One of the most fascinating historical connection points I've encountered comes from Richard Crowley's remarkable, "Empires of the Sea".
In the early modern period, the rowed galley was the premiere device of naval warfare. The need for oarsmen for the growing fleets of the powers of the time, the Ottomans and the Hapsburgs, drove slave taking by both Islamists and Christians to incredible scale and brutality.
The Ottoman's, through their high level of centralized control, taxation and organization were able to repeatedly put together massive galley fleets, which were often supplemented by Barbary corsairs and often led by Barbary admirals.
Europe's response was to put its new engines of capital to the same purpose. They had no other choice as Europe lacked a centralized administration. Charles V was the closest thing they had but his powers of conscription were limited. Charles however was able to pay for one of his most critically timed fleets with a surprise influx of gold. Charles afterall was king of Spain as well has Holy Roman Emporer and 2 million ducets worth of new world gold was his take on the shakedown of the Incans for the ransom of Atahualpa.
This gold hit Charles' bankers just in time to construct a fleet which turned back a major Ottoman advance. To me there is no better illustration of first just how long we've been living in a globalizing world and second just how joined at the hip colonialism, capitalism and European power are.
The majority of gally rovers during that period, of western countroes, were convicts or paid rovers. No idea how the Ottomans did it.
That conflict, European powers against the Ottomans over the Mediterranean trade routes, included a massive gally building program by Venice. Which depleted Venice's coffers so much that were later on sidelined as an economic power.
In the early modern period, the rowed galley was the premiere device of naval warfare. The need for oarsmen for the growing fleets of the powers of the time, the Ottomans and the Hapsburgs, drove slave taking by both Islamists and Christians to incredible scale and brutality.
The Ottoman's, through their high level of centralized control, taxation and organization were able to repeatedly put together massive galley fleets, which were often supplemented by Barbary corsairs and often led by Barbary admirals.
Europe's response was to put its new engines of capital to the same purpose. They had no other choice as Europe lacked a centralized administration. Charles V was the closest thing they had but his powers of conscription were limited. Charles however was able to pay for one of his most critically timed fleets with a surprise influx of gold. Charles afterall was king of Spain as well has Holy Roman Emporer and 2 million ducets worth of new world gold was his take on the shakedown of the Incans for the ransom of Atahualpa.
This gold hit Charles' bankers just in time to construct a fleet which turned back a major Ottoman advance. To me there is no better illustration of first just how long we've been living in a globalizing world and second just how joined at the hip colonialism, capitalism and European power are.