Political challenges were the main cause of the fall of Venice.
Under the factor of incapable leadership, the basic structure of the venetian government had remained unchanged since the 12th century. Number of nobles declined was due to older families dying and the plague which struck Venice in 17th century. Hence members of noble families married on another to retain their family's wealth. With the government made up of nobles who work to increase their power, wealth and prestige, polices were made not for the good of the state. For example, one could be a noble by paying 100,000 ducats. This in turn created unscrupulous nobles who are not capable, making up the government. Nobles who were previously scholars also competed to serve as naval commanders against the Ottomans even though they lacked experience and the knowledge which resulted in the lost of wars. For example, in the 15th century, two Captain-Generals of the navy, Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani, ambassador and financier respectively, lead the navy against the Ottomans and as a result lead to Venice suffering heavy losses.
Under the factor of corruption in the government, Civil servant’s salaries were suspended to finance the cost of wars. Some nobles also lost their source of income as trade was put on hold. This resulted in poorer nobles who are willing to sell their votes at high prices. These votes were used to select nobles for high ranking posts. In the end, leadership was now determined by how much money they were willing to pay to be elected. The government became increasingly inefficient as their actions were only to serve them and not the country.
Under the factor of over-dependence on mercenaries, many foreign professional soldiers were employed to serve in the army to compensate for the decrease in soldiers due to the outbreaks of deadly plague. These soldiers were from Mediterranean territories. Venetians’ over-dependence on mercenaries was a costly mistake. These paid soldiers did not remain royal and even retaliated. For example, in 1619, a large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the senate members.
In conclusion, the main cause of the fall of Venice was the incompetence and complacency of the government. With incapable leaders who are corrupt and overly dependent on others, how can a country prosper or at least maintain their status, especially a country like Venice who was once so powerful.
Political challenges were a major factor in the decline of Venice The first factor is Incapable Leadership. Under the factor of incapable leadership, the basic structure of the Venetian government had remained unchanged since the 12th century. However, the Venetians’ ability to make good decision was dependent of men selected into office. In the 17th century, the number of nobles declined due to older families dying and the plague which struck Venice. Policies made by the government were meant to preserve the nobles’ power, wealth and prestige, and not for the good of the state. For example, one could become a noble by paying 100,000 ducats. This in turn created unscrupulous nobles who are not capable, making up the government. Under the Rotation of office, no individual or family could dominate the government. This meant that competent officers would have to leave office after one term and in some cases, incompetent ones were selected in their place. Also nobles who were previously scholars also competed to serve as naval commanders against the Ottomans even though they lacked experience and the knowledge which resulted in the lost of wars. For example, in the 15th century, two Captain-Generals of the navy, Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani, who were excellent ambassador and financier respectively, lead the navy against the Ottomans and as a result lead to Venice suffering heavy losses. As a result of incapable leadership, the political system was exposed to corruption and abuse of power which lost the trust of the people in the government. This increases the vulnerability of Venice from external threats. The next factor is corruption in the government. In order to finance wars, the salaries of civil servants were suspended. This created a lot of unhappiness among the civil servants and the poor. The Senate became dominant and candidates bribed poor to vote for them. Some nobles also lost their source of income as trade was put on hold. This resulted in poorer nobles who are willing to sell their votes at high prices. These votes were used to select nobles for high ranking posts. In the end, leadership was now determined by how much money they were willing to pay to be elected thus paving the way for bribery to be part of life. As a result, these corrupt practices resulted in incompetent leaders taking positions in the government causing the government became increasingly inefficient as decisions were made to serve the nobility’s interest.
The last factor is over-dependence on mercenaries; many foreign professional soldiers were employed to serve in the army to compensate for the decrease in soldiers due to the outbreaks of deadly plague. These soldiers were from Mediterranean territories. Venetians’ over-dependence on mercenaries was a costly mistake. These paid soldiers did not remain loyal as they could be offered with better salaries from other states .For example, in 1619, a large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the senate members. As a result, Venice became weakened as more and more mercenaries preferred to fight for the other states thus increasing Venice vulnerability to external threats.
In conclusion, the main cause of the fall of Venice was the incapable leadership of Venice. This factors lead to the increase of incompetent nobles in the government which made many foolish decisions leading to the corruption in the government and over dependence on mercenaries.
Political challenges was indeed the cause of the fall of Venice. Factors under political challenges were incapable leadership,corruption in government and Over-dependnece on mercenaries.
Under the factor of incapable leadership,the basic structure of the Venetian government had remained unchanged since the 12th century. The Venetians' ability to make good decisions was dependent on the quality of men selected into office. Venice faced the challenge of a shrinking number of nobility as older families died. Another plague struck Venice in the 17th century leading to an alarming decline of population in nobility. This led to power and wealth being concentrated in the hands of a few noble familes thus making corruption inevitable in the higher offices. The rotation meant that competent officers would have to leave office after one term and in some cases be replaced with incompetent ones that were selected. In the 15th century, two captain-Generals of the navy, Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani, were appointed to lead the navy against the powerful Ottomans. Although they had proven themselves as ambassador and financier respectively, they lacked military skills. Consequently Venice suffered heavy losses in battles. As a result, incapable leadership has led to corruption and unskilled people to control the control thus leading to the fall of Venice.
Another cause under the factor of leadership was the corruption in the government. In order to finance the cost of wars with Ottomans and the neighbouring states, the Venetians government suspended the salaries of civil servants. Together with the disruption of trade in times of war, some members of the nobility lost their source of income. this led to a division in the nobility class as nobles became poorer. Since they voted for those selected to fill the higher posts, many poor nobles were willing to sell their votes at a high price. This meant that leadership was now determined by how much the nobles could afford to pay to be elected. Another form of corruption was the sale of positions to raise funds during crises. as a result, the corrupt practices caused incompetent leaders to takeover positions in the government.As a result it made the government become increasingly inefficient as it served the nobility's interest instead of the people's.
Finally, the last factor under the political challenges was the over-dependence on mercenaries. During the Middle Ages, it was a common practice for states to employ foreign professional soldiers to fight their battles with enemy states. The Venetian army employed soldiers from its Meditarranean territories.With its small population reduced significantly from the outbreaks of the deadly plague, it was necessary for Venice to maintain a large mercenary army to protect its territories and fight its wars. However the Venetians were over-dependent on them and it was a very costly decision. Some of this paid soldiers did not remain loyal to Venice as they could be offered better salaries from other states. In 1915, Venice employed mercenaries of many nationalities, such as the Dutch, English and French, to fight in the War of Gradisca. In 1916,French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the Senate members. Although the plan was discovered by the council of ten, it showed that Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenary army. As a result, being unable to trust the mercenary army, Venice thus had very little military defence and was more powerless than ever. Thus Venice could easily be attacked and taken over by other states and hence it led to the fall of Venice.
In conclusion, political challenges is the main cause of the decline in Venice. Incapable leadership has allowed corruption in the country and also the lack of leaders to help the country develop as a nation. furthermore, over-dependence of the merceneries has allowed Venice to be seen as a weak and powerless nation. Therefore it had caused the decline in Venice.
