Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573)

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This article is about the 1570 Ottoman Turkish invasion and conquest of Cyprus. For the 1974 Turkish invasion, see Turkish invasion of Cyprus.

Fourth Ottoman–Venetian War
Part of the
Aegean seas
Result Ottoman victory
Territorial
changes		 Cyprus under Ottoman rule
Belligerents Ottoman Empire Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Strength 185,000[1] 70,000[2]Casualties and losses 70,000–75,000 killed[3] 15,100–17,600 killed[4]

The Fourth Ottoman–Venetian War, also known as the War of Cyprus (Italian: Guerra di Cipro) was fought between 1570 and 1573. It was waged between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, the latter joined by the Holy League, a coalition of Christian states formed by the pope which included Spain (with Naples and Sicily), the Republic of Genoa, the Duchy of Savoy, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

The war, the pre-eminent episode of sultan

Battle of Lepanto, the united Christian fleet destroyed the Ottoman fleet, but was unable to take advantage of this victory. The Ottomans quickly rebuilt their naval forces and Venice was forced to negotiate a separate peace, ceding Cyprus to the Ottomans and paying a tribute of 300,000 ducats
.

Background

The large and wealthy island of

Ottoman Porte.[7][8] Nevertheless, the island's strategic location in the Eastern Mediterranean, between the Ottoman heartland of Anatolia and the newly acquired provinces of the Levant and Egypt, made it a tempting target for future Ottoman expansion.[9][10] In addition, the protection offered by the local Venetian authorities to corsairs who harassed Ottoman shipping, including Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, rankled the Ottoman leadership.[11][12]

A Divan decision addressing to the qadi of Uskudar about rations before the outbreak of war.

After concluding a

Duke of Naxos upon Selim's accession. Nasi harboured resentment towards Venice and hoped for his own nomination as King of Cyprus after its conquest—he already had a crown and a royal banner made to that effect.[16]

Despite the existing peace treaty with Venice, renewed as recently as 1567,

Piyale Pasha as his principal aide.[22]

On the Venetian side, Ottoman intentions had been clear and an attack against Cyprus had been anticipated for some time. A war scare had broken out in 1564–1565, when the Ottomans eventually

Dutch Revolt and domestically against the Moriscos.[27] Another problem for Venice was the attitude of the island's population. The harsh treatment and oppressive taxation of the local Orthodox Greek population by the Catholic Venetians had caused great resentment, so that their sympathies generally lay with the Ottomans.[28]

By early 1570, the Ottoman preparations and the warnings sent by the Venetian bailo at Constantinople, Marco Antonio Barbaro, had convinced the Signoria that war was imminent. Reinforcements and money were sent post-haste to Crete and Cyprus.[29] In March 1570, an Ottoman envoy was sent to Venice, bearing an ultimatum that demanded the immediate cession of Cyprus.[13] Although some voices were raised in the Venetian Signoria advocating the cession of the island in exchange for land in Dalmatia and further trading privileges, the hope of assistance from the other Christian states stiffened the republic's resolve, and the ultimatum was categorically rejected.[30]

Ottoman conquest of Cyprus

Main articles: Ottoman Cyprus and Siege of Famagusta
Map of the siege of Nicosia, by Giovanni Camoccio, 1574

On 27 June, the invasion force, some 350–400 ships and 60,000–100,000 men, set sail for Cyprus. It landed unopposed at Salines, near Larnaca on the island's southern shore on 3 July, and marched towards the capital, Nicosia.[15][27] The Venetians had debated opposing the landing, but in the face of the superior Ottoman artillery, and the fact that a defeat would mean the annihilation of the island's defensive force, it was decided to withdraw to the forts and hold out until reinforcements arrived.[31]

The siege of Nicosia began on 22 July and lasted for seven weeks, until 9 September.

unclean by Muslims, were killed, and only women and boys who were captured to be sold as slaves were spared.[32] A combined Christian fleet of 200 vessels, composed of Venetian (under Girolamo Zane), Papal (under Marcantonio Colonna), and Neapolitan/Genoese/Spanish (under Giovanni Andrea Doria) squadrons that had belatedly been assembled at Crete by late August and was sailing towards Cyprus, turned back when it received news of Nicosia's fall.[30][34]

Marco Antonio Bragadin, Venetian commander of Famagusta, was gruesomely killed after the Ottomans took the city.

