Morean War
| Morean War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War of the Holy League and the Ottoman–Venetian Wars |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Republic of Venice Knights of Malta Duchy of Savoy Papal States Knights of St. StephenManiots, Himariotes, and other Greek rebels  Montenegrin volunteersMorlachs and Croats |
 Ottoman Empire
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Francesco Morosini Otto Wilhelm Königsmarck Girolamo Cornaro Bajo Pivljanin |
Ismail Pasha Mahmud Pasha Limberakis Gerakaris |
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The Morean War (Italian: La guerra di Morea) is the better-known name for the Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War. The war was fought between 1684–1699, as part of the wider conflict known as the "Great Turkish War", between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Military operations ranged from Dalmatia to the Aegean Sea, but the war's major campaign was the Venetian conquest of the Morea (Peloponnese) peninsula in southern Greece. On the Venetian side, the war was fought to avenge the loss of Crete in the Cretan War (1645–1669), while the Ottomans were entangled in their northern frontier against the Habsburgs and were unable to concentrate their forces against the Republic. As such, the Morean War holds the distinction of being the only Ottoman–Venetian conflict from which Venice emerged victorious, gaining significant territory. Venice's expansionist revival would be short-lived however, as their gains were reversed by the Ottomans in 1715.
Venice had held several islands in the Aegean and the Ionian seas, together with strategically positioned forts along the coast of the Greek mainland since the carving up of the Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade. However, with the rise of the Ottomans, during the 16th and early 17th centuries, they lost most of these, such as Cyprus and Euboea (Negropont) to the Turks. Between 1645 and 1669, the Venetians and the Ottomans fought a long and costly war over the last major Venetian possession in the Aegean, Crete. During this war, the Venetian commander, Francesco Morosini, came into contact with the rebellious Maniots, for a joint campaign in the Morea. In 1659, Morosini landed in the Morea, and together with the Maniots, he took Kalamata. However, he was soon after forced to return to Crete, and the Peloponnesian venture failed.
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