Dear Daniel,Jaron, Faris Your examples are good but for the impact statement, you need to elaborate why incompetence and complaceny led to the decline of Venice. For example, dependence on mercenary made Venice vulnerable to external attacks bec their loyalty was in doubt.
How far was political challenges a factor in the decline of Venice?
The political challenges faced by Venice were the root cause of the fall of Venice. The challenges included Incapable Leadership, Corruption in the Government and Over-dependence on Mercenaries.
Firstly under incapable leadership, The rotation of duties of officers ensured that no individual or family could dominate the government. However, this also meant that competent officers would have to leave office afetr one term. Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani who were an excellent ambassador and financier respectively. However, both were incompetent in military warfare where they suffered a disastrous defeat from the powerful Ottomans. As a result, they became weak and vulnerable to external threats as they did not posess the ability and skills to lead their navy to battle. Hence, bringing venice down along with their inadequate experience and incapability to protect their troops and their country.
Next, corruption of the government came along when The Venetian government began to suspend the salaries of civil servants and impose higher taxes on trade in order to finance the cost of wars with the Ottomans and neighbouring states. This created much unhappiness among civil servants and the poor. The Senate became dominant and bribed poor candidates to vote for them. A group of nobles began to dominate the government and bribery became part of life as did complacency. As a result, the Venetian economy and society was led to corruption due to the inefficiency and power-hungry, money/success-minded Government of Venice, bringing Venice to its downfall due to its greedidness to defeat powerful countries and states which it new it could not take on. Their over-confidence led them to make rash decisions without thinking.
Lastly, regarding the over-dependence on mercenaries,no conscription was allocated to the navy and the Venetian army over-relied on mercenearies abit too much. However, these mercenaries were soon drwan away from venice when other states' were able to pay merecenaries better and more, Also, they had a stronger citizens' army. As a result, venice became weakened as more and more mercenaries got attracted to higher salaries of other states and hence preferred to fight for the other states that provided them with much more. Thus, Venice's vulnerability to external threats increased ever more with them having lesser and lesser manpower by the day with their mercenaries hesitant on committment to Venice's army.
In conclusion, all three reasons were great contributing causes to the political challenges faced by Venice leading to its decline. Since the political system was exposed to corruption and inefficiency and the Venetian government abused its power at the wrong time, when it was on the peak of its prosperity, the population ended up losing trust, faith and understanding in their government. What threatened them all the more and made them begin to lose a slight sense of their belonging and responsibility towards their country and society would be the tremendous increase in vulnerability and unease they were felling from external threats.
Political challenges contributed to the fall of Venice. Under political challenges, there is incapable leadership, corruption in government and over-dependence on mercenaries.
Due to incapable leadership, the basic structure of the Venetian government had remained unchanged since the 12th century.Venetians' ability to make good decision was dependent on the quality of men selected into office. Venice faced the challenge of a shrinking number of the nobility as older families died. This affected the appointment to the highest offices. Rotation of office meant that there is no permanent competent leaders. For example, Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani, who were excellent ambassador and financier respectively, were chosen to lead the navy against the powerful Ottomans. However, as they were incompetent in military warfare, they faced disastrous defeat from the Ottomans. Thus, they became weak and vulnerable to external threats. As a result, incompetent leaders were unable to run the country efficiently and this caused the country to weaken further which eventually lead to the fall of Venice.
Next was the corruption in the government. In order to finance the cost of wars with the Ottomans and the neighbouring states, the Venetian government suspended the salaries of civil servants and increased the taxes on trade. This created unhappiness among civil servants and poor. Senate became dominant and candidates bribed poor to vote for them. Also, positions were sold to raise funds during crises. These corrupt practices resulted in incompetent leaders taking positions in the government.A group of nobles began to dominate government and bribery became part of life. As a result, the government was corrupted and became increasingly inefficient as decisions were made based on the nobility's interest and not the interest of Venice. Population also lost their trust to the government.
Lastly, there was a over-dependence on mercenaries. The Venetian army employed soldiers from its Mediterranean territories. However, these paid soldiers did not remain loyal to Venice as they could always be offered better salaries from other states. For example, in 1615, Venice employed mercenaries of many nationalities, such as the Dutch, English and French, to fight in the War of Gradisca. In 1619, following the end of the war, a large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the Senate members. Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenary army. As a result, Venice became weakened as more and more mercenaries preferred to fight for the other states.This also increased vulnerability to external threats.
In conclusion, I feel that the incapable leadership led to the fall of Venice. Incompetent leaders who made wrong decisions causes a country to fall. Incapable leaders also led to the corruption in the government as people including the nobles were getting poorer. Wrong decisions made weakened the country also led to the over-dependence on mercenaries.
Venice's political system contributed to its rise in the early centuries. As Venice prospered, there was a weakening of the government. This gradually led to Venice's political decline. Under political challenges, it consists of incapable leadership, corruption in the government and over-dependence on mercenaries.
The first factor is incapable leadership. Venice faced the challenge of a shrinking number of the nobility as older families died. This affected their appointment to the highest offices. Noble families arranged marriages among themselves in order to retain family wealth and property, which caused wealth to be concentrated in the hands of a few families. Most policies were meant to preserve power, prestige and wealth of nobles rather than the good for city-state. Corruption was inevitable in the higher offices. Rotation of duties ensured that no individual or family could dominate the government. Sometimes the incompetent officers were selected. Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani were appointed to lead the navy against powerful Ottomans. They lacked military skills and Venice suffered heavy losses. As a result, incompetent leaders make decisions that will only benefit themselves, not the country. Incompetent leaders will not be able to gather everyone and to be able to defend the country. These causes the country to be weak and get controlled by other countries easily, hence, causing the downfall of Venice
The second factor is corruption in the government. Venetian government suspended the salaries of civil servants to finance the cost of wars. Together with disruption of trade in times of war, some members of the nobility lost their source of income. Nobles voted for those selected to fill high posts, many poor nobles sell their votes at high price. Leadership was then determined by how much nobles could afford to pay to be elected. Another form of corruption was the sale of positions to raise funds during crises, causing incompetent leaders taking positions in government. Government becoming increasingly inefficient as it served the nobility’s interest. Decisions made were not in the interest of Venice. As a result, leaders are selected not based on their abilities. People will lose trust in the government as they are incompetent and lack of the ability to lead the country. Leaders may also be biased to the nobles and give more privilege to them, causing the people to think that they are unfair. Incompetent leaders can not bring the country far as well. Hence, the lack of trust in the government and incompetent leaders causes the downfall of Venice.
(continued) The third factor is over-dependence on mercenaries. The Venetian army employed solders from its Mediterranean territories. With its small population reduced significantly from the outbreaks of deadly plague, it was necessary for Venice to maintain a large mercenary army to protect its territories and fight its wars. However, the Venetian was too dependent on mercenaries. Some paid solders did not remain loyal to Venice as they get offered better salaries. In 1615, Venice employed mercenaries to fight in the War of Gradisca. In 1619, a large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the Senate members. They planned to rob nobles’ places. The plan was discovered by Council of Ten but it showed that Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenary army. As a result, there is a shortage of manpower for defence for Venice. There was not enough soldier to defend the attacks from other countries. This made Venice weak and leads to loss of lives in the country. The lack of defence will make Venetians panic and may disrupt peace and order in the country. Hence, the shortage of manpower for defence made Venice weak and hence cause the downfall of Venice.
