alternatehistory.com
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But lets back this up real quick. Why would war return? A variety of factors, but long story short the current war Rome got dragged into was a reaction to the fluctuation of power in the region. You see, following the Black Death, nearly every country in Europe has suffered massive loss in people and thus, labor and tax base. Some of course, were more heavily hit than others. Venice, due to its dense nature and high population, suffered heavily. At the same time, her rival Genoa had lost nearly half of her population and resultingly, a huge source of income and less people to man the navy. This left Genoa in a very awkward position; where in which to keep the budget to a sustainable level Genoa would have to make a tough choice. Either they A) slash the military to a reasonable level (and therefore look weak, potentially inviting Venice or some other enemy to resume hostilities or B) do something drastic to keep the gold flowing. Naturally they chose option B, which translated into a show of force on the neighborhood. In less flattering terms, Genoa had turned to intensely raiding its neighbors, demanding tribute and cutting down on piracy in the region. While this sounds rather odd, it actually made (some) sense at the time. Raiding would provide much needed income quickly, and show that Genoa had not been weakened from the war. Additionally, cutting down on piracy (which in practice amounted to attacking Aragonese ships [1]) is a solid way of increasing your profit margin.
And this worked. Too well in fact. To the point where Venice was so scared it started an anti Genoese alliance with Aragon. (The latter joining in because those pirates ended up making a good amount of money for the state and with Castille suffering a major crises at the time Aargon felt more secure in its position) In the terms of the alliance, Aragon provided an extra ~30 galleys and any additional manpower Venice requested. This coalition of sorts was later expanded to get Pisa in the coalition the following year (1351), who was still furious about losing Corsica in 1295. With such a coalition of powers, Venice felt secure enough to resume its attempts to undermine the competition, which of course led to a resumption of hostilities. War was declared on 1350, with Venice and her allies planning to strike hard and fast on Genoese assets, hoping to strangle key sources of income and bring the Republic to its knees.
And initially, the overwhelming force did the job. In the first few months of the war, both Venice and Aragon moved their fleets to the Aegean. From there they launched concentrated raids, seizing and burning the colony of Galata near Constantinople. Following that, the other Crimean colonies of Genoa were put under siege [2] For the time being, it must have looked as if Genoa’s prospects were dire; they were drastically outnumbered (even with the reduced fleets in the aftermath of manpower shortage) and Genoa was stretched thin, with a host of trading ports, colonies and naval stations that the republic must defend. But that early luck ran out. Genoa regrouped her forces earlier and the war devolved into a chaotic series of hit and run attacks, raids, piracy and the occasional pitched sea battle.
Most of which, initially took place in the Aegean, the Ionian and Black Seas, which brings us to Eastern Rome. Despite intensive pressure from both republics, Rome kept a stance of armed neutrality for the first year. And initially, this was hard to dislodge. Unlike previous years, there was no separatists, no imperial claimants clawing for power and willing to revolt against the emperor and his inner circle, no great general to bribe and attack for them. Just a solid regime that was brutally in control with a loyal support base and a frustratingly large navy. (To the standards of the Genoa and Venice in this war, Genoa could barely field 100 galleys and here was Rome with a fully stacked ~40. Isn’t it wonderful to have a relatively large population?)
But back to the carnage. Despite all sides having a much smaller manpower base than before, they both fought harder and more fanatically than previously recorded, leading to much higher casualty rates. This was punctuated by a trend of increasingly more pitched battles with more and more ships and men thrown into the meatgrinder, culminating in the Battle of the Bosphorus in spring 1351. Over 100 ships were involved, the vast majority of them ending up at the bottom of the sea by the end of the battle. It was this moment that the Romans decided to gamble and join the war effort. The sheer amount of carnage and devastation that occurred right outside Constantinople’s doorstep convinced the inner circle of the empire that both sides would be exhausted and this was a golden opportunity to expand. A month after the battle’s conclusion, an emissary reached doge’s palace in Genoa. Rome would lend her men and ships to Genoa’s cause.
[1] Aragon was a major source of pirates and occasionally privateers in the Mediterranean. I say occasionally as when caught raiding Christians states Aragon denied all involvement to my knowledge, throwing those sailors under the bus to save face. You know, despite sanctioning the sailors and funding them. Anyway the pirates were officially sanctioned as a countermeasure to Muslim pirates in the region, but these men didn’t discriminate on religious grounds. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Tengri- it didn’t matter. You’re cargo is as a good as anyone else’s.
[2] Happened OTL. This is not an attempt to subtly improve the Byzantines’ prospects although one can see how they’d benefit from this. In any case, Galatta is simply too valuable to leave alone, as with one quick strike, the best trading port in the Aegean has just been neutralized.
Thanks! This means quite a lot as I'm often unsure of my writing skills.
