Ottomans conquer Italy

 the middle east and europe still even

with the might of this powerful kingdom

that managed to orchestrate the fall of

constantinople

they were never able to seize the second

center point of christianity in europe

rome on the list of factors that played

a role in why the ottomans were never

able to gain control

of the italian peninsula one of the most

obvious was geography

between turkey and italy stood two paths

one over land or the other through the

sea

the adriatic sea served as an innate

obstacle between the ottomans and rome

making the land path a quicker and

potentially

easier route but there were issues in

that direction as well

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after the capture of constantinople in

1453 and then

athens in 1458 the ottomans could have

potentially had an easy shot across

europe land over to italy if not for an

unignorable threat from albania

georgi known by the name of skanderbeg

was an albanian military commander

with a passion for opposing the ottoman

empire

skanderbeg had previously bested the

troops of murad ii

father of mechmed the conqueror and

served as a direct blockage for

any plans by the latter to reach italy

by land

as a result sultan mcmead and his empire

missed their prime opportunity to seize

power in the peninsula

right after both byzantium and greece

had fallen into ottoman hands

italy was a realm of notable instability

back in 1442 alfonso v of aragon

gained rulership over the kingdom of

naples as well after the king's death in

1453

the unity between naples and sicily was

called into question

by the eruption of war over claims to

the throne of

naples the strife between the aragonese

and engeven factions sent

southern italy into chaos leading to

what could have been

an ideal time for the ottomans to

attempt an invasion

it is incredibly likely that sultan

mehmed actually

intended on doing exactly that based on

a quote

he allegedly spoke to the florentine

merchant spy

benedetto day in 1460

after asking the merchant many questions

about current affairs in italy

and being purposely misled by benedetto

mcmead said to him

my florentine i have heard all you have

said

and i believe it fully but i answer you

and say that

italy could no longer perform the great

deeds it performed in the past

because in those days when it did

wonders the reason

was the power of the romans who were

then

soul masters of italy but today you are

20

states and groups of powers in your

country and you are in disagreement

among yourselves and bitter enemies

and i know many things which will all be

of help to me

in the plan i have made and seeing that

i am young

and rich and favored by fortune i intend

to surpass

caesar and alexander and xerxes by far

still no conquest came within the

following years

even if mechmed was ready to take aim at

rome and the rest of the italian

peninsula

he once again faced an obstacle in the

form of a man

this time it was vlad the third dracula

of velocia

who would throw a wrench in the sultan's

plans

vlad dracula similar to skanderbeg had

spent some time

as an ottoman hostage when he was a

child and had since become

an enemy of the empire this entire

botched debacle forced the ottomans to

shift their focus off any prior plans in

order to deal with vlad the impaler

and then with stefan the great of

moldavia

skirmishes in the north and bad

diplomatic relations with hungary

volakia and moldavia

shifted the focus the turks wanted peace

in those regions to focus again

on their expansion finally clearing

mcmahon's schedule

a little more so that he could once

again

look towards italy in 1464

the first ottoman venetian war began

after growing pressure from the pope

for the europe nations to come together

and unleash

a new crusade this conflict as well as

the varna crusade and the other battles

and skirmishes across the balkans

weakened the ottoman military

capabilities and postponed

future campaigns in the west although

this war was not

an official bid by the ottomans to make

a run at seizing italy

it did mark a rather significant

development in the level of opportunity

to do so skanderbeg who readily fought

against the encroaching empire once

again

fell ill with malaria and died during

the span

of the warfare without skanderbag the

albanians were no longer such a solid

obstacle in mechman's path to italy and

the sultan

seemed to recognize the situation in the

summer of 1480

after the treaty of constantinople

wrapped up the ottoman venetian war the

year prior

mehmed launched an invasion into italy

through the city of otranto

sending a force of 128 ships with the

goal of capturing the port city and

creating a foothold position

in the peninsula the ottomans landed

near otranto on july 28

1480. after a two-week long siege

the walls of the city were finally

ruptured and the ottoman troops

entered otranto destroying homes and

besieging the citadel

and in total killing roughly twelve

thousand citizens

and enslaving another five thousand

this initial success seemed to be a good

sign for mehmed's italian ambitions and

from that secured port

a large campaign through italy was about

to begin

but the triumph was short-lived first

jadik akhmed pasha the sultan's

commander

had to pause his further advances in the

fall

due to a shortage of supplies and

returned to albania with a large

portion of his forces not being

immediately connected through

land with the shores of the empire the

italian peninsula was pretty hard to be

conquered

only about 800 infantrymen and 500

cavalries were left in otranto

until achmed pasha would be able to

return multiple attempts were made by

the surrounding kingdoms of sicily and

naples to recapture the city but their

efforts

were in vain for some time it was not

until the death of sultan mehmed ii

in may of 1481 that the tide

began to change as the ottoman empire

faced issues concerning the sultan's

successor

they failed to send akhmed pasha and his

reinforcements

back to otranto eventually leading to

negotiations with the opposition

and ultimately surrender by the ottomans

they finally

parted from the italian peninsula in

september of 1481.

after the recapture of otranto by the

christians the ottomans did make

several more bids at gaining an upper

hand in italy

but none brought about fortunate results

and the ottomans changed their focus to

hungary

persia levant and egypt being more

and more powerful on the eastern side of

the mediterranean basin

on the contrary on january 26

1699 the ottomans signed the treaty of

carlowwitz finally concluding the strife

between the empire and

their holy league adversaries of austria

russia

poland and venice for the time being

this treasy not only put a halt on

ottoman hostility toward the italian

peninsula but it also forced the

ottomans to give up

some of their territories including the

entire principality

of transylvania italy and even

its individual cities proved to be a

much more difficult target than mechmed

or some of his successors may have

imagined especially after having

conquered what would seem to be a

trickier aspiration with the fall

of constantinople even when the kingdoms

of the peninsula were at odds amongst

each other

it appears that they were able to come

together when needed to repel the

turkish invaders

overall italy ended up being an

unexpected challenge

that the ottomans were never able to

overcome

between the natural geography some

strong

military leaders in the balkans the wars

with christian kingdoms

the death of a sultan poor timing and

truly

a plethora of obstacles the odds were

never in favor of an ottoman

conquest in italy and they didn't insist

so much on this idea

despite their momentary success in

otranto giving them a year-long foothold

in the region the ottoman empire was

simply

unable to seize momentous power in the

peninsula

at any point through the centuries

potentially

had one or a few of the troubling

factors been removed from the situation

sultan mcmead himself would have had

more success

in an aim to push on after taking

byzantium

but either to the fault of the sultan