In conclusion, I think that all three factors contributes to the downfall of Venice. Incapable leadership made Venice weak to handle external threats as they lack of the ability to do so. Corruption loses the trust of the Venetians and incompetent leaders are not able to lead the country and progress. Over-dependence on mercenaries causes Venice to lose trust on the paid soldiers and hence there is a lack of manpower for defence, which leads to weak defence for the country and increase in chances of external attack. All the three factors contributes to the downfall of Venice.
Dear Qingbin and Liqin Both of you have excellent examples which are well written. As for the impact statement, you must see political challenges as a factor not incompetent leadership, use of mercenary and corruption. The latter three must be seen as a whole rather than individual parts. Hence political challenges lead to a decline in Venice because people eventually lost trust in the government as the government was now seen as a government that benefit the few and the powerful and not the whole citizens of Venice. (Something for two of you to think about on the impact statement). Likewise,same comment for Daniel,Jaron & Faris. Any input???
Political challenges were one of the causes that led to the fall of Venice. Under political challenges there are factors like incapable leadership, corruption in the government and over-dependence on mercenaries.
Under the incapable leadership, the basic structure of the Venetian government had since remained unchanged since the 12th century. Venice faced the challenge of a shrinking number of nobility as older families died. A plague that struck in the 17th century had also led to further decline of the population of the nobility. This affected their appointment to the highest offices. In order to retain their wealth, they arranged marriages among themselves causing the country's wealth to be concentrated in few families. The policies that were implemented were also meant to retain power and wealth for the nobility rather than for the good of the whole country. From the 16th century, a small group of rich dominated the government. With so much power, corruption was inevitable. Although the rotation of duties ensured that no individual or family could dominate the government fully, this also meant that competent officials must leave the office and might be replaced by an incompetent one. In later times, the noble treated their office as personal glory rather than as a service to the country. Example of such is during the 15th century where two Captain-Generals of the navy, Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani, were appointed to lead the navy against the powerful Ottomans. They lacked military skills and Venice suffered heavy losses in battles. As a result of the incapable leadership, nobles are often corrupt and do not care much about the well-being of the country on the whole. The incompetent of officers in the carious section of the government also causes the decline in the growth of the country and hence, leading to the fall of Venice.
Under corruption in the government, the Venetians suffered great loss due to the war with Ottomans as trade cannot be carried out. Salaries of civil servants were suspended. Some of the nobles became poorer as their source of income was being cut off. As high posts in the government were elected by the nobles, these poorer nobles were willing to sell their votes at a high price to gain profit for the sake of the well-being of the country as the leadership is now determined by the richer nobles that decided to buy these votes. There was also sale of positions to raise funds during times of crisis. As a result, more incompetent leaders set foot in the government, causing increasing deficiency of the government as these leaders made decisions that benefit the nobles instead of Venice on the whole which eventually causes the downfall of Venice.
Under over-dependence on mercenaries, it was a common practice for states to employ foreign professional soldiers to fight their battles with enemy state during the Middle Ages. The Venetian army employed soldiers from its Mediterranean territories. With its population significantly reduced due to the plague outbreak, it was necessary for Venice to maintain a large mercenary army to protect its territories and fight its wars. However, the Venetian was over-dependence on mercenaries and these would be very dangerous as these paid soldiers would not stay loyal if other states offered better salaries. An example of such is during 1619, following the end of the war, a large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the Senate members. They also planned to rob the nobles’ palaces. Although the plan was discovered by the Council of Ten, it showed that Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenary army. As a result, Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenaries, hence, they would no longer have any protection in the aspect of military and would be very vulnerable to foreign attacks and might eventually lead to the downfall of Venice.
How far was political challenges a factor in the decline of Venice?
Political challenges were the main cause of the fall of Venice. Factors under political challenges include: incapable leadership, corruption in the government and over-independence on mercenaries.
With growing population and economy, proposals were made to ensure smooth succession of leadership in government.However, the Venetian's ability to make good decisions was dependent on the quality of men selected into the office.Venice faced the challenge of an alarming decline in the population of the nobility which therefore, affected their appointment to the highest officers. In the 16th century,a group of rich nobles dominated the government, thus making renewal of leadership a challenge.With power in the hands of a few, corruption was inevitable in the higher offices. The rotation duties ensured that no individual or family could dominate the government. However, this would mean that competent officers would have to leave one after another. In some cases, Incompetent officers were selected in their place.Many nobles who were previously scholars, competed to serve as naval commanders in the wars against the Ottomans even though they did not have adequate naval expertise or military experience. As a result,stability will not be maintained in the government and not all decisions made for the country are right decisions.
In order to finance the cost of wars with the Ottomans and the neighboring states, the Venetian government suspended the salaries of civil servants.Together with the disruption of trade in times of wars, some members of the nobility lost their source of income. This caused a division in the nobility class as some nobles become poorer.Since nobles voted for those selected to fill high posts, many poor nobles were willing to sell their votes at a high price. This meant that leadership was now determined by how much the nobles could afford to pay to be elected. As a result, the government was becoming increasingly in sufficient as it served the nobility's interest.The leaders will be easily corrupted which will lead to people having less confidence in the government and therefore, there would be disrespect from the people to the government.
During the middle ages, it was a common practice for states to employ foreign professional soldiers to fight their battles with enemy states.With its small population reduced significantly from the outbreaks of the deadly plague, it was necessary for Venice to maintain a large mercenary army to protect its territories and fight its wars.Some of these paid soldiers did not remain loyal to Venice as they could always be offered better salaries from other states. In 1619, following the end of the war, large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the Senate members.They also plan to rob the nobles's palaces. As a result, the country turned into chaos and this incite fear in the citizens living in Venice as they do not have the basic security that should have.
In conclusion, i think that the most serious factor in causing the fall of Venice would be incapable leadership. Without good leadership, decisions will be made to what is popular with the citizens but not the right decisions. Also, for the corruption in the government and over-dependence in the mercenaries, these two factors can be prevented if e have a capable leader as the leader can stop the corrupt practices in the government and can also allow the soldiers to be loyal to the country as confidence is build up in each citizen when the leader is capable and popular among the citizens for making the right decisions.
Dear Shau Hua,Amelia Shau Hua - Your examples are very good but there is no impact statement ??? Why did political challenges lead to the decline of Venice? Amelia - When you write the impact statement, do not refer to the examples like political leadership but the factor as a whole. In this case why political challenges lead to the decline of Venice.
Political challenges was by far the most serious factor in the decline of Venice, although other factors also contributed to the fall of Venice. In political challenges, there is incapable leadership, corruption in government and dependence on mercenaries. All these led to the fall of Venice.
