In the summer of 1645 an Ottoman fl eet reached the coasts of Crete and disembarked an expeditionary force of 50,000 men. It was the beginning of a conflict that would see the Serenissima Republic of Venice confront the Ottoman Empire for over a quarter of a century: the War of Candia. Within the first two years of battle the whole of Crete fell into Ottoman hands, with the exception of some fortified towns and the capital of the Kingdom. Despite the disproportion of the forces on the field, the siege of Candia lasted over 21 years and cost the besieger about 130,000 men. Supported by archive and bibliographical sources, the first part of the essay aims to understand which dynamics impeded the Ottomans to obtain a rapid and complete victory. It is worth recalling that such a big conflict would not have been possible without an important logistic effort. As a result, through the study of the Venetian archive sources, the essay focuses on analyzing the mechanisms and the operating of the Venetian logistic machine. Indeed, an organization able to provision an entire besieged city, for over twenty years, exclusively through the sea deserves attention.

La guerra di Candia: un confronto di mezzi e risorse

VACCHER, ROBERTO
2016-01-01

Abstract

In the summer of 1645 an Ottoman fl eet reached the coasts of Crete and disembarked an expeditionary force of 50,000 men. It was the beginning of a conflict that would see the Serenissima Republic of Venice confront the Ottoman Empire for over a quarter of a century: the War of Candia. Within the first two years of battle the whole of Crete fell into Ottoman hands, with the exception of some fortified towns and the capital of the Kingdom. Despite the disproportion of the forces on the field, the siege of Candia lasted over 21 years and cost the besieger about 130,000 men. Supported by archive and bibliographical sources, the first part of the essay aims to understand which dynamics impeded the Ottomans to obtain a rapid and complete victory. It is worth recalling that such a big conflict would not have been possible without an important logistic effort. As a result, through the study of the Venetian archive sources, the essay focuses on analyzing the mechanisms and the operating of the Venetian logistic machine. Indeed, an organization able to provision an entire besieged city, for over twenty years, exclusively through the sea deserves attention.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11575/94894
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