Conquest of Tunis (1535)
Conquest of Tunis | |||||||||
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Part of the | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Knights of Malta |
Ottoman Empire Kingdom of France | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Duke of Beja | Hayreddin Barbarossa | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
Total men: 30,000–60,000
Total ships: 398 207 ships[4] 10 galleys 6 galleys 19 galleys Kingdom of Portugal]] 1 galleon, 2 carracks, 20 round caravels, 8 galleys 8 galleys 1 carrack, 4 galleys 60 hulks |
82 warships[5] 2 galleys[6] | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
Unknown: Many fell to dysentery[citation needed] |
30,000 Muslim civilians killed 9,000 Christians freed |
The conquest of Tunis occurred in 1535 when the
Background
In 1533,
Despite a request by Charles V, Francis I denied French support to the expedition, explaining that he was under a three-year truce with Barbarossa following the 1533 Ottoman embassy to France.[15] Francis I was also in negotiations with Suleiman the Magnificent for a combined attack on Charles V following the 1534 Ottoman embassy. Francis I only agreed to Pope Paul III's request that no fight between Christians occur during the time of the expedition.[15]
Battle
Having sailed from Sardinia at the head of a Catholic coalition protected by a
The resulting massacre of the city left an estimated 30,000 dead.[16] Barbarossa managed to flee to Algiers with a troop of several thousand Ottomans.[5] Muley Hasan was restored to his throne.[5] The stench of the corpses was such that Charles V soon left Tunis and moved his camp to Radès.
The siege demonstrated the power of the Habsburg dynasties at the time; Charles V had under his control much of southern Italy, Sicily, Spain, the Americas, Austria, the Netherlands, and lands in Germany. Furthermore, he was Holy Roman Emperor and had de jure control over much of Germany as well.
Ottoman defeat in Tunis motivated them to enter into a formal alliance with France against the Habsburg Empire. Ambassador Jean de La Forêt was sent to Constantinople, and for the first time was able to become permanent ambassador at the Ottoman court and to negotiate treaties.[17]
Charles V celebrated a neo-classical triumph "over the infidel" first in Sicily and then at Rome on 5 April 1536 in commemoration of his victory at Tunis.[18][19][20] The Spanish governor of La Goulette, Luys Peres Varga, fortified the island of Chikly in the lake of Tunis to strengthen the city's defences between 1546 and 1550.
Aftermath
Barbarossa managed to escape to the harbour of
The Ottomans recaptured the city in 1569. Spain captured it again in 1573 under John of Austria, only to lose it again in 1574. Thereafter privateers from Tunis caused discord against Christian shipping. Raiding in the Mediterranean continued until the suppression of the Barbary pirates in the early 19th century.
A
Gallery
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Bombardment of La Goletta
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Attack at La Goletta
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Battle scene at Tunis, 1535
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Liberation of 20,000 Christian captives
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Charles V going to Radès
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Charles V announcing the capture of Tunis to Pope Paul III in 1535
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Imperial troops in the conquest of Tunis, 1535, Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen
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Ottoman troops in the conquest of Tunis, 1535
See also
- Barbary corsairs
- Battle of Cape Corvo
- Battle of Cape Celidonia
- Conquest of Tunis (1574)
- Algiers expedition (1541)
- Ottoman–Portuguese conflicts
Notes
- ^ Roger Crowley, Empires of the Sea, faber and faber 2008 p. 61
- ^ History of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey Ezel Kural Shaw
- ^ José Augusto Amaro Pissarra: O galeão S. João (c. 1530–1551). Dados para uma monografia, Cascais, 1999, p. 195
- ^ 15 galleys of the Mediterranean Squadron, 42 ships of the Cantabrian fleet, 150 ships of the Málaga Squadron
- ^ a b c Crowley, p. 61
- ^ Garnier, p. 96
- ^ Bruce Ware Allen, "Emperor vs. Pirate Tunis, 1535." MHQ: Quarterly Journal of Military History (Winter 2014) 26#2 pp 58–63.
- ^ Crowley, p. 56
- ^ Crowley, p. 57
- ^ a b Crowley, p. 58
- ^ Also known as Muleassen in Italy, and Abu-Abd-Allah-Mohammed-el-Hasan in Tunis. Il Palazzo di Fabrizio Colonna a Mezzocannone, article by Bartolommeo Capasso in Napoli nobilissima: rivista di topografia ed arte napoletana, Vol. 1–3, pp. 100–104.
- ^ Crowley, p. 59
- ^ a b Crowley, p. 60
- ^ a b Crowley, p. 62
- ^ a b Garnier, pp. 94–95
- ^ A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East, Vol. II, ed. Spencer C. Tucker, (ABC-CLIO, 2010), 506.
- ^ History of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey Ezel Kural Shaw p. 97 [1]
- ^ Panvinio, Onofrio (1557). De fasti et triumphi Romanorum a Romulo usque ad Carolum V. Venice: Giacomo Strada. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
- ^ Pinson, Yona (2001). "Imperial Ideology in the Triumphal Entry into Lille of Charles V and the Crown Prince (1549)" (PDF). Assaph: Studies in Art History. 6: 212. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
- ISBN 978-1931112697. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
- ^ E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936 by M. Th. Houtsma p. 872
References
- Allen, Bruce Ware. "Emperor vs. Pirate Tunis, 1535." MHQ: Quarterly Journal of Military History (Winter 2014) 26#2 pp 58–63.
- Battle: a Visual Journey Through 5000 Years of Combat. Grant, R. G. 2005
- ISBN 978-0-571-23231-4
- Garnier, Edith L'Alliance Impie Editions du Felin, 2008, Paris ISBN 978-2-86645-678-8
- La Marina Cántabra. Ballesteros–Beretta, Antonio. 1968