Cretan War ( 1645 – 69 ) The Cretan War ( , Turkish : " Girit ' in Fethi " ) or War of Candia ( ) , as the Fifth Ottoman – Venetian War is better known , was a conflict between the Republic of Venice and her allies ( chief among them the Knights of Malta , the Papal States and France ) against the Ottoman Empire and the Barbary States , fought over the island of Crete , Venice ' s largest and richest overseas possession . The war lasted from 1645 to 1669 and was fought in Crete and in numerous naval engagements and raids around the Aegean Sea , with Dalmatia providing a secondary theater of operations . Although most of Crete was conquered by the Ottomans in the first few years of the war , the fortress of Candia ( modern Heraklion ) , the capital of Crete , resisted successfully . Its prolonged siege , " Troy ' s rival " as Lord Byron called it , forced both sides to focus their attention on the supply of their respective forces on the island . For the Venetians in particular , their only hope for victory over the larger Ottoman army in Crete lay in successfully starving it of supplies and reinforcements . Hence the war turned into a series of naval encounters between the two navies and their allies . Venice was aided by various Western European nations , who , exhorted by the Pope and in a revival of crusading spirit , sent men , ships and supplies " to defend Christendom " . Throughout the war , Venice maintained overall naval superiority , winning most naval engagements , but the efforts to blockade the Dardanelles were only partially successful , and the Republic never had enough ships to fully cut off the flow of supplies and reinforcements to Crete . The Ottomans were hampered in their efforts by domestic turmoil , as well as by the diversion of their forces north towards Transylvania and the Habsburg Monarchy . The prolonged conflict exhausted the economy of the Republic , which relied on the lucrative trade with the Ottoman Empire . By the 1660s , despite increased aid from other Christian nations , war - weariness had set in . The Ottomans on the other hand , having managed to sustain their forces on Crete and reinvigorated under the capable leadership of the Köprülü family , sent a final great expedition in 1666 under the direct supervision of the Grand Vizier . This began the final and bloodiest stage of the Siege of Candia , which lasted for more than two years . It ended with the negotiated surrender of the fortress , sealing the fate of the island and ending the war in an Ottoman victory . In the final peace treaty , Venice retained a few isolated island fortresses off Crete , and made some territorial gains in Dalmatia . The Venetian desire for a " revanche " would lead , barely 15 years later , to a renewed war , from which Venice would emerge victorious . Crete however was lost to the " Serenissima " ; it would remain under Ottoman control until united with Greece in 1913 . Background . After the loss of Cyprus to the Ottomans in the fourth Ottoman – Venetian War ( 1570 – 1573 ) , the island of Crete ( the " Kingdom of Candia " ) was the last major overseas possession of Venice . Its important strategic position made it an obvious target for future Ottoman expansion , while its size and fertile ground , together with the bad state of its fortresses , made it a more tempting prize than Malta . On the Venetian side , the " Serenissima " , with its weak military and great dependence on uninterrupted trade , was anxious not to provoke the Ottomans . Hence Venice scrupulously observed the terms of its treaty with the Ottomans , securing over sixty years of peaceful relations . By the early 17th century moreover , Venetian power had declined considerably . Its economy , which had once prospered because of its control over the Eastern spice trade , had suffered as a result of the opening of the new Atlantic trade routes , and from the loss of the important German market because of the Thirty Years ' War . In addition , the Republic had become embroiled in a series of wars in northern Italy like the Mantuan War and was further weakened by an outbreak of the plague in 1629 – 1631 . The potential for conflict between the Ottomans and Venice was still present , as evidenced in 1638 , when a Venetian fleet attacked and destroyed a fleet of Barbary pirates that had sought protection in the Ottoman port of Valona , bombarding the city in the process . Sultan Murad IV was enraged : he threatened to execute all Venetians in the Empire , and put an embargo on Venetian trade . Eventually , and given that the Ottomans were still engaged in a war with the Persians , the situation was defused with the Republic paying the