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The city of Venice, previously a dependency of the Byzantine Empire, had established its independence of either eastern or western emperor as early as the 9th century.
In the high Middle Ages, Venice became extremely wealthy through its control of trade to the Levant, and began to expand into the Adriatic Sea and beyond. The Venetian fleet was crucial to the sack of Constantinople by crusaders in the Fourth Crusade in 1204. As a result of the partition of the Byzantine Empire which followed, Venice gained a great deal of territory in the Aegean Sea, including the islands of Crete and Euboea. Later, in 1489, the island of Cyprus, previously a crusader state, was annexed.
In the early 15th century, the Venetians also began to expand in Italy, as a response to the threatening expansion of Giangaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. By 1410, Venice had taken over most of Venetia, including such important cities as VeronaThis page is about the city in Italy; for other uses, see Verona (disambiguation). Verona (population est. 260,000), is an ancient town, an episcopal see and a province in Veneto, Italy, on the shores of the Adige River and near to those of the Lake Garda and Paduatempera, Two Christians before the Judges hangs in the city's cathedral. The city of Padua (Lat. Patavium It. Padova is the economic and communications hub of the Veneto region in northern Italy. The capital of Padova province, it stands on the Bacchiglio. The Venetians also came into conflict with the PopeThis article is about the Catholic pope. See Pope (disambiguation) for other meanings of the word pope. The Pope is the Catholic bishop and patriarch of Rome, and ex officio supreme spiritual leader of what might be called the Catholic Communion (that is,s over control of the Romagna. This led in 1508Events Births Primoz Trubar, the author of the first printed book in Slovenian Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva Jean Daurat November 30 Andrea Palladio Deaths May 27 Ludovico Sforza, former Duke of Milan. Isaac Abrabanel (also called Isaac Abravan to the League of CambraiThe League of Cambrai was a league against Venice formed in 1508 under the leadership of Pope Julius II. It included, besides the Pope, Louis XII of France, Emperor Maximilian I, and Ferdinand of Aragon. The League fought a war with Venice between 1508 an against Venice, in which the Pope, the King of FranceLouis XII, King of France ''Father of the People ( June 27, 1462 January 1, 1515) was King of France from 1498- January 1, 1515. Birth Louis XII, King of France was born on June 27, 1462 in the Chateau de Blois, France. The son of Charles, duc d'Orleans a, the Holy Roman EmperorMaximilian I of Habsburg ( March 22, 1459 January 12, 1519) was Holy Roman Emperor. Maximilian was born in Vienna as the son of the Emperor Frederick III and Eleanor of Portugal. He married ( 1477- 1482) the heiress of Burgundy, Mary, the only daughter of, and the King of Aragon came together to despoil the republic. Although the French were victorious at Agnadello in 1509, the coalition soon fell out among themselves, and Venice found itself without serious territorial loss.
At the same time, however, the expansion of the Ottoman Turks in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean proved threatening to the Venetians. In 1570, the Turks invaded Cyprus, which was conquered by 1571 despite the victory of the Holy League (including significant Venetian forces) at Lepanto later that year. The Venetians soon after made peace, confirming the loss of Cyprus. In the 17th century, Crete too was lost, after a long conflict.
By the 18th century, the Serene Republic was largely a shadow of its former glory. In 1797 it was invaded by the French troops of General Napoleon Bonaparte, who partitioned the Republic with the Austrians.