Chapter 3: Varna Avenged (1452-1456)
Bringing the matter of the rival kingdoms to rest, the Republic had removed a thorn from its side with delicacy through the rejuvenated strength that it carried. While the land forces were not the pride of the serene republic, the republican army was well equipped and financed through the mercantile dominance of Venice along the Adriatic Sea alongside the hardworking workshops across the city of Venice itself. With matters of the Arsenal being dealt with, Urbano Polari felt that as Doge, he had accomplished a major feat of his elected reign in ensuring the protection of the state against foreign powers. His timing would, unknowingly, become critical for a series of events that were about to follow.
Being known for the mastery of the seas, the Republic ensured that their naval dominance in the Mediterranean would not be threatened or surpassed by that of the petty monarchies and other Italian city states around them. Venice sought the best sailors, shipbuilders and admirals for their growing fleets and vessels, building upon the excellence of its naval excellence.
Building upon the armed forces, the man at arms would become the professional soldier common in the armies of the Western European armies of the era. Knights and noble families would employ a number of men at arms to form their retune, and would be better armed and armored than a typical footsoldier among the feudal states. In the republican army, these men at arms would form the backbone of the Venetian army and were financed among the patrician families of the city among the other nobles of the mainland. While not numerically superior to its other neighbours, the republican army were armed to the teeth and were willing to fight for the republic and their livelihoods.
The Albanian principalities, with their independence protected by the Serene Republic due to diplomatic and territorial investments in the area, found their existence threatened by the recently proclaimed Ottoman Empire. With the Turks still feeling flushed from their conquest of the queen of cities, the Albanians had spent their time organizing alliances with neighboring nations and preparing for an inevitable invasion.
While being dwarfed by the skilled armies of the Ottomans, Albania was able to fight back against their hated rival through the leadership of Skanderbeg, its brilliant leader who had gained a highly fearsome reputation in combat.
The only known portrait of Pietro Pordenone, Captain General of the Sea of the Venetian Armada. C.1450’s
Joining the war due to the pledge of the Serene Republic to protect the independence of the Albanian state as a co-belligerent, the Doge would entrust the leadership of the armada in the capable hands of Pietro Pordenone. With the declaration of the war, Pordenone led the armada down the Adriatic and sailed towards the Aegean Sea to reinforce the republic’s subjects in Greece and gaining early dominance of the seas.
The first battle of the war would become a success, where the Armada would arrive with impeccable timing to save the ships from the Duchy of Naxos from being completely destroyed by the numerically superior Turkish fleet. Ibrahim Cerkes, leader of the Ottoman navy, abandoned the battle upon the sighting of the full Venetian armada.
Embracing enlightened ideals of the Renaissance, Venice would become the cultural heart of the movements ideals in Northeastern Italy. Artists would come to flock to the wealthy city to seek the patronage of the patrician families, creating and expanding upon the Italian Renaissance and contributing to its growth.
George Castriot, known as Skanderbeg, would play a pivotal role on the future of the Balkans.
Skanderberg would come to lead his small army of only four thousand from Albania and into Epirus, having been forced to abandon his homeland to the Turks. Finding that defending the area would have been simply impossible due to the size of the Turkish armies, Skanderberg had decided to outsmart his enemies rather than outfight them. Skanderberg and his armies would remain in Epirus, while Venice prepared to stage the Republican army in Corfu
Upon the meeting of both the Venetian and Albanian armies, the Albanian army would swell with numbers and grow to reach almost thirty thousand men. Pasquale Emo, the commander of the Republican Army, would serve under the more experienced command of Skanderberg and help counteract the balances of both nations forces. With the attachment of the Venetian army to Skanderberg’s own, an incredibly formidable force would start to lay siege to Venice.
In order to finance the war and protect the finances of its ally, Venice would grant monetary benefits to Albania and grant a one-time payment of a huge sum of ducats to help the Albanian realm provide for their own forces.
Being forced into a corner, the Turkish fleet would be surrounded by the Venetian armada off the coast of Athens and inflicted with a devastating blow. Forced to retreat after hours of battling,half of the Turkish fleet was sent to the bottom of the Aegean, thousands of Ottoman sailors perishing alongside their ships. Naval dominance of the Aegean was all but ensured for the remainder of the war.
Immediately swinging into the familiar territories of Southern Albania, Skanderbeg would come to achieve an important victory against the Ottoman menace near the coastline of Vlore. Known as Avlonya in the Turkish tongue, thousands of Ottoman forces would come to be killed as Skanderbeg used his knowledge of the terrain to his advantage. Importantly, the Turkish commander would be killed after the battle, and the head of the snake would be cut off.
Moving through into Western Macedonia and holding the defensive position, Skanderbeg would achieve another victory against the Turks. While holding numerical supremacy, very little remained of the Turkish armies that arrived in the area. Davud Tarhuncu would move into the area with thousands of men, and left with only several hundred men who were shaken to the core.