Ottomans an indemnity of 250 , 000 sequins . A similar episode however in 1644 had an entirely different outcome : on 28 September , the Knights of Malta attacked an Ottoman convoy on its way from Constantinople to Alexandria , aboard which were a number of pilgrims bound for Mecca , including the exiled " Kızlar Ağa " ( Chief Black Eunuch ) Sünbül Ağa , the " kadi " of Cairo and the nurse of the future sultan Mehmed IV . During the fight , Sünbül Ağa and most of the important pilgrims were slain , while 350 men and 30 women were taken to be sold as slaves . The Knights loaded their loot on a ship , which then docked at a small harbor on the southern coast of Crete for a few days , where it disembarked a number of sailors and slaves . The Ottomans were enraged at the incident , and the Porte accused the Venetians of deliberate collusion with the Knights , something the Venetians vehemently denied . With the hawkish party being then dominant in the Ottoman court , the incident was seen as a perfect pretext for war with a weakened Venice . Despite a long period of negotiations , which lasted until well into 1645 , and against the objections of the Grand Vizier Sultanzade Mehmed Pasha , war was decided upon . An expedition was quickly assembled with over 50 , 000 troops and reputedly 416 vessels , under Kapudan Pasha Silahdar Yusuf Pasha , the Sultan ' s son - in - law . The Ottoman armada sailed from the Dardanelles on 30 April , heading towards the harbor of Navarino in the Peloponnese , where it remained for three weeks . The fleet ' s target was not announced , but the Ottomans , to allay Venetian fears , implied that it would be Malta . War . Early operations in Crete . The Venetians were indeed fooled by the Ottoman subterfuge and were taken by surprise at the arrival of the Ottoman fleet at Crete on 23 June 1645 . Despite the efforts of the recently appointed " provveditore generale " , Andrea Corner , the Venetian defenses were still in a bad state . The island ' s fortifications were substantial , but they had been long neglected , and much effort was put into repairing them . Anxious about Ottoman preparations , the Republic reinforced Crete in late 1644 with 2 , 500 troops and provisions , and began arming its fleet , while assistance was promised in the event of war by the Pope and Tuscany . However , the local Greek population was not well - disposed towards the Venetians , something that would prove to be of critical importance . Not only were the Ottomans thus able to quickly establish control over the countryside , but in later years , when the Ottoman forces in the island were practically cut off from seaborne supplies , only the local produce , provided by the Greek population , sustained them . The Ottomans first landed 15 miles west of Canea ( Chania ) , where the local militia fled before them . They then attacked the small island fortress of St . Todero , the commander of which , the Istrian Blasio Zulian , blew himself , the fortress and its garrison up rather than let it fall to the Ottomans . The Ottoman army next advanced to the city of Canea itself , which fell on 22 August , after a siege that lasted for 56 days . At the same time , however , the Venetians were strengthened , as the promised help started to arrive in the form of galleys from the Papal States , Tuscany , Malta and Naples . In September , the Ottoman fleet was in disarray , but the allied Christian fleet , under the cautious command of Niccolò Ludovisi , the Pope ' s nephew , failed to exploit the opportunity for a decisive strike . When the Christian forces finally moved to retake Canea on 1 October , with a fleet of about 90 ships , the stout Turkish defense and the Allies ' lack of cooperation doomed the attack . Soon thereafter , the Venetian allies returned to their bases . In November , Silahdar Yusuf Pasha left behind a strong garrison and returned to Constantinople for the winter . There however , he fell foul of the Sultan and was executed . Nevertheless , Ottoman preparations continued in order to renew and expand the war , while the Venetians were frantically trying to raise money and men , and attempting to induce other European powers to join them against the Ottomans . However , as most of Europe was locked into the fierce antagonisms of the Thirty Years ' War , their pleas fell mostly on deaf ears . The Venetians were hard pressed by the financial demands of the war : besides placing taxes on the Italian mainland possessions ( the " Terraferma " ) , they resorted to the sale of nobility titles and state offices to fill their war coffer . To lead the effort against the Ottomans , the Senate initially appointed the 80 - year - old doge Francesco Erizzo , but after his death in early 1646 , he was replaced by Giovanni Cappello ( 73 years old ) as Captain General of the Sea . Cappello ' s performance in 1646 was distinctly lackluster : he failed to interdict the arrival of Ottoman reinforcements under Kara Musa Pasha in June ( see below ) , and an attack on the Turkish fleet at Chania Bay in August failed , as did his attempt to break the Ottoman blockade of Rettimo ( Rethymno ) . As a result , the city fell on 20 October , while the citadel held out until 13 November . During the winter of 1646 - 1647 , both sides suffered from an outbreak of , and throughout the spring of 1647 , operations did not make much headway . In mid - June however , a small Ottoman force routed a larger body of Venetian mercenaries . This Ottoman success paved the way for Gazi Hüseyin Pasha , the local commander , to conquer the eastern half of the island , except for the fortress of Siteia . The Venetians and the local population suffered some grievous losses : it is estimated that by 1648 , almost 40 % of the Cretan population had perished of disease or warfare , and in 1677 , the island ' s pre - war population of ca . 260 , 000 had dropped to about 80 , 000 . By the beginning of 1648 , all of Crete , except Candia and a few strongholds like the island of Gramvousa , was in Ottoman hands . Siege of Candia begins . The siege began in May 1648 . The Turks spent three months investing the city , which included cutting off the water supply . Eventually , it would last until 1669 , the second longest siege in history after the siege of Ceuta by the Moors under Moulay Ismail ( 1694 – 1727 ) . The Ottoman besiegers were adversely affected by the bad supply situation caused by the activity of the Christian fleets in the Aegean , who intercepted Ottoman convoys carrying supplies and reinforcements to the island . In addition , the overall Ottoman war effort was severely hampered by increased domestic instability caused by Sultan Ibrahim ' s erratic policies and his summary execution of leading state officials . It ultimately led to his deposition in favor of his son Mehmed IV , ushering in a further period of confusion within the Ottoman government . The lack of supplies had forced the Ottoman commander Gazi Hüseyin Pasha to lift the siege in early 1649 , but it was renewed for a short period of two months after the arrival of the Ottoman fleet in June . The Ottomans assailed the fortifications , exploding over 70 mines , but the defenders held firm . The Turks lost over 1 , 000 men , and the subsequent withdrawal of 1 , 500 Janissaries and the lack of any further reinforcements over the course of 1650 left Hüseyin Pasha with little option but to continue maintaining as tight a blockade as possible . The Ottomans strengthened their positions with the construction of three forts in the Canea area , and the arrival of reinforcements in late 1650 allowed them to keep up their tight blockade . Despite the Venetian blockade of the Dardanelles and the political turmoil at the Ottoman court , the Ottoman forces were kept well supplied enough to sustain themselves , although too weak to engage in offensive actions against Candia itself . In 1653 , the Ottomans took the island fortress of Selino in Suda Bay , and San Todero , captured a few years previously , was refortified . The Venetian naval successes over the next few years further reduced the offensive ability of the Ottoman army in Crete , but the blockade of Candia continued , and the Ottomans retained possession of their other conquests on the island , until the arrival of a new Ottoman expeditionary force in 1666 . Naval war . Early clashes , 1645 – 1654 . Venice could not directly confront the large Ottoman expeditionary force on Crete , but it did possess a fine navy , that could intervene and cut the Ottoman supply routes . In 1645 , the Venetians and their allies possessed a fleet of 60 – 70 galley s , 4 galleass es and about 36 galleon s . The Venetians were also superior in their use of a mixed fleet of both galleys and sailing ships , while initially , the Ottoman navy relied almost exclusively on galleys . In order to bolster their forces , both opponents hired armed merchantmen from the Netherlands , and later from England ( especially the Ottomans ) , to augment their forces . The first Venetian operation was an attempt to blockade the Dardanelles in 1646 . To interdict the supplies headed to the Ottoman forces in Crete , a force of 23 Venetian ships under Tommaso Morosini scoured the Aegean for Ottoman shipping , and attempted to capture the strategically important island of Tenedos at the entrance of