The vanguard (sometimes abbreviated to van and also called the advance guard ) is the leading part of an advancing military formation . It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force.
149-576: In naval warfare the van is the advance ship, or fleet, that will make the initial engagement with an enemy fleet . The vanguard derives from the traditional division of a medieval army into three battles or wards ; the Van, the Main (or Middle), and the Rear . The term originated from the medieval French avant-garde , i.e. "the advance guard". The vanguard would lead the line of march and would deploy first on
298-561: A Tribune to govern the local administration, perpetuating the Roman custom started in the last years of the Western Roman Empire . Between the end of the 7th century and the beginning of the 8th, a new political reform affected Venetia : like the other Byzantine provinces of Italy it was transformed into a duchy , at the head of which was the doge . Following the brief regime of the magistri militum , in 742 ducal electivity
447-515: A conspiracy for a rebellion against Venice was dismantled in Candia. The conspiracy was led by Sifis Vlastos as an opposition to the religious reforms for the unification of Churches agreed at the Council of Florence . In 1481, Venice retook nearby Rovigo , which it had held previously from 1395 to 1438. The Ottoman Empire started sea campaigns as early as 1423, when it waged a seven-year war with
596-684: A rocket system filled with explosive gunpowder materials and had three firing points. It was an effective weapon against ships . In the 8th century the Vikings appeared, although their usual style was to appear quickly, plunder, and disappear, preferably attacking undefended locations. The Vikings raided places along the coastline of England and France, with the greatest threats being in England. They would raid monasteries for their wealth and lack of formidable defenders. They also utilized rivers and other auxiliary waterways to work their way inland in
745-525: A French fleet of 80 ships under Eustace the Monk and an English fleet of 40 under Hubert de Burgh , is notable as the first recorded battle using sailing ship tactics. The battle of Arnemuiden (23 September 1338), which resulted in a French victory, marked the opening of the Hundred Years War and was the first battle involving artillery. However the battle of Sluys , fought two years later, saw
894-502: A breakthrough of the German lines occurred. A rifle division, for example, might mount one or two battalions of infantry on trucks, with motorized antitank guns and motorized artillery in support. Naval warfare Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea , the ocean , or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river . The armed forces branch designated for naval warfare
1043-432: A decisive Venetian victory, giving it almost a century to enjoy Mediterranean trade domination before other European countries began expanding into the south and west. In the north of Europe, the near-continuous conflict between England and France was characterised by raids on coastal towns and ports along the coastlines and the securing of sea lanes to protect troop–carrying transports. The Battle of Dover in 1217, between
1192-466: A decisive victory for Korea over the Japanese navy. In this battle, 47 Japanese warships were sunk and 12 other ships were captured whilst no Korean warship was lost. The defeats in the sea prevented the Japanese navy from providing their army with appropriate supply. Yi Sun-sin was later replaced with Admiral Won Gyun , whose fleets faced a defeat. The Japanese army, based near Busan , overwhelmed
1341-604: A defeat of an Ostrogothic fleet at Sena Gallica in the Adriatic Sea . During the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, Muslim fleets first appeared, raiding Sicily in 652 (see History of Islam in southern Italy and Emirate of Sicily ), and defeating the Byzantine Navy in 655. Constantinople was saved from a prolonged Arab siege in 678 by the invention of Greek fire , an early form of flamethrower that
1490-711: A few judges, in 1130 it was decided to place the Consilium Sapientium , which would later become the Great Council of Venice , alongside his power. In the same period, in addition to the expulsion of the clergy from public life, new assemblies such as the Council of Forty and the Minor Council were established and in his inauguration speech the Doge was forced to declare loyalty to the Republic with
1639-547: A fleet (the famous "wooden walls"), using the profits of the silver mines at Laurium to finance them. The first Persian campaign, in 492 BC, was aborted because the fleet was lost in a storm, but the second, in 490 BC, captured islands in the Aegean Sea before landing on the mainland near Marathon . Attacks by the Greek armies repulsed these. The third Persian campaign in 480 BC, under Xerxes I of Persia , followed
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#17327658369001788-633: A further Mongol invasion . Although with only scarce information, travellers passing the region, such as Ibn Battuta and Odoric of Pordenone noted that Java had been attacked by the Mongols several times, always ending in failure. After those failed invasions, Majapahit empire quickly grew and became the dominant naval power in the 14–15th century. The usage of cannons in the Mongol invasion of Java , led to deployment of cetbang cannons by Majapahit fleet in 1300s. The main warship of Majapahit navy
1937-472: A great naval expedition that occupied parts of Myanmar , Malaya , and Sumatra . In the Nusantara archipelago, large ocean going ships of more than 50 m in length and 5.2–7.8 meters freeboard are already used at least since the 2nd century AD, contacting India to China. Srivijaya empire since the 7th century AD controlled the sea of the western part of the archipelago. The Kedukan Bukit inscription
2086-462: A large fleet to support his offensive by sea. Antonio Grimani , more a businessman and diplomat than a sailor, was defeated in the sea battle of Zonchio in 1499. The Turks once again sacked Friuli. Preferring peace to total war both against the Turks and by sea, Venice surrendered the bases of Lepanto, Durazzo , Modon , and Coron . Venice's attention was diverted from its usual maritime position by
2235-672: A military campaign of Persian emperor Darius I over the Bosporus ). During the Han dynasty (202 BC–220 AD), the Chinese began using the stern -mounted steering rudder , and they also designed a new ship type, the junk . From the late Han dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD), large naval battles such as the Battle of Red Cliffs marked the advancement of naval warfare in
2384-734: A navy of 3,300 ships (manned by 36,000 men) and had taken over most of what is now the Veneto, including the cities of Verona (which swore its loyalty in the Devotion of Verona to Venice in 1405) and Padua. Slaves were plentiful in the Italian city-states as late as the 15th century. The Venetian slave trade was divided in to the Balkan slave trade and the Black Sea slave trade . Between 1414 and 1423, some 10,000 slaves, imported from Caffa (via
2533-623: A platform on their ships called balai and performed boarding actions. Scattershots fired from cetbang are used to counter this type of fighting, fired at personnel. In the 12th century, China's first permanent standing navy was established by the Southern Song dynasty , the headquarters of the Admiralty stationed at Dinghai . This came about after the conquest of northern China by the Jurchen people (see Jin dynasty ) in 1127, while
2682-588: A political vision close to that of the Holy Roman Empire and consequently attempted to establish feudalism in Venice as well, causing a revolt in 976 which led to the burning of the capital and the killing of the doge. These events led the Venetian patriciate to gain a growing influence on the doge's policies and the conflicts that arose following the doge's assassination were resolved only in 991 with
