the significant victory, however, the Holy League's disunity prevented the victors from capitalizing on their triumph. Plans to seize the Dardanelles as a step towards recovering Constantinople for Christendom, were ruined by bickering amongst the allies. With a massive effort, the Ottoman Empire rebuilt its navy. Within six months a new fleet was able to reassert Ottoman naval supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean. John captured Tunis (in present-day Tunisia) from the Ottomans in 1573, but it was soon lost again. The Ottoman sultan agreed to a truce in the Mediterranean with Philip in 1580. In the western Mediterranean, Philip pursued a defensive policy with the construction of a series of military forts (presidios) and peace agreements with some of the Muslim rulers of North Africa. In the first half of the 17th century, Spanish ships attacked the Anatolian coast, defeating larger Ottoman fleets at the Battle of Cape Celidonia and the Battle of Cape Corvo. Larache and La Mamora, on the Moroccan Atlantic coast, and the island of Alhucemas, in the Mediterranean, were taken, but during the second half of the 17th century, Larache and La Mamora were also lost. Conflicts in North-West Europe Philip led Spain into the final phase of the Italian Wars, crushing a French army at the Battle of St. Quentin in Picardy in 1558 and defeating the French again at the Battle of Gravelines. The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, signed in 1559, permanently recognized Spanish claims in Italy. France was stricken for the next thirty years by chronic civil war and unrest and, during this period, removed it from effectively competing with Spain and the Habsburg family in European power games. Freed from effective French opposition, Spain attained the apogee of its might and territorial reach in the period 1559–1643. In 1566, Calvinist-led riots in the Netherlands prompted the Duke of Alba to march into Brussels at the head of a large army to restore order. In 1568, William of Orange, a German nobleman, led a failed attempt to drive Alba from the Netherlands. The Battle of Rheindalen is often seen as the unofficial start of the Eighty Years' War that led to the separation of the northern and southern Netherlands and to the formation of the United Provinces. The Spanish, who derived a great deal of wealth from the Netherlands and particularly from the vital port of Antwerp, were committed to restoring order and maintaining