In incapable leadership, the Venetian government made good decisions due to the quality of men selected into office. A plague in the 17th century affected the appointment to the highest offices. In order to retain their family wealth and property, noble families arranged marriages among themselves, this caused wealth to be concentrated in the hands of a few families. From the 16th century, a small group of ridh nobles dominated the government, thus making renewal of leadership a challenge. When only a few controlled power, corruption was present in higher offices. Incompetent officers were selected to take over competent officers whom have to leave after one term. The nobles regarded their office as personal glory rathr than as service to the state
In corruption in the government, the war caused some nobles to lose their wealth causing division in nobility class. Many poor nobles were willing to sell their votes at a high price, since nobles voted for those selected to fill high posts. This meant that leadership was determined by how much the nobles could afford to pay to be elected. Another form of corruption was the sale of positions to raise funds during crises. Th corrupt practices resulted in incompetent leaders taking positions in government. Corruption resulted in the government becoming increasingly inefficient as it served the nobility's interest.
In over-dependence on mercenaries it was common practice for states to employ foreign professional soldiers to fight battles. The Venetian army employed soldiers from it's Mediterranean territories for wars against Genoa and the Ottomans. Venetians' over-dependence on mercenaries was a costly decision as the paid soldiers did not remain loyal to Venice as they can be offered better salaries from other states. In 1619, a group of French mercenaries plotted to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the Senate members, this shows that Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenary army.
In conclusion, i think that political challenges have led to the downfall of Venice due to bad leadership. Various other factors lead to the fall of Venice but political instability ws one of the more serious ones.
Dear CY You have good examples but you have not answer the impact statement. Why political challenges lead to the decline of Venice? It is true that poor leadership led to corruption and abuse of power. How does this translate from the people perspective towards their government and why does this lead to the decline of Venice?
From Yu Tong Part 1 Political challenges were the main cause of the fall of Venice. The factors that led to the political challenges are incapable leadership, corruption in the government, and over-dependence on mercenaries. Under the factor of incapable leadership, the basic structure of the Venetian government had remained unchanged since the 12th century. Venice faced the challenge of a shrinking number of the nobility as older families died. Another plague struck Venice in the 17th century and led to a decline of the population of the nobility. This affected their appointment to the highest office. These caused wealth to be concentrated in the hands of a few families. Most policies were meant to preserve the power, prestige and wealth of the nobles rather than for the good of the city-state. From the 16th century, a small group of rich nobles dominated the government; this led to corruption as power was in the hand of few. Rotation duties ensured that no individual or family could dominate the government, but this meant that competent officers have to be changed after one term, and incompetent ones were selected in their place. This caused the nobles to regard their office as a matter of personal glory instead of service to the state. In the 15th century, two Captain-General of the navy, Nicolo da Cana and Antonio Grimani, were appointed to lead the navy against the powerful Ottomans. Both had proven themselves as ambassador and financier respectively, but they lack military skills. This led to Venice suffering heavy losses in battles. As a result, incapable leadership led to corruption as there isn't a standardize way of handling various issues and nobles regard their positions as personal glory instead as service to the nation, and led to unskilled people taking control of Venice. Hence, Venice became weak to external threats as it lacks a leader, who is capable and has the ability to lead the navy, to lead the army through battle.
Another factor is corruption in the government. In order to finance the cost of wars with the Ottomans, and the neighbouring states, the Venetian government suspended the salaries of civil servants, and with the disruption of trade in times of wars, this led to some nobility losing their source of income, which cause a division in the nobility classes some nobles became poorer. Since nobles are voted to fill high posts, many poor nobles were willing to sell their votes at high price, this meant that leadership is now determined by how much the nobles could afford to pay to be elected. As a result, decisions were made based on personal interest instead of the interest of its citizen. The officials are also over-confident and made decision without thinking, which led to the downfall of Venice.
The last factor that led to the downfall of Venice is over-dependence on mercenaries. During the Middle Ades, it was a common practice for state to employ foreign professional soldiers to fight their battles with enemy states. The Venetian army employed soldiers from its Mediterranean territories. With its small population reduced significantly from the outbreaks of the deadly plague, it was necessary for Venice to maintain a large mercenary army to protect its territories and fight its wars. However, the Venetians' over dependence was a very costly decision. Some of these paid soldiers did not remain loyal to Venice, as they could be offered better salaries from other states. In 1615, Venice employed mercenaries of many nationalities to fight in the War of Gradisca. In 1619, following the end of the war, a large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and killed the Senate members. They also planned to rob the nobles' palace; all these were discovered by the Council of Ten. As a result, this showed that Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenary army. This cause Venice to be even more vulnerable as it was powerless and had very little military defence to defend itself from any external threat.
From Yu Tong Part 2 In conclusion, I think that an incapable leader was the main cause of the downfall of Venice. As without capable and honest leaders, issues like corruption will occur. This will cause the citizen and other traders to loss trust in the government and trust turn to other country for trade. Incapable leaders will also make decision based on personal interest instead of the citizen interest. They will also not make any proper decision which would benefit the country, in terms of economy and military. However, corruption in government and over-dependence on mercenaries also played an important role which led to the downfall of Venice.
Dear Yu Tong Poor leadership, corruption are not factors based on this question. They are examples. As such your impact statement should focus on why political challenges lead to the decline of Venice rather that focus on the examples.
Political challenges were one of the factors that lead to the fall of Venice. One challenge the venetians face was the incapable leadership of the leader of the country. The rotation of duties of officers makes sure that no family could dominate the government. However, this also meant that competent officers would be forced to leave the office after one term. In addition, Nicolo da Canal, an excellent ambassador and Antonio Grimani, a good financier who were once the leader in Venice, were not good in war welfare therefore causing Venice to suffer a disastrous defeat by the Ottoman. This results in Venice becoming weak and vulnerable to foreign threats as both the leaders didn’t have the ability to lead the navy to battle. The war had cost Venice lots of money and therefore led to suspend of salaries of civil servants and impose higher taxes on trade to finance the war with the Ottomans and neighbouring states. This created unhappiness among civil servants and the poor therefore causing the corruption of the government. The senate become dominant and start bribing the poor to vote for them. A group of nobles started to dominate the government and make bribery to be part of the life of the venetians and so as complacency. The inefficiency and greed for power had lead to corruption of economy and society. This had caused the downfall of Venice. Next is the over-dependence of the mercenaries armies. Due to the over dependence, no conscription was introduced to the navy or army. However, more and more mercenaries army migrated to other countries as other countries can offer higher salaries for the mercenaries than Venice. Therefore caused Venice to become weaker and lead to the downfall of Venice. As a result, political challenge is one of the factors that lead to the fall of Venice. This is because the leaders couldn’t make any difference on the war welfare despite their strength in different areas that did not concern war. The corruption of government had also leaded to lots of trouble as the government were more money-minded and greedy in power which makes them to have less interest in serving the nations. The over-dependence on mercenaries had also lead to the downfall of Venice as this cause Venice to be in trouble once the mercenaries move to other states and cause the venetian to be weak as there is not enough men to fight for the nation.
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19 comments:
Political challenges were the main cause of the fall of Venice.
