1564-1669 1718-1789






The Republic of Venice, 1669-1718



In 1669 the Republic of Venice had lost Crete (in Italian : Candia) to the Ottoman Empire. The next one and a half decades were a period of peace, in which prosperity was restored. When Vienna was besieged by Ottoman forces in 1683, Venice refused to enter into an anti-Ottoman alliance; this she did in 1684.A Venetian fleet took Leucas (in It.: Santa Maura) and the fortress of Preveza in 1684; much of the Peloponnese (in It.: Morea) was occupied in 1685. The Venetians hired a Swedish general, Wilhelm Otto von Königsmark, to command the land operations. By 1687 all of the Peloponnese was under Venetian control; Venetian forces took Athens. Then, when attempting to take Euboea (in It.: Negroponte), the Venetian army was struck by an epidemic disease. In 1694 a Venetian fleet took Chios; after a lost naval battle it was lost again in 1695. In the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699), the Ottoman Empire ceded the Morea and Santa Maura to Venice; the latter returned Attica with Athens to the High Porte.
In 1700 the War of Spanish Succession broke out, both rival sides lobbying for Venice to join their side. Venice chose Armed Neutrality. Yet parts of the Terraferma served for some time as battlefield in the conflict; overall the republic suffered only limited damage.
In 1714 the Sultan declared war on Venice; in 1715 the Morea was overrun. A Turkish attack on Corfu in 1715 was repelled. In the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718) ending the war, Venice only regained Cythera, Preveza and a few minor fortresses.






EXTERNAL
FILES
Bergamo, from Walled Towns
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE John Julius Norwich, A History of Venice, NY : Vintage, 1989 : Morosini and Morea : 1670-1700, pp.561-575; Passarowitz and Peace : 1700-1718, pp.575-583



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on January 9th 2002, last revised on March 24th 2006

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