Due to constant Ottoman incursions after the
fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the flare-up of the war between the Ottoman Empire and Venice, the
Slavic Catholic population of Dalmatia, where the Venetian power with its center in
Zadar was consolidated at the beginning of the 15th century, massively joined the units of the Venetian navy, including the naval infantry corps. The naval infantry of the Venetian navy or
Fanti da Mar were organized as far back as 1202 during the Fourth Crusade when they were the key to the conquest of Zadar and later Constantinople. The Slavic population of Dalmatia soon outnumbered members of Latin/Venetian origin, so that at the end of the century, the fanti da mar were exclusively recruited from Dalmatia, and the name
schiavoni became a synonym for naval infantry. It will have its first notable role in the failed
defense of Negroponte in 1470 during the First Venetian-Ottoman War, when the entire Venetian crew was killed after a frantic defense. The Bailo of Negroponte, Paolo Erizzo, had under his command, in addition to the Venetian and Greek troops, a contingent of naval infantry from Dalmatia. ===
War of Cyprus ===
Oltramarini will share a tragic fate with the other defenders of Cyprus during the
Siege of Famagusta. They joined the battle on January 26, 1571, under the command of Captain Gianantonio Querini and formed a contingent of foot soldiers who broke through the Ottoman blockade on Venetian galleys and arrived in besieged
Famagusta. The heroic defense would last until the summer when, after a full 11 months, the defense commander Marco Antonio Bragadin decided to ask for a truce and surrender. The surviving defenders were promised safe passage, but on August 4, the Ottomans broke their promise and massacred the civilians and the remaining five hundred surviving defenders, and brutally tortured and killed Bragadin. ===
Battle of Lepanto === The heroic resistance of Famagusta gave the Christian forces enough time, keeping the huge Ottoman fleet occupied, to gather and organize. The
Holy League set sail from the port of
Messina with a force of 206
galleys and 6
galleass (galeazza). The Republic of Venice participated with 109 galleys and six galleys. Sailors and soldiers from Dalmatia and Istria fill as many as twenty galleys of the Venetian fleet, including the
Capitana, the Venetian command ship of Admiral (Capitàn da mar)
Sebastian Venier, the supreme commander of all Venetian forces. After four hours of fierce fighting, the fleet of the Holy League was victorious. The
Battle of Lepanto was a heavy defeat for the Ottoman fleet, 25,000 to 30,000 men were died. The Holy League fleet lost about 15 galleys; 7,500 to 10,000 people died and 15,000 were wounded. After that battle, Ottoman naval supremacy in the Mediterranean ended. The losses of Dalmatia and Istria were enormous, of about 9,000 sailors and soldiers, a third did not return. ===
War of Candia === During the Candian War, the
Oltramarini will fight on three fronts; in the defense of Dalmatia, in the defense of Crete and as naval infantry in naval battles. At the beginning of the war in 1645, oltramarini from Zadar successfully repelled the first Turkish attack on Split, when together with the Split
cernide defeated the Turkish army of about 2,000 soldiers. In 1647, contingents of
oltramarini took part in the defense of Šibenik under the command of the
German condottiere baron
Christoph Martin von Degenfeld, they form a professional contingent of 2,500 infantrymen. With about 3,000
cernide from Šibenik, they resisted the attacks of about 25,000 Otoman soldiers. On September 11, after 25 days of fighting, the
Provveditore of Dalmatia
Leonardo Foscolo sailed into the harbor with reinforcements. After the defense of Šibenik, about 2,000
oltramarini took part in the liberation of the Dalmatian fortresses of
Novigrad,
Karin,
Obrovac and
Vrana. Zuanne Radoš from
Trogir especially stood out in these battles as one of the commanders (superintendents) of the
oltramarini, who will be awarded the
Order of the Knights of St. Mark for his bravery in these battles.In 1648, on the southern battlefield, a large Venetian army under the command of Don Stipan Sorić, consisting of 3,000
oltramarini, 2,000
Swiss, 600
cavalry, 200
dragoons and about 1,000
cernide (under the leadership of
Vuk Mandušić) liberated
Drniš and
Klis. Venetian victories in Dalmatia will be her only successes of this war. After 22 years of siege, the Republic loses the city of
Kandia, the capital and last stronghold on
Crete. During the siege, 70,000 Turks, 38,000 Cretan serfs, as well as 29,088 Christian defenders of the city, including sailors and soldiers from
Dalmatia and
