A better Christian outcome after Lepanto?

This is something I have been thinking about for a little while.

Is there anyway The Holy League could have followed up their victory at Lepanto with gains from the Turks?
The Holy League lost Cyprus after the battle, could this be avoided?
Could they have brought HRE, France and Portugal onside to give better surport?
Ask Protestant and Orthodox countries to help out? (I know, this could be pushing it)
Help out other Islamic states at war with the Ottomans?
A call for all Christians to retake eastern europe and then to the Holyland?

Anything that will be better than OLT?
 
Have Uluj Ali Reis commander of the Ottoman left wing not escape. His forces would become the core of the re-built Ottoman navy after the battle, and his knowledge of the Venetian galley's (gained in the battle) was used by the Ottoman's when they built newer & better galleys.

Overall, the economic and manpower advantages the Ottoman's had at the time would allow them to bounce back no matter what though. Also, I am not really sure if the Holy League had the manpower to really liberate Cyprus. So, the gains after any victory are going to be little regardless.

Another item is the Franco-Ottoman Alliance. France uses it as a counter-weight to the Spanish & Austrian Habsburgs. It also helps the Ottoman's to counter the Habsburgs as well. Breaking this long term alliance would help allow follow up gains for the Christian forces. However, it would be completely against France's and the Ottoman's self interests to do so.
 
Overall, the economic and manpower advantages the Ottoman's had at the time would allow them to bounce back no matter what though. Also, I am not really sure if the Holy League had the manpower to really liberate Cyprus. So, the gains after any victory are going to be little regardless.

Pretty much. As I've noted before, Lepanto is one of those things that looks more important--due to a combination of an impressive victory and it being hyped by the victors for decades afterwards--than it actually is. Hell, I'd argue that more long-term damage was done to the Ottoman navy by having Selim II slip and crack his head one night in Istanbul than the battle itself.
 
That is hella funny sentiment.

The technology changes at the time really helped the Ottoman's out too. The loss destroyed the backbone of her archer corps, but since everyone was transition to gun powder weapons that is not a bad thing. If Lepanto had been earlier, like during the fall of Rhodes instead of Cyprus, then the loss of her archer corps might had a more lasting impact.
 
I meant how you described Selim II cracking his head I thought was funny. I do agree with you are stating, sorry for the confusion.
 
Ohh. Well, thank you.

But yes--having a sultan who actually supported the navy die before his time--not good for said organization.
 
The major reason the Holy League didn't follow up on their victory at Lepanto is that the League's members did not trust one another. Venice and Spain kept suspecting the other intended them to do all the fighting and conserve their own forces. Venice wanted to regain its colonies in the Eastern Mediterranean, while Spain wanted to expand in the Western Mediterranean.

If I remember correctly, the only reason the fleet didn't pursue the Ottomans is what the battle happened late in the campaign year so the constiotuent forces wanted to go back home and regroup again, but politics stopped it.

So you would either need for the battle to happen earlier so that Don John of Austria remained in command for another campaign that year, or improve relations between the members of the Holy League so that they wanted to resume working together for the rest of the war.

Certainly Cyprus could be retaken (it fell before the battle).

Anything after that would be very hard because of the divergent goals of the members of the Holy League. Presumably a few more islands in the Aegean could be gained by Venice, bnut any real prize would be in Africa.

I don't think adding more members to the League is necessary. It would complicate the politics even more.

Long term changes would really be limited to Venice remaining a power in the Eastern Mediterranean (at least temporarily, the greater resources of the Ottomans would eventually wear them down) and probably allowing Spain to control the coastline of Northwest Africa.

A combined effort to retake Constantinople or throw the Turks out of Europe is probably too much.
 
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