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The Genoese-Venetian War: Round 3, Part I
The period of peace and stability of the first decade of the Renovation was an excellent time for Eastern Rome. The economy grew, the population rose (after brutally being cut in the Black Death), state finances were better than they had been in decades and stability was the norm. As a whole, things looked great and the future was bright. But like all good things, it eventually came to an end. War would once more rear its ugly head and return to Rome. Only time would tell if the choices made under the new regime would be enough to save her.
But lets back this up real quick. Why would war return? A variety of factors, but long story short the current war Rome got dragged into was a reaction to the fluctuation of power in the region. You see, following the Black Death, nearly every country in Europe has suffered massive loss in people and thus, labor and tax base. Some of course, were more heavily hit than others. Venice, due to its dense nature and high population, suffered heavily. At the same time, her rival Genoa had lost nearly half of her population and resultingly, a huge source of income and less people to man the navy. This left Genoa in a very awkward position; where in which to keep the budget to a sustainable level Genoa would have to make a tough choice. Either they A) slash the military to a reasonable level (and therefore look weak, potentially inviting Venice or some other enemy to resume hostilities or B) do something drastic to keep the gold flowing. Naturally they chose option B, which translated into a show of force on the neighborhood. In less flattering terms, Genoa had turned to intensely raiding its neighbors, demanding tribute and cutting down on piracy in the region. While this sounds rather odd, it actually made (some) sense at the time. Raiding would provide much needed income quickly, and show that Genoa had not been weakened from the war. Additionally, cutting down on piracy (which in practice amounted to attacking Aragonese ships [1]) is a solid way of increasing your profit margin.
And this worked. Too well in fact. To the point where Venice was so scared it started an anti Genoese alliance with Aragon. (The latter joining in because those pirates ended up making a good amount of money for the state and with Castille suffering a major crises at the time Aargon felt more secure in its position) In the terms of the alliance, Aragon provided an extra ~30 galleys and any additional manpower Venice requested. This coalition of sorts was later expanded to get Pisa in the coalition the following year (1351), who was still furious about losing Corsica in 1295. With such a coalition of powers, Venice felt secure enough to resume its attempts to undermine the competition, which of course led to a resumption of hostilities. War was declared on 1350, with Venice and her allies planning to strike hard and fast on Genoese assets, hoping to strangle key sources of income and bring the Republic to its knees.
And initially, the overwhelming force did the job. In the first few months of the war, both Venice and Aragon moved their fleets to the Aegean. From there they launched concentrated raids, seizing and burning the colony of Galata near Constantinople. Following that, the other Crimean colonies of Genoa were put under siege [2] For the time being, it must have looked as if Genoa’s prospects were dire; they were drastically outnumbered (even with the reduced fleets in the aftermath of manpower shortage) and Genoa was stretched thin, with a host of trading ports, colonies and naval stations that the republic must defend. But that early luck ran out. Genoa regrouped her forces earlier and the war devolved into a chaotic series of hit and run attacks, raids, piracy and the occasional pitched sea battle.
Most of which, initially took place in the Aegean, the Ionian and Black Seas, which brings us to Eastern Rome. Despite intensive pressure from both republics, Rome kept a stance of armed neutrality for the first year. And initially, this was hard to dislodge. Unlike previous years, there was no separatists, no imperial claimants clawing for power and willing to revolt against the emperor and his inner circle, no great general to bribe and attack for them. Just a solid regime that was brutally in control with a loyal support base and a frustratingly large navy. (To the standards of the Genoa and Venice in this war, Genoa could barely field 100 galleys and here was Rome with a fully stacked ~40. Isn’t it wonderful to have a relatively large population?)
But back to the carnage. Despite all sides having a much smaller manpower base than before, they both fought harder and more fanatically than previously recorded, leading to much higher casualty rates. This was punctuated by a trend of increasingly more pitched battles with more and more ships and men thrown into the meatgrinder, culminating in the Battle of the Bosphorus in spring 1351. Over 100 ships were involved, the vast majority of them ending up at the bottom of the sea by the end of the battle. It was this moment that the Romans decided to gamble and join the war effort. The sheer amount of carnage and devastation that occurred right outside Constantinople’s doorstep convinced the inner circle of the empire that both sides would be exhausted and this was a golden opportunity to expand. A month after the battle’s conclusion, an emissary reached doge’s palace in Genoa. Rome would lend her men and ships to Genoa’s cause.
[1] Aragon was a major source of pirates and occasionally privateers in the Mediterranean. I say occasionally as when caught raiding Christians states Aragon denied all involvement to my knowledge, throwing those sailors under the bus to save face. You know, despite sanctioning the sailors and funding them. Anyway the pirates were officially sanctioned as a countermeasure to Muslim pirates in the region, but these men didn’t discriminate on religious grounds. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Tengri- it didn’t matter. You’re cargo is as a good as anyone else’s.
[2] Happened OTL. This is not an attempt to subtly improve the Byzantines’ prospects although one can see how they’d benefit from this. In any case, Galatta is simply too valuable to leave alone, as with one quick strike, the best trading port in the Aegean has just been neutralized.