Abstract
The article is devoted to the role of Genoa and Venice during the Varna Crusade of 1444 and to the impact of the commercial and political rivalry between the two republics on the course of the war against the Ottoman Empire. The author analyses the problem of the interdependence between economic interests and military actions in the Black Sea basin and the eastern Mediterranean. The study is significant for understanding the causes of the failure of the crusade and the mechanisms of fifteenth-century Mediterranean politics. The aim of the study is to explain why the strategic plan of the crusade, based on cooperation between land forces and a fleet blockading the straits, ended in defeat. The author relies on an analysis of chronicles, accounts by contemporary participants in the events, and historical literature concerning the activities of the Genoese and Venetians. The most important finding is that, thanks to the Genoese of Pera, the forces of Sultan Murad II crossed from Anatolia into Europe via the Bosporus. This action undermined the strategic assumptions of the crusade because the Christian fleet was unable effectively to cut the Ottoman army off from the European theatre of operations. The author argues that Genoa’s stance resulted from fears of growing Venetian influence in the straits, which would have threatened Genoese commercial hegemony in the Black Sea. The results of the analysis indicate that the economic rivalry of the merchant republics contributed to weakening the common Christian front and indirectly facilitated further Ottoman expansion into Europe.
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