Cretan War (1645–1669)

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Cretan War
Part of the Turkish-Venetian Wars

A Venetian map of Crete.
Date 1645–1669
Location Dalmatia, Crete and Aegean Sea
Result Ottoman victory
Territorial
changes		 Crete conquered by the Ottoman Empire
Belligerents
Republic of Venice
Knights of Malta
Papal States
French volunteers
Maniot pirates		 Ottoman Empire,
Barbary States
Commanders
Lazzaro Mocenigo
Francesco Morosini
Francis of Vendome, Duke of Beaufort †		 Ibrahim I
Mehmed IV
Silahdar Yusuf Pasha
Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed
Strength
400 ships, 50,000 men in 1645[1]
v • d • e
Cretan War (1645–1669)

The Cretan War (Italian: Guerra di Candia), as the sixth Turkish–Venetian War is better known, was a conflict between the Republic of Venice and her allies (the Knights of Malta, the Papal States, French volunteers and pirates from Mani) against the Ottoman Empire and the Barbary States, fought over the Venetian possession of Crete. The war lasted from 1645 to 1669 and was fought in Dalmatia, Crete and in numerous naval engagements in the Aegean Sea. The prolonged Siege of Candia (modern Heraklion), the capital of Crete, was the central event of the war, and its eventual fall in 1669 sealed the fate of the island, ending the war in an Ottoman victory.

Contents

[edit] Background

After the loss of Cyprus to the Ottomans in the fifth Turkish–Venetian War (1570–1573), the island of Crete was the last major overseas possession of Venice. Its important strategic position made it an obvious target for Ottoman expansion, and the Serenissima, with its weak military and great dependence on uninterrupted trade, was anxious not to provoke the Ottomans. Venice scrupulously observed the terms of its treaty with the Ottomans, securing over sixty years of peaceful relations. Thus in 1638, when a Venetian fleet attacked a fleet of Barbary pirates that had sought protection in the Ottoman port of Valona, the situation was defused, with the Republic paying the Ottomans an indemnity.[2]

A similar episode, however, that occurred in 1644, had an entirely different outcome: on 28 September, the Knights of Malta attacked an Ottoman convoy on its way from Constantinople to Alexandria, aboard which were the exiled Chief Black Eunuch Sünbül Aga, as well as a number of pilgrims bound for Mecca. The Knights loaded their loot on a ship, which docked at Candia for a few days.[3] The Ottomans were enraged at the incident, and accused the Venetians of deliberate collusion with the Knights. The Venetians denied this, but, with the hawkish party being then dominant in the Ottoman court, an expedition was quickly assembled with 60,000 troops under Silahdar Yusuf Pasha.[4]

[edit] The war

1651 map depicting the Venetian Lion of St Mark standing guard over the Regno di Candia. By that time however, all of the island, except for the capital Candia, was under Ottoman control.
1651 map depicting the Venetian Lion of St Mark standing guard over the Regno di Candia. By that time however, all of the island, except for the capital Candia, was under Ottoman control.

[edit] Early Ottoman operations in Crete

The Venetians were taken by surprise at the arrival of the Ottoman fleet on 26 June 1645, as they expected it to head towards Malta. They were thoroughly unprepared, and the local Greek population was not well-disposed towards them.[4] The Ottomans took the city of Canea (Chania) on 17 August, after a two-month siege, but when Silahdar Yusuf Pasha returned to Constantinople for the winter, he fell foul of the Sultan, and was executed.[5] Nevertheless, the Ottomans made good progress, taking Rettimo (Rethymno) early in 1646, and gradually reducing the Venetian strongholds throughout the island. By 1648, all of Crete, with the exception of Candia and a few strongholds like Gramvousa, was in Ottoman hands.[5]

[edit] The Siege of Candia begins

For more details on this topic, see Siege of Candia.

The siege began in May 1648, and the Turks spent three months investing the city, which included cutting off the water supply. Eventually, the it would last until 1669, the second longest siege in history.[6] The Ottoman besiegers were adversely affected by the bad supply situation which the activity of the Christian fleets in the Aegean had caused (see below). In addition, the overall Ottoman war effort was severely hampered by increased domestic instability and the diversion of resources to other fronts. The lack of supplies and reinforcements, and the horrible conditions of the siege trenches caused occasional outbursts of mutiny among the war-weary troops, like in August 1649, when the Janissaries demanded to be sent back.[7] The siege continued without much prospect on either side, until the arrival of a new Ottoman expeditionary force in 1666.

[edit] The naval war

A Maltese galley. Galleys were still the mainstay of the Mediterranean navies during the 17th century.
A Maltese galley. Galleys were still the mainstay of the Mediterranean navies during the 17th century.
For a complete list of naval engagements, see Naval battles of the Cretan War

Venice could not directly confront the large Ottoman expeditionary force on Crete, but it did possess a fine navy, that could intervene and cut the Ottoman supply routes.[8] In 1645, the Venetians and their allies possessed a fleet of 60–70 galleys, 4 galleasses and about 36 galleons.[9] In addition, the Venetians hired armed merchantmen from the Netherlands, and later also from England, to augment their forces. Their first operation was a landing on the strategically important island of Tenedos at the entrance of the Dardanelles in 1646. Although they were eventually driven off, the Venetians returned in 1648 and succeeded in blockading the Straits for a whole year. The Ottomans countered this in part by building a new fleet at Çeşme, and in 1649, a strengthened Ottoman fleet broke the blockade.[5] This highlighted the weakness of the Venetian position: maintaining long blockades with galleys was an inherently difficult task, and the Republic did not have enough ships to control both the Dardanelles and the passage of Chios at the same time.[8]

