Military history of the Republic of Venice

The military history of the Republic of Venice covers a period from the 8th century to the 18th century and includes a variety of conflicts.

Republic of Venice first rose as a major military power through participation in the Fourth Crusade, where Venetian troops were among those effecting the conquest of Constantinople.  Venice then fought a protracted series of wars with Genoa and Pisa for domination of the Mediterranean trading routes With the rise of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic lost its territories in the east as Cyprus and Venetian strongholds in Morea were occupied; at the same time, the rise of the Visconti of Milan drew Venice into the condottiere warfare of Italy.  

Bereft of her Mediterranean possessions, Venice turned to conquest on the Italian mainland, which brought it into conflict with Milan and the Papacy. Venetian participation in the Italian Wars eventually resulted in the War of the League of Cambrai, where Venice was nearly reduced. Following the War of the League of Cognac, Venice played little further role in mainland warfare. She continued to fight naval wars against the Ottomans, however, culminating in the victory at the Battle of Lepanto.

In the latter half of the 17th century further Ottoman designs on Crete caused another protracted period of warfare. The twenty-year Siege of Candia was followed by her involvement in the Great Turkish War, where the Republic briefly regained the Morea, only to return it some years later. The Republic of Venice was finally drawn into European warfare with Napoleon's invasion of Italy; unable to resist his armies, she was forced to surrender and become a French tributary state.

XV century

Until the beginning of the 15th century the Venetian power had been exclusively maritime, so that the entire military organization of the State had been focused on the fleet and the military corps linked to it: Arsenalotti, Schiavoni and Fanti da Mar. To this main nucleus were then added the cavalry corps provided by the maritime domains: Stradioti, Cimarioti and Sfaxioti.

It was only the conquest of the Stato de tera, rapidly developed at the beginning of the century, that generated the need for the Venetian State to equip itself with a land army. The solution, was the massive recourse to mercenary companies, which guaranteed a lesser weight on public finances, linked only to the war periods, and a certain reliability, if compared to the scarce experience of Venice in the country war. The recourse to mercenary troops, however, posed at the same time a problem linked to their possible unstable loyalty to the State. If, on the one hand, maritime power and complete control of the lagoons guaranteed security against possible coups d'état, on the other hand, entrusting the control of a mercenary army to the members of the Venetian patriciate, as well as not giving guarantees of ability in land warfare, could have created concentrations of power extremely dangerous for the political equilibrium of the Republic. For this reason, in times of war, when there was a massive recruitment of mercenaries, it was customary to assign the same title of Captain General of the Mainland to the same captains of fortune, assigning to the Venetian nobles tasks of support and control over the military operation.

Pandolfo Malatesta, Savelli and Galeazzo (1404-1405)

In 1404 Venice entered the war against the Carraresi of Padua, who threatened the territories of the Dogado and the trade routes to and from the hinterland. The command was given to Pandolfo Malatesta, appointed Captain General. In 1405 the command was transferred to Paolo Savelli, who soon died trying to take Padua. He then succeeded him as Captain General Galeazzo Cattaneo de Grumello, under whose leadership the city of Padua was finally conquered, putting an end to the lordship of the Carraresi.

Carmagnola (1425-1432)

In 1425 the Republic appointed Captain General Francesco Bussone, called the Carmagnola, in the war against the Visconti, which ended with victory at the Battle of Maclodio and the peace of 1428. Hostilities resumed in 1431, when the leader Bartolomeo Colleoni was also called to the service of Venice. The serious military upheavals suffered by the Venetian armies during this conflict, however, cost Carmagnola first the arrest on 8 April 1432, and finally the execution on 5 May of the same year.

Gattamelata (1434-1441)

A new Captain General was appointed in 1434, in the person of Erasmus of Narni called Il Gattamelata, leading the war against Milan until 1441.

