holy League to avenge the lose at Famugusta. All in all an exciting and well written work that will add to any arm chair historians knowledge of the Mediterranean.

[T. Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a fascinating story of warfare in the 16th century, a period for which I have little knowledge. The book deals with bascially only two years (1570-71) of the struggle between the Western powers of the time and the Ottoman Empire for control of the Mediterranean, ending with the great sea battle of Lepanto.

Bicheno gives a extremely knowledgeable overview of the key players, the weapons and tactics of naval warfare of the time, and the chronology of fighting leading up to the sea battle. The fighting ranged geographically over the entire span of the Sea, from Morocco to Cyprus, and northwards deep into the Adriatic and the Balkans. It includes a multitude of strange states (like Hapsburg Spain, Venice, Republic of Genoa, and the Papal States) and a host of strange personalities (like the Beylerbey of Algiers and the Grand Commander of Castile, Luis de Requensens y Zuniga)! To his credit, Bicheno includes a number of excellent maps, an index of personalities, and tables of ships and their commanders, without which the narrative would be incomprehensible.

However, the chronology is quite summarized and the ground covered is so vast, that it takes a great deal of work to find all the locations written about (like I was half way through the book before I found the territory of Negroponte). There is no doubt that Bicheno is an excellent scholar of the period; but this leads to a bit a problem in that many of his sentences are excessively long, packed with detail. Overall, however, the book is an excellent introduction to the period and probably the best record of the battle of Lepanto. And it has piqued my interest to read more about this titanic struggle with the Ottoman Empire for control of the Mediteranean.

[Deniz Uzunoğlu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deals with one of the most important marine battles of 16th century.
Informative and easy to read. But if one wants to have a clear vision of the era, then he or she should start from late 15th century... Lepanto can be considered as the beginning of Ottoman naval force's decline in power... Starting from the 15th century it can be analysed much better.

[JohnM44 Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightful historiography.