One of the best in Osprey Campaign series

books:


	• Lepanto 1571: The Greatest Naval Battle Of The Renaissance (Campaign) Angus Konstam Osprey Publishing, 2003 - 96 pages average customer review:based on 6 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Great story

Great story and the book gets right to the point. Although I'm not so sure about the author's approach on describing the battle by sections or areas as opposed to chronological developments. Nevertheless is great reading for history buffs

Credit to Author and Ospery

Lepanto 1571 (Campaign, 114) by Angus Konstam is a well written, yet concise, account of the Holy Alliance's total defeat of the Ottoman Navy off the coast of Greece. It follows the usual Ospery style with a brief explanations of the rival commanders, their navies, the campaign and the aftermath. The best compliment that can be given the author is that my appetite was wetted for more information concerning the battle and the aftermath. Konstam raises many questions, although only briefly, that deserve further consideration. Among them are why the Ottomans joined the battle given their knowledge of the frailty of the Holy Alliance and whether the Holy Alliance's superiority in artilitery was decisive.

All in all, this was a good book and a credit to the author and Ospery.

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A Great Book About A Great Battle

This book sets the standard for all books in the Osprey Campaign series. It focuses on the battle, is well organized, and easy to read. Konstam and Bryan should be commended for a job well done. Anyone who has read an Osprey Campaign book will recognizes the familiar organization of the chapters. Essentially, the authors improve upon this well established pattern through effective writing.

The chapter on Opposing Commanders provides a good example. A paragraph is devoted to each relevant character. In addition, the individual's name is highlighted in bold at the beginning of each paragraph. This simple element allows the reader to easily refer back to this chapter as needed.

A significant portion of this book is focused on the battle itself. Although one might think this obvious, it is not the case in all Osprey books. The Battle of Lepanto consisted of action between three smaller divisions, the North, Center, and Southern "Battles." The author takes the time to inform the reader that he will discuss each action in its entirety instead of covering the whole battle simultaneously. The point is that the reader knows what the author is doing and doesn't have to guess.

The Battle of Lepanto contains several significant figures, multiple countries, and a battle that has three significant actions. The complexity of this battle provides numerous opportunities for an author to write a confusing and jumbled narrative. The fact that Konstam and Bryan cover this battle in a clear and easy to read fashion is commendable. As noted above, this book sets the standard for which all Osprey books should strive to reach.

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A Must Have for an Osprey Fan

Much credit must be given to the author of this title, Angus Konstam, for delivering a clear, consise, and very enjoyable summary of the events leading up to Lepanto, the Battle itself, and its effects and aftermath.

The maps in this Osprey installment is great, though not magnificent but other parts of the book definetley make up for that. The Order of Battle (Consisting of three pages) is very clear and interesting to look at, as is the introduction and the opposing fleets and commanders. Though at first one may be a little confused of the names of the admirals and captains both Christian and Muslim (there are plenty of Ali's flying around), but due to the very smooth progression of this installment one will nail the names down in no time. I am, though, a little bit disappointed at the lack of information drawn on the Ottoman commanders (they didn't even give a picture of Ali Pasha, the Ottoman admiral) in this section, they later make up for it when they clearly show their personalities during the battle.

The Battle itself is the best part of the book, unlike many other Osprey campaigns that have a stronger prelude to battle than the battle proper. This part of the book has three parts of its own, the battle of the Christian left and the Ottoman right (which clashed first), the battle of the Christian and Ottoman centres (which is by far the most interesting), and the clash (though minor) of the Christian Right and the Turkish left. Though it might sound unattractive, it is truly a very good way to present the battle as each flank almost exclusivley fought with its opposite flank. Each clash is covered with great detail and imagrey (I was amazed at imagining 60 galleys packed together in an amazingly tiny space with thousands of soldiers confusedly storming each other's ships across broken oars seeing less than 5 yards ahead of them due to the choking smoke from the canon and musket, fighting desperatley with sword and pike), and is extremely clear. Never once was I confused as what happened (see Waterloo 1815 if you want a confusing summary), and even without the great 3D maps I could picture the battle, blow by blow. Coming to the 3D maps, they are very clearly laid out and colourful and not in the center of the two pages (thus allowing you not to tear apart the book), with seperate symbols units for the Venetian Galeasses, which might have very well became the desicive factor in the Christian victory. The 3 full colour battlescenes are extremely colourfull and well drawn, but do not show much in terms of actuall material other that banners and the such.

The Aftermath is almost as strong as the long, clear, and vivid battle summary, showing that the battle was not as decisive at popularly thought. As the author states earlier in the book, Galley's can be rebuilt, but the lost lives cannot. In terms of lost lives, the Christians lost a little less than the Turks (around 25,000 each) even though the Turkish fleet lost 170 of its 240 galleys. Indeed, the Turks rebuilt just a large as a fleet they lost the following year. The short-term effects might have been weak for the Christians (Cyprus was not re-captured, no other land was taken, the Barbary Corsairs lived on, and the Turks rebuilt thier fleet), but Konstam covers the long term effects clearly and backed with much evidence. Truly, as seen and told in the book, the only thing Lepanto truly created was breaking the myth of Turkish marinetime invunerability and the death of experienced Turkish ship commanders which led to a halt in the Turkish offensive naval policies (even though they have continued sucsess defensively).

Now comes the criticising. Well, the main problem with this book is the author not delivering a straight answer for the decisive factor in the battle that led to the Christian victory. This is a minor problem though, because since the battle summary is so well laid out and clearly pictured one can make their own assumptions to why the Christans won such a major victory (my assumptions is the Venetians galeasses breaking the initial Turkish line). Other than that...nothing. The lack of numerous detractors to this installment, coupled with the vivid and clear picture of a very interesting battle as well as great maps, make this a must-have for any Osprey enthusiast.

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One of the best in Osprey Campaign series

I am a long time fan of Osprey Campaign series - I have all the 120 first titles - and this is definitely one of the very best. It is not very frequent - and not very easy - to combine historical accuracy with a great number of facts and statistics and in the same time to provide the reader with such a passionating narration. Felicitations to Angus Konstam.

reviews: page 1, 2

For much of the 16th century the Mediterranean was a battleground between Christians and Muslims. A decisive battle between two large galley fleets was expected to decide the fate of the entire Mediterranean basin. In August 1571, an Ottoman fleet of some 235 galleys encountered the slightly smaller Christian fleet of the Holy League. In a five hour melee the Christians inflicted a decisive defeat on the Turks. Lepanto was the last great galley fight of all time and one of the most decisive naval battles in history. This book details the course of one of the most crucial military campaigns of the Renaissance.

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