Macedonia itself would be the target of turning the tide of the war as both Christian and Muslim armies fought tooth and nail for control of the strategically important region. Hadim Sehabeddin, commander of the Turks, would achieve early momentum in the early stages of the battle and gain a valuable position. Skanderbeg however, being a much more gifted strategist, would turn the tide around and force the Turks into the defensive early, catching Sehabeddin. Frustrated, Sehabeddin would retreat with his men out of the area after losing thousands of men, not willing to sacrifice his men into a potential military disaster. Skanderbeg would seize Macedonia by the months end, and with it, half of Ottoman Rumelia would be under siege.
Thessaloniki would be captured with little resistance, and Skanderbeg would arrive in the region to gain another early victory. Huseyin Kucuk would be watch half of his army would be destroyed, leaving the remainder to flee into Bulgaria. While the Ottomans had proven formidable opponents, Skanderbeg had emerged triumphant in every single battle that he had personally led, causing the manpower of the Muslims to dwindle with every passing day as Christian forces gained the advantage.
Having challenged and conquered every challenge he had faced, Skanderbeg would concentrate onto Northern Bulgaria while allied Italian and Hellenic armies concentrated on securing the straits and the Greek coastline. Being increasingly unable to fight back against Skanderbeg and suffering terrible losses, the Turks were left with only their main army, kept stranded in the north as Constantinople was threatened directly.
Silistre would prove disastrous for the Turks, while remaining another important victory to the Christians fighting with their commander. Among his men, Skanderbeg would be seen as a living legend among his men and with every passing victory. Huseyin Kucuk would be forced across the straits into Anatolia, where news of his defeat would spread towards Constantinople as the Ottoman court prepares to make plans to abandon the city and focus on protecting the strait. The military defeats would begin to transition into political defeats, where many of the Turkish nobility doubted the infallibility of the boy sultan who called himself a ‘conqueror’.
Constantinople would be directly assaulted upon by the Venetians, splitting apart from Skanderbeg temporarily to launch a blockade. Seeing the city as having been unconquerable in part of the Theodosian Walls that the Turks had maintained since their conquest of the city, Pasquale Emo designed his strategy on not focusing on the outright assault of the city but cutting its supply as much as possible and blockading every entrance and exit, suffocating the city. In time, as hunger and disease started to run rampant inside the city, treasonous soldiers among the Turkish defenders simply opened the gates and allowed the Venetians to access the city to provide them aid that was desperately sought after, undermining the defence efforts.
Regrouping with Skanderbeg and launching an assault into Anatolia itself, the Sultan had come to finally reveal himself and took matters into his own hands, assuming control of the Ottoman army directly and launching a counterattack. While still considered to be a child among men, Mehmet II was an incredibly gifted commander for a boy his age, an expert in military matters and organisation, and was dangerous enough for Skanderbeg to consider him as his equal. Despite a numerical superiority, Mehmet’s remaining men were largely made up of his veterans that had been in reserve, and made up a strong core that the ‘conqueror’ himself led and fought alongside.
The two armies met at Sultanonu, with Mehmet’s veterans lined up for battle against the numerically superior forces of Skanderbeg. The two men would start upon one another in an open field, and the fate of the east was to be decided in one afternoon.
As the battle would come to progress, both the Christians and Muslims would fight one another with tooth and nail, tearing apart one another with their ferocity. Mehmet and Skanderbeg would shout orders against the onslaught of their armies, seeing their armies clash as both the names of Christ and Muhammad were uttered upon both nations. Despite facing the disadvantage, Mehmet II’s leadership and strong core had prevented the collapse of the Turkish army and had even turned the tide of the battle several times in the Turks favor.
Despite these losses, Mehmed II’s forces could not defeat Skanderbeg and would come to suffer losses. Mehmed II would lose the battle by the end of the afternoon, marching his army away into the night to be reorganised at Ankara. The consistent defeats had come to undermine the position of the sultan as a legitimate ruler, and along with exhaustion from the battle itself, Mehmed II would suffer from fatigue.
It would come to be a complete surprise to the Doge when news would spread that the conqueror of Constantinople, Mehmet II, had died shortly after arriving in Ankara. Skanderbeg and Pasquale Emo would appear flabbergasted upon hearing the news, realizing the importance of his death would have on the Ottoman leadership. Many theories would come to surround the death of the young conqueror, many of which are shrouded in mystery. The Christians would believe that the conqueror would die following injuries from battle or from other health concerns, while some Sunnis believe that Mehmet would be assassinated by a disgruntled Shia soldier. With his death, the new Ottoman sultan would prove to be less than half the man that Mehmet II would ever come to be, and Skanderbeg pressed for peace upon the disaster that had befallen the Turks.
Skanderbeg would come to settle for peace in Constantinople, with following terms coming to dismantle the state. The Ottoman Empire would only cede a small amount of territories to Venice and Albania itself, but the treaty would come to cause chaos on the Ottomans from a financial and diplomatic position. The Ottomans stripped of their wealth by Albania and its and were struggling financially during the war, and was forced to end their declaration of independence to Ragusa. But devastatingly, the Ottoman military was left in ruin. With a greatly weakened military and the death of their brilliant leader, the neighbors of the Turkish sultanate looked towards their weakened foe, eager to bleed them dry. From what could have been a disaster, Venice would come to play an important part in achieving an important victory and in part, their desires to expand further East were now completely unhindered. Polari had achieved a milestone victory against his bitter rival, and now sought to play the role of a peacemaker rather than a harmful warmonger.