Operations in western Greece (1684) , by
Jacob Peeters The first target of the Venetian fleet was the island of
Lefkada (Santa Maura). Morosini's political rival, Girolamo Cornaro, tried to preempt him and seize the
Castle of Santa Maura, which he believed to be lightly defended, before the arrival of the fleet from Venice. With a small force he sailed from Corfu to the island, but finding the fortress strongly garrisoned, he turned back. As a result of this misadventure, Cornaro was sidelined for the first year of the war, during which he served as governor of the Ionian Islands, before he was appointed to command in Dalmatia in late 1685. Once Morosini arrived at Corfu, he and the council of his commanders decided to resume the failed enterprise, so as to at least eliminate the island as a base for piracy. No definite plans were made after that, with Morosini envisaging an assault on Negroponte (
Chalkis) with a view towards gaining a base of operations in the Aegean, or alternatively focusing on capturing the coast of
Albania. On 18 July 1684, the fleet left Corfu, receiving a papal benediction by the local Catholic bishop,
Marcantonio Barbarigo, a rite normally associated with the departure of a crusade. Two days later, the fleet arrived at Santa Maura. After a
siege of 16 days, the fortress capitulated on 6 August 1684. , by
Vincenzo Coronelli The Venetians then crossed onto the mainland region of
Acarnania. The offshore island of Petalas was occupied on 10 August by Count
Niccolo di Strassoldo and
Angelo Delladecima. Reinforced with volunteers, mostly from
Cephalonia, the Venetians then captured the towns of
Aitoliko and
Missolonghi. Greek leaders from across
Epirus, from
Himarra and
Souli and the
armatoloi captains of Acarnania and
Agrafa, had contacted the Venetians with proposals for a common cause; with the Venetian advance, a general rising occurred in the area of
Valtos and
Xiromero. Muslim villages were attacked, looted, and torched, and Ottoman rule collapsed across western
Continental Greece. By the end of the month the Ottomans only held on to the coastal fortresses of
Preveza and
Vonitsa. The Venetian fleet engaged in raids along the coast of Epirus up to
Igoumenitsa and even on the north-western coast of the
Peloponnese, near
Patras, before launching a concerted effort to capture the
castle of Preveza on 21 September. The castle surrendered after eight days, and Vonitsa was captured by Delladecima's men a few days later. At the end of autumn, Morosini appointed Delladecima as military governor of the region stretching from the
Gulf of Ambracia to the river
Acheloos. Already in this early part of the war, the Venetians began suffering great casualties on account of disease; Count Strassoldo was one of them. These early successes were important for the Venetians because they secured their communications with Venice, denied to the Ottomans the possibility of moving troops through the area, and provided a springboard for possible future conquests on the Greek mainland. At the same time, Venice set about providing Morosini with more troops, and concluded treaties with the rulers of
Saxony and
Hannover, who were to provide contingents of 2,400 men each as mercenaries. After the treaty was signed in December 1684, 2,500 Hannoverians joined Morosini in June 1685, while 3,300 Saxons arrived a few months later. In spring and early June 1685, the Venetian forces gathered at Corfu, Preveza, and
Dragamesto: 37 galleys (17 of which Tuscan, Papal, or Maltese), 5 galleasses, 19 sailing ships, and 12
galleots, 6,400 Venetian troops (2,400 Hannoverians and 1,000
Dalmatians), 1,000 Maltese troops, 300 Florentines, and 400 Papal soldiers. To them were added a few hundred conscripted and volunteer Greeks from the Ionian Islands and the mainland.
