One of the most persistent opponents the Ottomans had met on their quest to take over the Mediterranean
was the Republic of Venice, as the two realms fought for centuries vying for naval dominance
in the region. Cyprus became one of the most important locations in this rivalry, and the
new sultan Selim II was eager to conquer it…
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Immediately upon his succession, Selim the Second - already considered weak - faced the
Janissary mutiny; they were demanding additional pay and privileges before the new Sultan would
even be allowed into Constantinople. Such salary raises were traditional, but Selim’s
inability to bring them to heel was an inauspicious beginning to his reign. It was the powerful
Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha who opened the treasury to the Janissary corps and quieted
their mutiny. Though the Ottoman army remained the most powerful in Europe, Selim’s weak
leadership, and the strong fortifications of northern Hungary, made a continuation of
his father’s campaign a near-impossibility.
In the seas, the constant raiding continued as freebooting Muslim and Christian captains
sought to make their fortunes by ransom and slavery. Though North African Corsairs like
Dragut are the best-known, it was by no means a one-sided affair. The Knights Hospitaller
launched constant pirate raids in the Eastern Mediterranean from Malta. They primarily targeted
Ottoman shipping, but also showed a willingness to prey on their fellow Christians. The Spanish,
the French and the various Italian powers clashed with each other and the North African
Corsairs in the Western Mediterranean.
The most critical location of this period was Cyprus, one of the crown jewels of the
Venetian maritime empire. In close proximity to the Ottoman heartland of Asia Minor and
the rich territories of Egypt and Syria, Cyprus was one of the most prominent pirate havens
in the entire Mediterranean. The population was predominantly Greek Orthodox, and relations
were far from friendly between the Cypriots and their Latin overlords. Cyprus boasted
several strong forts, and the Venetians maintained large garrisons in such cities as Famagusta
and Nicosia, but they had been very lax in maintaining and upgrading these fortifications
in comparison to the Hospitallers, who had turned the Ottomans back from Malta in 1565.
For the Ottomans, the Mediterranean was at the heart of their vast domain, and the pirate
raids on Ottoman merchant shipping were becoming intolerable. Though Venice had been paying
the Ottomans a hefty annual tribute of 150 thousand ducats to maintain their rulership
of Cyprus, it was clear that this state of affairs could not continue forever.
Selim was also slow to react to the rebellion of the Moriscos - recently-baptized Christians
of Muslim origin in Southern Spain - that started in 1568. The only actions taken against
Spain were small conquests in Tunis by Uluch Ali, Beylerbeyi of Algiers, who helped supply
the Moriscos, as well as bringing his own forces against those of the Spanish puppet
Sultan. Uluch acted with near-complete autonomy however, and Ottoman control over their African
vassals was growing weaker.
Similarly, the Ottomans failed to check the upstart Kingdom of Russia’s expansion through
the Don and the Volga rivers. The Ottomans had in the past supported the Grand Principality
of Muscovy as a check against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. But now this was coming back
to haunt them, and an attempt to link the two rivers by a canal, to strengthen the position
of the Ottomans and their Crimean Tatar allies in the region, was turned back by the Russians
in 1570. Selim was quick to blame this failure on Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, temporarily weakening
the Vizier’s influence.
Selim needed a victory to solidify his reign. And with Sokollu Mehmed disgraced by the defeat
against Russia, Selim fell under the influence of Joseph Nasi, a wealthy Sephardic Jew of
Portuguese origin, whose family had settled in the Ottoman Empire after being forced out
of the Iberian Peninsula. His ascension in the Ottoman court had been meteoric. After
Selim’s reign began he was quickly made Duke of Naxos and Count of Andros and Paros,
but Joseph dreamed of ruling as a new King of Cyprus under an Ottoman wing. Nasi wished
for the Ottomans to seize Cyprus from Venice, and as the Islamic clergy also demanded he
stop the piracy, Selim was easily convinced.
In February of 1570, Venetian merchants began to note the rapid construction of galleys
all over Asia Minor and Syria. And on the 25th of March, Selim’s ultimatum reached
Venice, demanding Cyprus be given to the Ottoman Empire.
There was more at stake for Venice than just Cyprus, as it also held territory in Dalmatia
and Albania, as well as several Greek Islands. The Ottomans were also Venice’s most important
trading partner, and a long war would threaten Italian supplies and trade. However, the pro-war
party in Venice won the day, and the fateful decision was made to fight rather than surrender
Cyprus.
Knowing that they would be unable to stand up to the Ottomans alone, the Venetian Doge
Pietro Loredan immediately set about gathering allies, petitioning Pope Pius V to intercede
on their behalf for an alliance with Habsburg Spain. With Cyprus under threat Pius opened
the coffers of the Papal State, sending 100,000 ducats to support the Venetian war effort.
