Encyclopedia Venetio
Gritti, Andrea
Years as Doge
Andrea Gritti assumed the position of Doge on May 8th 1523. The Senate and people of Venice expected little change in the policies of the last Doge, and Gritti was happy to comply. His first order of buisness was to make a speach calling for increased efforts of colonization in North and South America.
Doge Gritti was, in practice, a pascifist. He believed that war was unprofitable and mearly hurt trade and the economy which was the life blood of Venice. Although he would, later in life, admit that war had allowed Venice to carve out an Empire for herself and become self substaining, during his reign he never ones instigated a war, even when international opinio nwas on his side.
Another reason which may have lead to his anti-war bias was the terrible state of Venetian diplomacy. Previous Doges had neglected diplomacy in order to expand the Republic, and had left Venice as one of the most hated countries in the world at that time. Doge Gritti feared that any war he undertook would lead to every nation boardering him to declare war to chastise the Venice.
The first year of Gritti's dogeship was rather uneventful as he sent colonists to Seminole and Chesapeak, beat back rebels in Peidmont and generally attempted to rule the Republic well. The Doge also was able to put into practice his views of less governmental control of the economy when he happily abolished a tax which had been causing troubles with local artisans.
Sadly, beneath the calm surface unrest was boiling and about to bubble over. The extremes taken by the inquisition in many Venetian provinces had shooken the faith of many people and pushed them more into the camp of Barbango.
In August of 1524 the Catholic Inquisition in the province of Banat slaughtered an entire village of Orthodox Christians. The result caused the entire province to flare into revolt, and the Catholic priests were slaughtered. The rebellion quickly picked up momentum and spread to other Orthodox provinces, and took on an anti-governmental character and spread to Greece and Italy. In September Marco Barbango III announced that the Senate had been under the influence of "corrupting forces" when it had chosen Gritti as Doge, and that the election was null and void. Barbango declared himself as rightful Doge of the Republic, the Venetian Civil War had begun ( See Venetian Civil War )
Venetian Civil War
The Venetian Civil War is the name given to the war which raged between the forces of Doge Andrea Gritti and those of Marco Barbango III between the years of 1524-1527. The war was brought on by religious, economic and social tensions within the Republic due to its quick expansion during the 15th Century, as well as the idealogies of two men who wished to shape the Republic in their own image.
Although Barbango held the loyalty of well over half of the military, as well as much of Central Italy, all of Greece, much of Hungary and the colonies, Gritti was able to call upon the support of the entire Navy the elite of the military, as well as the core economic provinces of Northern Italy and Dalmatia.
Despite the immence popular support of Marco Barbango III, he was almost fated to loose. Although Barbango controlled over half of the Venetian military, it had become little more than an unrully mob with nearly all athority having been lost when the generals were killed. Furthermore the rebellion itself was badly organized from the beginning and, even though Barbango would take steps to centralize it as time went on, by the end it was to late. Had it not been for the decleration of war by France, Austria and Denmark, the war would have ended a year to two years earlier. The Civil War has often been been divided into three main fazes.
The Initiation
The Initiation is often seen as beginning with Barbango's proclamation, and ended only with Gritti's bringing about peace with France in 1526. It was during this phase that Barbango's had his greatest chance of success and it was widely believed that Gritti would loose to his numerically superior opponents.
With the decleration of war by France and Austria merely a month following the "Barbango Proclamation", things looked grim indeed for the extablished government of Venice. France immediatly attempted to seige Peidmont, while Austria attacked from the North into Steirmarch and Carpathia. The Battles of Peidmont and Steirmarch stand out as stunning defeats for the Venetian forces of Gritti.
However, with the defeat of France in Tirol, the enemies of Venice began to become fearful and signed seperate peaces with both Gritti and Barbango, Austria was payed 75,000 gold and Helvettia agreed to a return to the status qou.
Barbango's armies, at this time, were spreading across the map and, even with the defeat of his main army in Rome, the rebels continued on, although they were obviously loosing greater numbers in the war against France than were those of Gritti who seemed willing to allow his enemies to destroy one another while he picked up the peices.
Following the Second Battle of Peidmont, a Gritti victory over France, France began to sue for peace. Despite the fact that it held Steirmarch, it was obviouse that without allies, control over that provicne was loose at best, and they could end up losing in what many had feld to be the perfect war. In January of 1526 they agreed to accept 25,000 gold from the Gritti government and made peace. With their exist from the war, the only external opponent which remaiend was Denmark, and the war moved into its second phase.
Withdraw
With the existing of her other opponents, Venice was not able to continue war with itself. Unfortuantly, once France and Austria were defeated, Barbango held no hope of winning. The causulties he had substained during the Frence war were two great, and his generals were unable to counter those of Gritti.
Over the next year he suffered great and greater victories, as all of Italy began to revert to the control of Gritti and the Senate in Venice. Trapped on all sides, Barbango's temporarily capital in Emila fell to Gritti's forces on September 22nd 1526. Marco Barbango III was found dead of poison in the capital. The body was returned to Venice were Gritti demanded it be given a burial with full honors.
Endgame
With the death of Marco Barbango III, the rebel movement splintered. In Greece a general came to power, claiming to be a descendant of the Macedonian dynasty, and declared a return of the Roman Empire in the East with its capital in Athens. Across the ocean the short lived Caribean Republic existed for a shrot 6 months before begin destroyed by loyal troops from Haiti. A pretender even rose up in Hungary in reaction to the Kingdom's annexation by Austria in 1526.
There was no hope of victory for these forces. In August of 1527 Thesselonike fell to the Venetian military, bringing the war officially to an end. Throughout the turmoil the Republic lost only one provicne, a small colony in Bayou which defected to Spain in an attem,pt to gain protection from native raids.
The military was a ruin, the land scortched from years of war, but Venice had survived. Andrea Gritti, a self declared enemy of war, had managed to lead his nation through one of the greatest wars in its history, a war against it self. It was now time to rebuild.