Conquest of the Morea (1685–87) Coron and Mani (1685) , depicted by
Vincenzo Coronelli , by Vincenzo Coronelli Having secured his rear during the previous year, Morosini set his sights upon the Peloponnese, where the Greeks had begun showing signs of revolt. Already in spring 1684, the Ottoman authorities had arrested and executed the
Metropolitan of Corinth, Zacharias, for participating in revolutionary circles. At the same time, insurrectionist movements began among the Maniots, who resented the loss of privileges and autonomy, including the establishment of Ottoman garrisons in the fortresses of
Zarnata,
Kelefa, and
Passavas, that they had suffered due to their collaboration with the Venetians in the Cretan War. In early autumn, an assembly under the presidency of the local bishop, Joachim, decided to approach the Venetians for aid, and on 20 October, a ten-man embassy arrived at Zakynthos to treat with Morosini. The discussions dragged on until February 1685, when at last the Venetian commander-in-chief resolved to supply the Maniots with quantities of guns and ammunition. In the meantime, the Ottoman authorities had not been idle. Already in the preceding months they had reinforced their troops in
Laconia, and in February the new (Ottoman commander-in-chief) of the Morea, Ismail Pasha, invaded the
Mani peninsula with 10,000 men. The Maniots resisted, but their renewed pleas for aid to the Venetians in early March resulted only in the dispatch of four ships with ammunition under Daniel Dolfin. As a result, the Maniots were forced to submit, and gave up their children as hostages to the . At long last, on 21 June the Venetian fleet set sail for the Peloponnese, and on 25 June, the Venetian army, over 8,000 men strong, landed outside the former Venetian fort of Coron (
Koroni) and
laid siege to it. The Maniots remained passive at first, and for a time the position of the besieging Christian troops was threatened by the troops led by the governor of
Lepanto, Halil Pasha, and the fresh reinforcements disembarked by the Ottoman fleet under the
Kapudan Pasha, both at Nauplia and at
Kalamata. The Ottoman efforts to break the siege were defeated, and on 11 August, the fortress surrendered. During the negotiations, the garrison was massacred due to suspicion of treachery. In the final stage of the siege, 230 Maniots under the Zakynthian noble
Pavlos Makris had taken part, and soon the area rose up in revolt again, encouraged by Morosini's presence at Coron. The Venetian commander now targeted Kalamata, where the Kapudan Pasha had landed 6,000 infantry and 2,000
sipahi cavalry, and established an entrenched camp. On 10 September, the Venetians and Maniots obtained the surrender of the fortress of Zarnata, its garrison of 600 being allowed safe passage to Kalamata, but its commander retiring to Venice and a rich pension. After the Kapudan Pasha rejected an offer of Morisini to disperse his army, the Venetian army, reinforced by 3,300 Saxons and under the command of general
Hannibal von Degenfeld,
attacked the Ottoman camp and defeated them on 14 September. Kalamata surrendered without a fight and its castle was razed, and by the end of September the remaining Ottoman garrisons in Kelefa and Passavas had capitulated and evacuated Mani. Passavas was razed, but the Venetians in turn installed their own garrisons in Kelefa and Zarnata, as well as the offshore island of
Marathonisi, to keep an eye on the unruly Maniots, before returning to the Ionian Islands to winter. The campaigning season was concluded with the capture and razing of Igoumenitsa on 11 November. Once again, disease took its toll among the Venetian army in its winter quarters. Losses were particularly heavy among the German contingents, which complained about the negligence shown to them by the Venetian authorities, and the often spoiled food they were sent: the Hannoverians alone lost 736 men to disease in the period from April 1685 to January 1686, as opposed to 256 in battle.
Navarino, Modon, and Nauplia (1686) In the next year, the Ottomans seized the initiative by attacking Kelefa in early March, forcing Morosini to hasten his departure from the Ionian Islands. The Ottomans raised the siege and withdrew at the arrival of a Venetian fleet under Venieri, and on 30 March, Morosini began landing his troops in the
Messenian Gulf. The Venetian forces were slow to assemble, and Morosini had to await the arrival of reinforcements in the form of 13 galleys from the Papal States and the
Grand Duchy of Tuscany, as well as further mercenaries, which raised his army to some 10,000 foot and 1,000 horse, before commencing his advance in late May. Following a recommendation by Morosini himself, the veteran Swedish marshal