2831-520: A rival city of Venice in the salt trade, decided to abdicate in favor of his brother, at the time patriarch of Grado, who refused. Since there was no heir in 887 the people gathered in the Concio and elected Pietro I Candiano by acclamation. The Concio managed to elect six doges up to Pietro III Candiano who in 958 assigned the position of co-dux to his son Pietro who became doge the following year. Due to his land holdings, Pietro IV Candiano had
2980-513: A sort of bridge or deck above the oarsmen, and some sort of ram protruding from the bow. No written mention of strategy or tactics seems to have survived. Josephus Flavius (Antiquities IX 283–287) reports a naval battle between Tyre and the king of Assyria who was aided by the other cities in Phoenicia. The battle took place off the shores of Tyre. Although the Tyrian fleet was much smaller,
3129-449: Is a navy . Naval operations can be broadly divided into riverine/littoral applications ( brown-water navy ), open-ocean applications ( blue-water navy ), between riverine/littoral and open-ocean applications ( green-water navy ), although these distinctions are more about strategic scope than tactical or operational division. The strategic offensive purpose of naval warfare is projection of force by water, and its strategic defensive purpose
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#17327658369003278-459: Is the oldest record of Indonesian military history, and noted a 7th-century Srivijayan sacred siddhayatra journey led by Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa . He was said to have brought 20,000 troops, including 312 people in boats and 1,312 foot soldiers. The 10th century Arab text Ajayeb al-Hind (Marvels of India) gives an account of an invasion in Africa by people called Wakwak or Waqwaq , probably
3427-476: Is to challenge the similar projection of force by enemies. Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Even in the interior of large landmasses, transportation before the advent of extensive railways was largely dependent upon rivers , lakes , canals , and other navigable waterways . The latter were crucial in the development of the modern world in the United Kingdom, America,
3576-597: The daimyōs to dispatch troops to Joseon Korea to conquer Ming China. The Japanese army which landed at Pusan on 12 April 1502 occupied Seoul within a month. The Korean king escaped to the northern region of the Korean peninsula and Japan completed occupation of Pyongyang in June. The Korean navy then led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin defeated the Japanese navy in consecutive naval battles, namely Okpo, Sacheon, Tangpo and Tanghangpo. The Battle of Hansando on 14 August 1592 resulted in
3725-701: The promissione ducale ; thus the Commune of Venice , the set of all the assemblies aimed at regulating the power of the doge, began to take shape. In the 12th century, Venice decided not to participate in the Crusades due to its commercial interests in the East and instead concentrated on maintaining its possessions in Dalmatia which were repeatedly besieged by the Hungarians . The situation changed in 1202 when
3874-730: The Apulian ports; the king of France: Cremona; the king of Hungary : Dalmatia, and each one some of another's part. The offensive against the huge army enlisted by Venice was launched from France. On 14 May 1509, Venice was crushingly defeated at the battle of Agnadello , in the Ghiara d'Adda, marking one of the most delicate points in Venetian history. French and imperial troops were occupying Veneto, but Venice managed to extricate itself through diplomatic efforts. The Apulian ports were ceded to come to terms with Spain, and Julius II soon recognized
4023-894: The Axumite Kingdom in modern-day Ethiopia , the Arab traveller Sa'd ibn Abi-Waqqas sailed from there to Tang China during the reign of Emperor Gaozong . Two decades later, he returned with a copy of the Quran , establishing the first Islamic mosque in China, the Mosque of Remembrance in Guangzhou . A rising rivalry followed between the Arabs and Chinese for control of trade in the Indian Ocean. In his book Cultural Flow Between China and
4172-459: The Black Sea slave trade ), were sold in Venice. In the early 15th century, the republic began to expand onto the Terraferma . Thus, Vicenza , Belluno , and Feltre were acquired in 1404, and Padua , Verona , and Este in 1405. The situation in Dalmatia had been settled in 1408 by a truce with King Sigismund of Hungary , but the difficulties of Hungary finally granted to the republic
4321-696: The Byzantine-Norman wars . The following year, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos granted Venice the chrysobol , a commercial privilege that allowed Venetian merchants substantial tax exemptions in numerous Byzantine ports and the establishment of a Venetian neighbourhood in Durrës and Constantinople . The war ended in 1085 when, following the death of the leader Robert Guiscard , the Norman army abandoned its positions to return to Puglia. Having taken office in 1118, Emperor John II Komnenos decided not to renew
4470-585: The Cretan War (1645–1669) , after a heroic siege that lasted 21 years, Venice lost its major overseas possession – the island of Crete (although it kept the control of the bases of Spinalonga and Suda) – while it made some advances in Dalmatia. In 1684, however, taking advantage of the Ottoman involvement against Austria in the Great Turkish War , the republic initiated
4619-525: The Crusades , penetration into eastern markets became increasingly stronger and, between the 12th and 13th centuries, Venice managed to extend its power into numerous eastern emporiums and commercial ports. The supremacy over the Mediterranean Sea led the Republic to the clash with Genoa , which lasted until the 14th century, when, after having risked complete collapse during the War of Chioggia (with
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4768-524: The Great Council , with legislative functions, which was supported by the Minor Council , the Council of Forty and the Council of Ten , responsible for judicial matters, and the Senate . During its long history, the Republic of Venice took on various names, all closely linked to the titles attributed to the doge . During the 8th century, when Venice still depended on the Byzantine Empire ,
4917-531: The Low Countries and northern Germany , because they enabled the bulk movement of goods and raw material , which supported the nascent Industrial Revolution . Prior to 1750, materials largely moved by river barge or sea vessels. Thus armies, with their exorbitant needs for food, ammunition and fodder, were tied to the river valleys throughout the ages. Pre-recorded history (Homeric Legends, e.g. Troy ), and classical works such as The Odyssey emphasize
5066-621: The Morean War , which lasted until 1699 and in which it was able to conquer the Morea peninsula in southern Greece. These gains did not last, however; in December 1714, the Turks began the last Turkish–Venetian War , when the Morea was "without any of those supplies which are so desirable even in countries where aid is near at hand which are not liable to attack from the sea". The Turks took
5215-621: The Peace of Cremona . In 1281 Venice defeated the Republic of Ancona in battle and in 1293 a new war between Genoa, the Byzantine Empire and Venice broke out, won by the Genoese following the Battle of Curzola and ending in 1299. During the war, various administrative reforms were implemented in Venice, new assemblies were established to replace popular ones such as the Senate and in the Great Council power began to concentrate in
5364-664: The Siege of Fort Zeelandia , the first time China had defeated a western power. The Chinese used cannons and ships to bombard the Dutch into surrendering. In the Sengoku period of Japan, Oda Nobunaga unified the country by military power. However, he was defeated by the Mōri clan 's navy. Nobunaga invented the Tekkosen (large Atakebune equipped with iron plates) and defeated 600 ships of
5513-673: The Silk Road and the Mediterranean in general for centuries. For three centuries, Vikings raided and pillaged far into central Russia and Ukraine , and even to distant Constantinople (both via the Black Sea tributaries, Sicily , and through the Strait of Gibraltar ). Gaining control of the sea has largely depended on a fleet's ability to wage sea battles. Throughout most of naval history, naval warfare revolved around two overarching concerns, namely boarding and anti-boarding. It
