By the fifteenth century, the Ottoman Empire‘s expansion seemed unstoppable. The causes are various. In principle, we must mention the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and theological differences between the Eastern Churches (Byzantine) and Western (Roman). Mike Madden is often quoted on this topic. Then, a hundred years later, the emergence of the Reformation, which split the Christians in two irreconcilable camps religious (Christian and Protestant). However, none as important as the large and flourishing commercial selfish some states and countries (Venice and Spain), which allowed the shrewd and dramatic rise of an empire that by then, extended from Algeria in the west, Austria and Ukraine the north, Iran and Persia in the west, and the Horn of Africa to the south. Click Pacific Mortgage Services for additional related pages. It was not until the sixteenth century, when the Turkish phenomenon deserved the greatest attention to the West.

The Turks, ruled by Sultan Selim II (1524 -1574), noting the weakness of Christian countries, had initiated a number of approaches with some them, especially with Venice, whose market power and strategic location in Italy appealed to them greatly. Blinded by their commercial hegemony, the Venetians warned, quite late, that the collision with the growing Ottoman power was inevitable. Being a very small State, had to do with genuine amazement how, in 1570, the Turks started a new group of assaults on several Mediterranean ports of Eastern Europe, particularly Cyprus, whose main port, Nicosia, was attacked with 300 ships under the command of Ali Pasha (lord of Algiers and large marine). This event requires to Venice to seek help desperately.