Download Reasons for the Decline of Venice

Reasons for the Decline of Venice
1)



Foreign Threats:
Involvement in the Mainland
The Ottoman Empire
The League of Cambrai
Foreign Threats:
 Political developments in the mainland states and the emergence of the Ottoman Empire after
the fall of the Byzantines posed serious challenges and threats to Venice who had to spend large
amounts of resources and wealth to build up its military strength.
 These threats diverted Venice’s attention away from trade and also caused it to lose some of its
territories, causing further blows to its position as a maritime empire.

Involvement in the Mainland
o During the 15th century, political developments in Europe forced the Venetians to turn
their attention towards controlling the nearby mainland territories who had been
supplying Venice with essential resources like food and water. Venice had to secure and
maintain this supply for its growing population and expanding industries.
o Venice decided to take advantage of rivalries between the mainland states by offering to
help one fight against the other. However, this act of switching alliances with different
opposing states meant that Venice was constantly treading on fragile relations with the
larger states and could come other attack should negotiations fail. Venice was under
high risk as there was no certainty which alliance would ultimately benefit Venice.
o Furthermore, rivalry between the mainland states also made the overland route unsafe
as constant battles were fought in the region. This threatened Venice’s trade and
wealth.
o In order to supplement its small population, Venice began to recruit mercenaries.

The Ottoman Empire
o The expansion of the Ottoman Empire ensured that the Ottomans and replaced Genoa
as Venice’s greatest competitor for maritime control.
o As they had problems with the mainland and spent a lot of resources to maintain their
control there, the Venetians were forced to give up some of their less important
territories to the Ottomans to avoid further losses.
o The Venetians were also losing their grip on the Adriatic Sea as the Ottoman Empire had
acquired territories along the Adriatic Sea and launched attacks on Venetian territories
there. Venice had to use its galleys to fight off the Ottoman attacks, disrupting their use
for trading purposes.
o Trading was also disrupted during the 7-year war with the Ottomans for control of the
Aegean and Adriatic Seas. The wars disrupted trade and drained a lot of resources. Many
Venetian traders also lost a lot of money as they could not sail freely, were taxed in
Ottoman-controlled ports and could not compete with traders who had better tariff
deals from the Ottomans.
o The Venetians also tried to strike a balance of power with the Ottomans and their
European neighbours at the same time. They gave the Ottomans concessions when it
suited their commercial interests but would later seek military help from the Europeans
to fight the Ottomans to defend Venetian territories. This action eventually caused its
European neighbours to develop hostility towards Venice.
o Although the European states decided to launch a military campaign against the
Ottomans, the Venetians were left to fight on their own and were not provided the
o

military aid promised by the Europeans. As a result, Venice lost Negroponte, one of its
most important Eastern trading outposts in the Mediterranean.
Continued challenges to Venice from the Ottomans continued during the 16th and 17th
centuries.
The League of Cambrai
o Due to its growing influence, Venice became unpopular among the mainland states.
Some of the larger states felt that Venice was gaining too much power and control over
northern Italy and wanted to recapture the Venetian territories. As a result, a military
alliance against Venice called the League of Cambrai was formed.
o The League of Cambrai consisted of Spain, Hungary and France. The League wanted to
reduce the power of Venice and take over its territories. Venice’s mercenary army was
badly defeated during one battle and lost its territories.
o The cost of wars drained and weakened Venice’s resources. Venice had to raise taxes to
finance the employment of its mercenary armies as well as to replenish its supply of
weapons.
2) Maritime Competition
 Discovery of New Sea Routes
 New Trade Rivals

Maritime Competition
o Although Venice was able to sustain its prosperity for a time, the rise of new powers in
Europe posed severe competition to Venice’s position as a maritime power.

Discovery of New Sea Routes
o As the 15th century was the beginning of an age of exploration and discovery, many
European explorers competed to search for new lands and new maritime trade routes.
o The discovery of a new sea route to India by going round the Cape of Good Hope by
Vasco de Gama, a Portuguese explorer, allowed the Portuguese to buy their spices
directly from India. This destroyed the Venetian monopoly of the lucrative spice trade
and largely reduced the profits which Venetian traders had earned for centuries.
o The new sea route was more popular than the traditional shorter overland route
because the overland route was more time-consuming and overrun by robbers and
plunderers.
o
Despite losing its monopoly of the spice trade, Venice was still able to function as a trade
centre in the western Mediterranean, becoming the main supplier of Mediterranean
goods like wine, raisins and Persian silk. Venice also sold its own manufactured goods
and expanded its trade to the North Sea region and maintained trade link with England.

