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For over a century after the
fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Empire enjoyed an
almost unbroken series of victories in Eastern Europe and throughout
the Eastern Mediterranean. In 1571, the Republic of Venice and
Pope Pius V worked together to assemble an alliance of European
powers to confront the Ottoman navy in the Aegean and Mediterranean
Seas. This "Holy League" was driven, and almost torn
apart, by a set of diverse and often competing motivations, but
for one brief moment it was able to put aside its differences
and raise a unified front against the massive Ottoman fleet at
the Battle of Lepanto. The outcome of that battle would have far-reaching
consequences for Europe, for the Ottoman Empire and indeed for
world history.
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