Philip II of Spain, whose naval defence against the Ottomans in the Western Mediterranean
relied on Papal subsidies as much as Venice did, was quick to agree as well. Though they
were still more concerned about Uluch Ali’s conquest of Tunis than the affairs of Cyprus,
they pledged their fleet to the allied war effort, under the command of Philip II’s
bastard half-brother, Don Juan de Austria.
Genoa, still stinging from the recent loss of Chios, also pledged their fleet to the
defence of their rival Venice, under the command of Giovanni Andrea Doria. Giovanni had been
the commander of the Christian fleet defeated at Djerba a decade earlier, but this new Holy
League would give him a fresh opportunity to square off against Piyale Pasha. Urbino,
Parma, Savoy, Tuscany, and the Knights of Malta also joined as minor participants, though
none contributed more than five galleys to the allied fleet.
As impressive as this new league appeared, its mobilization would be slow, and it would
fall on Venice to stem the initial Turkish advance. The Venetian navy, largest of the
Holy League participants, put to sea with a strength of 80 galleys under Captain-General
Girolamo Zanne on the 30th of March, but two short weeks later was crippled by a disease
outbreak off Zara. It would be two months before rowers and soldiers could be assembled
or press-ganged to get the Venetian force in motion again.
While Zanne was immobilized, Piyale Pasha, and the overall commander of the Ottoman fleet,
Muezzinzade Ali Pasha, sailed from Constantinople to Finike, then brought their combined fleet
of 140 galleys, 30 galliots, and 170 transports to Cyprus. On those ships were 6,000 elite
Janissaries, 12,000 Sipahi cavalry, and 14,000 volunteer soldiers and sailors, the overwhelming
first wave for the Cyprus campaign.
As Uluch Ali’s galliots ambushed and defeated the Maltese contingent, and the stricken Venetian
fleet regrouped at Corfu, Ottoman land commander Lala Mustafa made landfall on July 1st, with
the siege of Nicosia - the capital and best-defended city in Cyprus - beginning three weeks later
on the 22nd. The Holy League had been too late to prevent the Ottoman landing. Holding
Cyprus would now fall to the Venetian and Albanian land forces.
Nicosia was the center of the defence of Cyprus, and boasting the most modern fortifications
and largest garrison on the island, it should have been a formidable obstacle for Lala Mustafa’s
army. Unfortunately for the Venetians, its defence fell to Niccolo Dandolo, an inexperienced
and remarkably talentless commander. Dandolo’s defence was entirely static, with no attempts
made to disrupt or delay the Turkish siege works. Despite the large contingent of fearsome
Albanian Stradiot cavalry under his command, he allowed the Ottomans to disembark their
army and siege equipment from their ships to the shore and surround Nicosia without
a single sortie launched. The only appreciable defensive preparations Dandolo took were surrounding
himself with a bodyguard of pikemen.
Having failed to inspire confidence in the Venetian soldiers, or loyalty among the native
Cypriots, Dandolo’s clumsy defence of Nicosia lasted a mere month and a half, with the Ottoman
army ever-swelling with reinforcements from Anatolia. On the 9th of September, the Venetian
walls were breached and the city fell shortly after. Dandolo and the rest of the Venetian
defenders were put to the sword, and the looting of the rich city began - by some accounts
the most profitable plundering since the fall of Constantinople.
With Nicosia’s fall, most of the forts of Cyprus surrendered without resistance to the
Ottomans, revealing just how weak the Venetian hold on the island was. The only remaining
holdout was the port of Famagusta, under the command of Governor Astorre Baglione and General
Marco Bragadino.
In contrast to Dandolo, Baglione had set upon a long-overdue defensive upgrade of Famagusta’s
fortifications immediately after his arrival in May. The wealth of Nicosia bought him some
time, as many of the Sipahi and Janissaries abandoned the campaign to return home with
their plunder; the volunteers that flocked to replace them, lured by promises of plunder,
lacked their discipline and training, and were slow to leave the looting of Nicosia
to besiege this holdout port upon which all of Venice’s hopes lay.
At sea, the Venetian fleet was showing little more determination than Dandolo’s defence
of Nicosia. Some minor raids in the Ottoman Cyclades did help disrupt the Ottoman campaign
on Cyprus, but Patrician hierarchy had placed the talentless Barbarigo in command of the
navy over the capable Quirini. The combined Holy League was slowly assembling at Crete,
and the Venetians naturally advocated for immediate relief of Cyprus, while the Genoese
and Spanish felt that to do so would be suicidal folly. Thus, when the campaigning season of
1570 came to an end, and both the Christian and Ottoman fleets returned to their ports,
the new Holy League had little to show for the year.
