Definition of Republic of Venice

It's curious think as a simple city-state like Venice it became a commercial and military power in the Medieval and Renaissance Europe, surviving until Napoleon Bonaparte liquidated it as a state Independent.

Venice began its journey as a city at the time of the decline of the Roman Empire, in 421 AD. C.

To protect themselves from the incursions of Huns and Lombards, the inhabitants of the present region of the Veneto huddled in the marshes that make up the mouth of the Po, a land not only not very fertile, but like all marshes, given a series of problems that greatly hindered the quality of life, like frequent illnesses.

This marked the architecture from the city of Venice, which later became one of the world's treasures with its canals, in addition to directing it towards the sea, and protecting it from the threats that could come from the interior.

With the end of the Western Roman Empire, Venice was conquered by the Byzantine Empire, and after a revolt, recognized as independent.

The Venetian was an empire that initially suited various players such as Byzantium and the Lombard Kingdom, as it was an interesting trading post. And the Venetians knew how to play their cards well in this regard.

Hardly accessible by land thanks to the orography of the region and with a very poorly developed nautical in the low middle AgesVenice was not very afraid of attacks by land, but for the same reason she could not expand on that route either, so she opted for the sea.

The need for economic (commercial) and military expansion to protect her interests, led Venice to research and development of her fleet, making her the great maritime power of the Mediterranean.

In this sea it competed with other Italian cities such as Genoa, or with the County of Barcelona, ​​a cell from which the incipient Catalonia would develop and, later, the Crown Catalan-Aragonese.

The Dalmatian coasts, especially on what is now the Croatian coast, were the scene of the beginning of the Venetian expansion, which later reached Greece, including the islands of Crete and Cyprus, and even temporarily having a domain in the Crimean peninsula, in addition to an important commercial presence in large cities of the basin Mediterranean, such as Byzantium (present-day Constantinople), Alexandria, Tire or Antioch.

The survival of it as a state is also linked to its good political work before the power of the Ottoman Empire, which it never openly fought and, in the case of doing so “for obligation"With Christendom, always presenting itself as pressured by the papacy and the rest of the Christian states.

Obviously, to the Ottoman Empire and the Muslim powers, Venice also interested them as an enclave with which they could trade with the Christians without having to do it “so directly”. And it also happened in the opposite direction.

Venice favored her position as an interlocutor between East and West, between Christians and Muslims, with wide religious and cultural tolerance, very rare in the medieval world, especially in the Christian.

For example, Venice escaped the inquisition, and continued to trade with states that had embraced Protestantism, such as England or various of the German principalities.

What was a rich commercial empire that was nourished by the products that arrived from China and the Far East through the Silk Road began to falter after the discovery of America.

Trade routes changed, and the epicenter of importance shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, ocean through which abundant quantities of gold and silver arrived, and through which thousands of people who emigrated to the new continent looking for a second chance for their lives.

In this context, Castile and Portugal emerged as the new commercial and military powers, which would be followed by England and Holland.

Venice was left with the trade of the Mediterranean, and a fleet very adapted to this sea (of waters more calm) based on the galley model, totally inefficient to attempt a crossing in the Atlantic.

Losing their value as an intermediary, the commercial possessions of Venice began to collect interest for the other players on the political board, as is the case of the Ottoman Empire.

This meant that, from the 16th century on, the territories in Venetian hands began to fall under the rule of the Ottoman or other countries.

The battle of Agnadello in 1509 marked the end of the Venetian expansion on Italian soil, lost to a coalition led by the Papal States.

The naval battle of Preveza, this time a defeat at sea against the Turks, left the Venetians without their traditional maritime dominance. From here, things could only go down the coast.

The latter only has a temporary exception in the Battle of Lepanto (1571), although in this the Venetians were one more part of the Christian allied army.

The Serene Republic of Venice thus entered a long period of decline.

In 1797, and in the framework of the Napoleonic campaigns in Italy, Napoleon himself liquidated the Republic of Venice.

Although the kingdom had declared itself neutral, its clear alignment with Austria led to the French invasion. The Venetians knew they could not resist, so the cities of the inner dominions surrendered without a fight while the capital negotiated a deal.

Not even the once powerful Venetian fleet could resist revolutionary France, which was beginning its way to the Napoleonic empire.

The once shining Venetian power was now only the shell, the skin of what had once been a great empire and, then, it only lived on memory.

As of 1797, Venice would successively become part of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy, in which it would already be integrated until modern Italy.

However, and as a result of the rich history of this city and region, the Venetian independence movement has seen a resurgence in recent years, which has led to the creation of a formation politics representative in Venice of this trend.

In 1997, a Venetian independence organization baptized as Serenissimi They entered San Marcos Square with a homemade armored vehicle and occupied the bell tower for a short time, until they were evicted by the Italian police.

Photo: Fotolia - dreamer4787

Themes in Republic of Venice