On 10 July 1651, the first significant naval battle of the war was fought south of Naxos, a three-day engagement in which the Venetians under Lazzaro Mocenigo were victorious. A series of four battles was fought off the Dardanelles in 1654–55, without achieving any decisive results, although by and large the Venetians, under Mocenigo's successor Lorenzo Marcello, held the upper hand over Kapudan Pasha Kara Murad.[7] In June 1656 however, a combined Venetian–Maltese fleet inflicted on the Ottomans, under Kenan Pasha, their "worst naval defeat since Lepanto".[10] This victory enabled the Venetians to seize Tenedos on 8 July and Lemnos on 20 August, effectively cutting off the resupply of Crete and causing a shortage of food in Constantinople.[11]

In 1657, the Ottomans reversed the situation. A new and energetic Grand Vizier, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, had been appointed, who reinvigorated the Ottoman war effort. Several naval actions occurred between the Ottomans and the Venetians, and despite achieving some victories, most notably the three-day action of 17–20 July 1657, the overstretched Venetians were forced to abandon Lemnos and Tenedos.[12] In 1658, Ottoman power was redirected north in a campaign against George II Rákóczi, Prince of Transylvania, which evolved into a long drawn-out conflict with the Habsburgs. In the meantime, war-weariness had set in among the Venetians, who suffered from the disruption in trade. Peace feelers were sent to the Ottomans, but their demand for the full concession of Crete as a condition for peace was unacceptable to the Republic.[12]

With the end of the war between France and Spain however, the Venetians became encouraged, hoping to receive increased assistance in money and men, especially from France. In the event, the promised help was slow to materialize. In 1659, the Venetian commander on Crete, Francesco Morosini, attempted to go into the offensive by landing in the Morea and joining forces with the Maniots, who had risen up against the Ottomans. The allies took Kalamata, but Morosini was eventually forced to return to Candia, abandoning this venture. The Venetian naval victories at Milos in 1661, and at Kos in 1662 were not able to break the stalemate, and a Venetian effort in 1666 to retake Chania failed. Finally, with the signing of the Peace of Vasvár in 1664, the Ottomans were able to focus their strength against Crete: Grand Vizier Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed initiated large preparations in the winter of 1665/66. An Ottoman peace proposal, which would have allowed Venice to keep Candia against an annual payment of tribute was rejected,[13] and in May 1666, the Ottoman army departed from Thrace for southern Greece, whence it would embark for Crete.

[edit] The Siege of Candia ends

Grand Vizier Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha
Grand Vizier Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha

The Ottoman army arrived on the island during the winter of 1666/1667, and in May, the final phase of the siege, overseen by the Grand Vizier himself, began. It would last for 22 months and cost the lives of 70,000 Turks, 38,000 Cretans and slaves and 29,088 of the city's Christian defenders.[9] The Venetians were reinforced with a 5,000-strong French contingent and attempted to lift the siege in July 1669, but, after a month and a half of fighting, they failed.[14] With the departure of the French force in August and the city literally in ruins, Morosini was forced, after a council of war on 27 August, but without first consulting Venice, to capitulate. On 27 September 1669, the city was surrendered to the Ottomans, while the survivors of the garrison and the citizens were evacuated.[14]

[edit] The war in Dalmatia

The Dalmatian front was a separate theater of operations, which was involved in the early phase of the war. The conditions there were almost reverse to those in Crete: for the Ottomans, it was too far away and relatively insignificant, while the Venetians operated near their own bases of supply, and had undisputed control of the sea, being thus able to easily reinforce their coastal strongholds. The Ottomans launched a large-scale attack in 1646, made some significant gains and laid an unsuccessful siege to the fortress of Sebenico in August–September 1647. In the next year, however, the Venetians re-captured most of the lost ground, including Clissa.[5][15]

[edit] Peace treaty and aftermath

The surrender of Candia ended the four and a half centuries of Venetian rule in Crete. On his own initiative, Morosini concluded a permanent peace agreement with the Ottomans. Under the circumstances, it was relatively lenient: Venice would retain the island of Tinos and the isolated Cretan fortresses of Spinalonga, Gramvousa and Souda, as well as the gains made in Dalmatia.[14] Nevertheless, Venice had lost its greatest and most prosperous colony, and the small gains it made in Dalmatia were insufficient compensation. Upon his return to Venice in 1670, Morosini was tried on charges of insubordination and treason, but was acquitted. Fifteen years later, he would lead the Venetian forces in the Morean War, where the Republic attempted, for the last time, to reverse its losses and reestablish itself as one of the major powers of the Eastern Mediterranean.[9] During that war, in 1692, a Venetian fleet attempted to retake Candia, but failed. Crete would remain in Ottoman hands until 1912, when, during the First Balkan War, it was united to Greece.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Norwich, A History of Venice, p. 545.
  2. ^ Finkel, p. 222
  3. ^ Finkel, p. 225
  4. ^ a b Finkel, p. 226
  5. ^ a b c d Finkel, p. 227
  6. ^ after the siege of Ceuta by the Moors (1674-1700)
  7. ^ a b Finkel, p. 247
  8. ^ a b Turnbull, p. 85
  9. ^ a b c The War for Candia
  10. ^ Finkel, p. 248
  11. ^ Finkel, pp. 251-252
  12. ^ a b Finkel, p. 256
  13. ^ Finkel, p. 270
  14. ^ a b c Finkel, p. 271
  15. ^ Venice Republic: Renaissance

[edit] Sources