WEBVTT - Shields High: The Siege Of Malta Part One 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:13.319 The battles of the past to find the present. This 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:20.920 is shields high. Who was the greatest general of all time? 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:24.799 Some of you are probably thinking, or perhaps even saying 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.120 out loud, what your answer would be to that question. 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:34.000 Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Hannibal Barka, Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:39.800 perhaps Ulysses, asked Grant or Douglas MacArthur. These are men 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:44.120 who had a tactical and strategic understanding of the battlefield 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:48.360 that changed the course of history. People understand and agree 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:51.560 that whatever you think of them, whatever side they were 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:56.240 on at the time, these were men who were excellent 0:00:56.400 --> 0:01:00.000 at their craft of warfare and who made an enormous 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:05.120 impact on history. Who was the most fearsome warrior of 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:10.120 his age all time? Again, I'm sure some of you 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:15.920 have answers that immediately come to mind. Leonidas, king of Sparta, 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:19.479 and famous because of the movie three hundred, perhaps for many, 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:24.919 but known all throughout the ages, vasili Zaitsev, the Soviet 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:30.959 sniper US Marines, Carlos Hathcock during Vietnam, or if you 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.720 want to go back a little bit in history verse Jeerics, 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:38.920 the Gallic chieftain who fought fiercely but unsuccessfully against Julius Caesar. 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:43.440 Also on the list, maybe even Hernan Cortez and his 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:48.120 campaign against the Aztecs. Fearsome warriors, people that you think 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:52.120 of as not only leaders of men in battle, but 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:58.760 also excelling in the craft the tactical fighting aspect. People 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:01.800 that were on the front line lines, that were combatants. 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.080 They weren't just in the back with the gear in 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:09.480 the rear. And let's add one more category to this impact. 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:13.800 This would be those great men of the military in 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:19.320 the past whose actions directly led to history changing and 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:24.640 era defining moments, battles that change the tide of history. 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:27.400 The Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo in 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:33.120 eighteen fifteen, for example, Scipio Africanus of Ancient Rome defeating 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:37.359 Hannibal Barka to end the Second Punic War. So we're 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:42.600 talking about three things here, great military leaders, skilled warriors, 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:47.960 and men who changed history. So the greatest generals, the 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:51.480 most fearsome warriors. What if I told you that there's 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.959 someone that I would argue should be on the list, 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.080 maybe not at the top of the list, but should 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:01.720 be on the list. Ape actually if you combine a 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:07.840 great commander with a great warrior who absolutely changed the 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:12.680 course of history, Genghis Khan would fall into that category, 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:15.920 and he changed the world, no question about it, and 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:20.400 conquered a larger empire than by landmasks anyone else in 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:24.760 human history. But what about a fellow that you've probably 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:29.840 never even heard of named Romega? No, you're probably thinking, 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:34.000 what the heck is Buck talking about? Who is Roma Ga? 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:36.760 And why does it sound like he's ordering a fancy 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.680 bottle of wine out on a date. I'm going to 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.120 explain to you who this incredible warrior was and why 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.240 his role in history should be something that a lot 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:47.800 more people know about. But first, from our sponsor, I 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:49.880 want to tell you that you know, free Wi Fi 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:52.480 when you're out in public seems super convenient. I use 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:55.440 it sometimes too, and it gives you faster access to 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:57.680 the Internet and you've got no data usage charges on 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:00.640 your phone bill. But with all that benefits a risk. 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:03.200 There are bad actors out there who are just waiting 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.600 to gain access to your data. 