The Republic of Venice: 1456 - 1542
Expansion of the VEIC and a European war
The period from 1456-1470 was relatively peaceful. The VEIC used this peace to slowly expand its holdings in India, as well as begin building a navy in the east. Forts and trading posts were established, giving the VEIC control of the rich spice trade in India. The colony in South Africa was also expanded. In 1469 Brandenburg and France launched an unprovoked and surprise attack against Austria. Austria had helped Venice in the past, notably against France, so Venice answered the archduke's call for assistance. Cooler heads prevailed and peace was signed in 1470, but this brief war was an omen of things to come.
The Persian Adventure
In 1473 the VEIC noticed a joint Ottoman/Persian expedition in Pegu. The eastern army was quickly embarked and set sail to try to steal the siege. Unfortunately they arrived too late - Pegu was annexed by Persia. The VEIC had no choice but to declare war. Pegu and Calicut were quickly captured, but there was not enough warscore to stabhit for either CoT. Some attempts were made to invade Persia proper, but without proper leadership these were doomed to failure and eventually abandoned. The war was very hard on Persia, who was at -3 stability and had 8-10% RR in all his provinces, but the stubborn bastard refused to cave. A plan was hatched to allow the CoTs to revolt away as independent states that the VEIC could then annex. The war continued as a stalemate until 1483, (the damn provinces refused to revolt, even Pegu, which was over 20% RR), when Russian (!) troops joined in support of the Persians The VEIC fought for two years, but resources were scarce as the war in Europe demanded the republic's attention. The VEIC was forced to concede its claims to Pegu and Calicut, at least for the time being.
The Turkish Blunder
The VEIC had signed a treaty with the Turkish Sultan Murad II which agreed that the VEIC should control all far eastern CoTs. Unfortunately, his son, Mehmed II, chose to break this treaty, assisting in the Persian aquisition of Calicut and Pegu, as well as giving no indication he planned to cede Zanzibar. The VEIC stockholders were outraged - their claims must be asserted. The VEIC stockholders were some of the most rich and powerful men in Venice, and were able to convince the Doge to prepare an offensive war against the turk. Spain and Portugal were enlisted as allies, and Austria agreed that it would join if France tried to intervene. In 1483 an armada of 700 ships sailed east for Constantinople.
Initially the invasion was a success. All of the turk's Agean provinces were captured, including Constantinople. Alexandria was taken as well. As expected the French joined the war, but were checked by the Emperor. Unfortunately, the allied supply lines were too long, and a force could not be maintained in the Agean. Brandenburg joined as well, and assisted in the Ottoman re-capture of its provinces. By now, Venetian forces had also captured Zanzibar, but the alliance no longer had sufficient warscore to stabhit for it. As the alliance shifted its focus to France, the Ottomans were able to re-capture all of their lost territory. White peace was signed in 1489.
The war in France
Although the wars in the east were over, the allies wanted some compensation for an expensive war, and France was just sitting there, asking to get beat on. Venetian troops invaded the Rhone valley, Spanish invaded across the Pyrenees and Austrians swarmed across the Rhine. Brandenburg tried its best to prop the French up, sending several cavalry armies to lift the sieges, but in the end it was not enough. France ceded Provence to Venice, Schwyz to Austria and agreed to be an Austrian vassal in 1492. Austria also took Flanders and Hainaut from Holland, a French ally. Unfortunately for the Archduke, Austria, Venice and the Iberian Allies were all exhausted from the decade long war (or two decades long in Venice's case). When Brandenburg attacked in following the French collapse Austria was forced to surrender four provinces. Brandenburg again attacked in 1501, but was bought off by some careful Habsburg diplomacy - Austria lost one province.
The Milanese Treachery part III, and the Habsburg Betrayal
The Milanese once again proved their untrustworthy nature when they tricked the Austrians into annexing them in 1500. Venice attempted to use diplomacy to convince the Archduke to turn over the province so that the traitors could be dealt with. However, the Austrians now considered Milan to be part of the core of their realm - after owning it for only one year! They considered Venetian attempts to negotiate its return as an insult and a threat. So the paranoid Archduke chose to forsake 82 years of partnership and declared war on the unsuspecting Republic in 1501. The Republic was horribly unprepared for war, it had too few troops and had no effective tactic for combating a new German invention, the gun. A last ditch attempt at diplomacy failed, and after a brief war Italy was overrun. Four provinces, all with governors, and two with Manufactories, were ceded to the backstabbing Austrians.
But the madness was not over! No, the Archduke wanted even more from poor Venice and attacked again in 1509. This time the Venetians were better prepared, but still had not managed to reverse-engineer the Austrian guns. A brave defense was made, and the Austrians suffered greatly, but without guns every province taken was nearly impossible to re-take. Eventually Austria began stabhitting for Genoa and Parma and Venice was again forced to accept. Two more manufactories, two more governors, and a CoT were lost.