5662-642: The Smyrniote crusades , but its participation was suspended due to the siege of Zadar by the Hungarians. The Genoese expansion to the east, which caused the Black Death , brought the rivalry between the two republics to resurface and in 1350 they faced each other in the War of the Straits . Following the defeat in the Battle of Sapienza , Doge Marino Faliero attempted to establish a city lordship, but
5811-637: The Stato da Màr . The skirmishes between the Venetians and the Genoese resumed and in 1378 the two republics faced each other in the War of Chioggia . Initially the Genoese managed to conquer Chioggia and vast areas of the Venetian Lagoon, but in the end it was the Venetians who prevailed; the war ended definitively on 8 August 1381 with the Treaty of Turin which sanctioned the exit of the Genoese from
5960-436: The Thirty Years' War on Venice's key trade partners, and the increasing cost of cotton and silk imports to Venice. In 1606, a conflict between Venice and the Holy See began with the arrest of two clerics accused of petty crimes and with a law restricting the Church's right to enjoy and acquire landed property. Pope Paul V held that these provisions were contrary to canon law , and demanded that they be repealed. When this
6109-399: The Tiepolo conspiracy . Once the coup d'état failed and the establishment of a lordship was averted, Doge Pietro Gradenigo established the Council of Ten , which was assigned the task of repressing any threat to the security of the state. In the Venetian hinterland, the war waged by Mastino II della Scala caused serious economic losses to Venetian trade, so in 1336 Venice gave birth to
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6258-406: The Treaty of Campo Formio , agreeing to share all the territory of the republic, with a new border just west of the Adige. Italian democrats, especially young poet Ugo Foscolo , viewed the treaty as a betrayal. The metropolitan part of the disbanded republic became an Austrian territory, under the name of Venetian Province ( Provincia Veneta in Italian, Provinz Venedig in German). Though
6407-424: The Uskok War in the northern Adriatic and on the Republic's eastern border, while in Lombardy to the west, Venetian troops skirmished with the forces of Don Pedro de Toledo Osorio , Spanish governor of Milan, around Crema in 1617 and in the countryside of Romano di Lombardia in 1618. During the same period, the Spanish governor of Naples, Don Pedro Téllez-Girón , clashed against Venice for commercial disputes at
6556-408: The War of Saint Sabas ; on 24 June 1258 the two republics faced each other in the Battle of Acre which ended with an overwhelming Venetian victory. In 1261 the Empire of Nicaea with the help of the Republic of Genoa managed to dissolve the Eastern Latin Empire and re-establish the Byzantine Empire. The war between Genoa and Venice resumed and after a long series of battles the war ended in 1270 with
6705-408: The battle of Ragusa , having previously indirectly supported Ferdinand during the Uskok War. A fragile peace did not last, and in 1629 the Most Serene Republic returned to war with Spain and the Holy Roman Empire in the War of the Mantuan Succession . During the brief war a Venetian army led by provveditore Zaccaria Sagredo and reinforced by French allies was disastrously routed by Imperial forces at
6854-402: The battle of Villabuona , and Venice's closest ally Mantua was sacked. Reversals elsewhere for the Holy Roman Empire and Spain ensured the republic suffered no territorial loss, and the duchy of Mantua was restored to Charles II Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers , who was the candidate backed by Venice and France. The latter half of the 17th century also had prolonged wars with the Ottoman Empire; in
7003-424: The co-dux , with the throne. The system brought Agnello's two sons, Giustiniano and Giovanni , to the ducal position, who was deposed in 836 due to his inadequacy to counter the Narentine pirates in Dalmatia . Following the deposition of Giovanni Partecipazio, Pietro Tradonico was elected who, with the promulgation of the Pactum Lotharii , a commercial treaty between Venice and the Carolingian Empire, began
7152-399: The coup d'état was foiled by the Council of Ten which on 17 April 1355 condemned the Doge to death. The ensuing political instability convinced Louis I of Hungary to attack Dalmatia which was conquered in 1358 with the signing of the Treaty of Zadar . The weakness of the Republic pushed Crete and Trieste to revolt, but the rebellions were quelled, thus reaffirming Venetian dominion over
7301-420: The largest naval battles in history . In the 15th century, the Chinese admiral Zheng He was assigned to assemble a massive fleet for several diplomatic missions abroad , sailing throughout the waters of the South East Pacific and the Indian Ocean. During his missions, on several occasions Zheng's fleet came into conflict with pirates . Zheng's fleet also became involved in a conflict in Sri Lanka , where
7450-409: The 12th century, Srivijaya is primarily land-based polity rather than maritime power, fleets are available but acted as logistical support to facilitate the projection of land power. Later, the naval strategy degenerated to raiding fleet. Their naval strategy was to coerce merchant ships to dock in their ports, which if ignored, they will send ships to destroy the ship and kill the occupants. In 1293,
7599-420: The 13th and 16th centuries, it also governed the Peloponnese , Crete and Cyprus , most of the Greek islands , as well as several cities and ports in the eastern Mediterranean . The islands of the Venetian Lagoon in the 7th century, after having experienced a period of substantial increase in population, were organized into Maritime Venice , a Byzantine duchy dependent on the Exarchate of Ravenna . With
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#17327658369007748-414: The 17th century, monarchical absolutism asserted itself in many countries of continental Europe, radically changing the European political landscape. This change made it possible to more markedly determine the differences between monarchies and republics: while the former had economies governed by strict laws and dominated by agriculture, the latter lived off of commercial affairs and free markets. Moreover,
7897-458: The Black Sea, raiding the coasts of Anatolia and Thrace, and crossing into the Aegean Sea, plundering mainland Greece (including Athens and Sparta) and going as far as Crete and Rhodes. In the twilight of the Roman Empire in the late 4th century, examples include that of Emperor Majorian , who, with the help of Constantinople, mustered a large fleet in a failed effort to expel the Germanic invaders from their recently conquered African territories, and
8046-417: The Dalmatian cities for the reduced sum of 100,000 ducats. Venice exploited the situation and quickly installed nobility to govern the area, for example, Count Filippo Stipanov in Zara. This move by the Venetians was a response to the threatening expansion of Gian Galeazzo Visconti , Duke of Milan. Control over the northeast main land routes was also a necessity for the safety of the trades. By 1410, Venice had
8195-469: The Doge Enrico Dandolo decided to exploit the expedition of the Fourth Crusade to conclude the Zara War and the following year, after twenty years of conflict, Venice conquered the city and won the war, regaining control of Dalmatia. The Venetian crusader fleet, however, did not stop in Dalmatia, but continued towards Constantinople to besiege it in 1204 , thus putting an end to the Byzantine Empire and formally making Venice an independent state, severing
8344-437: The East. In the latter engagement, the allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei destroyed a large fleet commanded by Cao Cao in a fire-based naval attack. In terms of seafaring abroad, arguably one of the first Chinese to sail into the Indian Ocean and to reach Sri Lanka and India by sea was the Buddhist monk Faxian in the early 5th century, although diplomatic ties and land trade to Persia and India were established during
