Cretan War (1645–1669) in the context of "Siege of Candia"

A series of military conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and various European states took place from the Late Middle Ages up through the early 20th century. The earliest conflicts began during the Byzantine–Ottoman wars, waged in Anatolia in the late 13th century before entering Europe in the mid-14th century with the Bulgarian–Ottoman wars. The mid-15th century saw the Serbian–Ottoman wars and the Albanian-Ottoman wars. Much of this period was characterized by the Ottoman expansion into the Balkans. The Ottoman Empire made further inroads into Central Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, culminating in the peak of Ottoman territorial claims in Europe.

The Ottoman–Venetian wars spanned four centuries, starting in 1423 and lasting until 1718. This period witnessed the fall of Negroponte in 1470, the siege of Malta in 1565, the fall of Famagusta (Cyprus) in 1571, the defeat of the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 (at that time the largest naval battle in history), the fall of Candia (Crete) in 1669, the Venetian reconquest of Morea (Peloponnese) in the 1680s and its loss again in 1715. The island of Venetian-ruled Corfu remained the only Greek island not conquered by the Ottomans.

The Morean war (Italian: Guerra di Morea), also known as the Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War, was fought between 1684–1699 as part of the wider conflict known as the "Great Turkish War", between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Military operations ranged from Dalmatia to the Aegean Sea, but the war's major campaign was the Venetian conquest of the Morea (Peloponnese) peninsula in southern Greece.

On the Venetian side, the war was fought to avenge the loss of Crete in the Cretan War (1645–1669). It happened while the Ottomans were entangled in their northern struggle against the Habsburgs – beginning with the failed Ottoman attempt to conquer Vienna and ending with the Habsburgs gaining Buda and the whole of Hungary, leaving the Ottoman Empire unable to concentrate its forces against the Venetians. As such, the Morean War was the only Ottoman–Venetian conflict from which Venice emerged victorious, gaining significant territory. Venice's expansionist revival would be short-lived, as its gains would be reversed by the Ottomans in 1718.

The Ottoman–Venetian wars were a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice that started in 1396 and lasted until 1718. It included:

• Venice's participation in the Crusade of Nicopolis in 1396
• A naval conflict in 1415–1419, the main event of which was the Battle of Gallipoli (1416)
• The Siege of Thessalonica (1422–1430), with Venice active from 1423 on, resulting in the capture of Thessalonica by the Ottomans
• The First Ottoman–Venetian War (1463–1479), resulting in the capture of Negroponte, Lemnos and Albania Veneta by the Ottomans
• The Second Ottoman–Venetian War (1499–1503), resulting in the capture of the Venetian strongholds in the Morea (Peloponnese) by the Ottomans
• The Third Ottoman–Venetian War (1537–1540), resulting in the capture of the Cyclades except Tinos, the Sporades and the last Venetian strongholds in the Morea (Peloponnese) by the Ottomans
• The Fourth Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573), resulting in the capture of Cyprus by the Ottomans, and the defeat of their fleet in the Battle of Lepanto (1571)
• The Fifth Ottoman–Venetian War or the Cretan War (1645–1669), resulting in the capture of Crete by the Ottomans
• The Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War or the Morean War (1684–1699), resulting in the capture of the Morea (Peloponnese), Lefkada, Aigina and parts of Dalmatia by Venice and the end of Ottoman dominance in the eastern Mediterranean Sea
• The Seventh and last Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718) (also called the Second Morean War or Sinj war), resulting in the recapture of the Morea (Peloponnese) and of Tinos and Aigina, the last Venetian holdings in the Aegean, by the Ottomans

The Realm or Kingdom of Candia (Venetian: Regno de Càndia; Italian: Regno di Candia; Greek: Βασίλειο της Κάντιας, romanized: Vasíleio tis Kántias) or Duchy of Candia (Venetian: Dogado de Càndia; Italian: Ducato di Candia; Greek: Δουκάτο της Κάντιας, romanized: Doukáto tis Kántias) was the official name of Crete during the island's period as an overseas territory of the Republic of Venice, from the initial Venetian conquest in 1205–1212 to its fall to the Ottoman Empire during the Cretan War (1645–1669). The island was at the time and up to the early modern era commonly known as Candia after its capital, Candia or Chandax (modern Heraklion). In modern Greek historiography, the period is known as the Venetocracy (Greek: Βενετοκρατία, romanized: Venetokratía, or Ενετοκρατία, Enetokratía).

