Battle of Gallipoli (1416)

Battle of Gallipoli
Part of the Ottoman–Venetian Wars
Fanciful depiction of the battle, from Giuseppe Lorenzo Gatteri La storia veneta
Date 29 May 1416 Location between Gallipoli and Marmara Island approx. 40°27′N 26°48′E / 40.450°N 26.800°E / 40.450; 26.800 Result Venetian victory
Belligerents
Republic of Venice	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Pietro Loredan (WIA)	Çali Bey †
Strength
10 galleys	32 galleys & galleots
Casualties and losses
12 killed 340 wounded	4,000 killed 1,100 captured (several hundred executed) 12–27 ships captured

The Battle of Gallipoli occurred on 29 May 1416 between the fleets of the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire off the port city of Gallipoli, the main Ottoman naval base. The battle was the main episode of a brief conflict between the two powers, resulting from Ottoman attacks against possessions and shipping of the Venetians and their allies in the Aegean Sea in 1414–1415. The Venetian fleet, under Pietro Loredan, was charged with transporting a Venetian embassy to the Ottoman sultan, but was authorized to attack if the Ottomans refused to negotiate. The subsequent events are known chiefly from a detailed letter written by Loredan after the battle.

The Ottomans exchanged fire with the Venetian ships as soon as the Venetian fleet approached Gallipoli on 27 May, forcing the Venetians to withdraw. On the next day, the two fleets maneuvered and fought off Gallipoli, but during the evening, Loredan managed to contact the Ottoman authorities and inform them of his diplomatic mission. Despite assurances that the Ottomans would welcome the ambassadors, when the Venetian fleet approached the city on the next day, 29 May, the Ottoman fleet sailed to meet the Venetians and the two sides quickly became embroiled in battle. The Venetians scored a crushing victory, killing the Ottoman commander, capturing a large part of the Ottoman fleet, and taking large numbers of Ottoman crews prisoner, of whom many—particularly the Christians serving voluntarily in the Ottoman fleet—were executed. The Venetians then retired to Tenedos to replenish their supplies and rest. Although it confirmed Venetian naval superiority in the Aegean Sea for the next few decades, the battle had little impact: a peace agreement was brokered but refused by the Venetian Senate, and a settlement of the conflict was delayed until a peace treaty was signed in 1419.