The Franco-Austrian war
The Republic was now quite angry at the habsburgs and looking for an opportunity to reclaim its lands. The Austrians obliged by attacking France in 1518. Venice joined the war almost immediately and began capturing the Austrian garrisons in Italy. There was little resistance initially, but after about two years of war the Austrians stopped fighting the French and focused completely on Italy. As France calmly sieged the Austrian Rhineland and Swiss provinces, Austria fought Venice for every inch of territory in Italy. Progress was slow, but with the assistance of a 40,000 man French army Italy was cleared of Austrians by 1522. Brandenburg then joined the war on the side of Venice and France, which provoked a great escalation - Holland attacked Brandenburg, as did the Ottomans. Spain and Portugal began threatening an invasion of southern France.
This was the atmosphere when the Archduke offered the Republic a deal - He would cede all Italian territory to Venice, as well as two provinces to France in exchange for Venetian help against Brandenburg. After careful deliberation it was decided that this was simply too good an offer to refuse. Holland took this opportunity to switch sides as well, attacking Austrian forces in Flanders. Spain and Portugal joined the war soon after and began landings in the Netherlands. Venetian forces marched north, to assist their new ally, whom they had been fighting only months before.
Hainan and Russian perfidy
Meanwhile in India, the VEIC was getting bored, and jealous of all the glory their brothers in Europe were gaining. Russia had recently occupied most of China, but had overlooked the island of Hainan. The VEIC navy was dispatched with a sizable marine contingent to seize this diamond of the east. The Chinese dissiprited quickly surrendered Hainan, but the greedy Russians were enraged that the VEIC had snatched a part of their Chinese realm, unwilling allow the VEIC something so insignificant as Hainan. They commandeered what remained of the Chinese fleet and attacked the VEIC fleet cruising off Hainan. The VEIC were outnumbered - 110 Russian and Chinese vessels to about 85 of the VEIC, but better leadership and fighting ability won the day, sinking 30 Russian ships to 10 Venetian. But a Russian is nothing if not persistent - willing to bang his head against a tree, until the tree snaps or he knocks himself unconscious. The rebuilt Russian navy again attacked, and was again forced to flee to port. This process was repeated two more times, eventually costing the Russians 100 ships, while the VEIC lost only 50. When the Tsar got word of these defeats he entered a state of such rage that he began frothing at the mouth. He ordered the Russian Baltic Fleet of some 300 galleys to sail from Ingria to the far east. Venice had no knowledge of this until a force of Russians landed in South Africa. This force was of some concern, but was taking heavy attritional damage. The Russian ships weren't meant to sail in the open ocean and some doubted whether any of the ships would even reach China. Eventually the fleet arrived at Hainan (now a Russian port as the peace had already been signed), but over 100 of the galleys were lost along the way.
Sadly, war exhaustion was becoming an increasing problem, Venice having been at war for over a decade by this time. Riots and outright revolts began happening throughout the Republic and the VEIC's holdings in India. The VEIC was forced to accept the inevitable - the Russians weren't going to stop, and the VEIC couldn't afford the losses in materiel and revenue the rebels were causing. Peace was agreed to, but the inept Russians took nearly a year to actually capture the province.
Meanwhile in Europe
Venetian forces launched an offensive into the Brandenburg occupied Rhineland, recapturing several forts for their new Austrian allies, as well as defeating a superior number of Brandenburger forces in two pitched battles. This relief allowed Austria to go on the offensive in the east, where several provinces in Brandenburger Poland were captured. Austria and Venice then launched a joint invasion of Brandenburg's western provinces. Venice supplied the majority of the troops, over 80%, but the Austrian generals took command. The provinces of Mainz, Darmstadt, Kassel and Westphalen were quickly taken. The army linked with a Spanish force in Kassel, and defeated a Brandenburger relief force there before continuing on to capture Berg. At this point, war exhaustion was becoming a problem and Venice needed out. A seperate white peace was signed in 1527. Unfortunately, Venice was already at war with Russia and war exhaustion continued to grow.
Turkish Opportunism
The turk saw that Venice was in no position to defend itself - the army could barely put down the revolts, forget fighting a foreign enemy - and jumped on the gang Venice bandwagon in 1533. Venice had no choice but to surrender, and it stung. Genoa, Nice and Piedmonte were the terms, and Venice agreed to cede them. The turk was unable to quickly capture the Venetian fortresses, so Venice remained with 13% war exhaustion for another three years until peace was signed in 1536.
The Expanding Economy and Future
Although Venice has spent more time at war than not in the last century, she remains strong. Following the Turkish debacle trade and naval expansion became the focus of the Republic. The navy was increased by over 200 ships, and now has the most advanced naval vessels in the world. Venetian merchants are commonplace in the CoTs of East Asia, India, the Middle East, Southern Europe and Russia, bringing great wealth to the VEIC and the Republic. Indeed, the VEIC boasts the greatest trade income in the world, and trade constitutes over 40% of the Republic's income. Astonishingly, Venetian merchants project that the already giant trade income will as much as double in the coming decades. Despite the loss of northwest Italy, the future remains bright for Venice.
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