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Thrilling Account Of Brutal 50-Year Christian-Muslim War

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By NEIL JOHNSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 20, 2008

"Empires of the Sea" by Roger Crowley (Faber and Faber, $30)

This is a rare combination of a history book that reads with the detail, insight and pace of a novel.

Crowley deftly describes the prolonged battle between the Ottoman and Hapsburg empires for control of the Mediterranean Sea that consumed 50 years and thousands of lives.

In the early 1500s, the Mediterranean was considered the center of the world, with the Muslim empire in Turkey at the sea's eastern edge and the Christian empire led by Spain at its west.

The conflict's roots stretched to the Crusades, as the Muslims pushed back at the beaten Christian forces and pursued their own conquests with the ultimate goal of engulfing all southern Europe - the prize jewel being Rome.

The Ottoman Empire was vast, superbly organized and had endless resources of ships, guns and men. The Christians were fractured, burdened by internal politics. Spain, the main force in Europe, was distracted by struggles with Protestants and conquering the New World.

It was a time when warfare was just easing into the age of gunpowder with galleys, lances and bows fighting beside cannons and guns.

Crowley paces the events with the skill of a storyteller, letting each battle, political shift and the surge of Muslim corsairs to terrorize Christian coastlines unfold in something more like a plot than a lesson.

Crowley's finely woven details of the personalities of the leading figures as well as the dramatic battles that decided the fate of the Mediterranean speak of such thorough research that he is able to boil down history into the prose of a fine fiction writer.

He also tells, in gripping length, of the key battles during the half-century. Had events turned out differently, it would have left us 500 years later with a vastly altered geopolitical map.

But it's not all battles, though they are at the center of the conflict. Crowley writes of the political forces that hampered each side and kept each from achieving domination. Spain had its distractions, hamstringing caution and money troubles. The Ottomans had their intrigue, distractions and sometimes conflicting ambitions of military leaders.

Crowley is at his best when telling of the long, blood-soaked siege of Malta, a tiny island poking like a thorn in the sea lanes of the Ottomans. The tale is gripping, energetic and packed with historical gems woven throughout the saga, in which 600 Christians in their fortifications faced roughly 20,000 Muslims.

The climax of the book is the battle of Lepanto, where the fleets of Muslims and Christians finally clashed after decades of avoiding a decisive meeting.

Neil Johnson is a reporter for the Tribune.

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