Attendolo (1441-1448)

The Gattamelata was succeeded by the leader Michele Attendolo, already in the service of the Republic of Florence against Milan. During his command also operated under the Venetian insignia the mercenary captain Scaramuccia da Forlì, who distinguished himself in 1436 in the liberation of Brescia from the Visconti siege and in the liberation of Cremona in 1446. After the brief peace stipulated in 1447 with the Visconti, the rekindling of the conflict with the Ambrosian Republic led to the serious defeat in the battle of Caravaggio on 5th September 1448, against the forces led by his cousin Francesco Sforza: this defeat cost the Attendolo the deposition and confinement in the fortress of Conegliano. Venice, for its part, rose from the defeat first supporting Sforza himself in an attempt to gain control of Milan, then abandoning him abruptly to sign peace with the Ambrosian Republic.

Malatesta (1449-1453)

Soon the Republic was forced to take up arms again, entrusting the command to Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, to support Milan, threatened by the Sforza, who nevertheless managed, in 1450, to overthrow the Ambrosian Republic and be proclaimed Duke of Milan. The conflict dragged on until 1453, when a treaty with the new Duke of Milan restored the borders to the pre-conflict conditions.

Statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni by Andrea del Verrocchio

Colleoni (1453-1475)

From 1448 to 1451, Venice still availed itself of the service of the Colleoni, who, after several times having served the Republic and now the Sforza, in 1453 was appointed head of the armies of the Serenissima. The peace of Lodi signed the following year, however, forced the leader to a long inactivity, while remaining in the service of Venice until his death in 1475.

Sanseverino (1482-1485 and 1487)

In 1482 the Republic entered into conflict with Ferrara in the Salt War, declaring war on 2 May 1482 and at the same time entrusting the command of operations to Roberto di San Severino, appointed for the occasion Lieutenant General and patrician from Veneto, flanked by provveditore Antonio Loredan and Damiano Moro, captain of the fleet. Occupied Rovigo and the Polesine, on November 6th the battle of Argenta was won and the Po River was crossed. On 16 May 1483, faced with the defection of the papal allies, Venice also hired the Duke Renato di Lorena, while appointing Antonio Giustinian Captain General in Po, soon captured, however, by the Ferraresi. The conflict ended with the peace of Bagnolo on 7 August 1484, which recognised the occupation of Polesine and Rovigo. The Sanseverino then abandoned the arms of Venice in 1485 to pass under the papal insignia.

Remaining until that moment neutral in the Italian conflicts, in April 1487 the arrest of all Venetian merchants in the lands of the Archduchy of Austria pushed the Republic to the conflict. The commander Julius Caesar of Camerino was appointed Captain General, flanked by the provveditori Pietro Diedo and Girolamo Marcello. The fall of Rovereto pushed Venice to dismiss da Camerino, calling Roberto Sanseverino, accompanied by his son Antonio, back into service. Despite the reconquest of Rovereto, the defeat on 10 August at the castle of Petra caused a retreat that cost the life of the Captain General himself during the crossing of the Adige River. However, the serious losses also suffered by the Germans led to the signing of the peace treaty on 13 November of the same year.

Gonzaga (1489-1498)

In 1489 the command was entrusted to Francesco Gonzaga, with whom the First Italian War against France was victoriously conducted. Gonzaga left the service of Venice at the end of the conflict, in 1498, when, after being accused of not capturing the King of France Charles VIII during the battle of Fornovo, he passed into the service of the enemies of Venice.

References

• Guicciardini, Francesco. The History of Italy. Translated by Sydney Alexander. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984. ISBN 0-691-00800-0.
• Norwich, John Julius. A History of Venice. New York: Vintage Books, 1989. ISBN 0-679-72197-5.
• Pinzelli, Eric (2000) "Les forteresses de Morée, projets de restaurations et de démantèlements durant la seconde période vénitienne (1687-1715)" Thesaurismata 30, Venice, p. 379–427.
• Pinzelli, Eric G. L. (2003). "Venise et la Morée: du triomphe à la désillusion (1684-1718)" (Ph.D Dissertation, Aix-en-Provence, TELEMME - Temps, espaces, langages Europe méridionale-Méditerranée 2003) (in French).
• Phillips, Charles and Alan Axelrod. Encyclopedia of Wars. 3 vols. New York: Facts on File, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-2851-6.
• Taylor, Frederick Lewis. The Art of War in Italy, 1494-1529. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1973. ISBN 0-8371-5025-6.

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