Selim II and Limits of the Ottoman Territorial Expansion Selim II (May 28, 1524 – December 12, 1574) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death. After gaining the throne as a consequence of palace intrigues organized by his mother Hürrem as well as of fraternal disputes, he was the first Ottoman Sultan having no active political military interest in the state affairs and willing to abandon power to his grand vizier. Because of his heavy drinking habit, he became known as Selim “the Drunkard (Mest)“.

During his reign, an able grand vizier, Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (Sokolovitch), controlled much of state affairs, and two years after Selim's accession succeeded in concluding at Istanbul a treaty (February 17, 1568) with the Austrian Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian II, whereby the Emperor agreed to pay an annual "present" of 30,000 ducats gold to the Ottoman state and recognized the Ottoman control in Moldavia and Walachia. However, the able grand vizier was less fortunate versus the rising Russian power in the north of the Black Sea, and the first conflict between the Ottoman and Russian empires was no success for the Ottomans.

A plan had been prepared in Istanbul by the orders of Sokollu for uniting the Volga and Don rivers by a canal, and in the summer of 1569 an expeditionary force of Janissaries and cavalry together with a large number of workmen were sent to Astrakhan and begin the canal works. However, Russians troops’ continuous attacks destroyed the labor force and their protectors and, finally, the Ottoman fleet supplying the expeditionary corps was devastated by a storm in the Black Sea. Afterwards the ambassadors of the Russian Tsar Ivan “the Terrible” concluded in Istanbul a treaty which ended the state of war between the Sultan and the Tsar.

The Empire’s expeditions in Hedjaz and Yemen in the Arabian peninsula as well as in Cyprus were more successful. However, the conquest of Cyprus in 1571, led to the devastating naval defeat against the coalition of Spain, Italian states, Vatican and the Malta Knights (the so- called “Holy League” or “La Sainte-Alliance”) at Lepanto in the same year.

Battle of Lepanto (İnebahtı) The naval Battle of Lepanto took place on October, 7, 1571, at the northern edge of the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth (then called the Gulf of Lepanto), off western Greece. A galley fleet of “the Holy League”, a coalition of Pope Pius V, Spain, Venice, Genoa, Savoy, Naples, the Knights of Malta and others, defeated the Ottoman war fleet consisting of galleys. Attention It was the final major naval battle in world history to take place between exclusively oared-galleys.

The Holy League's fleet consisted of 206 galleys and 6 galleasses, and was commanded by Don John of Austria (Don Juan, who was an illegitimate son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor). Vessels had been contributed by the various Christian factions who were supporting the Habsburgs.

The various Christian squadrons met in July and August 1571 at Messina, Sicily, waiting for Don Juan, who arrived on August, 23. The Venitian galleasses joined the gathering fleet on July, 7. This Habsburg-led fleet was manned by sailors and 43,000 rowers. In addition, it had almost 23,000 fighting troops Spanish regular infantry from the famous “tercios”, 7000 German and 6000 Italian mercenary contingents from the various Habsburg possessions under Spanish pay, and 5000 others. Many Christian volunteers were also present in this naval crusade.

During the course of the battle, the Ottoman commander's flagship was boarded and the Spanish tercios from 3 galleys and the Turkish janissaries from 7 galleys fought on the deck of the Turkish commander Müezzinzade Ali Pasha’s vessel. Twice the Spanish were repelled with great loss, but at the third attempt, with reinforcements they invaded the Ottoman flagship. Müezzinzade Ali Pasha was killed and beheaded, against the wishes of Don Juan. However, when his head was displayed on a pike from the Spanish flagship, it contributed greatly to the destruction of Ottoman morale. The battle concluded in the late afternoon with the Christian fleet’s victory.

The Ottoman fleet suffered the loss of about 240 galleys. 130 of them were in serviceable condition for the Christian coalition. On the Christian side only 15 galleys were destroyed and but 30 other warships were damaged so seriously that they had to be scuttled. One Venetian galley was the only one kept by the Ottomans. The “Holy League” had suffered around 9,000 casualties but at the end of the battle, freed twice as many Christian prisoners. Ottoman casualties were around 30,000 with able seamen. The disaster was total.

Attention The naval battle of Lepanto was a crushing defeat for the Ottomans, who lost all but about a flotilla led by Uluç Ali Reis. It was one of the most decisive naval defeats in the Mediterranean between the Battle of Actium (31 BC) and the Battle of Aboukir (1798). Despite the massive Ottoman defeat, European disunity prevented the Holy League from pressing their victory or achieving supremacy over the Ottomans at sea at this time.

The Ottoman Empire immediately began a massive effort to rebuild their navy, and within six months was able to reassert Ottoman naval supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean. But because of the Ottoman's rapid rebuilding, their ships were made from unseaworthy materials and of low quality and even more alarmingly they were manned by inexperienced sailors. This was to have more important consequences in the long term than their numbers. Attention The Ottoman navy was never able again to replace its experienced seamen (levend) from the corsair tradition.

The defeat at Lepanto did not prevent the Ottomans' capture of the forts around Tunis. Ultimately, however, the Battle of Lepanto limited Ottoman ambitions in the Mediterranean, just as the Battles of Diu (1509 and 1538) in Northwestern Indian coast had limited their ambitions in the Indian Ocean and the Siege of Vienna (1529) and the Battle of Vienna (1683) stopped their advance into Europe. In August 1574, months before the death of Selim II, the Ottomans regained control of Tunisia from Spain which had occupied it in 1572.