8493-465: The Genoese army and fleet in the lagoon for a long period), Venice quickly managed to recover from the territorial losses suffered with the Treaty of Turin of 1381 and begin expansion on the mainland . Venetian expansion, however, led to the coalition of the Habsburg monarchy , Spain and France in the League of Cambrai , which in 1509 defeated the Republic of Venice in the Battle of Agnadello . While maintaining most of its mainland possessions, Venice
8642-438: The Greeks commanded the Aegean, but not harmoniously. After several minor wars, tensions exploded into the Peloponnesian War (431 BC) between Athens' Delian League and the Spartan Peloponnese . Naval strategy was critical; Athens walled itself off from the rest of Greece, leaving only the port at Piraeus open, and trusting in its navy to keep supplies flowing while the Spartan army besieged it. This strategy worked, although
8791-431: The Habsburg monarchy following the ratification of the Treaty of Campo Formio . Throughout its history, the Republic of Venice was characterized by its political order. Inherited from the previous Byzantine administrative structures, its head of state was the doge, a position which became elective from the end of the 9th century. In addition to the doge, the administration of the Republic was directed by various assemblies:
8940-517: The Japanese army returned to Japan by the end of December. In 1609, the Tokugawa shogunate ordered the abandonment of warships to the feudal lord . The Japanese navy stagnated until the Meiji period . In ancient China , the first known naval battles took place during the Warring States period (481–221 BC) when vassal lords battled one another. Chinese naval warfare in this period featured grapple-and-hook, as well as ramming tactics with ships called "stomach strikers" and "colliding swoopers". It
9089-410: The Jin to the north, until the Mongols finally conquered all of China. After the Song dynasty, the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China was a powerful maritime force in the Indian Ocean. The Yuan emperor Kublai Khan attempted to invade Japan twice with large fleets (of both Mongols and Chinese), in 1274 and again in 1281, both attempts being unsuccessful (see Mongol invasions of Japan ). Building upon
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#17327658369009238-409: The King of Ceylon traveled back to Ming China afterwards to make a formal apology to the Yongle Emperor . The Ming imperial navy defeated a Portuguese navy led by Martim Afonso de Sousa in 1522. The Chinese destroyed one vessel by targeting its gunpowder magazine, and captured another Portuguese ship. A Ming army and navy led by Koxinga defeated a western power, the Dutch East India Company , at
9387-474: The Korean kingdom of Silla (see also Unified Silla ) and expelled the Korean kingdom of Baekje which were supported by Japanese naval forces from the Korean peninsula (see Battle of Baekgang ) and helped Silla overcome its rival Korean kingdoms, Baekje and Goguryeo , by 668. In addition, the Tang had maritime trading, tributary, and diplomatic ties as far as modern Sri Lanka , India, Islamic Iran and Arabia , as well as Somalia in East Africa . From
9536-423: The Korean navy in the Battle of Chilcheollyang on 28 August 1597 and began advancing toward China. This attempt was stopped when the reappointed Admiral Yi, won the battle of Myeongnyang . The Wanli Emperor of Ming China sent military forces to the Korean peninsula. Yi Sun-sin and Chen Lin continued to successfully engage the Japanese navy with 500 Chinese warships and the strengthened Korean fleet. In 1598,
9685-568: The Malay people of Srivijaya or Javanese people of Mataram kingdom , in 945–946 CE. They arrived at the coast of Tanganyika and Mozambique with 1000 boats and attempted to take the citadel of Qanbaloh, though eventually failed. The reason of the attack is because that place had goods suitable for their country and for China, such as ivory, tortoise shells, panther skins, and ambergris , and also because they wanted black slaves from Bantu people (called Zeng or Zenj by Arabs, Jenggi by Javanese) who were strong and make good slaves. Before
9834-509: The Mediterranean began to wane, the Italian trading towns of Genoa , Pisa , and Venice stepped in to seize the opportunity, setting up commercial networks and building navies to protect them. At first the navies fought with the Arabs (off Bari in 1004, at Messina in 1005), but then they found themselves contending with Normans moving into Sicily, and finally with each other. The Genoese and Venetians fought four naval wars, in 1253–1284, 1293–1299, 1350–1355, and 1378–1381. The last ended with
9983-502: The Mongol Yuan dynasty launched an invasion to Java . The Yuan sent 500–1000 ships and 20,000–30,000 soldiers, but was ultimately defeated on land by surprise attack , forcing the army to fall back to the beach. In the coastal waters, Javanese junks had already attacked the Mongol ships. After all of the troops had boarded the ships on the coast, the Yuan army battled the Javanese fleet. After repelling it, they sailed back to Quanzhou . Javanese naval commander Aria Adikara intercepted
10132-405: The Most Serene Republic of Venice ( Italian : Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia ; Venetian: Serenìsima Repùblega de Venexia ), a name by which it is best known today. Similarly, the doge was also given the nickname of serenissimo or more simply that of His Serenity . From the 17th century the Republic of Venice took on other more or less official names such as the Venetian State or
10281-443: The Mōri navy with six armored warships ( Battle of Kizugawaguchi ). The navy of Nobunaga and his successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi employed clever close-range tactics on land with arquebus rifles, but also relied upon close-range firing of muskets in grapple-and-board style naval engagements. When Nobunaga died in the Honnō-ji incident , Hideyoshi succeeded him and completed the unification of the whole country. In 1592, Hideyoshi ordered
10430-415: The Outside World , Shen Fuwei notes that maritime Chinese merchants in the 9th century were landing regularly at Sufala in East Africa to cut out Arab middle-men traders. The Chola dynasty of medieval India was a dominant seapower in the Indian Ocean , an avid maritime trader and diplomatic entity with Song China. Rajaraja Chola I (reigned 985 to 1014) and his son Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–42), sent
10579-404: The Serenissima regained its mainland dominions west to the Adda River . Although the defeat had turned into a victory, the events of 1509 marked the end of the Venetian expansion. In 1489, the first year of Venetian control of Cyprus, Turks attacked the Karpasia Peninsula , pillaging and taking captives to be sold into slavery. In 1539, the Turkish fleet attacked and destroyed Limassol . Fearing
10728-511: The Song imperial court fled south from Kaifeng to Hangzhou . Equipped with the magnetic compass and knowledge of Shen Kuo 's famous treatise (on the concept of true north ), the Chinese became proficient experts of navigation in their day. They raised their naval strength from a mere 11 squadrons of 3,000 marines to 20 squadrons of 52,000 marines in a century's time. Employing paddle wheel crafts and trebuchets throwing gunpowder bombs from
10877-581: The Tyrians defeated their enemies. The Greeks of Homer just used their ships as transport for land armies, but in 664 BC there is a mention of a battle at sea between Corinth and its colony city Corcyra . Ancient descriptions of the Persian Wars were the first to feature large-scale naval operations, not just sophisticated fleet engagements with dozens of triremes on each side, but combined land-sea operations. It seems unlikely that all this
11026-773: The Venetian Republic over maritime control of the Aegean, the Ionian, and the Adriatic Seas. The wars with Venice resumed after the Ottomans captured the Kingdom of Bosnia in 1463, and lasted until a favorable peace treaty was signed in 1479 just after the troublesome siege of Shkodra . In 1480, no longer hampered by the Venetian fleet, the Ottomans besieged Rhodes and briefly captured Otranto . In February 1489,