The island of Crete had formed part of the Byzantine Empire until 1204, when the Fourth Crusade dissolved the empire and divided its territories amongst the crusader leaders (see Frankokratia). Crete was initially allotted to Boniface of Montferrat, but, unable to enforce his control over the island, he soon sold his rights to Venice. Venetian troops first occupied the island in 1205, but it took until 1212 for it to be secured, especially against the opposition of Venice's rival Genoa. Thereafter, the new colony took shape: the island was divided into six provinces (sestieri) named after the divisions of the city of Venice itself, while the capital Candia was directly subjected to the Commune Veneciarum. The islands of Tinos and Cythera, also under Venetian control, came under the kingdom's purview. In the early 14th century, this division was replaced by four provinces, almost identical to the four modern prefectures.

The island of Crete (Ottoman Turkish: كریت, romanized: Girit) was declared an Ottoman province (eyalet) in 1646, after the Ottomans managed to conquer the western part of the island as part of the Cretan War, but the Venetians maintained their hold on the capital Candia, until 1669, when Francesco Morosini surrendered the keys of the town. The offshore island fortresses of Souda, Grambousa, and Spinalonga would remain under Venetian rule until 1715, when they were also captured by the Ottomans.

Crete took part in the Greek War of Independence, but the local uprising was suppressed with the aid of Muhammad Ali of Egypt. The island remained under Egyptian control until 1840, when it was restored to full Ottoman authority. After the Cretan Revolt (1866–1869) and especially the Pact of Halepa in 1878, the island received significant autonomy, but Ottoman violations of the autonomy statutes and Cretan aspirations for eventual union with the Kingdom of Greece led to the Cretan Revolt (1897–1898) and the Greco-Turkish War (1897). Despite an Ottoman victory in the war, Crete became an autonomous state in 1898 because of intervention in favour of Greece by European powers and was united with Greece after the Balkan Wars.

The Cretan Muslims or Cretan Turks (Greek: Τουρκοκρητικοί or Τουρκοκρήτες, Tourkokritikí or Tourkokrítes; Turkish: Giritli, Girit Türkleri, or Giritli Türkler; Arabic: أتراك كريت) were the Muslim inhabitants of the island of Crete. Their descendants settled principally in Turkey, the Dodecanese Islands under Italian administration (part of Greece since 1947), Syria (notably in the village of Al-Hamidiyah), Lebanon, Palestine, Libya, and Egypt, as well as in the larger Turkish diaspora.

Cretan Muslims were descendants of ethnic Greeks who had converted to Islam after the Ottoman conquest of Crete in the seventeenth century. They identified as Greek Muslims, and were referred to as "Turks" by some Christian Greeks due to their religion; not their ethnic background. Many Cretan Greeks had converted to Islam in the wake of the Ottoman conquest of Crete. This high rate of local conversions to Islam was similar to that in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, parts of western Greek Macedonia (such as the Greek Muslim Vallaades), and Bulgaria; perhaps even a uniquely high rate of conversions rather than immigrants. The Greek Muslims of Crete continued to speak Cretan Greek. European travellers' accounts note that the "Turks" of Crete were mostly not of Turkic origin, but were Cretan converts from Orthodoxy.

The Long Turkish War, or Thirteen Years' War, was an indecisive land war between the Holy Roman Empire (primarily the Habsburg monarchy) and the Ottoman Empire, primarily over the principalities of Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia. It was waged from 1593 to 1606, but in Europe, especially in Hungary, it is called the Fifteen Years' War (Hungarian: tizenöt éves háború), reckoning from the 1591–1592 Turkish campaign that captured Bihać in the Kingdom of Croatia. In Turkey, it is called the Ottoman–Austrian War of 1593–1606 (Turkish: 1593–1606 Osmanlı-Avusturya Savaşı).

In the series of Ottoman wars in Europe, it was the major test of force in the time period between the Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) and the Cretan War (1645–1669). The next of the major Ottoman–Habsburg wars was that of 1663–1664. Though the conflict featured a large number of costly battles and sieges, it produced little gain for either side.