How Venice Became a Powerhouse

The timing of Tim Harford’s brief history of Venice couldn’t have been better – it was right before our upcoming Italian vacation (including Venice).

 

How did some “muddy, flood-prone islands in the middle of a lagoon”, a region that “lacked wood, minerals, metals, even arable land” develop into a major European power?

 

First, of course, via trade. With Egypt, Levant (middle east) and beyond Constantinople to the Black Sea ports. The Pope’s embargo on trading with the Muslims was just ignored – Venice intended to do whatever was advantageous.

 

Second, muscle power. Trade usually needed the threat of violence. Venetian naval power secured trading privileges in the various sea lanes connected to Venice; and also acted as a deterrent to pirates.

 

Third, organizational and execution skills. In 1201, the Doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo, was approached to ferry an enormous crusader army to Cairo. Dandolo got Venice to work around the clock to build 500 vessels, including 50 war galleys and many large ships, for just that purpose in record time. He had effectively used the request to create a Venetian navy!

 

Fourth, governance matters. Venice, like ancient Rome, was wary of any one man wielding too much power and it had multiple “deliberative and executive councils”:

“Nobody in the Venetian elite wanted a popular dictator to seize control. The system was far from perfect, but the separation of powers gave La Serenissima stable government and pragmatic policy for centuries.”

Rome (and its Italian descendants) had repeatedly institutionalized power sharing and systems of checks and balances.

 

Fifth, dealing with problems. Remember those crusaders who had placed the request for transportation in point #3? Well, they couldn’t pay for it! What did Venice do? Via a “string of risky, bullying, high-stakes improvisations”, they marooned the crusader army outside Venice. Then Dandolo pressured the crusader army to pay part of their debt by helping attack and loot a “troublesome rival city, Zara”. For the rest of the debt, Dandolo asked the crusaders to postpone their mission and instead help lay waste Constantinople itself. The loot from that still adorns Venice’s public places today, so the papal punishment that followed the sack of Constantinople (excommunication of all Venetians) hardly mattered…

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