вторник, 30 июня 2020 г.

News RSS update 30/06/2020 (1235)

In Western Europe, the Turkish invasion was awaited with horror. The most far-sighted politicians understood that the new empire was a formidable military power, a force capable and ready to change the world order. The Europeans had reason both for panic and for military preparations; some sought to meet the Turks on the battlefield, others at the negotiating table. The history of relations between the countries of Europe and the Ottoman Empire is a history not only of the heroic struggle of small peoples for independence, but also of the rivalry of the great powers for dominance in Eurasia.

The most zealous and consistent fighter against the Turks was the Vatican. Every pope, from the gloomy fanatics of Eugene IV and Pius V to the dissolute Alexander Borgia, considered the "holy war" with the Turks "the subject of tireless cares and concerns." The Ottoman Empire dared to profess a different faith and live by its own mind, according to its own laws, leaving a huge territory outside papal influence. Their Holiness did not tolerate competitors. However, very few in Bvrop responded to the Pope's calls for war with the "infidels". Among them were the Rhodos Knights Hospitaller, who had remained opponents of the Muslims since the time of the Crusades. Having turned Rhodes into a fortified stronghold, the knights terrified the Turkish fleets, capturing ships and prisoners. The small courageous island alone resisted the powerful Turkish armadas at sea.

Venice also had a strong fleet, but it had very contradictory relations with both the Turks and the Europeans. Merchant Venice in the 15th century owned the Dalmatian coast of the Balkan Peninsula and a chain of harbors and islands in the Aegean Sea. The Venetians cherished their maritime empire like the apple of their eye, and the appearance of the Turks in the Balkans was perceived with caution. Regular Ottoman raids on Dalmatia could still be somehow survived, but attempts on the harbor and pirate attacks on ships seriously threatened the interests of Venice. In the second half of the XV century. Mehmed drove the Venetians out of the Seas and Albania and seized part of the islands of the Aegean Sea. In this situation, the Venetians, generally disposed towards peace and trade with the East, voted in the Senate for war. But the forces were unequal, and the Republic of St. Mark suffered defeat after defeat, despite its wealth and the skill of the admirals. The Turks even tried to land troops in southern Italy, and only the death of Mehmed the Conqueror ruined these plans.
https://all-andorra.blogspot.com/2020/06/news-update-27062020-764.html
https://weheartit.com/entry/346086312


The alliance of Christian sovereigns against the Turks, which the Pope dreamed of, was never created - Christian sovereigns fiercely fought among themselves for dominance over Europe. Charles V of Habsburg emerged victorious in this struggle. Charles's empire encircled Europe, uniting Spain with its American colonies, southern Italy, the Netherlands and the Holy Roman Empire - Germany and Austria. Contemporaries said that the sun never sets in the state of Charles. The power of the Habsburgs knew no equal in Europe.

Only one state could decide to openly face off against Charles V - the Ottoman Empire. The Turks under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent conquered Asia Minor and North Africa. In 1522, a huge Turkish squadron laid siege to Rhodes and forced the knights to move to Malta (see article “Knightly Orders”). A few years later, the Ottoman army crossed the Danube and utterly defeated the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohacs. In 1532 Suleiman's army laid siege to the capital of the Habsburgs - Vienna. In the face of danger, Luther himself called on Protestants and Catholics to unite to repel the enemy. Vienna was saved, but for another two centuries it remained a front-line city. The border of the two empires, equal to each other in military power and aggressive aspirations, ran a few tens of kilometers south of Vienna. From there, from abroad, detachments of Turkish cavalry constantly raided peaceful villages, burned houses and crops, stole cattle, and took the inhabitants into slavery. Three or four times a century, a real Turkish invasion also rolled. Empires touched and clashed also in the Balkans, unable to push each other out.

Attempts to break this balance in other directions have not yielded results. In 1537, the Turks, with the approval of France, decided to strike from the sea. However, Turkish commanders mistakenly attacked the island of Corfu, which belonged to Venice. As a result, the incredible happened: Venice and the Habsburg Empire, always hostile to it, concluded, to the joy of the Pope, an alliance against the Turks. True, when enemy squadrons met at sea, their admirals - the famous Algerian pirate Hayreddin Barbarossa and the Genoese aristocrat, "Father of the Fatherland" Andrea Doria - got along well with each other, and Doria gave the order to retreat. Neither Charles V nor then Philip II subsequently achieved any success in North Africa. The Turks did not acquire anything either.