Under the factor of incapable leadership, the basic structure of the venetian government had remained unchanged since the 12th century. Number of nobles declined was due to older families dying and the plague which struck Venice in 17th century. Hence members of noble families married on another to retain their family's wealth. With the government made up of nobles who work to increase their power, wealth and prestige, polices were made not for the good of the state. For example, one could be a noble by paying 100,000 ducats. This in turn created unscrupulous nobles who are not capable, making up the government. Nobles who were previously scholars also competed to serve as naval commanders against the Ottomans even though they lacked experience and the knowledge which resulted in the lost of wars. For example, in the 15th century, two Captain-Generals of the navy, Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani, ambassador and financier respectively, lead the navy against the Ottomans and as a result lead to Venice suffering heavy losses.
Under the factor of corruption in the government, Civil servant’s salaries were suspended to finance the cost of wars. Some nobles also lost their source of income as trade was put on hold. This resulted in poorer nobles who are willing to sell their votes at high prices. These votes were used to select nobles for high ranking posts. In the end, leadership was now determined by how much money they were willing to pay to be elected. The government became increasingly inefficient as their actions were only to serve them and not the country.
Under the factor of over-dependence on mercenaries, many foreign professional soldiers were employed to serve in the army to compensate for the decrease in soldiers due to the outbreaks of deadly plague. These soldiers were from Mediterranean territories. Venetians’ over-dependence on mercenaries was a costly mistake. These paid soldiers did not remain royal and even retaliated. For example, in 1619, a large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the senate members.
In conclusion, the main cause of the fall of Venice was the incompetence and complacency of the government. With incapable leaders who are corrupt and overly dependent on others, how can a country prosper or at least maintain their status, especially a country like Venice who was once so powerful.
Political challenges were a major factor in the decline of Venice
The first factor is Incapable Leadership. Under the factor of incapable leadership, the basic structure of the Venetian government had remained unchanged since the 12th century. However, the Venetians’ ability to make good decision was dependent of men selected into office. In the 17th century, the number of nobles declined due to older families dying and the plague which struck Venice. Policies made by the government were meant to preserve the nobles’ power, wealth and prestige, and not for the good of the state. For example, one could become a noble by paying 100,000 ducats. This in turn created unscrupulous nobles who are not capable, making up the government. Under the Rotation of office, no individual or family could dominate the government. This meant that competent officers would have to leave office after one term and in some cases, incompetent ones were selected in their place. Also nobles who were previously scholars also competed to serve as naval commanders against the Ottomans even though they lacked experience and the knowledge which resulted in the lost of wars. For example, in the 15th century, two Captain-Generals of the navy, Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani, who were excellent ambassador and financier respectively, lead the navy against the Ottomans and as a result lead to Venice suffering heavy losses. As a result of incapable leadership, the political system was exposed to corruption and abuse of power which lost the trust of the people in the government. This increases the vulnerability of Venice from external threats.
The next factor is corruption in the government. In order to finance wars, the salaries of civil servants were suspended. This created a lot of unhappiness among the civil servants and the poor. The Senate became dominant and candidates bribed poor to vote for them. Some nobles also lost their source of income as trade was put on hold. This resulted in poorer nobles who are willing to sell their votes at high prices. These votes were used to select nobles for high ranking posts. In the end, leadership was now determined by how much money they were willing to pay to be elected thus paving the way for bribery to be part of life. As a result, these corrupt practices resulted in incompetent leaders taking positions in the government causing the government became increasingly inefficient as decisions were made to serve the nobility’s interest.
The last factor is over-dependence on mercenaries; many foreign professional soldiers were employed to serve in the army to compensate for the decrease in soldiers due to the outbreaks of deadly plague. These soldiers were from Mediterranean territories. Venetians’ over-dependence on mercenaries was a costly mistake. These paid soldiers did not remain loyal as they could be offered with better salaries from other states .For example, in 1619, a large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the senate members. As a result, Venice became weakened as more and more mercenaries preferred to fight for the other states thus increasing Venice vulnerability to external threats.
In conclusion, the main cause of the fall of Venice was the incapable leadership of Venice. This factors lead to the increase of incompetent nobles in the government which made many foolish decisions leading to the corruption in the government and over dependence on mercenaries.
Political challenges was indeed the cause of the fall of Venice.
Factors under political challenges were incapable leadership,corruption in government and Over-dependnece on mercenaries.
Under the factor of incapable leadership,the basic structure of the Venetian government had remained unchanged since the 12th century. The Venetians' ability to make good decisions was dependent on the quality of men selected into office. Venice faced the challenge of a shrinking number of nobility as older families died. Another plague struck Venice in the 17th century leading to an alarming decline of population in nobility. This led to power and wealth being concentrated in the hands of a few noble familes thus making corruption inevitable in the higher offices. The rotation meant that competent officers would have to leave office after one term and in some cases be replaced with incompetent ones that were selected. In the 15th century, two captain-Generals of the navy, Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani, were appointed to lead the navy against the powerful Ottomans. Although they had proven themselves as ambassador and financier respectively, they lacked military skills. Consequently Venice suffered heavy losses in battles. As a result, incapable leadership has led to corruption and unskilled people to control the control thus leading to the fall of Venice.
Another cause under the factor of leadership was the corruption in the government. In order to finance the cost of wars with Ottomans and the neighbouring states, the Venetians government suspended the salaries of civil servants. Together with the disruption of trade in times of war, some members of the nobility lost their source of income. this led to a division in the nobility class as nobles became poorer. Since they voted for those selected to fill the higher posts, many poor nobles were willing to sell their votes at a high price. This meant that leadership was now determined by how much the nobles could afford to pay to be elected.
Another form of corruption was the sale of positions to raise funds during crises. as a result, the corrupt practices caused incompetent leaders to takeover positions in the government.As a result it made the government become increasingly inefficient as it served the nobility's interest instead of the people's.
Finally, the last factor under the political challenges was the over-dependence on mercenaries. During the Middle Ages, it was a common practice for states to employ foreign professional soldiers to fight their battles with enemy states. The Venetian army employed soldiers from its Meditarranean territories.With its small population reduced significantly from the outbreaks of the deadly plague, it was necessary for Venice to maintain a large mercenary army to protect its territories and fight its wars.
However the Venetians were over-dependent on them and it was a very costly decision. Some of this paid soldiers did not remain loyal to Venice as they could be offered better salaries from other states. In 1915, Venice employed mercenaries of many nationalities, such as the Dutch, English and French, to fight in the War of Gradisca. In 1916,French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the Senate members. Although the plan was discovered by the council of ten, it showed that Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenary army. As a result, being unable to trust the mercenary army, Venice thus had very little military defence and was more powerless than ever. Thus Venice could easily be attacked and taken over by other states and hence it led to the fall of Venice.
In conclusion, political challenges is the main cause of the decline in Venice. Incapable leadership has allowed corruption in the country and also the lack of leaders to help the country develop as a nation. furthermore, over-dependence of the merceneries has allowed Venice to be seen as a weak and powerless nation. Therefore it had caused the decline in Venice.
