Siege of Famagusta
The siege of Famagusta by Ottoman troops lasted from April to August 1571. The Venetian troops were eventually forced to surrender. Although the garrison and the townspeople were given free retreat if they gave up, a massacre ensued . The capture of the city ended the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus . Shortly after the fall of Famagusta, the Ottoman fleet was defeated in the naval battle of Lepanto by the Holy League , which was formed in particular to save Cyprus and Famagusta.
prehistory
After the siege of Malta from 1564 to 1565, the Ottoman Empire renewed peace with the Republic of Venice in 1567 . At that time, Venice still had two important colonies in the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus and Crete , with whose help they controlled the Levant trade . Although Venice paid tribute to the Ottomans annually, Sultan Selim II sought to bring Cyprus completely under his control. The request to surrender the island was refused by Venice, which led to a new Turkish-Venetian war .
Lala Kara Mustafa Pascha commanded the landing forces for the conquest of Cyprus . The troops comprised around 50,000 infantry , 2,500 cavalrymen and 80 cannons. The Venetians had a total of 5,000 infantry and 500 cavalrymen at their disposal. They concentrated their troops on Nicosia and Famagusta . Nicosia fell after a siege on September 9, 1570.
Thereupon the Ottomans wanted to turn to the conquest of Famagusta. The city had been strongly fortified by the Venetians, also with a view to the improved artillery . The city was surrounded by massive walls eight meters high, reinforced with earth walls and bastions . There was also a wide moat. The harbor was well protected. There was only one gate on the land side, protected by a ravelin . This formed one of the key positions in the city's defenses. The commandant of the defenders was Marcantonio Bragadin .
The year was already too far advanced for a siege and the fleet with most of the troops was returning to Istanbul . Only a very small group remained. These Ottoman troops wintered about three miles south of the city. A fleet unit blocked access to the port. Nevertheless, a Venetian fleet managed to bring supplies in January. Some of the women and children were brought to Crete by ship.
course
In the spring of 1571 Mustafa Pasha returned with the army, and in April the real siege began. In the city, inventories showed that food was limited and that hunger was threatened with a prolonged siege.
Mustafa Pascha positioned his artillery in such a way that they could partially protect the soldiers when the siege trenches were being built. In the first phase of the battle there was one of the most difficult artillery duels of the time between besiegers and defenders.
The trenches were dug by tens of thousands of prisoners. Despite fire from the city's guns, the trenches had been driven to the outer defensive lines by the end of May. Then the Ottomans began to undermine the defenses in the area of the city gate and the arsenal . The defenders also dug tunnels. They were partially successful and were able to prevent the demolition.
On June 21, the Ottomans were able to destroy the wall at the arsenal and advance through the breach to attack . The defenders managed to drive back the opponents after a five-hour counter-offensive. On June 29th, the Ravelin was damaged by the Ottomans . The Ottomans carried out assault attacks there and at the arsenal. After a six-hour battle, the defenders got the upper hand. On July 9, the Ottomans attacked the southern wall on a broad front. They managed to take a ravelin, but the defenders detonated explosives previously stored there, killing 1,000 opponents. The affected facility was completely destroyed and then played no role either for defenders or attackers.
As a result, the Ottomans shot at the wall and the tower of the arsenal with artillery. They succeeded in advancing through the breaches they had made earlier, but they encountered a second - partly provisional - line of defense of the Venetians. While the attackers continued to receive reinforcements, starvation made the defenders' position increasingly desperate. The number of men had also dropped to five hundred. The defenders could not expect relief or other support, also because the Ottomans launched diversionary attacks on various Venetian possessions.
handing over
On August 1, they offered negotiations for a handover. The Ottomans promised that the defenders would be brought to Crete with arms and possessions. The townspeople should be free to decide whether they want to stay or move away. The Venetians agreed. On August 4, 40 Turkish ships entered the port and took the wounded and sick as well as the remains of the garrison on board. On August 5th, the Ottomans broke their promises. One reason was that they had learned that the Venetians had executed pilgrims on their way to Mecca who had been captured during the siege.
Most of the defenders and townspeople were killed and the town destroyed. Bragadin was held captive for some time and then killed. He is said to have been skinned and his remains brought to Istanbul . These were later brought to Venice by his brother.
The Holy League, which Pope Paul V brought together not least to save Famagusta and Cyprus, responded to the massacre by sailing the joint fleet of Spanish, Venetian, Genoese and papal ships under the command of Don Juan de Austria to the east and defeated the Ottomans in the sea battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. This stopped the Ottoman expansion into the western Mediterranean. In the eastern Mediterranean, however, the Ottomans dominated after the fall of Famagusta. The city itself lost its importance and the stones of the fortifications were used elsewhere.
swell
- Nestor Martinengo: Real relation and report / What was the huge amount of instead of fouling Famagusta, in Cipro / So considered by men to be quite unusual / by the Turks in August of 1571 / conquered and taken with unheard-of violence. Augsburg, 1572 digitized
literature
- George Hill: A History of Cyprus: The Frankish Period, 1432-1571, Cambridge reprint, 2010 pp. 950-1041
- Barnaby Rogerson: The Last Crusaders: East, West and the Battle for the Center of the World. London, 2009
- Paul K. Davis: Besieged: 100 Great Sieges from Jericho to Sarajevo. Oxford, 2001 pp. 113-116
- Wolfram zu Mondfeld: The sinking half moon , Arena Verlag GmbH (August 1986)