Wednesday, September 3, 2008


The mouth of the Gulf of Lepanto was the scene of the great sea fight in which the naval power of the Ottoman Empire was nearly completely destroyed by the united papal, Spanish, Habsburg and Venetian forces (Battle of Lepanto, October 7, 1571).

[Read all about it at]



Battle of Lepanto



The Siege of Famagusta, North Cyprus



"Famagusta lies near the center of a long scallop of bay on the eastern shore of the island (Cyprus) , facing Syria. In the 13th Century it was the wealthiest port in the Mediterranean….it is surrounded by massive stone walls that were reinforced in the 16th century by Venetian military engineers bracing for the arrival of the Ottomans. The invasion finally came in 1570….50,000 Turks came ashore in the withering heat of midsummer, led by a sadist named Lala Mustafa. After sacking Nicosia and killing 20,000 inhabitants, Mustafa led his forces against Famagusta, which was defended by a garrison of Venetian soldiers."

"The Turks hammered the thick stone walls with an estimated 100,000 cannonballs until the Venetian commander, Marcantonio Brigadino, finally ran out of supplies. Bragadino arranged for peaceful terms of surrender, but the Turks - enraged by the losses they had suffered while taking the city - started torturing and killing Bragadino's soldiers. When Bragadino objected, Mustafa ordered that his ears and nose be cut off and that he be skinned alive. The skin was stuffed with straw and mounted on a wagon, and legend has it that Bragadino lived long enough to behold his own gruesome double paraded through the streets."

Now you can see why the papal, Spanish, Habsburg and Venetian forces were outraged by the usual Islamic horrors perpetrated upon the defenders and inhabitants of Famagusta

Battle of Lepanto at]

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