Worth Knowing? Two Battles That Saved the West: Lepanto 1571 and Vienna 1683

[Ed Jones]

Just looking for ed events, and stumbled upon: Two Battles That Saved the West: Lepanto 1571 and Vienna 1683 Michael Novak delivering the lectures.

Why should we care about these? I certainly didn't know -- never heard of either of them. (OK, my formal battle education includes Lexington and Concord, Antietam, and maybe Fallen Timbers). So, here are the Wikipedia summaries:

The battle broke the advance of the Ottoman Empire into Europe, and marked beginning of the political hegemony of the Habsburg dynasty in Central Europe. The large-scale battle was won by Polish-Austrian-German forces led by King of Poland John III Sobieski ...

The battle marked the turning point in the 300-year struggle between the forces of the Central European kingdoms and the Ottoman Empire. Over the sixteen years following the battle, the Habsburgs of Austria gradually occupied and dominated southern Hungary and Transylvania, which had been largely cleared of the Turkish forces.

Good thing to know if you're a kid of polish decent growing up at a time when most jokes were targeted at Pollocks.

Or, if you care a fig about how the world came to its current state of balance.

Continuing,

The Battle of Lepanto ...when a galley fleet of the Holy League decisively defeated the main fleet of Ottoman war galleys. The five-hour battle was fought at the northern edge of the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece, where the Ottoman forces sailing westwards from their naval station in Lepanto met the Holy League forces, which had come from Messina.[2] Victory gave the Holy League temporary control over the Mediterranean, protected Rome from invasion, and prevented the Ottomans from advancing into Europe. This last major naval battle fought solely between rowing vessels was one of history's most decisive, inasmuch as "after Lepanto the pendulum swung back the other way and the wealth began to flow from East to West, a pattern that continues to this day", as well "as a 'crucial turning point in the ongoing conflict between the Middle East and Europe, which has not yet completely been resolved.".

Yep, these seem like interesting enough stories that a college grad or a college prep student might have encountered in their formal education.
No?

[Ed Jones]

And I have such books too. With one exception, they are not interesting reads. The exception, the highly readable The Ohio Story, Frank Siedel, I did not read for years because I was so used to erudite tomage, I snubbed this excellent little book as unworthy.

Over at Common Core, Joy Hakim relates a parallel experience* as an author of readable American history.


*[Currently the text rendering is screwed up on the CC blog post].

[Ian Carmichael]

True - but on the other hand, I have carried Fuller's Decisive Battles around for decades - without opening them. It's still true that for people with enquiring, alive and eager minds, there's always more to discover, enjoy and learn - also, however, more I could wish to have known earlier.
It's a joy(?) of finitude!

[Ed Jones]

Ian, what frosts me about my and others' education experiences is not that we didn't cover it in some class, but that I left both HS and college without so much as a reading list of where I might hear these stories laid out in an interesting fashion.

I had tons of free time in school and out (HS that is). Couldn't someone have pointed me to at least read on my own some basic world history?

[Ian Carmichael]

Thanks Ed,
I know very little about the Ottoman advances and defeats - none from my history studies. Yet these events, their precursors and aftermaths have a signicant place in modern world history, for they are living victories or defeats for many communities and families in the Balkans now, with terrible and tragic consequences.
But then, I can't cover it all anyway - I'd like to get some more depth on the English Civil war, and the English in Ireland too. So I need some others to point out some of these things as I burble on my way - like you, here my friend, and the quality documentary makers.

Thanks, Ed.