Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/344

NAVIES. wars of the past two hundred years had so reduced the population that soon after their reassertion of independence their slaves rose and mastered the city. Very soon after this the Egyptians made themselves masters of Phœnicia, but in 605 the Chaldeans drove them out. The naval power of the Phœnician fatherland had now become of little importance, but her colonies were wealthy and nourishing. In the sixth century Carthage declared its independence, and though it never attained the masterful position of the parent State, for a century or more it was upon the water, the most powerful of the Mediterranean States.

The decline of the Phœnician naval power permitted the rise of that of the Greeks and Persians. The confederated Greek fleets completely defeated the Persians at Salamis ( 480). The naval supremacy of Athens was destroyed in the Peloponnesian War ( 431-404).

The Romans found it necessary to build a war fleet when they came in conflict with the power of Carthage. Their first success was the defeat of the Carthaginian fleet at Mylæ ( 260). With the fall of Carthage the naval power of Rome became paramount in the Mediterranean. Finally the battle of Actium ( 31) cut off the last opposing naval force in the Mediterranean, that of Egypt.

Early in the Middle Ages the countries about the Baltic and North seas, which had been sending out their rovers in every direction, began to develop organized naval power. The predatory expeditions of the Norsemen show organized power, though the actual warfare was mostly upon land. The songs and stories of the Scandinavians and Danes contain many accounts of sea lighting. but the accounts are so intermixed with fable and poetic imagery that it is hard to separate fact from fiction. It is not until the ninth or tenth century that we begin to reach anything approaching reliable history. The first great sea fight of which we have a full account is that between King Olaf Trygasson of Norway and the allied Powers of Denmark and Vendland, which were assisted by the Norwegians of the Province of Viken (from which the name of Viking is derived). Notwithstanding his brave and able defensive fight, Olaf was overcome by weight of numbers, defeated, and killed. This was in the year 1000. In 1014 Olaf the Saint assisted the Saxons to capture London, which was occupied by the Danes. This fight is interesting from the fact that it was won by a fleet fighting against land forces. The culmination of the naval power of Norway was reached soon afterwards under Harald Hardrada. About five years before the landing of William the Conqueror in England, Harald destroyed the Danish fleet in a fiercely fought action at Nisaa. In 1066 he started with a fleet and army to assist Earl Tostig, brother of Harold of England, who was in rebellion and had fled to Norway. The ambition of the Norwegian King in this instance caused his death, for he was killed in battle at Stamford Bridge, September 25, 1066—three days before the landing of the Normans and less than three weeks before the battle of Hastings. After the death of Harald Hardrada the Norse sea power declined.

When, after the fall of Rome, there ceased to be any dominant power in the Mediterranean. there was an increase of piracy and robbery on the sea and along unprotected coasts. The geographical position of Italy caused it to be the natural doorway to merchandise entering Europe from the East or moving in the opposite direction. The development of maritime trade thus brought about caused the Italian commercial cities to be the heaviest losers by piracy, and made it necessary for them to establish naval forces. Of the Italian States, Venice, Pisa, and Genoa took the lead in commerce, and all gradually developed powerful navies. The army of Venice was composed chiefly of mercenaries and commanded by one because it was feared that a native might use its power to overturn the Government; but the navy, from which nothing of the kind was feared, became the pride of the people. The Senate encouraged the nobles to trade and serve in the fleet and they became merchants and admirals.

In the ninth century the Saracens had become powerful and troublesome in the Mediterranean, where their piratical armed vessels and strong fleets were the terror of every merchant who had a venture on the sea. They carried their depredations to the coast of Italy, so that in 842 the Venetians coöperated with the Greeks in sending a naval expedition against them. The hostile fleets met at Cortona. The Greeks fled at the first attack of the enemy, but the Venetians fought against vastly superior numbers until their loss was so great as to make further resistance impossible, when the few survivors endeavored to make their escape. For a quarter of a century the humiliation of defeat rankled in the Venetians, and finally they sent out a new force which gained a decisive victory over their enemies on the same spot. During the next six or seven centuries the Pisans, Genoese, and Venetians strove for naval and commercial supremacy with each other and with the Saracens and their natural successors, the Turks, Genoa and Venice profited by the Crusades, furnishing ships, munitions of war, and provisions to the Crusaders. Pisa succumbed to Genoa in the great sea fight off Meloria in 1284. Previous to this Genoa and Venice had entered upon their great struggle for supremacy. Both republics extended their territories by land and sea, and Venice held most of hers until the rise of the Turkish Empire, when she lost many of her islands and seaports, which constituted an almost uninterrupted territory from the head of the Adriatic to Asia Minor and the Bosporus, including Cyprus, Crete, and the Morea. The contest between Venice and Genoa for control of the Mediterranean continued at intervals until 1380, when the Genoese fleet and army which had threatened Venice were captured at Chioggia by the Venetians under Admiral Vettor Pisani, one of the greatest of naval commanders. After the battle of Chioggia the military and naval power of Genoa declined quite rapidly. Venice, on the contrary, continued to grow in wealth, power, and extent of territory until at the close of the Middle Ages the Turks became dominant in the eastern Mediterranean, while at the same time the Republic had to withstand the combined arms of the covetous Christian powers.

The Turks, who had firmly established themselves in Europe, dreamed of universal conquest and were expanding their territory at every opportunity. At last in 1571 Venice, Philip II. of Spain, and Pope Pius V. united in a