Istria, died from disease and fighting. More than 17,000 men from Dalmatia were recruited during this war. ===
Morean War === Venice took advantage of the
Ottoman defeats at Vienna in the first years of the
Great Turkish War, and in 1684, at the persuasion and under the command of Admiral (Capitàn da mar)
Francesco Morosini, it set out to conquer Ottoman possessions in Greece. The first operation of the war for the
oltramarini was the successful conquest of the fortress of
Preveza, which fell in September after a short siege, and would serve as a great psychological victory for the entire armada due to its reputation as an impregnable fortress. In December 1684, Dalmatian
oltramarini joined the great Venetian army on Corfu with three reinforced regiments. In the spring of 1687, the last major Ottoman forts in the Peloponnese, city of
Patras and the forts at the entrance to the
Gulf of Corinth,
Rio and
Antirio, fell. The Peloponnese was under complete Venetian control. The news of the great victory was greeted in Venice with great joy and celebration. Morosini was given the title of
Peloponnesiacus. , dark blue was standard service uniform. War was also fought in
Dalmatia,
Herzegovina and
Boka. As the professional army of Venice in Dalmatia, regiments of
oltramarini and their cavalry counterparts
croati a cavallo, with the support of the local
irregular units;
cernide and orthodox
morlachs, successfully liberated
Sinj and
Knin. ===
Second Morean War === During the Second Morean War, the
oltramarini fought in Dalmatia, and in the defence of Corfu. In Dalmatia in 1715 they participated in heroic defense of
Sinj, where 4 companies from the
Corponese regiment together with local militia
(cernide) and professional Italian units fought off Turkish assaults. Larger formations participated in final liberation of Dalmatia under
provveditore Emo. These victories marked the future border of Dalmatia towards Bosnia (the
Dinara mountain). In 1716. during the
defense of Corfu, 2 regiments of
oltramarini under the command of colonel Antono Kumbat broke the Turkish blockade and served as relief force for the besieged
Venetian -
German contingent under command of
Prussian general
Matthias von der Schulenburg. On August 19, 800 Dalmatians reinforced by company of elite Venetian
grenadiers under personal command of colonel Kumbat charged the
Janissary positions on Fort Scarpone. After 6 hours of fighting, the Venetians emerged victorious, 1,200 janissaries lost their lives, as did half of the Venetians. After this loss and the arrival of new Venetian reinforcements, on August 21, the Turks stop their attacks and on August 25, they withdraw from Corfu. ===
Fall of La Serenissima === In fear of the
French occupation, the Venetian government introduced a complete mobilization, all eleven Dalmatian regiments were deployed in
Terraferma, with the express order to avoid conflicts with the French at all costs. The "peaceful" French occupation of the Venetian cities did not go smoothly, and soon anti-
Jacobin rebellions began, the most significant of which was in
Verona. In order to calm the situation in the city, the senate sends Medin regiment of the
oltramarini, but the exact opposite happens. Citizens join the Dalmatian troops in expelling the French garrison, the event will be remembered as the
Veronese Easter -
Pasque Veronesi, i.e. as
Le Massacre de Verona in French sources. After nine days of fighting, under siege by another 15,000 French soldiers, Verona falls on April 25., French lost more than 500 men. As the last proof of loyalty to the Venetian Republic, thousands of Dalmatian
oltramarini and sailors were the last armed force willing to fight to the end for Venice.
Oltramarini officers demanded that the city be prepared for a siege and defended. The main supporter of that idea was the
Doge's
consigliere Francesco Pesaro, who until the last day begged the Doge not to hand over power to the Jacobins and to retreat to Zadar, then a strong center of
Venetian Dalmatia, he also counted on the intact fleet anchored in
Corfu. Despite the will of the Venetian and Dalmatian officers to preserve the Republic, fearing the destruction of the city, Doge
Manin and most of the
nobility did not comply with the wishes of the Dalmatians to fight, and on
May 12, 1797, they handed over power to
Napoleon, thus the thousand-year-old republic fell. When 4,000 French soldiers entered the city, the
oltramarini refused to hand over their weapons and regimental flags and shouted the centuries-old military cry
"viva san marco" with shots in the air as they boarded the ships that were supposed to take them to their homeland. On May 12, 1797, the ultramarine troops left Venice for the last time from the
Rive degli Schiavoni. == Organization ==