Dear Daniel,Jaron, Faris
Your examples are good but for the impact statement, you need to elaborate why incompetence and complaceny led to the decline of Venice. For example, dependence on mercenary made Venice vulnerable to external attacks bec their loyalty was in doubt.
How far was political challenges a factor in the decline of Venice?
The political challenges faced by Venice were the root cause of the fall of Venice. The challenges included Incapable Leadership, Corruption in the Government and Over-dependence on Mercenaries.
Firstly under incapable leadership, The rotation of duties of officers ensured that no individual or family could dominate the government. However, this also meant that competent officers would have to leave office afetr one term. Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani who were an excellent ambassador and financier respectively. However, both were incompetent in military warfare where they suffered a disastrous defeat from the powerful Ottomans. As a result, they became weak and vulnerable to external threats as they did not posess the ability and skills to lead their navy to battle. Hence, bringing venice down along with their inadequate experience and incapability to protect their troops and their country.
Next, corruption of the government came along when The Venetian government began to suspend the salaries of civil servants and impose higher taxes on trade in order to finance the cost of wars with the Ottomans and neighbouring states. This created much unhappiness among civil servants and the poor. The Senate became dominant and bribed poor candidates to vote for them. A group of nobles began to dominate the government and bribery became part of life as did complacency. As a result, the Venetian economy and society was led to corruption due to the inefficiency and power-hungry, money/success-minded Government of Venice, bringing Venice to its downfall due to its greedidness to defeat powerful countries and states which it new it could not take on. Their over-confidence led them to make rash decisions without thinking.
Lastly, regarding the over-dependence on mercenaries,no conscription was allocated to the navy and the Venetian army over-relied on mercenearies abit too much. However, these mercenaries were soon drwan away from venice when other states' were able to pay merecenaries better and more, Also, they had a stronger citizens' army. As a result, venice became weakened as more and more mercenaries got attracted to higher salaries of other states and hence preferred to fight for the other states that provided them with much more. Thus, Venice's vulnerability to external threats increased ever more with them having lesser and lesser manpower by the day with their mercenaries hesitant on committment to Venice's army.
In conclusion, all three reasons were great contributing causes to the political challenges faced by Venice leading to its decline. Since the political system was exposed to corruption and inefficiency and the Venetian government abused its power at the wrong time, when it was on the peak of its prosperity, the population ended up losing trust, faith and understanding in their government. What threatened them all the more and made them begin to lose a slight sense of their belonging and responsibility towards their country and society would be the tremendous increase in vulnerability and unease they were felling from external threats.
Dear Salonee
This is excellent work - both examples and impact statement. Keep up the good work.
Political challenges contributed to the fall of Venice. Under political challenges, there is incapable leadership, corruption in government and over-dependence on mercenaries.
Due to incapable leadership, the basic structure of the Venetian government had remained unchanged since the 12th century.Venetians' ability to make good decision was dependent on the quality of men selected into office. Venice faced the challenge of a shrinking number of the nobility as older families died. This affected the appointment to the highest offices. Rotation of office meant that there is no permanent competent leaders. For example, Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani, who were excellent ambassador and financier respectively, were chosen to lead the navy against the powerful Ottomans. However, as they were incompetent in military warfare, they faced disastrous defeat from the Ottomans. Thus, they became weak and vulnerable to external threats. As a result, incompetent leaders were unable to run the country efficiently and this caused the country to weaken further which eventually lead to the fall of Venice.
Next was the corruption in the government. In order to finance the cost of wars with the Ottomans and the neighbouring states, the Venetian government suspended the salaries of civil servants and increased the taxes on trade. This created unhappiness among civil servants and poor. Senate became dominant and candidates bribed poor to vote for them. Also, positions were sold to raise funds during crises. These corrupt practices resulted in incompetent leaders taking positions in the government.A group of nobles began to dominate government and bribery became part of life. As a result, the government was corrupted and became increasingly inefficient as decisions were made based on the nobility's interest and not the interest of Venice. Population also lost their trust to the government.
Lastly, there was a over-dependence on mercenaries. The Venetian army employed soldiers from its Mediterranean territories. However, these paid soldiers did not remain loyal to Venice as they could always be offered better salaries from other states. For example, in 1615, Venice employed mercenaries of many nationalities, such as the Dutch, English and French, to fight in the War of Gradisca. In 1619, following the end of the war, a large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the Senate members. Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenary army. As a result, Venice became weakened as more and more mercenaries preferred to fight for the other states.This also increased vulnerability to external threats.
In conclusion, I feel that the incapable leadership led to the fall of Venice. Incompetent leaders who made wrong decisions causes a country to fall. Incapable leaders also led to the corruption in the government as people including the nobles were getting poorer. Wrong decisions made weakened the country also led to the over-dependence on mercenaries.
Venice's political system contributed to its rise in the early centuries. As Venice prospered, there was a weakening of the government. This gradually led to Venice's political decline. Under political challenges, it consists of incapable leadership, corruption in the government and over-dependence on mercenaries.
The first factor is incapable leadership. Venice faced the challenge of a shrinking number of the nobility as older families died. This affected their appointment to the highest offices. Noble families arranged marriages among themselves in order to retain family wealth and property, which caused wealth to be concentrated in the hands of a few families. Most policies were meant to preserve power, prestige and wealth of nobles rather than the good for city-state. Corruption was inevitable in the higher offices. Rotation of duties ensured that no individual or family could dominate the government. Sometimes the incompetent officers were selected. Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani were appointed to lead the navy against powerful Ottomans. They lacked military skills and Venice suffered heavy losses. As a result, incompetent leaders make decisions that will only benefit themselves, not the country. Incompetent leaders will not be able to gather everyone and to be able to defend the country. These causes the country to be weak and get controlled by other countries easily, hence, causing the downfall of Venice
The second factor is corruption in the government. Venetian government suspended the salaries of civil servants to finance the cost of wars. Together with disruption of trade in times of war, some members of the nobility lost their source of income. Nobles voted for those selected to fill high posts, many poor nobles sell their votes at high price. Leadership was then determined by how much nobles could afford to pay to be elected. Another form of corruption was the sale of positions to raise funds during crises, causing incompetent leaders taking positions in government. Government becoming increasingly inefficient as it served the nobility’s interest. Decisions made were not in the interest of Venice. As a result, leaders are selected not based on their abilities. People will lose trust in the government as they are incompetent and lack of the ability to lead the country. Leaders may also be biased to the nobles and give more privilege to them, causing the people to think that they are unfair. Incompetent leaders can not bring the country far as well. Hence, the lack of trust in the government and incompetent leaders causes the downfall of Venice.
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The third factor is over-dependence on mercenaries. The Venetian army employed solders from its Mediterranean territories. With its small population reduced significantly from the outbreaks of deadly plague, it was necessary for Venice to maintain a large mercenary army to protect its territories and fight its wars. However, the Venetian was too dependent on mercenaries. Some paid solders did not remain loyal to Venice as they get offered better salaries. In 1615, Venice employed mercenaries to fight in the War of Gradisca. In 1619, a large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the Senate members. They planned to rob nobles’ places. The plan was discovered by Council of Ten but it showed that Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenary army. As a result, there is a shortage of manpower for defence for Venice. There was not enough soldier to defend the attacks from other countries. This made Venice weak and leads to loss of lives in the country. The lack of defence will make Venetians panic and may disrupt peace and order in the country. Hence, the shortage of manpower for defence made Venice weak and hence cause the downfall of Venice.
