Page 13 - NS-2 Textbook

6 MARITIME HISTORY

31 B.C. at a great sea battle near Actium (Greece). The linl fleets dominated the Mediterrmlean at this time. By
Roman admiral Agrippa destroyed the Egyptian fleet the eleventh century, though, Christendom was ready to
with blazing arrows and pots of flaming charcoal. In contest Muslim control. The Muslinls were expelled from
an earlier battle at Naulochus, Agrippa had defeated Sardinia and Sicily and pushed into southern Spain. The
Pompey, Caesar's other rival to powel; and secured the First Crusade, initiated by Pope Urban IT in 1095, recap-
western Mediterranean. The Battle of Actium put the tured Jerusalem and nearly swept the Arabs from the
whole eastern Mediterranean in the Roman Empire. Mediterranean.
For more than five centuries after ACtiUffi, trade ves- Over the next 300 years, the religious fervor that had
sels could move freely from the Black Sea to Gibraltar brought on the Crusades turned more to commercial ex-
with little fear. The Mediterranean had become the pansion by the Italian states. Their merchant fleets took
Roman Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) with all coasts, ports, advmltage of the Muslinl retreat. Venice profited most
and naval bases controlled by Rome. On land and sea the from the increased trade and became the biggest center
Pax Romana (Roman Peace) was established, the longest of commerce between Asia and Europe. It hired out ships
period of peace in world history. Roman law, govern- to Crusaders and gave the Arabs commercial favors, thus
ment, art, language, and religion were firmly established profiting from both sides. Venice acquired Crete and
in western Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Cyprus in the course of these events. By 1400 Venice was
Western civilization today can be traced to Rome and to at the height of its power, with a fleet of 3,000 ships.
the earlier Greek contributions. The north German port cities were on the opposite
end of much of the Venetian trade. They formed the
Hanseatic League, or the Hanse, which dominated the
THE MIDDLE AGES
northern and western European economy. The Baltic and
Eventually, Rome's greatness began to decline, due to so- North Seas became to some degree in the north what the
cial, political, and economic breakdowns too extensive to Mediterranean had been for centuries in the south.
discuss here. As Rome declined, the empire broke up into But by now the Islatnic cause had been taken over by
two parts. The Eastern or Byzantine Empire had its capi- the aggressive Ottoman Turks. They swept across the
tal at Constantinople (after 1930 called Istanbul), and the Dardanelles into southeastern Europe and captured Con-
Western Empire kept its capital at Rome. Barbarian in- stantinople in 1453. The fall of the Byzantine Empire re-
vaders from northern and central Europe conquered moved the barriers to Muslim advances into Europe. The
Rome and deposed the last emperor in A.D. 476. Turks swept to the very gates of Vielma, Austria. Muslim
From then on, for the next thousand years, Europe fleets sought domination of the Mediterranean and con-
was in constant turmoil, and there ·was a constant threat trol of the profitable east-west trade.
of Muslim! Arab expansion into the Mediterranean from
northern Africa. The period of western European histmy THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO
from the fall of Rome until about the eleventh century
has been called the Dark Ages, because of numerous in- For some time the divided Christian states could not get
vasions of barbaric tribes! inClusions of North African organized to oppose the Turks, but after the Turkish con-
Moors, religious bigotry, and a general lack of education quest of Cyprus in 1570, fear of the Turks finally drew the
among the masses of people. Only in the region around states together. Spain and the Italian states agreed to
Constantinople, where much of the Roman tradition was combine their fleets for a conclusive battle with the
preserved, was there a general advance of culture during Turks. The winner would have a significant effect on the
this period. In the late eleventh century, the Crusades, course of Western civilization.
religious-milltmy expeditions to retake the Holy Lands The Christiml fleet, commanded by Don John of Aus-
from the Muslims, began gradually to hasten a reawak- tria, was composed of some 200 galleys, mostly Venetian
ening of culture and education in western Europe. This and Spanish. The Ottoman fleet, commanded by Ali
movement flourished in the thirteenth through sixteenth Pasha, numbered about 250 galleys. For their main of-
centuries. This time is referred to as the Renaissance (the fensive weapon the Turks still relied on the bow and
Rebirth) in western European history. arrow. Many Christian soldiers, hmvever, "vere armed
In the eastern Mediterranean, howevel; the Byzan- with the arqlleblls, an early type of musket. The opposing
tine Empire, centered in what is now Turkey, defeated fleets came together in the Gulf of Lepanto (near Patras,
the advancing Muslims at Constantinople in A.D. 717. Greece) in 1571. This was just a few miles south of where
The Byzantines thereafter prospered and blocked adcli- Agrippa had defeated Antony in the Battle of Actitun six-
tional westward Muslim overland expansion. The Mus- teen centuries earlier. In the terrible battle that took
lims became largely content with piracy on the Mediter- place, the Christian navies crushed their Turkish oppo-
ranean and with strengthening their control over their nents. Some 30,000 Turks died. All but sixty of their ships
huge North African and Middle Eastern territories. Mus- were captured or destroyed. Some 15,000 Christians cap-