11175-472: The Venetian Republic. The republic is often referred to as La Serenissima , in reference to its title as one of the " Most Serene Republics ". The Duchy of Venice was born in the 9th century from the Byzantine territories of Maritime Venice . According to tradition, the first doge was elected in 697, but this figure is of dubious historicity and comparable to that of the exarch Paul , who, similarly to
11324-683: The Venetian possessions in the Balkans as the price of peace (18 April 1797) while France acquired the Lombard part of the state. After Napoleon's ultimatum, Ludovico Manin surrendered unconditionally on 12 May and abdicated , while the Major Council declared the end of the republic. According to Bonaparte's orders, the public powers passed to a provisional municipality under the French military governor. On 17 October, France and Austria signed
11473-505: The Vikings, only two of which were not beaten back or captured. The Vikings also fought several sea battles among themselves. This was normally done by binding the ships on each side together, thus essentially fighting a land battle on the sea. However the fact that the losing side could not easily escape meant that battles tended to be hard and bloody. The Battle of Svolder is perhaps the most famous of these battles. As Muslim power in
11622-735: The anti-Scaliger league and the Scaliger War . The following year the coalition expanded further and Padua returned to the dominion of the Carraresi . In 1338, Venice conquered Treviso , the first nucleus of the Domini di Terraferma , and in 1339 it signed a peace treaty in which the Scaligeri promised not to interfere in Venetian trade and to recognize the sovereignty of Venice over the Trevisan March. In 1343 Venice took part in
11771-515: The arrival of the Byzantine fleet and the retreat of the Franks. Following the failed Frankish conquest, Doge Obelerio was replaced by the pro-Byzantine nobleman Agnello Participazio who definitively moved the capital to Rivoalto in 812, thus decreeing the birth of the city of Venice . With his election, Agnello Partecipazio attempted to make the ducal office hereditary by associating an heir,
11920-521: The capital. Having taken control of the situation, the doge placed Venezia under Frankish protection, but a Byzantine naval blockade convinced him to renew his loyalty to the Eastern Emperor. With the intention of conquering Venezia in 810, the Frankish army commanded by Pepin invaded the lagoon, forcing the local population to retreat to Rivoalto , thus starting a siege which ended with
12069-419: The chrysobol of 1082, arousing the reaction of Venice which declared war on the Byzantine Empire in 1122. The war ended in 1126 with the victory of Venice which forced the emperor to stipulate a new agreement characterized by even better conditions than the previous ones, thus making the Byzantine Empire totally dependent on Venetian trade and protection. With the intention of weakening the growing Venetian power,
12218-693: The civil war of the Ottoman Interregnum and established himself as sultan . The conflict escalated until Pietro Loredan won a crushing victory against the Turks off Gallipoli in 1416 . Venice expanded as well along the Dalmatian coast from Istria to Albania , which was acquired from King Ladislaus of Naples during the civil war in Hungary . Ladislaus was about to lose the conflict and had decided to escape to Naples, but before doing so he agreed to sell his now practically forfeit rights on
12367-600: The close quarters likely contributed to the plague that killed many Athenians in 429 BC. There were a number of sea battles between galleys ; at Rhium , Naupactus , Pylos , Syracuse , Cynossema , Cyzicus , Notium . But the end came for Athens in 405 BC at Aegospotami in the Hellespont , where the Athenians had drawn up their fleet on the beach, and were surprised by the Spartan fleet, who landed and burned all
12516-526: The competition for dominion over the Mediterranean. In 1403, the last major battle between the Genoese (now under French rule) and Venice was fought at Modon , and the final victory resulted in maritime hegemony and dominance of the eastern trade routes. The latter would soon be contested, however, by the inexorable rise of the Ottoman Empire . Hostilities began after Prince Mehmed I ended
12665-630: The consolidation of its Adriatic dominions. The situation culminated in the Battle of Motta in late August 1412, when an invading army of Hungarians, Germans and Croats, led by Pippo Spano and Voivode Miklós Marczali attacked the Venetian positions at Motta and suffered a heavy defeat. At the expiration of the truce in 1420, Venice immediately invaded the Patriarchate of Aquileia and subjected Traù , Spalato , Durazzo , and other Dalmatian cities. In Lombardy , Venice acquired Brescia in 1426, Bergamo in 1428, and Cremona in 1499. In 1454,
12814-588: The danger brought by the eventual destruction of Venice (then the only Italian power able to face kingdoms like France or empires like the Ottomans). The citizens of the mainland rose to the cry of "Marco, Marco", and Andrea Gritti recaptured Padua in July 1509, successfully defending it against the besieging imperial troops. Spain and the pope broke off their alliance with France, and Venice regained Brescia and Verona from France, also. After seven years of ruinous war,
12963-495: The day that the city fell – 9 September 1570 – 20,000 Nicosians were put to death, and every church, public building, and palace was looted. Word of the massacre spread, and a few days later, Mustafa took Kyrenia without having to fire a shot. Famagusta, however, resisted and put up a defense that lasted from September 1570 until August 1571. The fall of Famagusta marked the beginning of the Ottoman period in Cyprus. Two months later,
13112-567: The decks of their ships, the Southern Song dynasty became a formidable foe to the Jin dynasty during the 12th–13th centuries during the Jin–Song Wars . There were naval engagements at the Battle of Caishi and Battle of Tangdao . With a powerful navy, China dominated maritime trade throughout South East Asia as well. Until 1279, the Song were able to use their naval power to defend against
13261-676: The delicate situation in Romagna , then one of the richest lands in Italy, which was nominally part of the Papal States , but effectively divided into a series of small lordships which were difficult for Rome's troops to control. Eager to take some of Venice's lands, all neighbouring powers joined in the League of Cambrai in 1508, under the leadership of Pope Julius II . The pope wanted Romagna ; Emperor Maximilian I : Friuli and Veneto ; Spain:
13410-535: The destruction of the French fleet in a decisive action which allowed the English effective control of the sea lanes and the strategic initiative for much of the war. The Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) dynasties of China were involved in several naval affairs over the triple set of polities ruling medieval Korea ( Three Kingdoms of Korea ), along with engaging naval bombardments on the peninsula from Asuka period Yamato Kingdom (Japan). The Tang dynasty aided
13559-638: The documents written in Latin were joined by those in the Venetian language , and in parallel with the events in Italy, the Duchy of Venice also changed its name, becoming the Lordship of Venice, which as written in the peace treaty of 1453 with Sultan Mehmed II was fully named the Illustrissima et Excellentissima deta Signoria de Venexia ('The Most Illustrious and Excellent Signoria of Venice'). During
13708-700: The doge was called in Latin Dux Venetiarum Provinciae ('Doge of the Province of Venice'), and then, starting from 840, Dux Veneticorum ('Doge of the Venetians'), following the signing of the Pactum Lotharii . This commercial agreement, stipulated between the Duchy of Venice ( Ducatum Venetiae ) and the Carolingian Empire , de facto ratified the independence of Venice from the Byzantine Empire. In