Otto Wilhelm Königsmarck was appointed head of the land forces, while Morosini retained command of the fleet. Königsmarck also requested, and was granted, that the Venetians hire several other experienced officers, particularly experts in siege warfare. On 2 June, Königsmarck landed his army at
Pylos, where the
Old Navarino castle surrendered the next day, after the
aqueduct providing its water supply was cut. Its garrison, comprising black Africans, was transported to
Alexandria. The more modern
fortress of New Navarino was also besieged and surrendered on 14 June, after one of its magazines exploded, killing its commander, Sefer Pasa, and many of his senior officers. Its garrison, 1,500 soldiers and a like number of civilian dependents, were transported to
Tripoli. Attempts by the Ottoman
serasker to relieve the fortress or impede the Venetians ended in a defeat in battle, after which the Venetians moved to blockade and besiege another former Venetian stronghold, Modon (
Methoni), on 22 June. Although well fortified, supplied, and equipped with a hundred guns and a thousand-strong garrison, the fort surrendered on 7 July, after sustained bombardment and successive Venetian assaults. Its population of 4,000 was likewise transported to Tripoli. At the same time, a Venetian squadron and Dalmatian troops captured the fort of Arkadia (modern
Kyparissia) further north. The Venetians then, in a lightning move, retired their field army from Messenia and landed it at
Tolo between 30 July and 4 August, within striking distance of the capital of the Peloponnese, Nauplia. On the very first day, Königsmarck led his troops to capture the hill of
Palamidi, then only poorly fortified, which overlooked the town. The commander of the city, Mustapha Pasha, moved the civilians to the citadel of
Akronauplia, and sent urgent messages to the
serasker Ismail Pasha for aid; before the Venetians managed to complete their disembarkation, Ismail Pasha arrived at
Argos with 4,000 horse and 3,000 foot, and tried to assist the besieged garrison. The Venetians launched an assault against the relief army on 7 August that succeeded in taking Argos and forcing the pasha to retreat to
Corinth, but for two weeks, from 16 August, Königsmarck's forces were forced to continuously repulse attacks from Ismail Pasha's forces, fight off the sorties of the besieged garrison, and cope with a new outbreak of the plaguethe Hannoverians counted 1,200 out of 2,750 men as sick and wounded. On 29 August Ismail Pasha launched a large-scale attack against the Venetian camp, but was heavily defeated after Morosini landed 2,000 men from the fleet on his flank. Mustapha Pasha surrendered the city on the same day, and on the next day, Morosini staged a triumphal entry in the city. The city's seven thousand Muslims, including the garrison, were transported to
Tenedos. News of this major victory was greeted in Venice with joy and celebration. Nauplia became the Venetians' major base, while Ismail Pasha withdrew to
Vostitsa in the northern Peloponnese after strengthening the garrisons at Corinth, which controlled the passage to
Central Greece. The Ottoman forces elsewhere fell into disarray when false rumours circulated that the Sultan had ordered the Peloponnese evacuated; thus at
Karytaina Ottoman troops killed their commander and dispersed. The Ottoman fleet, under the Kapudan Pasha, which had arrived in the
Saronic Gulf to reinforce the Ottoman positions in Corinth, was forced by these news to turn back to its base in the
Dardanelles. In early October, Morosini led his own ships in a vain search for the Ottoman fleet; as part of this expedition, Morosini landed at the
Piraeus, where he was met by the
Metropolitan of Athens, Jacob, and notables of the town, who offered him 9,000
reales as tribute. After visiting
Salamis,
Aegina, and
Hydra, Morosini returned with the fleet to the bay of Nauplia on 16 October. At about the same time, the dissatisfaction among the German mercenaries, due to their losses to disease and the perceived neglect in the sharing of spoils, reached its peak, and many, including the entire Saxon contingent, returned home. Nevertheless, Venice was able to make up the losses by a new recruitment drive in
Hesse,
Württemberg, and Hannover. Due to the imminent outbreak of the Nine Years' War and the general demand for mercenaries, most of the new recruits were not veteran soldiers; the recruiters were even forced to recruit French deserters, and over 200 men deserted in turn during the march to Venice. Once again, the need to await reinforcement delayed the start of Venetian operations in 1687 until July.