Following the fall of Nicosia, the fortress of Kyrenia in the north surrendered without resistance, and on 15 September, the Turkish cavalry appeared before the last Venetian stronghold, Famagusta. At this point already, overall Venetian losses (including the local population) were estimated by contemporaries at 56,000 killed or taken prisoner.[35] The Venetian defenders of Famagusta numbered about 8,500 men with 90 artillery pieces and were commanded by Marco Antonio Bragadin. They would hold out for 11 months against a force that would come to number 200,000 men, with 145 guns,[36] providing the time needed by the Pope to cobble together an anti-Ottoman league from the reluctant Christian European states.[37] The Ottomans set up their guns on 1 September.[38] Over the following months, they proceeded to dig a huge network of criss-crossing trenches for a depth of three miles around the fortress, which provided shelter for the Ottoman troops. As the siege trenches neared the fortress and came within artillery range of the walls, ten forts of timber and packed earth and bales of cotton were erected.[39] The Ottomans however lacked the naval strength to completely blockade the city from sea as well, and the Venetians were able to resupply it and bring in reinforcements. After news of such a resupply in January reached the Sultan, he recalled Piyale Pasha and left Lala Mustafa alone in charge of the siege.[40] At the same time, an initiative by Sokollu Mehmed Pasha to achieve a separate peace with Venice foundered. The Grand Vizier offered to concede a trading station at Famagusta if the Republic would cede the island, but the Venetians, encouraged by their recent capture of Durazzo in Albania and the ongoing negotiations for the formation of a Christian league (see below), refused.[27][41] Thus on 12 May 1571, the intensive bombardment of Famagusta's fortifications began, and on 1 August, with ammunition and supplies exhausted, the garrison surrendered the city.[39] The siege of Famagusta cost the Ottomans some 50,000 casualties.[42]

The Ottomans allowed the Christian residents and surviving Venetian soldiers to leave Famagusta peacefully, but when Lala Mustafa learned that some Muslim prisoners had been killed during the siege, he had Bragadin mutilated and flayed alive, while his companions were executed. Bragadin's skin was then paraded around the island, before being sent to Constantinople.[43]

Holy League

As the Ottoman army campaigned in Cyprus, Venice tried to find allies. The

Pius V, an alliance against the Ottomans, the "Holy League", was concluded on 15 May 1571, which stipulated the assembly of a fleet of 200 galleys, 100 supply vessels, and a force of 50,000 men. To secure Spanish assent, the treaty also included a Venetian promise to aid Spain in North Africa.[13][30][46]

According to the terms of the new alliance, during the late summer, the Christian fleet assembled at

Corinthian Gulf.[48][49]

Battle of Lepanto

Main article: Battle of Lepanto
Martin Rota
.
Battle of Lepanto from Famous Sea Fights by John R Hale

Both sides sought the decisive engagement, for which they had amassed, according to some estimates, between 70 and 90 percent of all galleys in existence in the Mediterranean at the time.

Stari Grad and Vrboska.[56]

The strategic situation after Lepanto was graphically summed up later by the Ottoman Grand Vizier to the Venetian bailo: "The Christians have singed my beard [meaning the fleet], but I have lopped off an arm. My beard will grow back. The arm [meaning Cyprus], will not".

Balearics or Venice itself.[59] In the event Lepanto, along with the Ottoman failure at Malta six years earlier, confirmed the de facto division of the Mediterranean, with the eastern half under firm Ottoman control and the western under the Habsburgs and their Italian allies.[60]

The following year, as the allied Christian fleet resumed operations, it faced a renewed Ottoman navy of 200 vessels under

Kılıç Ali Pasha. The Spanish contingent under Don John did not reach the Ionian Sea until September, meaning that the Ottomans enjoyed numerical superiority for a time, but the Ottoman commander was well aware of the inferiority of his fleet, constructed in haste of green wood and manned by inexperienced crews. He therefore actively avoided to engage the allied fleet in August, and eventually headed for the safety of the fortress of Modon. The arrival of the Spanish squadron of 55 ships evened the numbers on both sides and opened the opportunity for a decisive blow, but friction among the Christian leaders and the reluctance of Don John squandered the opportunity.[61][62]

The diverging interests of the League members began to show, and the alliance began to unravel. In 1573, the Holy League fleet failed to sail altogether; instead, Don John attacked and took Tunis, only for it to be retaken by the Ottomans in 1574.[63][64] Venice, fearing the loss of her Dalmatian possessions and a possible invasion of Friuli,[65] and eager to cut her losses and resume the trade with the Ottoman Empire, initiated unilateral negotiations with the Porte.[62][66]