the Dardanelles . The Kapudan Pasha Kara Musa led a fleet of 80 warships against the Venetians , but his fleet was driven back into the Dardanelles on 26 May . However , the blockading fleet was unable to stop the next exit of the Ottoman fleet on 4 June , when the lack of wind enabled the Ottoman galleys to evade the Venetian sailing ships . The Ottomans were thus able to land new troops and supplies on Crete unopposed . The efforts of the Venetian fleet to counter the Ottoman land operations in Crete likewise failed , through a combination of timidity on behalf of their commanders , the delays in payment for the crews , and the effects of a widespread plague . On 27 January 1647 , the Venetians lost Tommaso Morosini , when his ship was forced to face the entire Ottoman fleet of 45 galleys . In the ensuing fight , Morosini was killed , but managed to cause significant casualties to the Ottomans , including Kara Musa Pasha himself . The ship itself was rescued by the timely arrival of the Venetian fleet under the new Captain General , Giovanni Battista Grimani . This stand - off , where a single ship had caused such damage and casualties to the entire Ottoman fleet , was a major blow to Ottoman morale . Despite some successes like a raid in Çeşme , the remainder of the year was a failure for the Venetians , as several attempts to blockade Turkish harbors failed to stem the flow of supplies and reinforcements to Crete . The Venetians returned to the Dardanelles in 1648 . Despite losing many ships and admiral Grimani himself in a storm in mid - March , reinforcements under Giacomo da Riva brought the Venetian fleet back up to strength ( some 65 vessels ) , and allowed them to successfully blockade the Straits for a whole year . The Ottomans countered this in part by building a new fleet at Çeşme , forcing the Venetians to divide their forces , and in 1649 , a strengthened Ottoman fleet under Kapudan Pasha Voinok Ahmed broke the blockade . Despite scoring a victory over the Ottoman fleet in its anchorage at Phocaea on 12 May 1649 , capturing or destroying several ships , da Riva was not able to prevent the Ottoman armada from eventually reaching Crete . This highlighted the weakness of the Venetian position : maintaining long blockades with galleys was an inherently difficult task , and the Republic did not have enough ships to control both the Dardanelles and the passage of Chios at the same time . For most of 1650 , a Venetian fleet of 41 vessels maintained the blockade of the Dardanelles , prohibiting Haideragazade Mehmed Pasha from sailing for Crete . He was replaced late in the year by Hozamzade Ali Pasha , governor of Rhodes , who used a clever ploy to get through the blockade : waiting until winter , when the Venetians withdrew their forces , he assembled a small number of ships and embarked several thousand troops with many provisions on them , and sailed unmolested to Crete . On 10 July 1651 , the first significant naval battle of the war was fought south of Naxos , a three - day engagement in which the Venetians with 58 ships under Alvise Mocenigo were victorious over the twice as large Ottoman fleet . The remainders of the Ottoman fleet withdrew to Rhodes , from where they were however able to reach Candia . Mocenigo was replaced soon after by Leonardo Foscolo , but both sides did not accomplish much in the next two years , although the Ottomans did succeed in supplying their forces on Crete while keeping their fleet intact . Battles of the Dardanelles , 1654 – 1657 . For 1654 , the Ottomans marshaled their strength : the Arsenal ( " Tersâne - i Âmire " ) in the Golden Horn produced new warships , and squadrons from Tripolitania and Tunis arrived to strengthen the Ottoman fleet . The strengthened Ottoman fleet that sailed forth from the Dardanelles in early May numbered 79 ships ( 40 sailing ships , 33 galleys and 6 galleasses ) , and further 22 galleys from around the Aegean and 14 ships from Barbary stood by to reinforce it off the Straits . This force considerably outnumbered the 26 ships of the Venetian blockade fleet under Giuseppe Dolfin . Although the battle that followed resulted in an Ottoman victory , for the Venetians , given the successful escape of their fleet from the superior Ottoman force , coupled with reports of large Ottomans casualties and the great bravery displayed by the Venetian crews , it counted as a moral victory . The Ottoman fleet , now reinforced by the Aegean and Barbary squadrons , plundered the Venetian island of Tinos , but retreated after only a brief skirmish with the Venetians under Alvise Mocenigo on 21 June . Kara Murad Pasha succeeded in evading the Venetians for the remainder