Battle of Focchies 1649
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 12 May 1649 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1649 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Turkey | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Cretan War of 1645-1669 | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Ottoman Empire, Republic of Venice | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 38.6675, 26.7581 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Focchies was a significant naval engagement that took place on 12 May 1649, in the harbour of Focchies, Smyrna between a Venetian fleet of nineteen warships under the command of Giacomo da Riva, and an Ottoman fleet of eleven warships, ten galleasses, and seventy-two galleys, with the battle resulting in a crushing victory for the Venetian fleet. The battle was an episode in the Cretan War from 1645 to 1669 between the Republic of Venice (along with its allies, the Knights of Malta, the Kingdom of France and the Papal States) and the Ottoman Empire over dominance of various territories in the Mediterranean Sea, focused around Crete, the largest and most profitable overseas holding of the Venetian Republic.
The battle came after a squadron of Venetian ships under the command of Giacomo da Riva came to the rescue of the blockading Venetian force in the Dardanelles Straits, after the blockade had run into unexpected weather conditions and many ships sunk as a result. Da Riva moved to engage the Ottoman fleet, attempting to prevent them from sailing to Crete and reinforcing the Ottoman forces that were laying siege to the island. To reinforce his fleet before engaging the Ottomans, da Riva hired several English and Dutch armed merchantmen.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Focchies (revision 1370951054), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of the Oinousses Islands 1695 · 22 km
- Battle of Arginusae 406 BC · 41 km
- Siege of Smyrna 1402 · 43 km
- Greek landing at Smyrna 1919 · 43 km
- Battle of Mytilene (1690) 1690 · 51 km
- Siege of Mytilene (1464) 1464 · 52 km
Other battles of the Cretan War of 1645-1669
- Siege of Chania (1645) 1645
- Action of 26 May 1646 1646
- Siege of Candia 1648
- Battle of the Dardanelles (1654) 1654
- Battle of the Dardanelles (1655) 1655
- Battle of the Dardanelles (1656) 1656
- Battle of the Dardanelles (1657) 1657
- Siege of Lemnos (1657) 1657
- Action of 27 August 1661 1661
All 10 battles of the Cretan War of 1645-1669 →
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