The Ottomans were faced with some problems of their own: for choosing to return to Constantinople
with his treasure instead of pursuing the Christians to Crete, Piyale Pasha - the most
experienced Ottoman admiral - was disgraced and his command was revoked.
1571 would be the deciding year for both sides. Famagusta remained besieged throughout the
winter, though the Ottoman army had dwindled enough on the off-season to make an assault
impossible even against Famagusta’s outdated medieval walls. Towards the end of January,
Quirini did manage to bring a relief force of soldiers and supplies to Famagusta from
Crete, in the process destroying an Ottoman battery and three galleys, as the Ottoman
army celebrated the beginning of Ramadan. He also captured a pilgrim ship and another
carrying reinforcements. The soldiers were towed to Crete where their passengers would
become rowing slaves for the undermanned Venetian navy, but he left the pilgrims with Bragadino
as hostages, a decision that would have great impact later.
The campaign began again in earnest in early April. Muezzinade Ali returned to Cyprus with
new volunteers, drawn by the vast wealth carried off from Nicosia. Uluch Ali, ever the freebooter,
continued raiding his way through the Ionian isles from the Strophades to Modon before
joining the fleet at Cyprus in May.
On the Christian side, military developments were slow. To encourage cooperation between
the allies Don Juan was placed in overall command, creating a clearer command structure
for the disorganized armada.
Meanwhile, in Famagusta, Baglione was ferociously defending with his comparatively small force
of 9,000. There are a number of reasons why Famagusta proved so much more costly to take
than the more fortified and better-manned Nicosia. First and foremost, Baglione sent
out numerous devastating sorties, slaughtering Ottoman gun crews and burning siege works.
The Albanian cavalry was used to their full deadly effect, wreaking havoc on the Ottoman
besiegers. In addition, Baglione was able to inspire the loyalty of the city’s native
Cypriot population, while Dandolo had been seen with nothing but hatred. Baglione led
several attacks himself, in one case being challenged to single combat by an Ottoman
officer. Mortally injuring the man, he then had him brought back inside the walls to be
paraded before the defenders. However, as heroic as this defence might have been, it
was ultimately futile. The hills and gardens to the south of Famagusta gave a commanding
position for the main Ottoman camp and a clear line of fire for the punishing batteries of
heavy guns.
By May 19th Ottoman siege trenches had fully encircled the city. On the 21st and 29th of
May huge mines were set off beneath the walls by Ottoman sappers, and though each assault
was beaten back with heavy losses, the defenders were dwindling rapidly. Lala Mustafa gave
terms for surrender, thinking the siege all but won. However, against all expectations,
the city still held throughout the month of June and into mid-July, by which time the
Ottomans were making assaults through the shattered walls almost daily.
On the 9th of July a section of the southern wall was toppled by a Venetian mine that detonated
prematurely, killing Turks and Venetians both as it collapsed amid a fierce Ottoman assault.
Finally, on the 1st of August, the stubborn Bragadino - who had left the defence largely
to Baglione, but remained in command - raised the white flag above Famagusta. Before doing
so, however, he made one last spiteful act of resistance, having the pilgrim hostages
executed and Famagusta’s stocks of food, ammunition and valuable cotton burnt to deny
their use to the Ottomans.
The Ottoman army had suffered severely in the taking of Famagusta, and as Lala Mustafa’s
earlier offers of terms had been refused, tensions were high. However, he still offered
fairly favourable terms. The remaining 500 or so Venetians could leave the city under
their own flag, and the Cypriot inhabitants could either leave immediately or, if they
found Ottoman rule harsher than Venetian, within two years of the city’s surrender.
For the first four days, the evacuation of the defenders went smoothly enough. However,
the terms he had offered, and that Bragadino had accepted, required the safe return of
the pilgrims that had been so recently slaughtered. When they were not forthcoming, Bragadino
himself was summoned to the Ottoman encampment on August 5th. During the short discussions,
Bragadino was questioned about the pilgrims and the stores of Famagusta, with Mustafa
finally flying into a violent rage when the truth came out.
Some have suggested that this was a ruse, that Mustafa had known of the pilgrims’
fate already and simply sought an excuse to plunder the city. Others record this as genuine
shock and rage at Bragadino’s actions. Whatever the motivation, Bragadino’s ears and nose
were cut off, he was imprisoned, and then executed. This was accompanied by a general
massacre and the uncontrolled plundering of the captured city.
Cyprus was now under Ottoman control, but that was hardly the end of the war. The battle
of Lepanto will be covered next in this series, so make sure you are subscribed to our channel
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