Ottoman Empire · 1533-1573

Barbarossa, Malta and Lepanto

For forty years Ottoman and Christian fleets fought for the Mediterranean. Students follow the corsair-admiral Barbarossa, the siege of Malta and the great galley battle of Lepanto, and ask who really won.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1538 to AD 1571
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

For forty years Ottoman and Christian fleets fought for the Mediterranean. Students follow the corsair-admiral Barbarossa, the siege of Malta and the great galley battle of Lepanto, and ask who really won.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Algiers, Preveza, Malta, Lepanto and Cyprus on the map.
  • Describe the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and its results.
  • Explain why Lepanto changed less on the map than its fame suggests.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1538

A sea of rivals

Open the map in 1538 and turn on Historical Events. Find the Battle of Preveza. Which empire holds the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean, and which holds the west?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1565

Malta, 1565

Move to 1565 and find the Great Siege of Malta. Look at the island's position between Sicily and Africa. Why did both sides want it?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1571

Lepanto, 1571

Move to 1571 and find the Battle of Lepanto in the Gulf of Patras, off western Greece. Then look east to Cyprus. What had the Ottomans taken that same year?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Hayreddin Barbarossa began as a corsair and became the Ottoman grand admiral. Why would a sultan give his fleet to a former corsair?
  2. Galleys were rowed by hundreds of men, many of them enslaved captives or convicts. What did victory or defeat mean for them?
  3. At Lepanto the Holy League won a huge victory, yet the Ottomans kept Cyprus. Who really won the war?
  4. The Ottomans rebuilt their fleet within a year of Lepanto. What does that tell us about the empire's resources?
  5. Lepanto was celebrated in paintings and poems all over Catholic Europe. Why do some battles become more famous than their results deserve?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Suleiman the Magnificent, who made Barbarossa his grand admiral and sent his fleet against Malta in 1565. Discuss: why was ruling the sea harder than ruling the land?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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