Siege of Vlorë
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| Siege of Vlorë (1691) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Morean War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Ottoman Empire | Republic of Venice | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Koca Halil Pasha Küçük Cafer Pasha Süleyman Pasha |
Giralomo Cornaro † Giovanni Matteo † Charles Sparre † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 6,000 | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Light | 4,000 | ||||||
The siege of Vlorë was a siege in 1691 in which the Ottoman army under the command of Koca Halil Pasha inflicted a great defeat on the Venetians and took back this important castle and port as a result of the siege carried out between February 4 and March 6, 1691.
In the summer of 1690, the Ottoman garrison in Vlorë was considerably weakened, as the Governor of Rumelia and Vlorë, Küçük Cafer Pasha, joined the expedition of Köprülüzade Fazıl Mustafa Pasha against Austria with all his troops.
After the Albanians in the Sanjak informed the Venice about this situation, the Venetian fleet, consisting of 55 units, under the command of Giralomo Cornaro invaded and captured the castles of Vlorë and Kaninë on September 19, 1690.[1] The Grand Vizier Köprülüzade Fazıl Mustafa Pasha received this news while besieging Belgrade and tasked Koca Halil Pasha with recapturing the castle.
Doche of Venice Francesco Morosini was hesitant about holding the castles of Vlorë and Kaninë, because the period when the Ottoman Empire lost territory between 1684 and 1689 was over, and Grand Vizier Köprülüzade Fazıl Mustafa Pasha had re-strengthened the Ottomans' position in the Balkans by liberating Niš, Vidin, Smederevo and Belgrade from the occupation of the Austria in his campaign of 1690. Therefore, Doçe Morosini was also concerned that the resources spent on castles in Albania could weaken the defenses of Morea in case of an Ottoman counterattack.[2]