Commander · c. 1478 to 1546

Hayreddin Barbarossa

A corsair from Lesbos who became grand admiral of the Ottoman navy. His victory at Preveza in 1538 gave the Ottomans control of the Mediterranean for a generation.

At a glance

Lived: c. 1478 to 1546
Role: Commander
Era: Three gunpowder empires
Chapter: 5. The Ottomans

Battles

1538
Battle of Preveza
Ottoman victory. Barbarossa's win made the Ottomans the leading naval power of the Mediterranean for over thirty years.

Hayreddin Barbarossa's world

1683: Three gunpowder empires

Mehmed II took Constantinople in 1453. Selim I conquered Egypt in 1517 and the caliphate passed to the Ottomans. Suleiman won at Mohacs in 1526, and a second siege of Vienna failed in 1683. Further east, Safavid Iran and the Mughals of India ruled at the same time.

See the 1683 map Read chapter 5

People of the same era

Babur Akbar Aurangzeb Alamgir Tipu Sultan Osman I Mehmed II, the Conqueror Selim I Suleiman the Magnificent

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