Chioggia war

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The Chioggia War , also known as the Fourth Genoese-Venetian War , was a military conflict between the republics of Genoa and Venice for supremacy in the Mediterranean . It took place between 1378 and 1381 mainly near the present-day city of Chioggia .

background

In the Middle Ages , the so-called “ Maritime Republics ” (“ repubbliche marinare ”) emerged in Italy and Dalmatia. Republic of Venice , Republic of Genoa , Republic of Pisa , Duchy of Amalfi , Republic of Ancona , Republic of Ragusa , Duchy of Gaeta and the small Republic of Noli . At first they fought, sometimes together, the Saracens , Moors and other Muslim peoples who fought the Mediterranean in the Middle Agesand in particular also made the coasts of Italy unsafe. They took part in the Crusades and gradually built up a dense network of trading posts throughout the Mediterranean, making them very rich and ruling the Mediterranean at different times. Since they operated primarily economically , but also militarily in the same area, a strong competitive relationship between the four republics soon developed. The sometimes intense tensions erupted repeatedly in bloody wars.

After Genoa eliminated its rival Pisa in the naval battle at Meloria in 1284 , it was initially able to develop more or less unhindered in the Mediterranean. Venetian attempts to take on the initially stronger competitor from Liguria failed as early as 1298 in the sea ​​battle at Curzola . Even in the 14th century Venice did not seem able to stand up to Genoa, although it was weakened by severe internal constitutional battles, while the Republic of Venice had already developed a very stable system of government. The Genoese considered themselves so superior that in 1379 they wanted to fight their rivals on the doorstep of Curzola , as they did before Curzola .

Course of the war

The Genoese intended not only to inflict defeat on the Venetians at sea, but also to attack them from land. For their invasion they chose the city of Chioggia, located at the southern end of the Venetian lagoon , from where a blockade against Venice was to be organized. Chioggia was besieged from the land and the sea. In August the Genoese captured the port, then Sottomarina , which they burned down. After conquering the small island of San Domenico, they were able to penetrate the center of Chioggia, where house-to-house fights with bare weapons broke out everywhere. 3,500 people are said to have been killed and several thousand more injured. But the Venetians under Vettor Pisani recaptured the city on June 24, 1380 after months of siege . At sea, the Venetians won a success at Anzio on May 10, 1378 , but a year later Vettor Pisani was defeated by the Genoese in the sea ​​battle at Pola . As a result of the won war on land, the Genoese fleet was later driven out of the Adriatic .

consequences

Battle of Chioggia - fresco, Lorenzino Titian

On the mediation of Count Amadeus VI. of Savoy , the Treaty of Turin was signed in 1381. Genoa was not completely eliminated from the concert of the Maritime Republics, as happened to Amalfi in 1137 and Pisa in 1284. But after the lost Chioggia war, Genoa had to bow to Venetian supremacy, especially in the eastern Mediterranean. Internal disputes between the Guelphs and Ghibellines , as well as repeated foreign rule contributed to the weakening of Genoa.

The city of Chioggia never fully recovered from the devastation of the war. By 1379 it had flourished that was hardly inferior to Venice. The local salt industry, which was already in crisis before the war, collapsed completely and only covered its own needs. The city's seafarers limited themselves to lagoon and coastal fishing. Chioggia came completely under Venetian control in the 15th century.

literature