In conclusion, I think that all three factors contributes to the downfall of Venice. Incapable leadership made Venice weak to handle external threats as they lack of the ability to do so. Corruption loses the trust of the Venetians and incompetent leaders are not able to lead the country and progress. Over-dependence on mercenaries causes Venice to lose trust on the paid soldiers and hence there is a lack of manpower for defence, which leads to weak defence for the country and increase in chances of external attack. All the three factors contributes to the downfall of Venice.
Dear Qingbin and Liqin
Both of you have excellent examples which are well written. As for the impact statement, you must see political challenges as a factor not incompetent leadership, use of mercenary and corruption. The latter three must be seen as a whole rather than individual parts. Hence political challenges lead to a decline in Venice because people eventually lost trust in the government as the government was now seen as a government that benefit the few and the powerful and not the whole citizens of Venice. (Something for two of you to think about on the impact statement). Likewise,same comment for Daniel,Jaron & Faris. Any input???
Political challenges were one of the causes that led to the fall of Venice. Under political challenges there are factors like incapable leadership, corruption in the government and over-dependence on mercenaries.
Under the incapable leadership, the basic structure of the Venetian government had since remained unchanged since the 12th century. Venice faced the challenge of a shrinking number of nobility as older families died. A plague that struck in the 17th century had also led to further decline of the population of the nobility. This affected their appointment to the highest offices. In order to retain their wealth, they arranged marriages among themselves causing the country's wealth to be concentrated in few families. The policies that were implemented were also meant to retain power and wealth for the nobility rather than for the good of the whole country. From the 16th century, a small group of rich dominated the government. With so much power, corruption was inevitable. Although the rotation of duties ensured that no individual or family could dominate the government fully, this also meant that competent officials must leave the office and might be replaced by an incompetent one. In later times, the noble treated their office as personal glory rather than as a service to the country. Example of such is during the 15th century where two Captain-Generals of the navy, Nicolo da Canal and Antonio Grimani, were appointed to lead the navy against the powerful Ottomans. They lacked military skills and Venice suffered heavy losses in battles. As a result of the incapable leadership, nobles are often corrupt and do not care much about the well-being of the country on the whole. The incompetent of officers in the carious section of the government also causes the decline in the growth of the country and hence, leading to the fall of Venice.
Under corruption in the government, the Venetians suffered great loss due to the war with Ottomans as trade cannot be carried out. Salaries of civil servants were suspended. Some of the nobles became poorer as their source of income was being cut off. As high posts in the government were elected by the nobles, these poorer nobles were willing to sell their votes at a high price to gain profit for the sake of the well-being of the country as the leadership is now determined by the richer nobles that decided to buy these votes. There was also sale of positions to raise funds during times of crisis. As a result, more incompetent leaders set foot in the government, causing increasing deficiency of the government as these leaders made decisions that benefit the nobles instead of Venice on the whole which eventually causes the downfall of Venice.
Under over-dependence on mercenaries, it was a common practice for states to employ foreign professional soldiers to fight their battles with enemy state during the Middle Ages. The Venetian army employed soldiers from its Mediterranean territories. With its population significantly reduced due to the plague outbreak, it was necessary for Venice to maintain a large mercenary army to protect its territories and fight its wars. However, the Venetian was over-dependence on mercenaries and these would be very dangerous as these paid soldiers would not stay loyal if other states offered better salaries. An example of such is during 1619, following the end of the war, a large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the Senate members. They also planned to rob the nobles’ palaces. Although the plan was discovered by the Council of Ten, it showed that Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenary army. As a result, Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenaries, hence, they would no longer have any protection in the aspect of military and would be very vulnerable to foreign attacks and might eventually lead to the downfall of Venice.
How far was political challenges a factor in the decline of Venice?
Political challenges were the main cause of the fall of Venice. Factors under political challenges include: incapable leadership, corruption in the government and over-independence on mercenaries.
With growing population and economy, proposals were made to ensure smooth succession of leadership in government.However, the Venetian's ability to make good decisions was dependent on the quality of men selected into the office.Venice faced the challenge of an alarming decline in the population of the nobility which therefore, affected their appointment to the highest officers. In the 16th century,a group of rich nobles dominated the government, thus making renewal of leadership a challenge.With power in the hands of a few, corruption was inevitable in the higher offices. The rotation duties ensured that no individual or family could dominate the government. However, this would mean that competent officers would have to leave one after another. In some cases, Incompetent officers were selected in their place.Many nobles who were previously scholars, competed to serve as naval commanders in the wars against the Ottomans even though they did not have adequate naval expertise or military experience. As a result,stability will not be maintained in the government and not all decisions made for the country are right decisions.
In order to finance the cost of wars with the Ottomans and the neighboring states, the Venetian government suspended the salaries of civil servants.Together with the disruption of trade in times of wars, some members of the nobility lost their source of income. This caused a division in the nobility class as some nobles become poorer.Since nobles voted for those selected to fill high posts, many poor nobles were willing to sell their votes at a high price. This meant that leadership was now determined by how much the nobles could afford to pay to be elected. As a result, the government was becoming increasingly in sufficient as it served the nobility's interest.The leaders will be easily corrupted which will lead to people having less confidence in the government and therefore, there would be disrespect from the people to the government.
During the middle ages, it was a common practice for states to employ foreign professional soldiers to fight their battles with enemy states.With its small population reduced significantly from the outbreaks of the deadly plague, it was necessary for Venice to maintain a large mercenary army to protect its territories and fight its wars.Some of these paid soldiers did not remain loyal to Venice as they could always be offered better salaries from other states. In 1619, following the end of the war, large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the Senate members.They also plan to rob the nobles's palaces. As a result, the country turned into chaos and this incite fear in the citizens living in Venice as they do not have the basic security that should have.
In conclusion, i think that the most serious factor in causing the fall of Venice would be incapable leadership. Without good leadership, decisions will be made to what is popular with the citizens but not the right decisions. Also, for the corruption in the government and over-dependence in the mercenaries, these two factors can be prevented if e have a capable leader as the leader can stop the corrupt practices in the government and can also allow the soldiers to be loyal to the country as confidence is build up in each citizen when the leader is capable and popular among the citizens for making the right decisions.
Dear Shau Hua,Amelia
Shau Hua - Your examples are very good but there is no impact statement ??? Why did political challenges lead to the decline of Venice?
Amelia - When you write the impact statement, do not refer to the examples like political leadership but the factor as a whole. In this case why political challenges lead to the decline of Venice.
Political challenges was by far the most serious factor in the decline of Venice, although other factors also contributed to the fall of Venice. In political challenges, there is incapable leadership, corruption in government and dependence on mercenaries. All these led to the fall of Venice.