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And if 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:47.080 you look at his life after the fall of Constantinople 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:51.239 leading up to the Great Siege, the Great Battle of Malta, 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.240 of which he was one of the primary participants at 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:56.800 the command level as well as on the front lines 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:00.280 as a soldier, and then at the Great Battle of 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.960 Lepanto that turned back the Ottoman advance in fifteen seventy one, 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:12.080 after uninterrupted conquest stretching back for decades, you realize that 0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.360 this guy Romaga, we should know more about him. And 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:17.640 when you look at his life story, when you look 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:20.320 at what was going on around him and the role, 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:22.960 the direct role that he played in it, he changed 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:28.520 the course of the most profound civilization molding conquest of 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.760 over a thousand years, the Islamic conquest of the Near East, 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:37.200 North Africa and Europe. Were it not for Romaga, his 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:42.039 nights and the brave but mercurial Christian forces alongside him 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:45.360 at Malta and then at Lepanto. The Islamic conquest would 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.080 have stretched deep into the heart of Europe, changing the 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:51.440 world we know and you need to know his tale. 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:55.400 But first I have to give you some of the backstory. 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.360 Here we left you in the Last Shield High fourteen 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:03.640 fifty three, the fall of Constantinople, the death of the 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.960 Emperor of Constantinople. Rarely do you see a major city 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:11.280 like this, a great city that stood for a thousand 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:15.720 years lost and also the leader killed in battle as 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.840 an active combatant. That's what happened. This was a calamity 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:23.600 for Christendom. Nobody ever really thought that Theodosian walls could 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:27.239 be taken down, Nobody ever really thought that they could 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:33.680 storm this the single most strategically located city of the 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:38.800 ancient world. There's a reason why this was at one 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.280 point a city estimated to have up to a million 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:47.760 inhabitants at a time when other major European cities would 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.520 have had in the tens of thousands. Before it was 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:57.440 even thought of as Europe, Constantinople was the great gateway 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:01.880 to the East, and it was also the single most 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:07.440 important symbol of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the world at 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:11.520 that time. They thought of themselves as Romans, they thought 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.360 of themselves and so this was the greatest city really 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:19.040 in Western civilization at the time, and it fell to 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:25.080 the Ottoman Turks. This is terrifying for Europe at the time. 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:29.240 And then a string of conquests after it that showed 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:33.320 this was the great bulwark of Christianity. A city of 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:38.360 Constantinople was holding back the Ottoman horde actually a word 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.840 that comes from the Ottoman massive armies of the time. 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:45.800 And so once it fell, not only was there an 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:50.880 imminent land threat to Christianity, but there was the very 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:53.600 real prospect that the Mediterranean Sea was going to turn 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:57.280 into an Ottoman lake. With that, not only would there 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:01.520 have been the unsurpassed wealth accrued, I mean the Ottoman 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:06.360 Empire knew that trade at this time was only really 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:10.600 possible and profitable by sea route. You couldn't move bulk 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:16.400 spices and silks and all these incredibly valuable goods from 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:20.240 the East coming as far away as India and China 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:23.360 the famous Silk route. People think of the Silk Road 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:26.640 the only way to distribute those goods to the west 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:32.080 was by ship through the Mediterranean basin and some of 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:35.199 the greatest arable land at the time, in places like 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:40.600 the Nile Delta of Egypt. The distribution of those goods, 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:44.320 which were necessary for keeping many city states around the 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:50.440 Mediterranean alive and fed, was only possible by ship. If 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.120 you wanted to be a great and wealthy nation at 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:56.640 the time, you had to have access to the sea. 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.840 And the Ottomans, with the seizure of Constantinople and fourth 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:04.360 fifty three, put themselves in a place where, under the 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:08.440 banner of Islam, they could spread not only across all 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:12.040 of Christendom deep into Europe, but seize the entirety of 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:16.839 the Mediterranean Sea. And that was the plan. Now to 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:19.480 some this might sound a little bit exaggerated. You don't 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:21.480 learn this in school. They're not going to teach you 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:24.480 about this. In fact, all you really learn about this 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:29.400 period from the islam Christianity perspective and these wars and 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:33.079 conflicts is there were these really terrible things called the Crusades, 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:35.080 and there was the spread of this new religion that 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:38.720 just popped up and no big deal. Some stuff happened. 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.800 The Reformation in Europe, and then now let's just jump 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:46.760 to the New World. That's generally what you get taught 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:49.640 in school about this. Right, in fourteen hundred and ninety two, 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.280 Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue. Well, you know what was 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:56.880 also happening in fourteen hundred and ninety two. The Ottomans 0:10:56.920 --> 0:11:00.320 were planning the conquest of all of Europe. And in 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:04.960 fact it was Columbus's patrons, the King and Queen of Spain, 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:09.320 who were the only real kingdom that could try to 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.760 match up sword for sword against the Ottoman threat. But 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.000 all you have to do to understand the scale of 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:20.400 the threat to Christendom, to its eradication, was to look 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:26.199 at the string of conquests that came in succession. After 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.800 mac Met the Second, the Ottoman Sultan, was victorious at 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:35.480 Constantinople in fourteen fifty three, he immediately pushed deeper into Europe. 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:40.160 By fourteen fifty nine, what is now Serbia was conquered 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:43.720 by the Ottomans. In fourteen sixty three, they took Bosnia. 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:48.679 In fourteen seventy eight, Albania was taken. Now it's worth 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:52.720 noting that during this period of rapid westward Ottoman expansion 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:57.679 The only European power that was doing anything to really 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:02.920 slow the advance of the Ottoman were the Venetians. The 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:06.559 Statau Damar. They call it the state of the Sea, 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:10.440 for that's exactly what Venice in the mid to late 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:15.880 fifteenth century was. Usually great cities are only situated on 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:21.800 fantastic geographic locations with yes access to the water, but 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:25.560 the great cities of antiquity also needed nearby arable land 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:30.120 and fresh water to drink. Not so for the Venetians. 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:32.640 This is a place that I'm sure you think of 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:36.520 now is perhaps a romantic getaway in it is lovely, 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:40.240 the canals, the history. But what you might not gather 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:44.680 from buying some Venetian glass as a tourist there today 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:48.280 and the somewhat pungent smells you may come across there 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:52.640 with the open canals in the summer, is that Venice 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:57.600 was one of the wealthiest cities in the world, and 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:03.000 in the fifteenth century it was operating a true maritime empire, 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:09.200 setting up way stations, naval bases, trading ports all along 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:13.520 the Eastern Mediterranean in places like Corfu and Negroponte. And 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:17.520 it was a republic led by a doge and a Senate, 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:21.920 where the rule of law was generally considered fair but severe. 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:27.120 All deals were to be kept, and profit was the 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:31.439 most important purpose of day to day life. The Venetians 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:36.839 were traders. They merely wanted to expand insofar as it 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:40.320 helped the bottom line. They wanted to make money, and 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:44.120 because they made all their money moving goods on the sea, 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:49.079 they were expert sailors. As a result of their commercial interests, 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.080 their reach stretched as far as the shores of the 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:56.000 Black Sea, and the Venetians, much to the chagrin of 0:13:56.040 --> 0:14:00.960 their European Christian counterparts, had no problem when all trading 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:04.280 with the Muslims. Whoever could get the best goods at 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:08.840 the best price in the best place, or whichever sultan 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.960 or vizier controlled the trade route on pain of death 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:15.200 for anyone violating it didn't matter to the Venetians. They 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:19.800 just wanted trading partners. They sought wealth, not war. But 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:23.000 as we've seen all throughout history, you can't pursue trading 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:26.920 interests without having men with clubs, swords, and later on 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:30.480 guns to stop people from plundering them, notably in the 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:36.240 Mediterranean Pirates the Mediterranean Sea. Despite what people may think, 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:38.600 because of all the movies about the high age of 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:42.480 piracy in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean Sea is the 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:46.840 great cradle of piracy as well as civilization. There were 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:53.440 entire cultures built upon piracy, entire cities constructed and adorned 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:58.160 with the plunder and booty taken from other cultures, from 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.120 other places all around on the Mediterranean. In fact, the 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.880 very term piracy comes from the ancient Greek word for 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:10.160 to attempt, as into attempt to steal. One of the 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:13.880 great accomplishments of Alexander the Great back in the fourth 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:18.680 century BC, was curbing piracy around ancient Greece. In fact, 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:22.640 the ancient seafaring people, the Phoenicians, are best known to 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:25.480 us today for the Phoenician alphabet, which we use and 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:30.200 was the precursor to ancient Greek written language, But they 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:34.600 were best known at the time as fearsome pirates. And 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:37.520 I'm sure some of you remember back in history class 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:42.000 you may have heard briefly about how in seventy five BC, 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:48.680 Silesian pirates in the aegeanc grabbed a guy named Julius Caesar, 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:52.880 and this didn't turn out so well for those Silesian pirates. 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.360 Caesar wasn't afraid of them at all. In fact, he 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:59.680 thought their initial ransom demand was too low. He said, 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.720 I'm worth more, and he told them that he was 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:04.880 good for the money. He in fact offered to help 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:09.600 arrange for the ransom himself. Julius Caesar settled in with 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:13.360 these pirates and befriended them, but from time to time 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:15.560 he would make a joke about how one day he 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:18.120 was going to have them all crucified. They would laugh 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:22.400 uneasily at this. After a little over a month in captivity, 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:26.240 Caesar was set free after the ransom was in fact delivered, 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:29.240 and then Caesar went back to Melitis and raised a 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.320 naval force. He wasn't actually even a military official at 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.640 the time, went out, found the pirates, camped on an island, 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:39.480 brought them back in chains, and then did in fact 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:43.680 have them all crucified. Julius Caesar was not messing around. 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:47.000 So the Mediterranean in a sense is the greatest largest 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.800 pirate cove in all of human history. And you can't 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:55.040 understand trade without understanding piracy and vice versa. This also 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:57.800 led the Venetians, bringing us back up now into the 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:02.040 fifteenth century, to become not only able sailors, but also 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:07.199 to be fearsome warriors on the sea. They would often 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:11.040 rely on mercenaries for their ground forces, or the Italians 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:15.240 would bring on someone called the condottiere, essentially a mercenary 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:19.720 war lord, a paid military expert who would run their 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:23.000 affairs for a given campaign. But it was only the 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:29.280 Venetians after Constantinople, who were in regular contact with the 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:33.200 Ottomans on the sea and had any hope, any prayer 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:37.400 of pushing back on the Ottoman navy. Unfortunately, the tiny 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:43.520 Venetian state, with a relatively small population, a minuscule land force, 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.600 and just built atop I mean the actual state of 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:50.840 Venice was in a lagoon on a series of shoals. 