Fall Of Venice Social Studies GCE O Levels

Foreign Threats
The League Of Cambrai was set up to recapture the Venecian territories as they felt Venice was getting too big and too powerful, gaining too much control over Northern Italy. It consisted of major powers in Europe, and territories won would be divided amongst the larger states. The Venetians fought hard to maintain their control of the Adriatic Sea. However, they were faced with constant attacks by the Ottoman empire. The Venetians used their galleys to fight off offensive attacks, hence this disrupted it's use of galleys for trading purposes. The League Of Cambrai drained Venice of their resources through constant war and fighting. Venice also had to raise taxes to employ more mercenaries and supply them with weapons.

The constant effort to defend their trade routes from the Ottoman empire drained Venice of their resources such as manpower and money. Also, the use of Galleys to ward of attacks meant that they could not be used for economical purposes, hence disrupting trade.

Maritime Competition
The tales and adventures of explorer Marco Polo prompted other people to try their luck in searching for new lands and trade routes. One example was Vasco Da Gama who successfully reached Calicut, a thriving spice centre in India. The discovery of new sea routes, especially ones that led to places in the Far East was devastating for the economy of Venice. For a long time, Venice has thrived as being a sole gateway for commodities such as spices into Europe, therefore they were able to make people pay high prices for such goods. However, when new routes into Far East were discovered, this meant that Venice has lost her position as the sole provider of these goods, hence they could not charge as much for them anymore. This meant that Venice has lost her position as an entrepot, now that people could get goods from the Far East from other sources. This greatly affected Venice's economy. Also, Venice attempted to imitate the newer ship designs, but their sailors were unable or found it extremely difficult to operate them.

Newer trade rivals such as the Dutch East India Company and the English East India Compay were established. The EIC specialized in bringing in goods such as cotton, tea, pepper and porcelain. They also had better designed ships compared to Venecian galleys.

Political Challenges
The basic structure of the Venetian government This meant that it was possible for competent had remained unchanged since the 12th century. officials to be replaced by incompetent officials, The Venetians had a practice of rotating duties to who would make bad decisions for the country. prevent any concentration of powers. After a certain period of time, officials were replaced with new ones.

Many nobles competed to become naval officers in Venice's war against the Ottoman empire even though they lacked military experience or adequate naval expertise.

This meant that they were incompetent in their roles as naval officers, their bad decisions and strategies leading to the high casualty rates. Not only did this make Venice's navy lose morale, it also cost Venice territories as they have failed to defend them. This proved to be bad for Venice as firstly, mercenary's loyalty lies in whoever pays the higher amount of money. This meant that should the their enemies pay a higher price, Venice would be practically defenceless. Secondly, constantly hiring mercenaries eventually took a toll on Venice's economy. Thirdly, these soldiers could not be trusted as some of them even planned to overthrow the Venecian government from within. This proves that over reliance on foreign soldiers was not beneficial.

Over dependence on mercenaries was another reason. As Venice was a maritime empire, it focussed primarily on naval defences, and it lacked ground forces. They compensated by hiring trained soldiers knowned as mercenaries.