Capture of Mahdia (1550)

Capture of Mahdiye
Part of Ottoman–Habsburg wars
Mahdia in 1535. Engraving of 1575 by Braun and Hogenberg.
Date 28 June – 8 September 1550 Location Mahdia, present-day Tunis Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Spanish Empire Knights of Malta Republic of Genoa	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Andrea Doria Bernardino de Mendoza Claude de la Sengle	Turgut Reis Hesar
Strength
52 galleys 28 naos Unknown soldiers[1]	Unknown in Mahdia 3,700 Moors 800 Turks 60 cavalry[1]
Casualties and losses
500 killed and 1,000 wounded[2]	7,000 killed or captured in the assault[3]

The capture of Mahdia was an amphibious military operation that took place from June to September, 1550, during the struggle between the Ottoman Empire and the Spanish Habsburgs for the control of the Mediterranean. A Spanish naval expedition under the command of the Genoese condottiero and admiral Andrea Doria and the Spaniard Bernardino de Mendoza, supported by the Knights of Malta under their Grand Master Claude de la Sengle, besieged and captured the Ottoman stronghold of Mahdia or Mahdiye, defended by the Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis, known as Dragut, who was using the place as a base for his piratical activities throughout the Spanish and Italian coasts. Mahdia was abandoned by Spain three years later, and all its fortifications were demolished to avoid a re-occupation of the city by the Ottomans.