The Serene Republic Abides

Given any POD, have Venice remain a Great Power until the present day. Its form of govt, however, must remain the same as existed at its height.

Sorry if it's been done
I once toyed with a POD (Venice retaking Cyprus and applying some aspects of Ottoman admin to it's governance as a lab) leading to them maintaining enough of a navy to (with British help, although most historians of the Serrennissima mislike playing that up) keep the French out of the Rialto and Dalmatian islands.

Of course, the Aregno gets restored as a House of Commons during this mess whilst the Nobility is seriously shaken up. The longhi/curti conflict is added to by the 'merchants' who still kept a hand in various trades and 'farmers' who aped the aristos on the continent... and the latter were largely ruined (and several were banished as collaborators) in the Napoleonic war.

The council of Vienna grants status quo ante bellum to the place largely due to the refusal of a monarch, but the place becomes increasingly democratic and remains one of the most religiously open lands in Europe (a qadi subject to the Mufti of Candia is a formal office, while five non-catholic families (two Orthodox, two Muslim, one Jewish) have been added to the Golden Book).

Definitely not the Venice of old for all that the Grand Council and Doge continue thier ceremonies, does that count?

HTG
 
Anyway, it's hard to imaging a Venetian Republic surviving - it would have to be limited to Venetia itself, perhaps with a few Italian enclaves, probably islands here or there. That would probably necessitate getting rid of Italian unification, which is certainly possible, but it's difficult to arrange this so that small states like Venice are not swallowed up by larger powers - so it seems you need to destroy the Hapsburgs too.
Keep it a functional British protectorate/proxy with a fair-sized military force of it's own (and a tight grip on Vienna's Adriatic trade) and it could pull through readily enough.

Italian Reunification... massively altered (indeed, the question of how Italian the Venitians regard themselves after the baptism of fire I described should be questioned).

Come to think of it, the late-Ottoman Balkans could change a lot too, esp. if Venice prefers the Porte to Russia or the local bandits/princelings.

HTG
 
Ah, as for having Venice survive longer, a good starting point might be no Napoleon, however by this time, Venice was a shadow of it's former self anyway. Perhaps a TL where Venice can get control of Egypt somehow and build a certain canal to maintain trade? Or how about a drive to the west and American colonies?


Sargon

There is no way that Venice had the resources to control Egypt - if Napoleon couldn't manage it, Venice sure can't. The population differential is just too big, and Egypt to advanced a society.

Now an _ALLIANCE_ with an eye towards bypassing the Cape route....

HTG
 
What about the British protecting the city of Venice during Napoleon's campaign?

Venice proper maintains its independence, ala San Martin, and during the 19th century becomes the focus of exiled Italian nationalists. With the influence of all these radicals there is wide-ranging reform of Venice's republican institutions.

When the '48 Revolution breaks out the Italian patriots largely cooperate, having spent so much time together in Venice?

Venice ends up as the capital of *Italy, being seen as the bastion of Italian Democracy and Republicianism, where Rome represents the corrupt, unpatriotic Papacy?

Plus Venice being capital allows a better claim for Italian revanchist claims on the Adriatic coast.
 
Top