Lepanto, before and after: Between the Republic and the Sublime Porte

Abstract

The loss of Cyprus to the ottoman Turks, hand in hand with the Battle of Lepanto was the major reason of a period of frozen politics and caused the breaking of the traditional peace between Venice and Constantinople. Yet there is a notable difference between the historical and political Conseptualization of these two major episodes. The ottoman state didn’t interpret this catastrophe as the Republic did. As, it could be seen from the bilateral diplomacy carried out by both states, neither the loss of Cyprus, nor the myth-creating Lepanto could change the classical oriental policy of the Serenissima. The case was not different for the Sublime Porte. The aim of this paper is to analyse the post-war politics of these two states and the noteable change in the political polarization in Europe in the milieu of the ottoman-Hapsburg rivalry.

Keywords

• lepanto
• venecia
• imperio otomano
• chipre
• constantinopla