| Third Ottoman–Venetian War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theOttoman–Venetian wars andSpanish–Ottoman wars | |||||||
.jpg) The "Battle of Preveza" (1538) byOhannes Umed Behzad, painted in 1866. | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
Holy League: Republic of Venice Republic of Genoa Papal States Knights of Malta |  Ottoman Empire France(until 1538) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Andrea DoriaVincenzo CappelloMarco Grimani Ferrante Gonzaga Francisco de Sarmiento † | Hayreddin BarbarossaŞehzade MehmedTurgut ReisSeydi Ali ReisSalih ReisSinan ReisAyas Mehmed Pasha | ||||||
TheThird Ottoman Venetian War (1537–1540) was one of theOttoman–Venetian wars which took place during the 16th century. The war arose out of theFranco-Ottoman alliance betweenFrancis I of France andSüleyman I of the Ottoman Empire against the Holy Roman EmperorCharles V. The initial plan between the two had been to jointly invade Italy, Francis throughLombardy in the North and Süleyman throughApulia to the South. However, the proposed invasion failed to take place.
In what became known as theItalian War of 1536–1538, Francis's invasion ofPiedmont, having made modest territorial gains, was halted byGenoa, an ally of Charles V. Furthermore, he was not able to put all his resources against the city as he also had to fend off Charles V's invasion ofProvence. At the same time, Süleyman was not yet ready to engage in a large-scale invasion of theKingdom of Naples thus not giving Francis any relief. Ottoman troops were landed inOtranto from their encampment inValona on July 23, 1537 but these were pulled out within a month when it became clear that Francis was not going to invade Lombardy. However, the landing and raiding of Ottoman soldiers in Apulia and the presence of the large Ottoman fleet in theStrait of Otranto did generate considerable fear inRome that a large-scale invasion would follow.[citation needed]
At the same time, crisis in Venetian-Ottoman relations was developing during the siege ofKlis - last Habsburg stronghold in Dalmatia, that fell in March 1537. Venetian government feared that Turkish forces would attackDalmatian cities and resorted to diplomatic efforts in order to avoid the war. These fears were further strengthened when following theBattle of Antipaxos against imperial admiralAndrea Doria, the Ottomans suddenly laid siege to the Venetian Island ofCorfu in theAdriatic (Siege of Corfu 1537), thus breaking the peace treaty signed withVenice in 1502. On Corfu, the Ottomans faced formidable resistance and defenses specifically designed to counter Ottoman artillery. The siege lasted less than two weeks, and afterward Süleyman withdrew his forces and returned east to spend the winter in Adrianople.[citation needed]
These events resolvedPope Paul III of the need to form aHoly League (1538) to combat and to deter the Ottoman assaults that were expected in the next year. Through intense diplomacy the Pope stopped the war between Charles V and Francis I with the Truce of Nice and secured Charles's support. Venice also joined the league but only reluctantly and after much debate in the senate.[citation needed]
The Ottoman fleet had grown greatly in size as well as in competence over the course of the 16th century and was now headed by the former corsair turned admiralHayreddin Barbarossa Pasha. In the summer of 1538 the Ottomans turned their attention to the remaining Venetian possessions in the Aegean capturing the islands ofAndros,Naxos,Paros, andSantorini, as well as taking the last two Venetian settlements on thePeloponneseMonemvasia andNavplion. The Ottomans next turned their focus to the Adriatic. Here, in what the Venetians considered their home waters, the Ottomans, through the combined use of their navy and their army inAlbania, captured a string of forts inDalmatia and formally secured their hold there.[citation needed]
The most important battle of the war was theBattle of Préveza, which the Ottomans won thanks to the strategy of Barbarossa,Seydi Ali Reis, andTurgut Reis, as well as bad management of the Holy League.[1] After takingKotor, the supreme commander of the League's navy the Genoese Andrea Doria managed to trap Barbarossa's navy in theAmbracian Gulf. This was to Barbarossa's advantage however as he was supported by the Ottoman army inPréveza while Doria, unable to lead a general assault for fear of Ottoman artillery, had to wait in the open sea. Eventually Doria signaled a retreat at which time Barbarossa attacked leading to a major Ottoman victory. The events of this battle, as well as the events of theSiege of Castelnuovo (1539) put a stop to any Holy League plans to bring the fight to the Ottomans in their own territory and coerced the League to begin talks to end the war. The war was particularly painful to the Venetians as they lost most of the rest of their foreign holdings as well as showing them that they could no longer take on even the Ottoman navy alone.[citation needed]
A peace treaty or "capitulation" was signed between Venice and the Ottoman Empire to end the war on 2 October 1540. The Venetian negotiator and signatory wasAlvise Badoer. Venice ratified the treaty on 20 November.[citation needed]
In the period between the start of theSecond Ottoman–Venetian War in 1499 and the end of this war in 1540, the Ottoman Empire made significant advances in theDalmatian hinterland – it didn't occupy the Venetian cities, but it took theKingdom of Hungary'sCroatian possessions betweenSkradin andKarin, eliminating them as a buffer zone between the Ottoman and Venetian territory.[2] The economy of the Venetian cities in Dalmatia, severely impacted by the Turkish occupation of the hinterland in the previous war, recovered and held steady even throughout this war.[3]
The Battle of Preveza was the Ottomans' greatest naval victory against Westerners.[1]
