Constantine's Final Speech: Eyewitness Version

In 1529, Sultan Suleiman's army was repelled from the walls of Vienna. While the Ottomans had hit a roadblock in their inland expansion, their power at sea remained largely unchallenged. This was mainly due to one man, Herodinus Barbarossa, one of the greatest naval commanders of the age. In this episode, we will cover the life and conquests of this pirate-turned-lord, culminating in his magnum opus, a victory over a great Christian coalition at the Battle of Preveza. Herodinus was born in 1478 as Khizr on the Greek island of Lesbos. Khizr had three brothers, Isaac, Uruç and Ilya. His father was a soldier of Albanian origin, who had helped the Turks conquer Lesbos from the Genoese back in 1462, which he had established himself on the island, became a potter, and bought a ship to sell his goods overseas. The late 15th century was a time where Christian and Islamic powers struggled against one another for domination over the Mediterranean, relying often on unscrupulous privateers to target each other's merchant vessels. Much of Khizr's early life was spent aiding the family business, though fate would soon alter this course when his father's vessel was captured by the Knights Hospitaller, who were still operating at large from their fortress on Rhodes. The Knights killed his younger brother Ilya and captured his elder brother Uruç, jailing him at their stronghold in Bodrum. It was here that Khizr took his first steps into the life that would make him a legend. When he eventually learned of Uruç's location, he sailed for Bodrum and, against the odds, managed to liberate his brother. This experience changed the brothers. They abandoned their occupation as merchants and launched themselves into a life of piracy. Uruç forged the path, creating a small name for himself as a raider under the service of an Ottoman prince, and later the Mamluk Sultan. In 1504 he was joined by Khizr, and together they travelled to Tunisia, where the Sultan granted them the port of La Goleta for use as a base of operations. In 1509 they were joined by their brother Izhak. Khizr and his kin had arrived in North Africa at an opportune time. Back in 1492, the Spanish crown had expelled the last of the Islamic rulers from Iberia, and in the following decades they had turned their ambitions southwards, capturing pockets of coastal territory in Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. Uruç participated in evacuating Spanish Muslims from Iberia, earning him the title Baba, meaning father. The Europeans took Baba Uruç to mean Barbarossa, red beard. Given that all three brothers had crimson facial hair, the nickname stuck, and even became used by the Turks in the form of Barbaros. The Barbaros brothers would find their early North African exploits defined by conflict with the Spanish and their Christian allies. They became a scourge to the coasts of southern Italy and Spain, while repulsing a Spanish attack on Algiers. In 1512 the brothers launched an assault upon Spanish-controlled Bejaia. Uruç had a limb blown off during the battle, which he promptly replaced with a shiny prosthetic, earning him the title Silverarm. Every victory earned the Barbaros brothers more prestige in the Muslim world. The following years saw them embark on more successful raiding parties, setting the torch to the hinterlands of Genoa and the coast of Valencia. In 1516 the Barbarossas expelled a garrison of Spaniards from Algiers and deposed the local Amir. Uruç reigned as Sultan of Algiers for a year before offering the territory to the Ottoman Sultan in exchange for his aid against the Spanish. Sultan Selim accepted and Algiers was absorbed into the Empire. Uruç was given the title Beylerbey, the Chief Governor of North Africa. In 1518 Uruç and Isaac seized the city of Tlemcen, only to face an army of 10,000 Spaniards at their gates. Though they put up a fierce fight, both were killed. With their deaths, Kizil now stood as the sole survivor of four brothers, the Last Barbaros, a title by which he'd become known by. In 1522 he partook in the Ottoman invasion of Rhodes, helping to finally oust his old foes from their island stronghold. The 1520s were a whirlwind of devastation, as it seemed nothing could stop the legendary Barbaross and his corsairs. Sardinia, Marseille, Liguria and Sicily were all victims of his raids, their people carted off as slaves for his galleys. The whole western seaboard of the Mediterranean was held in a grip of terror. Towns were heavily fortified, coastal villages were