of the year , with both fleets sailing back and forth in the Aegean , before returning to the Dardanelles in September due to agitation among the fleet ' s Janissaries . The final months of 1654 were marked by a significant change in the Venetian leadership : Mocenigo died at Candia , and was succeeded as acting Captain General of the Sea by Francesco Morosini , who had distinguished himself in the previous battles . Morosini initiated a more energetic approach in the Venetian pursuit of the war : in the spring of 1655 , he raided the Ottoman supply depot at Aigina and razed the port town of Volos in a night attack on 23 March . In early June , Morosini sailed to the Dardanelles , awaiting the sally of the Ottoman fleet , which was however delayed because of political upheaval in the Ottoman government . Leaving Lazzaro Mocenigo with half the fleet ( 36 ships ) to keep watch at the Straits , Morosini returned to the Cyclades . A week after his departure however , on 21 June , the Ottoman fleet , numbering 143 ships under Mustapha Pasha , appeared . The resulting battle was a clear Venetian victory . The Ottoman fleet avoided action for the remainder of the year , before it withdrew to winter quarters , leaving Morosini free to undertake an ultimately unsuccessful siege of the strategically important island fortress of Malvasia ( Monemvasia ) off the south - eastern coast of the Peloponnese . In September , Morosini was posted as the new " provveditore " of Crete , with Lorenzo Marcello as the new Captain General of the Sea . Although in the previous years the Venetians had generally held the upper hand against the Ottomans , largely controlling the Aegean and able to extract tribute and recruits from its islands , they had been unable to transform this superiority into concrete results . Despite their defeats , the Ottomans were still free to roam the Aegean and resupply their forces in Crete , in particular through the use of supply fleets from places like Alexandria , Rhodes , Chios or Monemvasia in the Peloponnese . In June 1656 however , a combined Venetian – Maltese fleet of 67 ships under Marcello inflicted on the Ottomans , with 108 ships under Kenan Pasha , their " worst naval defeat since Lepanto " : Sixty Ottoman ships were destroyed and 24 captured and 5 , 000 Christian galley slaves set free , although the Venetians and Maltese suffered some casualties too , including the loss of Captain General Marcello . Although in the aftermath of this victory the Maltese contingent departed , the scale of their success enabled the Venetians under Barbado Doer to seize Tenedos on 8 July and Lemnos on 20 August . Using the two islands , strategically located near the entrance of the Straits , as forward bases , the Venetian blockade became much more effective . As a result , the resupply of Crete was effectively cut off , and Constantinople itself suffered a shortage of food during the following winter . In 1657 , the Ottomans reversed the situation . A new and energetic Grand Vizier , Köprülü Mehmed Pasha , armed with almost dictatorial authority , had been appointed in September 1656 , and reinvigorated the Ottoman war effort . The fleet was strengthened under the new Kapudan Pasha , Topal Mehmed , and in March , the Ottomans succeeded in evading the Venetian blockade of the Straits and sailed towards Tenedos . They did not attack the island however , because the Venetian garrison was too strong . In May , the Venetians under Lazzaro Mocenigo achieved some minor victories , on 3 May and two weeks later at Suazich . Reinforced by Papal and Maltese ships , Mocenigo sailed to the Dardanelles , awaiting the renewed sally of the Ottoman fleet , which came on 17 July . Due to disagreements among the Christian commanders , the allied battle line had not been completely formed , and the Ottoman fleet was able to exit the Narrows before battle was joined . The battle consisted of a series of actions over three days , with both fleets drifting south and west out of the Dardanelles into the Aegean . The battle ended in the evening of 19 July , when an explosion destroyed the Venetian flagship and killed Mocenigo , forcing the allied fleet to withdraw . In this battle , the Venetians had inflicted heavier casualties on the Ottomans than they had suffered , but the Ottomans had achieved their goal : the blockade was broken . Under the personal direction of the Grand Vizier and strengthened by men and ships from the Barbary states , the Ottoman fleet proceeded to recover Lemnos , on 31 August , and Tenedos , on 12 November , thus removing any hope the Venetians may have had of re - establishing the blockade as firmly as before . