Conquest of Tunis

Conquest of Tunis
Part of the Ottoman-Habsburg wars and the Portuguese-Turkish Wars
Attack on La Goletta, with Tunis in the background. Entry of Charles V into Tunis in 1535.
Date June 1535 Location Tunis Result Ottomans lose Tunis
Belligerents
Empire of Charles V: Spain Holy Roman Empire Republic of Genoa Portugal Papal States Knights of Malta	Ottoman Empire
Commanders
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Álvaro de Bazán Luis de Requesens García de Toledo Andrea Doria Infante Luís, Duke of Beja Virginio Ursino	Khayr ad-Din Barbarossa
Strength
Total men: 60,000 Ships: 207 Spanish ships[1] 60 Flemish hulks 10 Sicilian galleys 6 Napolitan galleys 19 galleys 1 galleon, 20 caravels 8 galleys 4 galleys	82 warships[2] 2 galleys.[3]
Casualties and losses
Many fell to dysentery	At least 30,000 civilians killed 82 ships destroyed in the lake of Tunis

The Conquest of Tunis in 1535 was an attack on Tunis, then under the control of the Ottoman Empire, by the Spanish Empire.

The battle

In 1533, Suleiman ordered Hayreddin Barbarossa, whom he had summoned from Algiers, to build a large war fleet in the arsenal of Constantinople.^[4] Altogether 70 galleys were built during the winter of 1533-34, manned by slave oarsmen, including 1,200 Christian ones.^[5] With this fleet, Barbarossa conducted aggressive raids along the coast of Italy, until he conquered Tunis on 16 August 1534, ousting the local ruler, theretofore subservient to the Spanish, Muley Hasan.^[6] Barbarossa thus established a strong naval base in Tunis, which could be used for raids in the region, and on nearby Malta.^[7]

Imperial troops in the conquest of Tunis, 1535, Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen.

Ottoman troops in the conquest of Tunis, 1535.

Charles V, one of the most powerful men in Europe at the time, assembled a huge army of some 30,000 soldiers, 74 galleys (rowed by chained Protestants shipped in from Antwerp),^[8] 300 sailing ships, the Santa Anna, the largest ship in the world at the time,^[9] and Portuguese galleon São João Baptista, also known as Botafogo, with 366 bronze cannons to drive the Ottomans from the region.^[10] The expense involved for Charles V was considerable, and at 1,000,000 ducats was on par with the cost of Charles' campaign against Suleiman on the Danube.^[11] Unexpectedly, the funding of the conquest of Tunis came from the galleons sailing in from the New World, in the form of a 2 million gold ducats treasure extracted by Francisco Pizarro in exchange for his releasing of the Inca king Atahualpa (whom he nevertheless executed on 29 August 1533).^[12]

Despite a request by Charles V, Francis I denied French support to the expedition, explaining that he was under a 3 year truce with Barbarossa following the 1533 Ottoman embassy to France (1533).^[13] Francis I was also under negotiations with Suleiman the Magnificient for a combined attack on Charles V, following the 1534 Ottoman embassy to France. Francis I only agreed to the Pope Paul III's request that no fight between Christians occur during the time of the expedition.^[14]

On 1 June 1535, protected by a Genoese fleet, Charles V destroyed Barbarossa's fleet and, after a costly yet successful siege at La Goletta, captured Tunis. In the ruins, the Spanish found cannon balls with the French Fleur-de-lys mark, evidence of the contacts stemming from the Franco-Ottoman alliance.^[15]

Charles V announcing the capture of Tunis to Pope Paul III in 1535.

The resulting massacre of the city left an estimated 30,000 dead. Barbarossa managed to flee to Algiers with a troop of several thousands Turks.^[16] Muley Hasan was restored to his throne.^[17] The stench of the corpses was such that Charles V soon left Tunis and moved his camp to Radès.

The siege demonstrated the power projection of the Habsburg dynasties at the time; Charles V had under his control much of southern Italy, Sicily, Spain, the Americas, Austria, Netherlands and lands in Germany. Furthermore, he was Holy Roman Emperor and had de jure control over much of Germany as well.

The catastrophic defeat in the Capture of Tunis in 1535 at the hands of Andrea Doria motivated the Ottoman Empire to enter into a formal alliance with France against the Habsburg Empire. Ambassador Jean de La Forêt was sent to Constantinople, and for the first time was able to become permament ambassador at the Ottoman court and to negotiate treaties.^[18]

Aftermath

The Ottomans responded by recapturing the city in 1574. However the Ottoman governors of Tunis were semi-autonomous Beyliks who acted as privateers against Christian shipping. Consequently, raiding in the Mediterranean continued until the French subjugated the region as a protectorate three centuries later in 1830 with an invasion leading to the creation of French Algeria, and the establishment of a Protectorate over Tunisia in 1881 through the French occupation of Tunisia.

Gallery

Bombardment of La Goletta.	Attack at La Goletta.	Battle scene at Tunis, 1535.	Liberation of 20,000 Christian captives.
Charles V going to Radès.

See also

• Barbary Pirates
• Battle of La Goleta
• Journey of Algiers
• Siege of Castelnuovo
• Battle of Djerba
• Siege of Malta
• Battle of Lepanto
• Ottoman-Habsburg wars
• Portuguese-Ottoman Wars

Notes

References

• Battle: a Visual Journey Through 5000 Years of Combat. Grant, R. G. 2005
• La Marina Cántabra. Ballesteros-Beretta, Antonio. 1968
• Cervantes Virtual
• Roger Crowley, Empire of the sea, 2008 Faber & Faber ISBN 9780571232314
• Garnier, Edith L'Alliance Impie Editions du Felin, 2008, Paris ISBN 9782866456788 Interview