The Conquest of Tunis was an attack on Tunis, then under the control of the Ottoman Empire, by the Spanish Empire in 1535.
The battle
In 1535, the Ottomans under Khair ad-Din began attacking Christian shipping in the Mediterranean from a base in Algiers. That year Tunisia was captured to act as a supply base for further naval campaigns in the region. Charles V, one of the most powerful men of Europe at the time, assembled a huge army of some 60,000 soldiers to drive the Ottomans from the region. Protected by a Genoese fleet, Charles V destroyed Barbarossa's fleet and, after a costly yet successful siege at La Goletta, captured Tunis. The resulting massacre of the city left an estimated 30,000 dead.
The siege demonstrated the power projection of the Habsburg dynasties at the time; Charles V had under his control much of southern Italy, Sicily, Spain, the Americas, Austria, Netherlands and lands in Germany. Furthermore, he was Holy Roman Emperor and had de jure control over much of Germany as well.
Aftermath
The Ottomans responded by recapturing the city in 1574. However the Ottoman governors of Tunis were semi-autonomous Beyliks who acted as privateers against Christian shipping. Consequently, raiding in the Mediterranean continued until the French subjugated the region as a protectorate three centuries later.
See also
Notes
- ^ 15 galleys of the Mediterranean Squadron, 42 ships of the Cantabrian fleet, 150 ships of the Málaga Squadron
References
- Battle: a Visual Journey Through 5000 Years of Combat. Grant, R. G. 2005
- La Marina Cántabra. Ballesteros-Beretta, Antonio. 1968
- [www.cervantesvirtual.com Cervantes Virtual]
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