In incapable leadership, the Venetian government made good decisions due to the quality of men selected into office. A plague in the 17th century affected the appointment to the highest offices. In order to retain their family wealth and property, noble families arranged marriages among themselves, this caused wealth to be concentrated in the hands of a few families. From the 16th century, a small group of ridh nobles dominated the government, thus making renewal of leadership a challenge. When only a few controlled power, corruption was present in higher offices. Incompetent officers were selected to take over competent officers whom have to leave after one term. The nobles regarded their office as personal glory rathr than as service to the state
In corruption in the government, the war caused some nobles to lose their wealth causing division in nobility class. Many poor nobles were willing to sell their votes at a high price, since nobles voted for those selected to fill high posts. This meant that leadership was determined by how much the nobles could afford to pay to be elected. Another form of corruption was the sale of positions to raise funds during crises. Th corrupt practices resulted in incompetent leaders taking positions in government. Corruption resulted in the government becoming increasingly inefficient as it served the nobility's interest.
In over-dependence on mercenaries it was common practice for states to employ foreign professional soldiers to fight battles. The Venetian army employed soldiers from it's Mediterranean territories for wars against Genoa and the Ottomans. Venetians' over-dependence on mercenaries was a costly decision as the paid soldiers did not remain loyal to Venice as they can be offered better salaries from other states. In 1619, a group of French mercenaries plotted to seize the Ducal Palace and kill the Senate members, this shows that Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenary army.
In conclusion, i think that political challenges have led to the downfall of Venice due to bad leadership. Various other factors lead to the fall of Venice but political instability ws one of the more serious ones.
Dear CY
You have good examples but you have not answer the impact statement. Why political challenges lead to the decline of Venice? It is true that poor leadership led to corruption and abuse of power. How does this translate from the people perspective towards their government and why does this lead to the decline of Venice?
From Yu Tong Part 1
Political challenges were the main cause of the fall of Venice. The factors that led to the political challenges are incapable leadership, corruption in the government, and over-dependence on mercenaries.
Under the factor of incapable leadership, the basic structure of the Venetian government had remained unchanged since the 12th century. Venice faced the challenge of a shrinking number of the nobility as older families died. Another plague struck Venice in the 17th century and led to a decline of the population of the nobility. This affected their appointment to the highest office. These caused wealth to be concentrated in the hands of a few families. Most policies were meant to preserve the power, prestige and wealth of the nobles rather than for the good of the city-state. From the 16th century, a small group of rich nobles dominated the government; this led to corruption as power was in the hand of few. Rotation duties ensured that no individual or family could dominate the government, but this meant that competent officers have to be changed after one term, and incompetent ones were selected in their place. This caused the nobles to regard their office as a matter of personal glory instead of service to the state. In the 15th century, two Captain-General of the navy, Nicolo da Cana and Antonio Grimani, were appointed to lead the navy against the powerful Ottomans. Both had proven themselves as ambassador and financier respectively, but they lack military skills. This led to Venice suffering heavy losses in battles. As a result, incapable leadership led to corruption as there isn't a standardize way of handling various issues and nobles regard their positions as personal glory instead as service to the nation, and led to unskilled people taking control of Venice. Hence, Venice became weak to external threats as it lacks a leader, who is capable and has the ability to lead the navy, to lead the army through battle.
Another factor is corruption in the government. In order to finance the cost of wars with the Ottomans, and the neighbouring states, the Venetian government suspended the salaries of civil servants, and with the disruption of trade in times of wars, this led to some nobility losing their source of income, which cause a division in the nobility classes some nobles became poorer. Since nobles are voted to fill high posts, many poor nobles were willing to sell their votes at high price, this meant that leadership is now determined by how much the nobles could afford to pay to be elected. As a result, decisions were made based on personal interest instead of the interest of its citizen. The officials are also over-confident and made decision without thinking, which led to the downfall of Venice.
The last factor that led to the downfall of Venice is over-dependence on mercenaries. During the Middle Ades, it was a common practice for state to employ foreign professional soldiers to fight their battles with enemy states. The Venetian army employed soldiers from its Mediterranean territories. With its small population reduced significantly from the outbreaks of the deadly plague, it was necessary for Venice to maintain a large mercenary army to protect its territories and fight its wars. However, the Venetians' over dependence was a very costly decision. Some of these paid soldiers did not remain loyal to Venice, as they could be offered better salaries from other states. In 1615, Venice employed mercenaries of many nationalities to fight in the War of Gradisca. In 1619, following the end of the war, a large number of French mercenaries plotted within Venice to seize the Ducal Palace and killed the Senate members. They also planned to rob the nobles' palace; all these were discovered by the Council of Ten. As a result, this showed that Venice could no longer fully trust the mercenary army. This cause Venice to be even more vulnerable as it was powerless and had very little military defence to defend itself from any external threat.
From Yu Tong Part 2
In conclusion, I think that an incapable leader was the main cause of the downfall of Venice. As without capable and honest leaders, issues like corruption will occur. This will cause the citizen and other traders to loss trust in the government and trust turn to other country for trade. Incapable leaders will also make decision based on personal interest instead of the citizen interest. They will also not make any proper decision which would benefit the country, in terms of economy and military. However, corruption in government and over-dependence on mercenaries also played an important role which led to the downfall of Venice.
Dear Yu Tong
Poor leadership, corruption are not factors based on this question. They are examples. As such your impact statement should focus on why political challenges lead to the decline of Venice rather that focus on the examples.
Political challenges were one of the factors that lead to the fall of Venice.
One challenge the venetians face was the incapable leadership of the leader of the country. The rotation of duties of officers makes sure that no family could dominate the government. However, this also meant that competent officers would be forced to leave the office after one term. In addition, Nicolo da Canal, an excellent ambassador and Antonio Grimani, a good financier who were once the leader in Venice, were not good in war welfare therefore causing Venice to suffer a disastrous defeat by the Ottoman. This results in Venice becoming weak and vulnerable to foreign threats as both the leaders didn’t have the ability to lead the navy to battle.
The war had cost Venice lots of money and therefore led to suspend of salaries of civil servants and impose higher taxes on trade to finance the war with the Ottomans and neighbouring states. This created unhappiness among civil servants and the poor therefore causing the corruption of the government. The senate become dominant and start bribing the poor to vote for them. A group of nobles started to dominate the government and make bribery to be part of the life of the venetians and so as complacency. The inefficiency and greed for power had lead to corruption of economy and society. This had caused the downfall of Venice.
Next is the over-dependence of the mercenaries armies. Due to the over dependence, no conscription was introduced to the navy or army. However, more and more mercenaries army migrated to other countries as other countries can offer higher salaries for the mercenaries than Venice. Therefore caused Venice to become weaker and lead to the downfall of Venice.
As a result, political challenge is one of the factors that lead to the fall of Venice. This is because the leaders couldn’t make any difference on the war welfare despite their strength in different areas that did not concern war. The corruption of government had also leaded to lots of trouble as the government were more money-minded and greedy in power which makes them to have less interest in serving the nations. The over-dependence on mercenaries had also lead to the downfall of Venice as this cause Venice to be in trouble once the mercenaries move to other states and cause the venetian to be weak as there is not enough men to fight for the nation.
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