Morskie Imperia. Batalia O Panowanie Na Morzu Śródziemnym 1521-1580 (2008) - Plot & Excerpts
It is amazing the cruelty and horror of life in the 1500s and how much we've forgotten/didn't know. This book describes battles that, for the people who fought in them, were a matter of life and death, heaven and hell, but that are all but forgotten and ultimately ended in a stalemate over and area of the world that soon became irrelevant with the shift in the economy. It's fascinating and horrifying the waste. And boy am I glad that I live in this horrible century. I chose this book hoping to learn more about the century that followed the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and was not disappointed. The first part of the book was especially engrossing, setting the stage for the conflict between the Ottoman desire for continued westward expansion and the efforts of the Spanish kings, the Popes, and the Venetian merchants to defend their established territory. All of this played out in the Mediterranean, in a series of never ending skirmishes along the coasts and a number of decisive battles: the Ottomans first taking the island of Rhodes, then failing to take Malta, and finally suffering a massive defeat at sea that exhausted the resources of both empires. The result was an uneasy peace and a reorientation of aspirations, with the Ottomans turning to the Persians in the east and the Hungarians to the north, and the Spaniards engaging Protestant Europe and the New World. My interest waned in the middle of the book, when the descriptions of particular battles became excessively detailed. But the book picked up again at the end and left me wanting to read more: about the Crusades that preceded this period, about the Catholic-Protestant wars that followed it, about the origins of the Ottoman Empire, and about the Muslim settlement of Northern Africa.
What do You think about Morskie Imperia. Batalia O Panowanie Na Morzu Śródziemnym 1521-1580 (2008)?
Excellent history of the battles in the Mediterranean during the 16th Century.
—nisi
Learned a lot, but more and better maps would have helped my understanding.
—mika
Mini history of the Med during the late middle ages.
—hola