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:54.880 The Venetians didn't do well in their first battles with 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:58.280 the Ottomans. From fourteen sixty three to fourteen seventy nine, 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:03.680 they lost negropont Day on the east coast of Greece, Lemnos, Albaniavanette, 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:07.960 they lost a number of important way stations for trade, 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:12.520 and in fact, with some periods of common between the 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.200 Ottoman Venetian wars would extend all the way up into 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:19.480 the early seventeen hundreds. But let's just turn our attention 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.760 for a moment too. How big a threat in the 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:28.040 fourteen seventies, eighties and into the beginning of the sixteenth century, 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:31.280 the early fifteen hundreds, how big a threat was the 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:35.439 Ottoman Empire, which was clearly the largest, wealthiest and to 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:38.439 those not a part of it, most menacing state in 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:42.000 the world. How big a threat were the Ottomans really 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:45.680 to Christian Europe in this period. As I've said, in 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:50.280 our own schoolrooms and in our textbooks, there's really very 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:53.680 little focus put on this. Our attention is immediately shifted 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.840 westward to Columbus, the discovery of the New World and 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:00.200 the age of exploration. Maybe learned a little bit about 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:03.080 King Henry the Eighth in the early sixteenth century, and 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:07.240 then in fifteen seventeen Martin Luther the Reformation. He analysis 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:11.560 ninety five ccs towards a door in Wittenberg, Germany, And 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:15.560 that's pretty much the history you learned then. For whatever reason, 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:17.000 and there are a number that I can come up 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:19.480 with off the top of my head. What you don't 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:24.639 learn about in school is the enormous expansion of the 0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:30.119 Muslim Ottoman territory through conquest that occurs from fourteen fifty three. 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:35.719 Pretty much unbroken until fifteen sixty five the Siege of Malta. 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:40.280 You're talking about nearly a century of nothing but conquest 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:44.760 for the Crescent Moon of Islam and losses for all 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:47.840 of Christendom at that time. And it should be noted 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:52.920 that this was a period of highly brutal warfare where 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:58.800 captives were routinely slaughtered, even after negotiations for cities with 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:02.640 the promise of safe conduct from the Sultan himself. Sometimes 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:04.719 he would change his mind to side that everyone's going 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:07.800 to get their heads chopped off, or everybody would be 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:12.480 impaled a real punishment, or an individual was hoisted atop 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:18.439 a spear and then slowly dies, which the Ottomans specialized in. 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:20.720 And later on you would come to know a fellow 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:23.960 named Vlad the Impaler, the basis for the Dracula legend, 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:27.920 who took this Ottoman practice and used it back against them. 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:32.520 But a quick look at the scorecard in the late 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:37.240 fifteenth century shows you that Europe was in deep trouble. 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:42.320 The Ottomans were seizing Eastern European territories seemingly at will 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:46.560 with each campaigning season, and there was no power on 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:48.960 land in Christendom. That's scene that would ever be able 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:52.320 to stand up and beat the Ottomans in open battle 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:56.680 on land. The situation of the Christian States felt increasingly 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:00.600 hopeless at sea. Ever since the defeat of Concepts at 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:04.240 Opal in fourteen fifty three, the Ottoman navy had become 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:07.680 the pre eminent power in the region as well. This 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:11.640 was even more troubling because that meant that even Italy 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:16.160 itself was open to invasion. The seat of Christendom at 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:19.159 the time in Rome, home of the Pope, could in 0:21:19.240 --> 0:21:23.920 fact be invaded by these Ottoman forces, And in fact, 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:26.880 they came much closer to this than pretty much everybody 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:31.800 these day realizes. In fourteen eighty a d Ahmet Pasha 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:34.680 took the city of a Toronto on the southeast tip 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:37.720 of Italy. This was explicitly done to set up a 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:42.639 beachhead for a full on invasion and takeover of Italy. 