Peace settlement and aftermath

Andrea Biagio Badoer, an extraordinary ambassador, conducted the negotiations for Venice. In view of the Republic's inability to regain Cyprus, the resulting treaty, signed on 7 March 1573, confirmed the new state of affairs: Cyprus became an Ottoman province, and Venice paid an indemnity of 300,000 ducats.[62] In addition, the border between the two powers in Dalmatia was modified by the Turkish occupation of small but important parts of the hinterland that included the most fertile agricultural areas near the cities, with adverse effects on the economy of the Venetian cities in Dalmatia.[67]

Peace would continue between the two states until 1645, when a long

remained under Ottoman rule until 1878, when it was ceded to Britain as a protectorate. Ottoman sovereignty continued until the outbreak of World War I, when the island was annexed by Britain, becoming a crown colony in 1925.[69]

Notes

  1. ^ Turnbull (2003), pp. 58–59
  2. ^ John F. Guilmartin (1974), pp. 253–255
  3. ^ William Oliver Stevens and Allan F. Westcott, A History of Sea Power, 1920, p. 107.
  4. ^ Nolan, Cathal (2006). The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000–1650: Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, Volume 2. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 529.
  5. ^ McEvedy & Jones (1978), p. 119
  6. ^ Faroqhi (2004), p. 140
  7. ^ Finkel (2006), pp. 113, 158
  8. ^ Cook (1976), p. 77
  9. ^ Setton (1984), p. 200
  10. ^ Goffman (2002), p. 155
  11. ^ a b Finkel (2006), p. 158
  12. ^ a b c Cook (1976), p. 108
  13. ^ a b c d e f Finkel (2006), p. 160
  14. ^ Faroqhi (2004), pp. 38, 48
  15. ^ a b c Turnbull (2003), p. 57
  16. ^ Abulafia (2012), pp. 444–446
  17. ^ Setton (1984), p. 923
  18. ^ Finkel (2006), pp. 158–159
  19. ^ Abulafia (2012), pp. 446–447
  20. ^ Finkel (2006), p. 159
  21. ^ Goffman (2002), p. 156
  22. ^ Finkel (2006), pp. 159–160
  23. ^ Setton (1984), pp. 925–931
  24. ^ Abulafia (2012), p. 446
  25. ^ Setton (1984), pp. 907–908
  26. ^ a b Setton (1984), p. 908
  27. ^ a b c Abulafia (2012), p. 447
  28. ^ Goffman (2002), pp. 155–156
  29. ^ Setton (1984), pp. 945–946, 950
  30. ^ a b c d Cook (1976), p. 109
  31. ^ Setton (1984), p. 991
  32. ^ a b Turnbull (2003), p. 58
  33. ^ Setton (1976), p. 995
  34. ^ Setton (1984), pp. 981–985
  35. ^ a b Setton (1984), p. 990
  36. ^ Turnbull (2003), pp. 58–59
  37. ^ Hopkins (2007), pp. 87–89
  38. ^ Hopkins (2007), p. 82
  39. ^ a b Turnbull (2003), pp. 59–60
  40. ^ Hopkins (2007), pp. 82–83
  41. ^ Hopkins (2007), pp. 83–84
  42. ^ Goffman (2002), p. 158
  43. ^ Abulafia (2012), pp. 448–449
  44. ^ Setton (1984), p. 963
  45. ^ Setton (1984), pp. 941–943
  46. ^ Hopkins (2007), pp. 84–85
  47. ^ Guilmartin (2002), pp. 138–140
  48. ^ Turnbull (2003), p. 60
  49. ^ Guilmartin (2002), pp. 140–141
  50. ^ Guilmartin (2002), p. 141
  51. ^ Abulafia (2012), pp. 449–450
  52. ^ Abulafia (2012), pp. 450–451
  53. ^ Finkel (2006), pp. 160–161
  54. ^ Guilmartin (2002), pp. 141–149
  55. ^ Faroqhi (2004), p. 38
  56. ISSN 0353-295X
    . Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  57. ^ Guilmartin (2002), p. 149
  58. ^ Guilmartin (2002), pp. 148–149
  59. ^ Guilmartin (2002), pp. 150–151
  60. ^ Abulafia (2012), p. 451
  61. ^ Guilmartin (2002), pp. 149–150
  62. ^ a b c Finkel (2006), p. 161
  63. ^ Finkel (2006), pp. 161–162
  64. ^ Guilmartin (2002), p. 150
  65. ^ Setton (1984), pp. 1093–1095
  66. ^ Faroqhi (2004), p. 4
  67. ISSN 0353-295X
    . Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  68. ^ Finkel (2006), p. 222
  69. ^ Borowiec (2000), pp. 19–21

Sources

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