What was the reason for the Ottoman invasion of Otranto?
score:13
There were many reasons for an invasion:
- punishing Naples for its support of the Knights of Rhodes, whom the king Ferdinand I of Naples sent two ships of reinforcements against the Turks, determining a burning defeat of the Ottomans
- creating a bridgehead for further operations in Italy, against Naples and possibly Rome (we have to keep in mind that the Sultan Mehmet II had conquered Istanbul in 1453, so the conquest of Rome was conceivable to him)
- making advantage of a peace treaty with Venice (1479) and of the division of Christianity in Italy (the Papal States and Naples fought the "War of the Pazzi" against Florence, 1478-1480)
These are however speculations.
In my opinion the intentions of Mehmet II were serious: the most important proof being that the commander of the expedition, Gedik Ahmed Pasha, was perhaps the best Ottoman general, with a crucial role in unifying Anatolia under Ottoman rule.
After conquering Otranto, because there was not enough food to sustain the occupying army, the Ottomans had to partially retreat to Albania, planning to start the operations again next year.
The death of the Sultan that same year however started a phase of instability, with his sons fighting over succession. Ahmed was forced to surrender as no reinforcements were sent. He never abandoned the idea of estabilishing a bridgehead in Italy, supporting one of Mehmet II sons, Bayezid, in return for support of his plan. Bayezid however did not trust Ahmed, and after having him imprisoned, he killed him in 1482.
Upvote:0
Sultan Mehmed had several reasons to invade Italy.
- In the 4th quarter of 15th century, Ferdinand and Isabella's forces were forcibly converting Muslims in Spain to Catholic Christianity. They were literally massacring Muslims and Jews. Mehmed was very far from Spain so couldn't help those Muslims with force, so he opened the gates for exiled Muslims and for Jews as well. He was very angry on Christians at that time. So, he did same in Otranto. He asked population to convert to Islam. When they refused, he massacred 12000 people. Spanish were afraid of Ottoman Empire. So, when Sultan Suleiman reached the gates of Vienna. Spain send reinforcement for Vienna.
- Sultan Mehmed was a devoted muslim. So, he wanted to end all Christian kingdoms and papacy. So, his next goal was to conquer Roma.
Upvote:3
You need to be aware that Sultan Mehmed II styled himself as a Roman Emperor after the conquest of Constantinople. Therefore, the original seat of the Empire, Rome, would be an attractive target. Besides the papacy was the principal enemy of Ottomans at that time. Later the target shifted to Vienna because successors were not so keen on classical Greek and Roman history as Mehmed II; and, more importantly, the principal enemy in the West became Habsburgs as the political power of Papacy weakened by the Reformation.
More post
- 📝 What is this card, and why does it go "on the hat"?
- 📝 What was the primary reason for the rise and success of the Roman republic / empire?
- 📝 What was the best tank of WW2 ?
- 📝 How were German soldiers chosen to be flown out of Stalingrad?
- 📝 When did prostitution become illegal in the United States and why?
- 📝 Were ice buckets used to chill wine in Victorian England?
- 📝 Has ramming ever been considered a viable tanking tactic?
- 📝 Nazi Germany - Income of low-wage workers, and prices of food and other items?
- 📝 How did Heian Era Japanese Clans work? (esp. Taira vs. Minamoto)
- 📝 Was there any separation between hunting bow technology and weapon bows?
- 📝 How common is "decades ahead of his time" in real history?
- 📝 How did China become so **populous**?
- 📝 What happened to UK national debt when the NHS was created?
- 📝 How would the Germans have sent the Zimmerman telegraph if the German-American telegraph line was cut?
- 📝 What factors contributed to Jews moving out of the Middle East?
- 📝 How did pirates back in the day not get killed themselves when they attacked ships?
- 📝 Nazis and Khazar Theory of Ashkenazi Jews
- 📝 Has there ever been a practise of duelling with bows?
- 📝 Why didn't the Ottoman Empire remain neutral in WW1?
- 📝 What was the role of Indian princes and aristocratic landowners under British colonial rule?
- 📝 What is "Egyptland" in the context of the 1960s black civil rights movement in the US?
- 📝 State budget spending of Roman Empire
- 📝 What is the origin of the Scythians?
- 📝 When is the first recorded plague?
- 📝 Who was arrested at El Cojo with Eliot de Castro?
- 📝 How large were the East India Company armed forces?
- 📝 Franklin's missing ships
- 📝 Did Diderot say "Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"?
- 📝 Before Pearl Harbor, what percentage of Americans believed the US would stay out of the war?
- 📝 What was the timetable for Germany's Invasion of the Low Countries (Fall Gelb) in WW2?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What was the reason for the Ottoman invasion of Otranto?
- 📝 What was the reason for the Ottoman empire to adopt the crescent moon as its flag/coat of arms?
- 📝 What was the reason for Soviet troops to withdraw from Yugoslavia in World War II?
- 📝 What was the timetable for Germany's Invasion of the Low Countries (Fall Gelb) in WW2?
- 📝 What was the reason for inflation in Britain after the Black Death?
- 📝 What was the reason for the near-mutiny on the Georgios Averof in 1911?
- 📝 What was the reason for the Dutch attack on Venezuela in 1908?
- 📝 What was the reason the Maronites lobbied for a state of Greater Lebanon?
- 📝 What was the reason for US Fed rate increase in spring 1928?
- 📝 What was the reason for Gandhi's visit to Africa
- 📝 What was the reason for the geographical error in Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech 5th March 1946?
- 📝 What was the official reason for not invading France until the middle of 1944?
- 📝 What was the reason for the ubiquitous pigeon farms in Soviet cities?
- 📝 What was the primary reason for the rise and success of the Roman republic / empire?
- 📝 What was the practical reason for East Germany to reunify with West Germany?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 What is the reason for the selections of gun caliber size in history?
- 📝 What was the plan for an abort of the Enola Gay's mission to drop the atomic bomb?
- 📝 What was the economic basis for West Berlin?
- 📝 What was the planned line of succession for the Nazi Party in the event that Hitler died?
- 📝 What was the 1970s name for skinny jeans?
- 📝 What was it like for a coastal village to experience a Viking raid in around the tenth century?
- 📝 What was the original process for becoming a US citizen?
- 📝 What is the historical reason for 18 years being the most commonly accepted age of adulthood?
- 📝 What was the motivation for the Gregorian Calendar?
- 📝 From 1936-45 what was the prescribed punishment in Nazi Germany for failing to join or participate in the Hitler Youth?
- 📝 What was the impetus for some African nations to participate in the slave trade?
- 📝 What can be considered to be the single most important reason for the decline of muslim Golden Age?
- 📝 What was the status of Shia Muslims in the Ottoman empire?
- 📝 What were the Japanese defenses for an allied invasion of Kyushu?