13857-459: The doge, was assassinated in 727 following a revolt. Father Pietro Antonio of Venetia, in his history of the lagoon city published in 1688, writes: "The precise time in which that family arrived in the Adria is not found, but rather, what already an inhabitant of the islands, by the princes, who welcomed citizens, and supported with the advantage of significant riches, in the year 697 she contributed to
14006-496: The earlier Han dynasty. However, Chinese naval maritime influence would penetrate into the Indian Ocean until the medieval period. The late Middle Ages saw the development of the cogs , caravels and carracks ships capable of surviving the tough conditions of the open ocean, with enough backup systems and crew expertise to make long voyages routine. In addition, they grew from 100 tons to 300 tons displacement, enough to carry cannon as armament and still have space for cargo. One of
14155-570: The economic vitality of the Venetian Republic had started to decline since the 16th century with the movement of international trade towards the Atlantic, its political regime still appeared in the 18th century as a model for the philosophers of the Enlightenment . Jean-Jacques Rousseau was hired in July 1743 as secretary by Comte de Montaigu, who had been named ambassador of the French in Venice. This short experience, nevertheless, awakened
14304-561: The election of Pietro II Orseolo . Pietro II Orseolo gave a notable boost to Venetian commercial expansion by stipulating new commercial privileges with the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. In addition to diplomacy, the doge resumed the war against the Narentan pirates that began in the 9th century and in the year 1000 he managed to subjugate the coastal cities of Istria and Dalmatia. The Great Schism of 1054 and
14453-409: The emperor provided substantial commercial support to the maritime republics of Ancona , Genoa and Pisa , making coexistence with Venice, which was now hegemonic on the Adriatic Sea , increasingly difficult, so much so that it was renamed the "Gulf of Venice". In 1171, following the emperor's decision to expel the Venetian merchants from Constantinople, a new war broke out which was resolved with
14602-464: The end, Xerxes still had a fleet stronger than the Greeks, but withdrew anyway, and after losing at Plataea in the following year, returned to Asia Minor , leaving the Greeks their freedom. Nevertheless, the Athenians and Spartans attacked and burned the laid-up Persian fleet at Mycale , and freed many of the Ionian towns. These battles involved triremes or biremes as the standard fighting platform, and
14751-690: The eventual invasion of Britain. They wreaked havoc in Northumbria and Mercia and the rest of Anglia before being halted by Wessex. King Alfred the Great of England was able to stay the Viking invasions with a pivotal victory at the Battle of Edington. Alfred defeated Guthrum, establishing the boundaries of Danelaw in an 884 treaty. The effectiveness of Alfred's 'fleet' has been debated; Kenneth Harl has pointed out that as few as eleven ships were sent to combat
14900-511: The ever-expanding Ottoman Empire, the Venetians had fortified Famagusta , Nicosia , and Kyrenia , but most other cities were easy prey. By 1563, the population of Venice had dropped to about 168,000 people. In the summer of 1570, the Turks struck again but this time with a full-scale invasion rather than a raid. About 60,000 troops, including cavalry and artillery, under the command of Mustafa Pasha landed unopposed near Limassol on 2 July 1570 and laid siege to Nicosia. In an orgy of victory on
15049-674: The faculty of appointing the Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople and the possibility of sending a Venetian representative to the government of the Eastern Latin Empire . With the end of the Fourth Crusade, Venice concentrated its efforts on the conquest of Crete, which intensely involved the Venetian army until 1237. Venice's control over the eastern trade routes became pressing and this caused an increase in conflicts with Genoa which in 1255 exploded into
15198-577: The fall of the Exarchate and the weakening of Byzantine power, the Duchy of Venice arose, led by a doge and established on the island of Rialto ; it prospered from maritime trade with the Byzantine Empire and other eastern states. To safeguard the trade routes, between the 9th and 11th centuries the Duchy waged several wars, which ensured its complete dominion over the Adriatic. Owing to participation in
15347-407: The field of battle, either in front of the other wards or to the right if they deployed in line . The makeup of the vanguard of a 15th century Burgundian army is a typical example. This consisted of: In an English force of the period , the foreriders of the vanguard would be accompanied by the harbingers, whose job was to locate lodgings for the army for the following night. In modern times,
15496-402: The focus of the battle was to ram the opponent's vessel using the boat's reinforced prow. The opponent would try to maneuver and avoid contact, or alternately rush all the marines to the side about to be hit, thus tilting the boat. When the ram had withdrawn and the marines dispersed, the hole would then be above the waterline and not a critical injury to the ship. During the next fifty years,
15645-478: The following century, references to Venice as a Byzantine dominion disappeared, and in a document from 976 there is a mention of the most glorious Domino Venetiarum ('Lord of Venice'), where the 'most glorious' appellative had already been used for the first time in the Pactum Lotharii and where the appellative "lord" refers to the fact that the doge was still considered like a king, even if elected by
15794-644: The frontiers of neutral Venice in pursuit of the enemy. By the end of the year, the French troops were occupying the Venetian state up to the Adige River. Vicenza, Cadore and Friuli were held by the Austrians. With the campaigns of the next year, Napoleon aimed for the Austrian possessions across the Alps . In the preliminaries to the Peace of Leoben , the terms of which remained secret, the Austrians were to take
15943-557: The hands of about ten families. To avoid the birth of a lordship, the Doge decided to increase the number of members of the Maggior Consiglio while leaving the number of families unchanged and so the Serrata del Maggior Consiglio was implemented in 1297. Following the provision, the power of some of the old houses decreased and in 1310, under the pretext of defeat in the War of Ferrara , these families organized themselves in
16092-591: The hull of the ship in order to rip into the hull of another ship while ramming, to stab enemies in the water that had fallen overboard and were swimming, or simply to clear any possible dangerous marine animals in the path of the ship (since the ancient Chinese did believe in sea monsters; see Xu Fu for more info). Qin Shi Huang , the first emperor of the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC), owed much of his success in unifying southern China to naval power, although an official navy
16241-571: The interest of Rousseau to the policy, which led him to design a large book of political philosophy. After the Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men (1755), he published The Social Contract (1762). Following the Lombard occupation and the progressive migration of the Roman populations, new coastal settlements were born in which the local assemblies, the comitia , elected
16390-460: The island of Cyprus , previously a crusader state (the Kingdom of Cyprus ), was added to Venice's holdings. By 1490, the population of Venice had risen to about 180,000 people. War with the Ottomans resumed from 1499 to 1503. In 1499, Venice allied itself with Louis XII of France against Milan, gaining Cremona . In the same year, the Ottoman sultan moved to attack Lepanto by land and sent
16539-559: The islands of Tinos and Aegina , crossed the isthmus, and took Corinth . Daniele Dolfin, commander of the Venetian fleet, thought it better to save the fleet than risk it for the Morea. When he eventually arrived on the scene, Nauplia, Modon, Corone, and Malvasia had fallen. Levkas in the Ionian islands , and the bases of Spinalonga and Suda on Crete, which still remained in Venetian hands, were abandoned. The Turks finally landed on Corfu , but its defenders managed to throw them back. In