Patras and the completion of the conquest (1687) In the meantime, the Ottomans had formed a strong entrenched camp at
Patras, with 10,000 men under Mehmed Pasha. As the Ottomans were resupplied from across the
Corinthian Gulf by small vessels, Morosini's first step was to institute a naval blockade of the northern Peloponnesian coast. Then, on 22 July, Morosini landed the first of his 14,000 troops west of Patras. Two days later, after the bulk of the Venetian forces had landed, Königsmarck led his army to attack the Ottoman camp, choosing a weak spot in its defences. The Ottomans fought valiantly, but by the end of the day, they were forced to retreat, leaving behind over 2,000 dead and wounded, 160 guns and many supplies, 14 ships, and their commander's own flag. The defeat demoralized the Ottoman garrison of
Patras Castle, which abandoned it and fled to the fortress of
Rio (the "
Castle of the Morea"). The next day, with Venetian ships patrolling off the shore, Mehmed and his troops abandoned Rio as well and fled east. The retreat quickly degenerated into a panic, which was often joined by the Greek villagers, and which spread on the same day to the mainland across the Corinthian Gulf as well. Thus within a single day, 25 July, the Venetians were able to capture, without opposition, the twin forts of Rio and
Antirrio (the "Little Dardanelles") and the castle of
Naupaktos (Lepanto). The Ottomans halted their retreat only at
Thebes, where Mehmed Pasha set about regrouping his forces. The Venetians followed up this success with the reduction of the last Ottoman bastions in the Peloponnese:
Chlemoutsi surrendered to Angelo De Negri from Zakynthos on 27 July, while Königsmarck marched east towards Corinth. The Ottoman garrison abandoned the
Acrocorinth at his approach after torching the town, which was captured by the Venetians on 7 August. Morosini now gave orders for the preparation of a campaign across the
Isthmus of Corinth towards Athens, before going to
Mystras, where he persuaded the Ottoman garrison to surrender, and the Maniots occupied Karytaina, abandoned by its Ottoman garrison. The Peloponnese was under complete Venetian control, and only the fort of
Monemvasia (Malvasia) in the southeast, which was placed under siege on 3 September, continued to resist, holding out until 1690. These new successes caused great joy in Venice, and honours were heaped on Morosini and his officers. Morosini received the
victory title "
Peloponnesiacus", and a bronze bust of his was displayed in the Hall of the
Great Council of Venice, something never before done for a living citizen. Königsmarck was rewarded with 6,000
ducats in a gold basin and a pay rise to 24,000 ducats a year,
Maximilian William of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who commanded the Hannoverian troops, received a jewelled sword valued at 4,000 ducats, and similar gifts were made to many officers in the army.
Occupation of Athens (1687–88) , September 1687. The trajectory of the shell that hit the Parthenon, causing its explosion, is marked. The Venetian position in the Peloponnese could not be secure as long as the Ottomans held onto eastern Central Greece, where
Thebes and Negroponte (
Chalkis) were significant military strongholds. Thus, on 21 September 1687, Königsmarck's army, 10,750 men strong, landed at
Eleusis, while the Venetian fleet entered Piraeus. The Turks quickly evacuated the town of Athens, but the garrison and much of the population withdrew to the ancient
Acropolis of Athens, determined to hold out until reinforcements arrived from Thebes. The Venetian army set up cannon and mortar batteries on the
Pnyx and other heights around the city and began a
siege of the Acropolis, which would last six days (23–29 September) and would cause much destruction to the ancient monuments. The Ottomans first demolished the
Temple of Athena Nike to erect a cannon battery, and on 25 September, a Venetian cannonball exploded a powder magazine in the
Propylaea. The most important damage caused was the destruction of the
Parthenon. The Turks used the temple for ammunition storage, and when, on the evening of 26 September 1687, a mortar shell hit the building, the resulting explosion killed 300 people and led to the complete destruction of the temple's roof and most of the walls. Despite the enormous destruction caused by the "miraculous shot", as Morosini called it, the Turks continued to defend the fort until a relief attempt from the Ottoman army from Thebes was repulsed by Königsmarck on 28 September. The garrison then capitulated, on condition of being transported to
Smyrna. , built between 1692 and 1694, with the lion statues brought by Morosini from the Piraeus. Despite the fall of Athens, Morosini's position was not secure. The Ottomans were amassing an army at Thebes, and their 2,000-strong cavalry effectively controlled
Attica, limiting the Venetians to the environs of Athens, so that the Venetians had to establish forts to secure the road linking Athens to Piraeus. On 26 December, the 1,400-strong remnant of the Hannoverian contingent departed, and a new outbreak of the plague during the winter further weakened the Venetian forces. The Venetians managed to recruit 500
Arvanites from the rural population of Attica as soldiers, but no other Greeks were willing to join the Venetian army. In a council on 31 December, it was decided to abandon Athens and focus on other projects, such as the conquest of Negroponte. A camp was fortified at the
Munychia to cover the evacuation, and it was suggested, but not agreed on, that the walls of the Acropolis should be razed. As the Venetian preparations to leave became evident, many Athenians chose to leave, fearing Ottoman reprisals: 622 families, some 4,000–5,000 people, were evacuated by Venetian ships and settled as colonists in
Argolis,
Corinthia, Patras, and Aegean islands. Morosini decided to at least take back a few ancient monuments as spoils, but on 19 March the statues of
Poseidon and the chariot of
Nike fell down and smashed into pieces as they were being removed from the western
pediment of the Parthenon. The Venetians abandoned the attempt to remove further sculptures from the temple, and instead took a few marble lions, including the famous
Piraeus Lion, which had given the harbour its medieval name "Porto Leone", and which today stands at the entrance of the
Venetian Arsenal. On 10 April, the Venetians evacuated Attica for the Peloponnese.
