In the morning of 7 October 1571, at the mouth of the gulf between mainland Greece and the Peloponnese, the fleets of the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League clashed in the last great battle between oared fighting ships. By four o'clock that afternoon the sea was red with blood. The Muslims lost 230 out of their 277 warships and about 20,000 men. It was the first time in over a century that Christians had successfully taken the offensive against them. In this important new history, Hugh Bicheno describes the clash of cultures that led to one of the greatest turning-point battles in history. 'As a narrative of the battle, Crescent and Cross is unlikely to be surpassed. Hugh Bicheno brings to his subject not only deep knowledge, but also an enviable ability to convey both the glamour and horror of sixteenth-century war' John Adamson, Literary Review