abandoned, and a contemporary Spanish source claims that, from the Strait of Gibraltar to that of Messina, no one could sit in peace or go to sleep with a sense of security. In 1532, Barbaross was summoned to Constantinople, where he was given a special mission. A Genoese admiral by the name of Andrea Doria had been marauding Ottoman holdings in the Peloponnese. It was not the first time the Redbeard had encountered Doria. His fleets had clashed with the wily Italian many times before. Barbaross set out in pursuit of the Genoese fleet and intercepted them at Preveza, where he captured seven galleys and forced the rest of Doria's ships to flee. It was a foreboding preview of a later battle to be fought in the same location between the same two men. Returning to Constantinople triumphant, the Sultan Suleiman appointed Barbaross as the Grand Admiral of the Ottoman Navy, and gave him the title Heyreddin, Best of the Faith. Barbarossa proceeded to seize nine major Aegean islands from the Venetian Republic. He devastated the Isle of Corfu, annihilating its farms and enslaving almost its entire rural population. Balking from their losses, the Venetians called upon the Pope to aid them. Barbarossa had finally become too big a threat, and Pope Paul III leapt to action, bringing together a vast alliance, a holy league comprised of Spain, Venice, Genoa, the Papal States, the Habsburgs, and the Knights Hospitaller, who were now based in Malta. The battle that was to come would be the greatest military challenge Barbaross would ever face. In summer of 1538, the great Christian coalition began to gather off the shores of Corfu. First to arrive were the Venetian and the Papal flotillas. Eager to secure coastal dominance in the battle to come, the Papal Admiral dispatched a vanguard of galleys down the coast, attempting to seize the Ottoman-held fortress at Preveza. After a short skirmish they were handily beaten back, and were forced to wait for the rest of the coalition to arrive. On September 22nd, none other than Andrea Doria arrived at the command of a vast Spanish and Genoese fleet. Doria would assume overall command of the entire allied fleet. It seemed fate had put the Italian Admiral head-to-head with his old foe Herodin once more. In total, the Holy League's navy comprised of 112 galleys, 50 galleons, 140 barques, and over 60,000 armed soldiers. One vessel worth noting was the Venetian flagship, a behemoth of a galleon that dwarfed its foes, commanded by Alessandro Condoniero. Meanwhile, Barbarossa was fully aware of the great host rallying around him, and mustered his fleet off the island of Eos. He had 122 galleys and galleots, and 12,000 armed soldiers. His ships were outnumbered 3 to 1, but his vessels were rowed primarily by galley slaves, and therefore were not dependent on the wind like the European barques and galleons that made up the bulk of the Holy League fleet. This would make them more reliable in the battle. Barbarossa sailed his ships westward, then up the west coast of Greece into the well-protected Gulf of Previza. There, he deployed a contingent of his soldiers ashore, commandeering control of the fortress at Actium, whose artillery would provide his ships with shoreside support in the fight to come. Realising once more the importance of coastal dominance, the Venetians and Papal ships made two separate attempts to seize the fortress of Previza, which faced opposite to Barbarossa's fortifications at Actium. Twice they struck, on the 25th and 26th of September, but both times were repelled by the flotilla of Herodine's subordinate, Murat Rhys. By now, Doria had realised that Barbarossa had secured himself a strong position against the coast. The Genoese admiral dared not attack the well-entrenched Ottoman fleet head-on, but also figured that the numerically inferior enemy would not strike out against him either. Assuming that time was on his side, and fearing the late-season gales that would drive his fleet into a vulnerable position, Doria ordered his ships 30 miles south, anchoring at Sessola, a small island off Lefkada. The plan was to launch an attack on nearby Lepanto, forcing Barbarossa to emerge from his den. However, coordinating a fleet of over 300 vessels proved a logistical nightmare, and the move left the Holy League spread out and exposed. Barbarossa took this chance to strike. At dawn his ships emerged from the Gulf of Previza and rounded the northern tip of Lefkada, bearing down on the Christian fleet. His ships assembled into a Y formation, comprised of three segments