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:44.800 They were going to take Rome, They're going to take 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:48.360 the Pope prisoner, conquer the heart of Christendom itself. Yeah, 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:50.760 something I don't think anybody really learns these days, and 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:54.560 I think we probably should. The only reason this project 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:58.240 was abandoned. They successfully took a Toronto on the Italian coast, 0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:02.600 but the Ottoman forces with drew from this forward operating 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:08.359 base because the Sultan met Met the second died. Europe 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:15.360 got lucky here, but it didn't last long. In fifteen twelve, 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:20.199 Salem the Grim takes over as Sultan, and then the 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:24.800 Ottomans continue the conquest. Fifteen seventeen they take Egypt, and 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:28.359 then some very interesting things start happening on the north 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:31.679 coast of Africa, which we know best as the Barbary Coast, 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:34.080 right to the shores of Tripoli. My friends, we know 0:22:34.119 --> 0:22:37.000 about the Barbary War the United States fought in around 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:42.880 eighteen hundred. Well, it was three hundred years before that 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:50.159 that two brothers became known to history as Brothers Barbarossa Redbeard, would, 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:54.719 after humble origins as the sons of a potter in 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:58.600 the Aegean Islands, make their way into the service of 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:02.359 pirates and get involved in a series of coups and 0:23:02.560 --> 0:23:05.879 conquests in the north of Africa that would end with 0:23:05.920 --> 0:23:08.439 the younger of the two brothers, Oric was the elder. 0:23:08.520 --> 0:23:11.560 He ended up getting killed, but hyrod In, the younger, 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:15.080 in charge of Algiers, but he realized that his grip 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:17.280 on power there was tenuous. So what do you do 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:20.119 when you're a pirate who has seized a kingdom you 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:23.359 can't control, but you're in a very strategic position in 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:27.160 the Mediterranean, and you want to make sure that the biggest, baddest, 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:30.600 toughest guys are going to be on your side. You 0:23:30.720 --> 0:23:33.280 offer up this new kingdom, or you offer up the 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:37.439 title of Sultan of Algiers to the Ottoman Sultan Salim 0:23:37.480 --> 0:23:40.879 the first Salim the Grim and asked for his protection. 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:45.199 And that's exactly what hered and Barbarossa did. Later on 0:23:45.320 --> 0:23:48.760 this Barbarosa would become the chief admiral of the entire 0:23:48.800 --> 0:23:53.760 Ottoman fleet and a scourge to all of Christendom. In fact, 0:23:53.760 --> 0:23:58.960 Barbarossa became a tale that parents would tell their children 0:23:59.080 --> 0:24:02.320 along the Mediterranean in Christian lands to terrify them. He 0:24:02.800 --> 0:24:06.680 was a boogeyman. And the reason for this is that 0:24:06.880 --> 0:24:11.040 there was a system of slavery throughout the Mediterranean at 0:24:11.080 --> 0:24:16.240 this time that was incredibly widespread, and Barbarossa would constantly 0:24:16.280 --> 0:24:20.480 go on slaving missions along the coasts of Spain and 0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:24.119 Italy and the islands around them. Now, this is a 0:24:24.240 --> 0:24:28.159 very important dynamic to understanding what's going on here and 0:24:28.320 --> 0:24:31.239 leads up to these epic battles like the Siege of 0:24:31.280 --> 0:24:35.200 Malta and the Battle of Lepanto in fifteen sixty five 0:24:35.240 --> 0:24:38.440 and fifteen seventy one, respectively. We're certainly going to talk 0:24:38.480 --> 0:24:40.800 about those battles, but just for a moment here, I 0:24:40.840 --> 0:24:42.600 got to talk to you about something else, and it's 0:24:42.640 --> 0:24:47.520 our sponsor, Bambi, Because when running a business, HR issues 0:24:47.600 --> 0:24:52.000 can kill you. Wrongful termination suits, minimum wage requirements, labor regulations, 0:24:52.200 --> 0:24:55.200 and HR manager salaries aren't cheap an average of seventy 0:24:55.280 --> 0:25:00.959 thousand dollars a year. Bambi spelled Bambee was created specifically 0:25:00.960 --> 0:25:03.920 for small business. You can get a dedicated HR manager, 0:25:04.000 --> 0:25:07.760 craft HR policy, and maintain your compliance all for just 0:25:07.960 --> 0:25:10.960 ninety nine dollars a month. With Bamby, you can change 0:25:11.119 --> 0:25:14.080 HR from your biggest liability to your biggest strength. 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We think 0:25:58.000 --> 0:25:59.760 of it as the Year of Columbus, but it was 0:25:59.800 --> 0:26:02.840 all so the year of the expulsion of the Moors 0:26:02.840 --> 0:26:08.080 from Spain. From the Iberian Peninsula, many thousands of Muslim 0:26:08.160 --> 0:26:12.400 inhabitants were told that they had to leave and go 0:26:12.480 --> 0:26:17.160 across the Strait of Gibraltar and resettle in the Muslim 0:26:17.280 --> 0:26:21.760 lands of what is today's North Africa, and this led 0:26:21.800 --> 0:26:26.640 to a tremendous bitterness that would play out in battles 0:26:26.680 --> 0:26:30.800 for decades to come. The expelled Muslim inhabitants became known 0:26:30.960 --> 0:26:35.440 to the Spaniards as Mauricecos, and they brought with them 0:26:35.480 --> 0:26:38.960 to North Africa a sense of betrayal and hatred of 0:26:39.000 --> 0:26:43.600 the Spanish, of the Christians, and also, even more importantly, 0:26:44.280 --> 0:26:51.560