What if Venice regained Crete in the Morean War

Valdemar II

Banned
Venice got Morea only two decades after losing Crete, WI in the Morean War Venice also got Crete, would the Ottomans reconquer it, would Venice be better placed in Morea in the next war?
 
This has the possibility to make quite the interesting scenario.

Say for the sake of the TL that Morosini, after securing the Morean peninsula, instead of going after the Negropont, chooses to avenge Venice's defeat by attacking Crete (I'm not quite sure why he didn't attack Crete in OTL as it makes better Logistic sense than the other two targets, the Negropont or Chios).

What follows is a brief bloody Cretan campaign in which the Venetian army defeats the Ottoman garrison on Crete and an Ottoman attempt to relieve it. The rest of the war goes a bit better for Venice than in OTL (perhaps they avoid the Negopont and after Crete go for the island of Chios?). In the ensuing peace the Ottoman Empire cedes all of what it did in OTL to Venice as well as returning to it the Island of Crete.

I don't see this changing too much in terms of the Second Morean War. If anything Venice is going to try and retain Crete over Morea (easier) so the fortifications in Morea are going to be weaker due to the need to repair the ones on Crete. TTL's second Morean War sees the Ottomans attack Venetian Crete instead of Corfu. However Austrian intervention sees the war end before the Turks can regain the islands.

Venetian bankruptcy sees Crete along with the remaining Venetian possessions in the Adriatic regulated to backwater/unwanted status. And here they languish for a considerable period of time. The Ottomans however are in no way disposed to spend more treasure on regaining the pitiful island of Crete and are content to have it remain in the possession of the Venetians.

Come the Napoleonic Wars, Venice is dismembered and Crete goes the way of the Ionian islands becoming initially French and then the capital of the Octinsular Republic (Crete makes 8 islands). With Crete's added population base, I think an Ionian state could actually make a go at becoming a legit state, who knows? Perhaps this could affect Greek independence?
 
Good old Francesco Morosini had a very sharp strategic nose. The attempt to take Negroponte was the obvious culmination of his campaign in Morea, and was required both to better protect the gains on the Greek mainland and to open p alternative tagets in th Egean sea (Chios, the Archipelagos, even a new blockade of Costantinople). With Negroponte in Venetian hands, Crete would have withered on the vine, and could have been taken at leisure.

However, without the possesion of Negroponte any attack on Crete would have ben a riskier business since the presence of the main Venetian fleet off La Canea (modern Chania) would have left open Morea to a Turkish attack (cfr. what happened when Domenico Mocenigo tried to invest La Canea and then lost his nerve in 1692).

To go back to the original question, however, the answer is certainly yes: Venice would be able to keep Crete (and also Negroponte) during the return match in 1714: the changes in the sea warfare in Eastern Mediterranean (i.e. the increasing use of galeons rather than galleys in warfare) privileged defense over attack (which is also one of the reasons for which there was no follow up of the second war of Morea). It is worth noting that in 1718 Venice had the third most powerful war fleet in Europe (after UK and Holland, and taking into account the temporary decline of the French navy after the war of Spanish succession): however they were unable to win decisive naval battles in the 2nd war of Morea.
 
Last edited:
Okay, so let's assume that while attacking the Negroponte, Morosini's army doesn't get hit with an outbreak of the plague and remains relatively healthy. Due to fewer casualties, the Negroponte falls to the Venetians causing even more headaches for the Ottomans.

The rest of the war proceeds a bit better for the Venetians, perhaps leading them to take Chios and a few other islands. With more Turkish troops on the mainland and a withering Venetian treasury, I doubt they'd be able to deploy an army capable of making many more gains in Mainland Greece. Come the peace settlement then, perhaps Crete is traded to Venice in exchange for Chios and the Negroponte?
 
I don't see this changing too much in terms of the Second Morean War. If anything Venice is going to try and retain Crete over Morea (easier) so the fortifications in Morea are going to be weaker due to the need to repair the ones on Crete. TTL's second Morean War sees the Ottomans attack Venetian Crete instead of Corfu. However Austrian intervention sees the war end before the Turks can regain the islands.

Venetian bankruptcy sees Crete along with the remaining Venetian possessions in the Adriatic regulated to backwater/unwanted status. And here they languish for a considerable period of time. The Ottomans however are in no way disposed to spend more treasure on regaining the pitiful island of Crete and are content to have it remain in the possession of the Venetians.
Keeping Crete will result out of the good defensive perfomance of the Venetian fleet in the 2nd war of Morea (same as it happen IOTL in the successful defense of Corfu).

Come the Napoleonic Wars, Venice is dismembered and Crete goes the way of the Ionian islands becoming initially French and then the capital of the Octinsular Republic (Crete makes 8 islands). With Crete's added population base, I think an Ionian state could actually make a go at becoming a legit state, who knows? Perhaps this could affect Greek independence?

A better performance by Venice in the 2 Morean wars would be likely to result in a better 18th century for the republic and avoid the funk that dominated Venice after the 1720s. Even assuming that Venice does not participate in the Austrian Succession war (but ITTL they might be tempted) and that the butterflies do not change history too much (but they could) I do believe that TTL Senate could (and should) avoid the stupidity of unarmed neutrality. A stronger Venetian navy could certainly make it quite difficult for the alternate Napoleon to take Venice itself, an in any case the doge might retreat to Corfu (or even Crete), taking the fleet. Whih meas that the republic survives and might even participat in the naval hostilities in the Mediterranean. At the peace table, Venic regains terrafirma and maybe some tidbis in the Adriatic (Ragusa?) and in Italy (at least Mantua, maybe Ferrara too). What happens afterwards is open to debate, but they can still play their cards.
 
Top