16688-475: The lagoon for a decade. Following his death, the Byzantines entrusted the government of the province to the regime of the magistri militum , which lasted until 742 when the emperor granted the people the appointment of a dux . The Venetians elected by acclamation Theodato , son of Orso, who decided to move the capital of the duchy from Heraclia to Metamauco . The Lombard conquest of Ravenna in 751 and
16837-636: The largest ships of the time, the Great Harry , displaced over 1,500 tons. Venetian Republic The Republic of Venice , officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenìssima , was a sovereign state and maritime republic with its capital in Venice . Founded, according to tradition, in 697 by Paolo Lucio Anafesto , over the course of its 1,100 years of history it established itself as one of
16986-608: The last ties with the former Byzantine ruler. The empire was dismembered in the Crusader states and from the division Venice obtained numerous ports in the Morea and several islands in the Aegean Sea including Crete and Euboea , thus giving life to the Stato da Màr . In addition to the territorial conquests, the doge was awarded the title of Lord of a quarter and a half of the Eastern Roman Empire, thus obtaining
17135-527: The long process of detachment of the province from the Byzantine Empire. After Tradonico was killed following a conspiracy in 864, Orso I Participazio was elected and resumed the fight against piracy, managing to protect the Dogado from attacks by the Saracens and the Patriarchate of Aquileia . Orso managed to assign the dukedom to his eldest son Giovanni II Participazio who, after conquering Comacchio ,
17284-537: The major European commercial and naval powers. Initially extended in the Dogado area (a territory currently comparable to the Metropolitan City of Venice ), during its history it annexed a large part of Northeast Italy , Istria , Dalmatia , the coasts of present-day Montenegro and Albania as well as numerous islands in the Adriatic and eastern Ionian seas. At the height of its expansion, between
17433-603: The meantime, the Turks had suffered a grave defeat by the Austrians in the Battle of Petrovaradin on 5 August 1716. Venetian naval efforts in the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles in 1717 and 1718, however, met with little success. With the Treaty of Passarowitz (21 July 1718), Austria made large territorial gains, but Venice lost the Morea, for which its small gains in Albania and Dalmatia were little compensation. This
17582-460: The mid-14th century, the rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang (1328–1398) seized power in the south amongst many other rebel groups. His early success was due to capable officials such as Liu Bowen and Jiao Yu , and their gunpowder weapons (see Huolongjing ). Yet the decisive battle that cemented his success and his founding of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) was the Battle of Lake Poyang , considered one of
17731-555: The monarchies, in addition to being led by a single ruling family, were more prone to war and religious uniformity. This increasingly noticeable difference between monarchy and republic began to be specified also in official documents, and it was hence that names such as the Republic of Genoa or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces were born. The Lordship of Venice also adapted to this new terminology, becoming
17880-462: The nascent mercantile aristocracy gathered in the Great Council , the largest assembly of the Veneciarum municipality . In the 13th century the popular assembly of the concio was progressively stripped of all its powers and, similarly to the Italian city lordships , in Venice too power began to concentrate in the hands of a small number of families. To avoid the birth of a lordship and dilute
18029-406: The naval forces of the Holy League , composed mainly of Venetian, Spanish , and papal ships under the command of Don John of Austria , defeated the Turkish fleet at the battle of Lepanto . Despite victory at sea over the Turks, Cyprus remained under Ottoman rule for the next three centuries. By 1575, the population of Venice was about 175,000 people, but partly as a result of the plague of 1575–76
18178-438: The nomination of the first Prince Marco Contarini, one of the 22 Tribunes of the Islands, who made the election". In 726, Emperor Leo III attempted to extend iconoclasm to the Exarchate of Ravenna, causing numerous revolts throughout the territory. In reaction to the reform, the local populations appointed several duces to replace the Byzantine governors and in particular Venetia appointed Orso as its doge, who governed
18327-431: The outbreak of the investiture struggle in 1073 marginally involved Venetian politics which instead focused its attention on the arrival of the Normans in southern Italy. The Norman occupation of Durrës and Corfu in 1081 pushed the Byzantine Empire to request the aid of the Venetian fleet which, with the promise of obtaining extensive commercial privileges and reimbursement of military expenses, decided to take part in
18476-508: The pattern of the second in marching the army via the Hellespont while the fleet paralleled them offshore. Near Artemisium , in the narrow channel between the mainland and Euboea , the Greek fleet held off multiple assaults by the Persians, the Persians breaking through a first line, but then being flanked by the second line of ships. But the defeat on land at Thermopylae forced a Greek withdrawal, and Athens evacuated its population to nearby Salamis Island . The ensuing Battle of Salamis
18625-414: The planned conquest in China was canceled by the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi , and the Japanese military retreated from the Korean Peninsula. On their way back to Japan, Yi Sun-sin and Chen Lin attacked the Japanese navy at the Battle of Noryang inflicting heavy damages, but the Chinese top official Deng Zilong and the Korean commander Yi Sun-sin were killed in a Japanese army counterattack. The rest of
18774-416: The popular assembly. Gaining independence, Venice also began to expand on the coasts of the Adriatic Sea , and so starting from 1109, following the conquest of Dalmatia and the Croatian coast, the doge formally received the title of Venetiae Dalmatiae atque Chroatiae Dux ('Doge of Venice, Dalmatia and Croatia'), a name that continued to be used until the 18th century. Starting from the 15th century,
18923-404: The population dropped to 124,000 people by 1581. According to economic historian Jan De Vries, Venice's economic power in the Mediterranean had declined significantly by the start of the 17th century. De Vries attributes this decline to the loss of the spice trade , a declining uncompetitive textile industry, competition in book publishing from a rejuvenated Catholic Church, the adverse impact of
19072-421: The restoration of the status quo . At the end of the 12th century, the commercial traffic of Venetian merchants extended throughout the East and they could count on immense and solid capital. As in the rest of Italy, starting from the 12th century, Venice also underwent the transformations that led to the age of the municipalities . In that century, the doge's power began to decline: initially supported only by
19221-438: The sea. The Persian Empire – united and strong – could not prevail against the might of the Athenian fleet combined with that of lesser city states in several attempts to conquer the Greek city states. Phoenicia 's and Egypt 's power, Carthage 's and even Rome 's largely depended upon control of the seas. So too did the Venetian Republic dominate Italy's city states, thwart the Ottoman Empire , and dominate commerce on
19370-471: The ships. Athens surrendered to Sparta in the following year. Navies next played a major role in the complicated wars of the successors of Alexander the Great . The Roman Republic had never been much of a seafaring nation, but it had to learn. In the Punic Wars with Carthage , Romans developed the technique of grappling and boarding enemy ships with soldiers. The Roman Navy grew gradually as Rome became more involved in Mediterranean politics; by
