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Between the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, Venice lost its
naval supremacy in the Mediterranean because of the growing influence of the
Ottoman and Spanish empires. It was in this brief interval of time that the
Turks began to garrison the Aegean to defend their own trade from the attacks
of pirates and Christian Crusaders; in 1517 they reconquered Syria and Egypt,
and they occupied Rhodes in 1522. Even more important was the successful
occupation of Algiers in 1529 by Khair ad-din, who was actually born in Greece,
and better known as Barbarossa in the West. Thus the Ottoman Empire extended
its control to the shores of the southern Mediterranean, from Albania to
Morocco.
The Spanish acquired their maritime power in much the same way as the Turks
did - in 1501-03 they conquered Naples, and in 1509 they deprived the
Serenissima of its ports in Puglia. Charles of Hapsburg, who became Emperor in
1509 under the name Charles V, led the greatest fleet that the Mediterranean
had ever seen against Tunisia in 1535. Before the creation and the
consolidation of these two powers, Venice pursued a shrewd diplomatic policy in
an attempt to achieve a very difficult balance. This was especially challenging
after 1527, when Charles V had become the uncontested lord of the Peninsula
after the sack of Rome. In 1537-40 and in 1570-73 Venice was allied with the
Hapsburgs in the League Crusades led against the Turks by Charles V and his son
and successor, Philip II. In the first of the two wars the Christian fleet
under the command of the Genoese Andrea Doria suffered a stunning defeat at
Prevesa  . The untrustworthiness of the commander and Charles' clear
disinclination not to strengthen Venice's position in Greece forced the
Serenissima to stipulate a separate peace in 1540. The conclusion of the war
undermined Venice's international supremacy due to the continuous sacking
carried out by the Turks, and the elimination of all remaining territories
belonging to Venetian nobles on the islands of the Aegean to the north of
Candia.
Instead, the Christian league led by Don Juan of Austria achieved a great
victory at Lepanto in 1571, which blocked the Ottoman advance and saved
the Ionian islands and Dalmatia (under Venetian control) from Turkish conquest.
This war too concluded in a humiliating peace for Venice. Philip II was
interested in having Venice as an ally against the Turks, but he did not intend
to favour its political expansion in the Mediterranean. Venice thus obtained
peace, but at the price of the loss of Cyprus.
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