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Ottoman Invasion of Otranto

Type Event Region Europe Time 1480–1481

In July 1480, during the Fourth Ottoman-Venetian War, the Ottoman Empire sent Gedik Ahmed Pasha with a fleet to land at the southern tip of the Itali…

Timeline

  1. 1480coast of Otranto · PugliaGedik Ahmed Pasha set out from ports in Albania and Greece, landing near Otranto with about 128 ships and quickly surrounding the poorly defended coastal city. The local garrison of the Kingdom of Naples was too weak to resist effectively.
  2. 1480city of Otranto · PugliaAfter a brief siege, Otranto fell. The Ottoman forces executed some citizens who refused to convert, and Catholic tradition venerates about 800 of them as martyrs. News of the city's fall reached Rome, sparking panic and Pope Sixtus IV's call to organize a crusade.
  3. 1480–1481Otranto · PugliaThe Ottomans established a base at Otranto and fortified the castle. As the allied forces of Naples and the Papal States prepared a counterattack, Mehmed II died in May 1481, and his successor Bayezid II, to concentrate his forces in the struggle for the throne, ordered Gedik Ahmed to withdraw from Italy. The Neapolitan army subsequently recaptured the city.

Sources