19519-500: The subsequent conquest of the Lombard kingdom by Charlemagne 's Franks in 774, with the creation of the Carolingian Empire in 800, considerably changed the geopolitical context of the lagoon, leading the Venetians to divide into two factions : a pro-Frankish party led by the city of Equilium and a pro-Byzantine party with a stronghold in Heraclia . After a long series of skirmishes in 805, Doge Obelerio decided to attack both cities simultaneously, deporting their population to
19668-470: The technological achievements of the earlier Song dynasty, the Mongols also employed early cannons upon the decks of their ships. While Song China built its naval strength, the Japanese also had considerable naval prowess. The strength of Japanese naval forces could be seen in the Genpei War , in the large-scale Battle of Dan-no-ura on 25 April 1185. The forces of Minamoto no Yoshitsune were 850 ships strong, while Taira no Munemori had 500 ships. In
19817-440: The time of the Roman Civil War and the Battle of Actium (31 BC), hundreds of ships were involved, many of them quinqueremes mounting catapults and fighting towers. Following the Emperor Augustus transforming the Republic into the Roman Empire , Rome gained control of most of the Mediterranean. Without any significant maritime enemies, the Roman navy was reduced mostly to patrolling for pirates and transportation duties. It
19966-420: The word can also be referred to as a group of people leading the way in new developments or ideas. During World War II , the Red Army began forming ad hoc vanguard formations called "forward detachments" (peredovye otriady) , from army , corps and divisional units. Forward detachments brought together the mobile (motorized or mechanized) elements of the parent formation to play an exploitation role once
20115-408: Was defeated and the attempt to expand the eastern dominions caused a long series of wars against the Ottoman Empire , which ended only in the 18th century with the Treaty of Passarowitz of 1718 and which caused the loss of all possessions in the Aegean . Although still a thriving cultural centre, the Republic of Venice was occupied by Napoleon 's French troops and its territories were divided with
20264-467: Was devastating to the ships in the besieging fleet. These were the first of many encounters during the Byzantine-Arab Wars . The Caliphate became the dominant naval power in the Mediterranean Sea from the 7th to 13th centuries, during what is known as the Islamic Golden Age . One of the most significant inventions in medieval naval warfare was the torpedo , invented in Syria by the Arab inventor Hasan al-Rammah in 1275. His torpedo ran on water with
20413-404: Was lifted after a year, when France intervened and proposed a formula of compromise. Venice was satisfied with reaffirming the principle that no citizen was superior to the normal processes of law. Rivalry with Habsburg Spain and the Holy Roman Empire led to Venice's last significant wars in Italy and the northern Adriatic. Between 1615 and 1618 Venice fought Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in
20562-406: Was named the last Captain General of the Sea ( Capitano Generale da Mar ) of the Republic in 1784. By 1796, the Republic of Venice could no longer defend itself since its war fleet numbered only four galleys and seven galiots . In spring 1796, Piedmont (the Duchy of Savoy ) fell to the invading French, and the Austrians were beaten from Montenotte to Lodi . The army under Napoleon crossed
20711-410: Was not yet established (see Medieval Asia section below). The people of the Zhou dynasty were known to use temporary pontoon bridges for general means of transportation, but it was during the Qin and Han dynasties that large permanent pontoon bridges were assembled and used in warfare (first written account of a pontoon bridge in the West being the oversight of the Greek Mandrocles of Samos in aiding
20860-430: Was one of the decisive engagements of history. Themistocles trapped the Persians in a channel too narrow for them to bring their greater numbers to bear, and attacked them vigorously, in the end causing the loss of 200 Persian ships vs 40 Greek. Aeschylus wrote a play about the defeat, The Persians , which was performed in a Greek theatre competition a few years after the battle. It is the oldest known surviving play. At
21009-400: Was only in the late 16th century, when gunpowder technology had developed to a considerable extent, that the tactical focus at sea shifted to heavy ordnance. Many sea battles through history also provide a reliable source of shipwrecks for underwater archaeology . A major example is the exploration of the wrecks of various warships in the Pacific Ocean . The first recorded sea battle
21158-442: Was only on the fringes of the Empire, in newly gained provinces or defensive missions against barbarian invasion, that the navy still engaged in actual warfare. While the barbarian invasions of the 4th century and later mostly occurred by land, some notable examples of naval conflicts are known. In the late 3rd century, in the reign of Emperor Gallienus , a large raiding party composed by Goths, Gepids and Heruli, launched itself in
21307-444: Was refused, he placed Venice under an interdict which forbade clergymen from exercising almost all priestly duties. The republic paid no attention to the interdict or the act of excommunication and ordered its priests to carry out their ministry. It was supported in its decisions by the Servite friar Paolo Sarpi , a sharp polemical writer who was nominated to be the Signoria's adviser on theology and canon law in 1606. The interdict
21456-489: Was the Battle of the Delta , the Ancient Egyptians defeated the Sea Peoples in a sea battle c. 1175 BC . As recorded on the temple walls of the mortuary temple of pharaoh Ramesses III at Medinet Habu , this repulsed a major sea invasion near the shores of the eastern Nile Delta using a naval ambush and archers firing from both ships and shore. Assyrian reliefs from the 8th century BC show Phoenician fighting ships, with two levels of oars, fighting men on
21605-399: Was the jong . The jongs were large transport ships which could carry 100–2000 tons of cargo and 50–1000 people, 28.99–88.56 meter in length. The exact number of jong fielded by Majapahit is unknown, but the largest number of jong deployed in an expedition is about 400 jongs, when Majapahit attacked Pasai, in 1350. In this era, even to the 17th century, the Nusantaran naval soldiers fought on
21754-419: Was the last war with the Ottoman Empire. By the year 1792, the once-great Venetian merchant fleet had declined to a mere 309 merchantmen . Although Venice declined as a seaborne empire, it remained in possession of its continental domain north of the Po Valley , extending west almost to Milan. Many of its cities benefited greatly from the Pax Venetiae (Venetian peace) throughout the 18th century. Angelo Emo
21903-430: Was the product of a single mind or even of a generation; most likely the period of evolution and experimentation was simply not recorded by history. After some initial battles while subjugating the Greeks of the Ionian coast, the Persians determined to invade Greece proper. Themistocles of Athens estimated that the Greeks would be outnumbered by the Persians on land, but that Athens could protect itself by building
22052-450: Was transferred from the Empire to local assemblies, thus sanctioning the beginning of the ducal monarchy which lasted, with ups and downs, until the 11th century. If the first stable form of involvement of the patriciate in the management of power occurred with the institution of the curia ducis , starting from 1141 with the beginning of the municipal age , an unstoppable process of limitation and removal of ducal power from part of
22201-429: Was written in the Han dynasty that the people of the Warring States era had employed chuan ge ships (dagger-axe ships, or halberd ships), thought to be a simple description of ships manned by marines carrying dagger-axe halberds as personal weapons. The 3rd-century writer Zhang Yan asserted that the people of the Warring States period named the boats this way because halberd blades were actually fixed and attached to
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