Conquest of Tunis

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Conquest of Tunis

Part of the Ottoman-Habsburg wars
and the Portuguese-Turkish Wars

Date	1535
Location	Tunis
Result	Ottomans lose Tunis

Belligerents

Empire of Charles V

Portugal

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

Unknown

Casualties and losses

Many fell to dysentery

At least 30,000 civilians killed

Ottoman-Habsburg wars

Mohacs - Campaign of Ferdinand I - Balkan campaign of Suleiman - Vienna - Little War - Koszeg - Tunis - Osijek - Preveza - Campaign of Suleiman (1543) - Eger - Malta - Szigetvar - Lepanto (1571) - Thirteen Years War - Keresztes - Saint Gotthard - Vienna (1683) - Mohacs (1687) - Slankamen - Zenta - Peterwardein - Grocka

v • d • e Portuguese–Turkish Wars

First • Tunis (1535) • Second Third • Fourth • Turkish–Venetian

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

1 The battle
2 Aftermath
3 See also
4 Notes
5 References

[edit] The battle

In 1535, the Ottomans under Khair ad-Din began attacking Christian shipping in the Mediterranean from a base in Algiers. That year Tunisia was captured to act as a supply base for further naval campaigns in the region. Charles V, one of the most powerful men of Europe at the time, assembled a huge army of some 60,000 soldiers to drive the Ottomans from the region. Protected by a Genoese fleet, Charles V destroyed Barbarossa's fleet^{[citation needed]} and, after a costly yet successful siege at La Goletta, captured Tunis. The resulting massacre of the city left an estimated 30,000 dead^{[citation needed]}.

The siege demonstrated at the time 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 and lands in Germany. Furthermore, he was Holy Roman Emperor and had de jure control over much of Germany as well.

[edit] 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.