Attack on Negroponte (1688) On 3 April 1688, Morosini was elected as the new
Doge of Venice, but retained command of the Venetian forces in Greece. The Senate made great efforts to replenish its forces in Greece, but once again, the need to await the expected reinforcements delayed the start of operations until the end of June. Despite the failure of the Athens expedition, the fortunes of war were still favourable: the Ottomans were reeling from a series of defeats in Hungary and Dalmatia: following the disastrous
Battle of Mohács, in November 1687, a mutiny broke out that resulted in the dismissal and execution of the Grand Vizier
Sarı Süleyman Pasha and even the deposition of Sultan
Mehmed IV (), who was replaced by his brother
Suleiman II (). Several of Morosini's councillors suggested the moment opportune to attempt a reconquest of Crete, but the new Doge refused, and insisted on a campaign against Negroponte. On 11 July, the first Venetian troops began disembarking at Negroponte, and
laid siege to it two days later. The Venetians had assembled a substantial force, 13,000 troops and further 10,000 men in the fleet, against the Ottoman garrison of 6,000 men, which offered determined resistance. The Venetian fleet was unable to fully blockade the city, which allowed Ismail Pasha's forces, across the
Euripus Strait, to ferry supplies to the besieged castle. The Venetians and their allies suffered great losses, especially from another outbreak of the plague, including General Königsmarck, who succumbed to the plague on 15 September, while the Knights of Malta and of St. Stephen departed the siege in early autumn. After a last assault on 12 October proved a costly failure, Morosini had to accept defeat. On 22 October, the Venetian army, having lost in total men, left Negroponte and headed for Argos. with them went the warlord Nikolaos Karystinos, who had launched an uprising in southern
Euboea and had tried, without success, to capture the castle of
Karystos. Depleted by the siege and by illness, the remnants of the Hannoverian and Hessian mercenaries departed Greece on 5 November. Morosini attempted an unsuccessful attack on Monemvasia in late 1689, but his failing health forced him to return to Venice soon after. He was replaced as commander-in-chief by Girolamo Cornaro. This marked the end of Venetian ascendancy, and the beginning of a number of successful, although in the end not decisive, Ottoman counteroffensives.
Battles in Dalmatia In the Morean War, the Republic of Venice besieged
Sinj in October 1684 and then again March and April 1685, but both times without success. In the 1685 attempt, the Venetian armies were aided by the local militia of the
Republic of Poljica, who thereby rebelled against their nominal Ottoman suzerainty that had existed since 1513. In an effort to retaliate to Poljica, in June 1685, the Ottomans attacked
Zadvarje, and in July 1686
Dolac and
Srijane, but were pushed back, and suffered major casualties. With the help of the local population of Poljica as well as the
Morlachs, the fortress of Sinj finally fell to the Venetian army on 30 September 1686. On 1 September 1687 the
siege of
Castelnuovo started, and ended with a Venetian victory on 30 September.
Knin was taken after a
twelve-day siege on 11 September 1688. The capture of Knin marked the end of the successful Venetian campaign to expand their territory in inland Dalmatia, and it also determined much of the final border between Dalmatia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina that stands today. The Ottomans would besiege Sinj again in the
Second Morean War, but would be repelled. On 26 November 1690, Venice took
Vrgorac, which opened the route towards
Imotski and
Mostar. In 1694 they managed to take areas north of the
Republic of Ragusa, namely
Čitluk,
Gabela,
Zažablje,
Trebinje,
Popovo,
Klobuk and
Metković. In the final peace treaty, Venice did relinquish the areas of
Popovo polje as well as
Klek and
Sutorina, to maintain the pre-existing demarcation near Ragusa. == Ottoman resurgence ==