New Trade Rivals
o By the 17th century, new trade rivals emerged as the Dutch East Indies Company was
formed. The Dutch directly bypassed the Venetians to go to the East to get their own
supplies. The Venetians also faced competition from the British who established their
own East India Company which traded directly with India and China and brought these
goods to Europe, adversely affecting Venice’s position as an entrepot port.
o The British and the Dutch also had better designed vessels which were copied in design
by the Venetians. However, the Venetians lacked the skills to operate them.
Furthermore, larger states like Holland and England were better able to negotiate for
favourable trading rights in new ports.
o To respond to the competition, Venice adopted a protectionist policy and imposed
higher duties on foreign traders. However, this was not popular and its insistence of
maintaining its monopolistic position resulted in the loss of some of its trading partners.
Instead of beating the competition, Venice only alienated potential trading partners
instead and lost revenue as a result.
3)



Political Challenges
Incapable Leadership
Corruption in the Government
Over-dependence on Mercenaries

Incapable Leadership
o The quality of men elected to office in Venice fell after many older noble families died
out and a plague wiped out most of the nobility in the 17th century. This affected their
appointment to the highest offices. In order to retain their wealth and property, noble
o
o
o
families arranged marriages among themselves which allowed wealth to be
concentrated in the hands of a few families.
As a small group of nobles controlled and dominated the government, renewal of
leadership was a challenge and corruption was inevitable in the higher offices.
At the same time, the rotation of duties which was instituted to prevent an individual or
a family from dominating the government worked against the Venetians because it
meant that competent officers would have to leave their positions after a term, and
sometimes, an incompetent official would take over. Over time, nobles saw their
positions in the government as a personal glory and did not serve the state as well as
they should have.
During the wars with the Ottoman Empire, scholars competed to serve in the navy
although they lacked military or naval experience. As a result, Venice suffered heavy
losses in battles, draining precious resources and losing valuable territories.

Corruption in the Government
o To raise money to finance their wars, the Venetian government suspended the salaries
of civil servants. Coupled with the disruption of trade by war, some of the nobles lost
their sources of income and some of the nobles became poor.
o As the system of government in Venice depended on votes, many poorer nobles were
willing to sell their votes to richer nobles who wanted to be elected to government.
o The government also sold certain positions to raise money leading to incompetent
leaders taking positions in the government. As a result of an increasingly incompetent
government making poor decisions, the Venetian government became inefficient and
decisions were not made in the interest of Venice.

Over-dependence on Mercenaries
o Due to its small population and recent outbreaks of the plague which killed off many
Venetians, Venice had to rely heavily on mercenaries to help it fight its wars.
o It was risky to over depend on mercenaries as many of them did not have any loyalty to
Venice and often switched sides depending on who paid more. A plot by French
mercenaries to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the Senate members was also discovered
by the Council of Ten in 1619. It showed that Venice could not trust its mercenaries.
4) Social Challenges

Social Challenges
o Having enjoyed prosperity from the 9th to the 15th centuries made the Venetians
complacent and more concerned about wealth than maintaining the security of the citystate.
o As nobles became more affluent, they became less involved in important matters such
as administration and development of the city-state and created a gap between
themselves and the commoners.
o Many nobles became over indulgent in affluent lifestyles and indulged in lavish parties
as well as gambling.
5) The Fall of Venice

The Fall of Venice
o Venice’s decline began in the late half of the 15th century when it failed to respond
effectively to internal and external changes. The causes of its eventual fall were the
weakening of the government, its gradual loss of important overseas territories, the
discovery of new sea routes and the rise of more powerful European nations.
o In the 18th century, France’s growing power threatened Europe as Napoleon Bonaparte
and his armies swept across Europe and moved into the Italian Peninsula.
o Venice was much outclassed by the French and its outdated armies and fortresses and
incapable nobles were no match for the sophisticated French army.
o The Venetians rejected an Italian alliance against the French and a number of Venetian
nobles plotted to overthrow the government. Aided by French agents, these nobles
allowed Napoleon to advance into Venice.
o On 12 May 1797, Napoleon demanded for Venice’s surrender and received it from Doge
Manin. That effectively ended Venice’s sovereignty as an independent city-state.