in the front and one in the rear. Barbarossa himself commanded the centre from his flagship Galli, with his commanders Sedi Ali Rhys and Sali Rhys on the wings. Barbarossa's approach was completely unexpected by anyone in the allied armada. The Holy League's navy was overextended, spread out into rows, with Dorius' Spanish Genoese contingent 10 miles behind the Venetians, Sicilians and Maltese squadrons, who would be the first to be attacked. From his flagship, Venetian commander Condomiero sent a rowboat to Doria, requesting orders. Doria sent a correspondence back, declaring that he would sail his ships into the fray. This bolstered the confidence of the Venetians, who braced themselves for battle. On the afternoon of September 28th, the opposing fleets clashed and the fighting began. The Ottomans had the initial advantage, for the Venetian barques that relied exclusively on sail were rendered immobile on a windless sea. Thus, the Ottoman galleys, rowed by slaves, were able to outmanoeuvre them. However, the Christians possessed a trump card. The Venetian flagship was akin to a dreadnought, and possessed considerable firepower that the Ottomans could not match. Waves of Barbarossa's galleys assailed the great galleon, with one even managing to take down the flagship's main mast, but as they drew closer, they were devastated by a full cannonade blasting from the ship's every gunport. The Ottomans were forced to retreat, but continued this dance for a time, the Venetian and Maltese front line engaging in a heated skirmish with the Ottomans, with the bulk of the fighting centred around the Venetian flagship. Galleys skirted up close, harassing it with light guns and picking off its crew, only to be blasted away by its precise and powerful cannon fire time and time again. Meanwhile, Doria was notably slow in his promise to join the fray. Instead, the Genoese admiral left the isolated Venetians to stand alone, while he drew his ships out to sea, trying to lure the Ottoman galleys into open waters away from the fortified coast. Barbarossa did not take the bait, knowing that he could not afford to engage in major fleet action on the high seas. The sun soon began to set, and the situation grew more dire for the Christian front line. Skirmishing continued throughout the evening. The Venetian flagship was still mounting a gallant defence, blasting away any that attempted to board it. Wary of the futility of capturing the gargantuan vessel, Barbarossa ordered his galleys to withdraw. The galleon of Venice managed to slink back to Corfu, though no man could deny the honourable struggle it had put up. The Ottoman galleys instead turned their attention to the smaller Sicilian and Venetian barques. Using their greater manoeuvrability, they managed to board and capture yet another handful of Christian ships in the last hour before dusk. At dawn, Doria made a fateful decision. Taking advantage of favourable winds, he retreated from the battlefield, sailing his ships northwards back to Corfu. Envoys of the Venetian, Papal and Maltese fleets pleaded he continue the fight, but were ignored. Sources attribute his retreat to different reasons. Some say that Doria was accustomed to commanding galleys, not the sailing ships the Holy League put in his command. Some say that as a loyal Genoese, he despised his Venetian rivals, and was not willing to risk his own ships to save them. Some say he simply lost his nerve. Whatever the reason, the battle was over. Through patience, fortitude and the boldness to strike when the moment was right, Barbaros had won a great victory. In the end, Hayreddin had sunk 10 ships, burned 3 others, captured 36, and had taken about 3,000 prisoners. Meanwhile, he himself had not lost a single ship, though a handful of galleys had been critically damaged by the Venetian flagship. Only 400 Ottoman soldiers were dead and 800 wounded. The unprecedented success of Barbarossa secured Ottoman naval dominance in the Mediterranean for the next four decades, but Suleiman still had a stubbornly persistent rival to face both on land and sea – the Habsburgs. We are planning to cover every major battle and campaign in Ottoman history, so make sure you are subscribed to our channel and have pressed the bell button. We would like to express our gratitude to our Patreon supporters and channel members, who make the creation of our videos possible. Now, you can also support us by buying our merchandise via the link in the description. This is the Kings and Generals channel, and we will catch you on the next one.