Venice's Conquest of the Orient (part 2): Venice vs Genoa (13th-14th centuries)

Note: this is a follow-up to "A History of Venice by C. Diehl: Venice's Conquest of the Orient (part 1)" (duh!). Finally this whole Conquest of the Orient will be split in three, like in the book: smaller chapters are easier on everyone I think *g* Also, you can learn more about the book and my attempt at summarizing its content in the first post of the series, "A History of Venice by C. Diehl: The Origins".

Unfortunately, the previous successes will be short-lived for Venice. For one, the state that was born from the Fourth Crusade didn't survived long the attempts from all sides, be them from Bulgaria, Greece or the Empire of Nicea (NW of modern Turkey), which was founded by refugees of the Byzantium Empire after Constantinople fell in 1204. It was almost conquered a first time in 1236, and in 1261, it was captured by Michael VIII Paleologus from Nicea.

And for two, which was even worse, Michael VIII had made an alliance with Genoa, the city that was rapidely becoming the greatest threat to Venice's maritime empire, and that replaced it in all parts of the Orient dominated by the restaured Byzantium Empire. Conflicts had already broken over Crete and Syria, and a full-fledged, 14 years long war was fought in the latter, resulting in a bitter defeat for Genoa, which was all but expulsed from Syria. The success in its alliance with Nicea and then the restaured Byzantium Empire gave Genoa the means to extract its revenge by obtaining several colonies in the East, the exclusion of Venice from the Black Sea and the destruction of the venician citadel of Constantinople, as a symbol of its fall from grace.

The hold of Genoa over the oriental seas was so strong that it was feared that Venice would have to abandon its syrian caravan, but its successes there against Genoa allowed for a truce between the two rivals, and they finally signed a treaty with the Greeks, allowing the return of venetian citizens in Constantinople; yet their position was in no way that of the beginning of the 13th century; they was little love between them and the locals, and they had to pay the highest price for whatever favor they wanted to obtain from the emperor.

But what could have been the last straw happened in 1291:the fall of the last stronghold in the Holy Lan to the Muslims, which meant the end of the venetian domination in the SE Mediterranean sea. At the same time, the Genoans created the colony known as Caffa in the Black Sea. Venice had to react fast before it became too late to salvage anything of its former power, and declared war on Genoa in 1294.

For a long time, victory was on the genoan side: it destroyed the syrian caravan in 1295, at which point the Venetians of Constantinople were made prisoners. Venice tried to react by sending Morosini and his fleet enter the Bosphorus and sack Galata, one of the most important colonies of Genoa; another fleet attacked Caffa. But very soon Genoa would reply by destroying the venetian boats that were waiting at Curzola in 1298. The peace treaty will ensued the next year.

Venice had been seriously weakened, but it managed to keep its possessions in Greece and its archipelagos. Since most of its former empire was limited to that area, it focused all its attention on developing it with great care; under the threat of the nearby restored Byzantium Empire, the ties between the nobles and Venice tightened. They also managed to always keep a foothold on Crete, even if, at one point in 1341, it had to limit its presence to Candia and a few castles. The danger didn't always come from the outside: in 1363, it was the Venetians themselves who started a revolt against their hometown because of the weight of the taxes. But soon they were divided among themselves and Venice had no problem crushing it, and its hold on Crete became stronger than ever. The tide started to turn also elsewhere, at least on a dipomatic level: notably, in 1322, as the Byzantium Empire was waning again, a treaty abolishing all measures set against the venetian citizens was signed and the Podestà (see "The Conquest of the Orient, part 1") became once again the one of the most powerful people in the Empire, responsible for protecting the Republic's interests in the Mediterranean.

Yet Genoa was still a danger for Venice, and in the first half of the 14th century, its own commercial empire kept growing, including Phocea in 1275 and Chios in 1304 (lost to the Greeks for a while, they are occupied again in 1347), Lesbos in 1331 and in the Black Sea, strategic points of the Bosphorus in an attempt to block out the Venetians, and parts of Cyprus, hoping it would lead to the domination over the entire island. All this, of course, was greatly worrying Venice.

It needed to take energic action, and it did, in 1328, blocking Galata, capturing all the genoan boats that it would only release again the promise of war indemnities; this will start a renewed period of conflicts between the two cities, and open war will rage between 1350 and 1381, with a peace treaty in between signed in 1355 and lasting 17 years. In 1372, Genoa succeeded in gaining new cities on Cyprus, while Venice got from the Emperor a new strategic position in the Dardanelles.

Those last moves paved the way for the showdown between the two italian republics: the so-called "War of Chioggia" (1378-1381). After a few first victories in the Mediterranean during the first year, the venetian admiral Pisani lost at Pola in the Adriatic, from which point the situation for the city of the Doges became extremly difficult. First it lost both Istria and Dalmatia (eastern Adriatic shores, today's Croatia), before being attacked in the lagoon itself and losing Chioggia. Venice's very independance was under serious threat; at this point, it called back Pisani who fought back with vigor, and was even proved successful at saving the city when joined by a fleet called back from the Levant.

The peace treaty of Turin was signed in 1381: although Venice had to leave its latest position gained in the Dardanelles and Genoa got to keep its own on Cyprus, within the next 15 years, Venice will strive to get back to its former glory with success, while Genoa will fall to its inner conflicts before becoming a part of the French Empire in 1396; at the same time, in Albania, Venice won Durazzo and Scutari.