Free PDF Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World, by Roger Crowley
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Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World, by Roger Crowley
Free PDF Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World, by Roger Crowley
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Review
“[Crowley] offers exquisitely delicate insights and undulating descriptive passages. Yet in his descriptions of the battles, his prose is so taut and tense, it is impossible not to be caught up in the harrowing action.”—Christian Science Monitor“A masterly narrative that captures the religious fervor, brutality and mayhem of this intensive contest.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review“Gripping . . . This is a rare combination of a history book that reads with the detail, insight and pace of a novel.”—Tampa Tribune“Crowley has an astonishing gift for narration; his account is as exciting as any thriller.”—Wall Street Journal“Crowley’s page-turner history . . . deserves to be this [season’s] most recommended nonfiction book. . . . Rich in character, action, surprise, what transpired in those few desperate weeks is one of history’s best and most thrilling stories.”—Dallas Morning News
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About the Author
Roger Crowley was born in 1951 and spent part of his childhood in Malta. He read English at Cambridge University and taught English in Istanbul, where he developed a strong interest in the history of Turkey. He has traveled widely throughout the Mediterranean basin over many years and has a wide-ranging knowledge of its history and culture. He lives in Gloucestershire, England. He is also the author of 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West.
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Product details
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks; 33133rd edition (May 12, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0812977645
ISBN-13: 978-0812977646
Product Dimensions:
5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.7 out of 5 stars
359 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#103,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A description of the century-long naval struggle for control of the Mediterranean between the Ottoman Turks and the West, focusing on 4 major areas, the sieges of Rhodes, Cyprus, and Malta, and the great battle of Lepanto. Many other reviewers criticized this work as providing incomplete descriptions of some very complex military conflicts, but for me the depth of this work was exactly right. Although I have read a great deal of military and naval history, I am not one for recreating the movement of every ship or every battalion. I suppose you could write a whole book, for example, on the siege of Malta, but that's not what the author intends. His idea is to lay out the motivations of the Turks and the struggles of the West--primarily the papacy, the Venetians, Philip II of Spain, and the Knights of Malta to try to bury their many differences to confront the seemingly inevitable thrust of the Ottoman empire.Crowley's narrative sweeps the reader along, describing not only the conflicts but the people behind them and their motivations. The savagery of the fighting is examined in detail, a level of violence and barbarity (on both sides) that will shock modern readers. It's one of the most gripping and comprehensive descriptions of a century-long conflict that I have read.I would award this book only 4 stars, however. The maps (in the Kindle version, anyway) were unreadable, split between pages and undecipherable when expanded. Although the author doesn't seek to delve into enormous detail in terms of military hardware, I found it difficult to understand how galleys functioned and how they were used in battle. The fleets involved also consisted of galleases, galliots, and many other craft which were not explained. I had to study my faithful Wikipedia to gain some insight as to the strengths, weaknesses and uses of all these craft. The author would have been better advised to concentrate some effort here, as it's really not possible to understand naval strategy without some idea of the limitations that were imposed on battle plans by the technology of the era.
I asked LtCol Tom Kratman, USA (Ret.), the author of excellent military science fiction, for a recommendation for a high school graduation gift for a nephew of my wife who is joining the Army. (My fault, I think; the last time I saw the lad he was about 10 and I showed him the manual of arms with a training rifle.) The book looked so good, I bought a copy for myself. It is excellent history. I knew, of course, about the siege of Malta and Lepanto, but this filled in all the details. The author writes, "The idea of conquest was central to the Sultanate, intricately interwoven with it's holder's position as leader of the Muslim world. ... Only spectacular conquests could legitimize a sultan." The battle of Lepanto, the most decisive sea battle between Salamis and Trafalgar, ended the efforts of the Muslim Ottomans to conquer Europe and capture Rome, though they rebuilt their lost fleet. I was interested to learn that the commander of the Holy League, Catholic King Philip II of Spain's illegitimate half brother Don Juan, was only 22. Philip had ordered him not to fight to preserve the fleet, but he was eager for battle and glory. Some interesting notes: One of the fleet's Spanish arquebusiers was Maria la Bailadora, a flamenco dancer, disguised as a man to stay with her lover. The writer Cervantes, then 24, was there as a volunteer and was wounded in the battle. 25,000 Muslims died as did 15,000 Christians, but 12,000 Christian galley slaves were freed. (Both sides depended on slaves, often but not always of the opposite religion, to power their fleets. Raids by Muslim pirates/slave catchers were one of the causes of the conflict.) The author writes that, "Not until Loos in 1915 would this rate of slaughter be surpassed." I highly recommend this well researched and balanced history.
Roger Crowley has written a string of books about the six-hundred year conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Christendom. His focus is chiefly on the earlier part of that history, from the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in the mid 15th Century to the middle European Renaissance. "Empires of the Sea" focuses on the war that raged in the Mediterranean from the 1520s to the Christian victory at Lepanto in 1571. It takes in the epic siege of Malta in 1565 and details the financial and strategic circumstances that drove most of the decision-making on both sides. As history it is sound, both detailed and well referenced. As literature, it is a well-written story of earth-shaking events on a huge scale, and at the same time it descends into the trenches of Fort St Elmo and the oar-benches of the naval galleys to give us the view of the "other" ranks. Uncompromisingly gritty and even-handed, it is very good history indeed.
This book is essential reading for anyone trying to understand late 16c European history, the Siege of Malta in 1565 and the naval Battle of Lepanto in 1571. The narration is engaging and captures the personalities and geopolitics as well as the brutality and suffering of the times. The author occasionally uses unfamiliar English words like ‘mizzle' (a mix of drizzle and fog) and ‘debouch’ (a march out of a confined space), so I recommend the Kindle edition which allows for easy lookup of word definitions.
The author quickly succeeds in engaging the reader in a fascinating narrative of a too-forgotten series of military and political conflicts, intrigues and courageous defenses and assaults within the Mediterranean arena between the more-unified Turkish Islamic juggernaut and a deeply-divided Christian Europe. The vivid desciptions illuminate a time of naval confrontation where slave-rowed galleys serve as platforms for heavy cannon on all sides, and Ottoman naval skill and tecnical expertise compete with, and frequently dominates anything that western Europe could float.
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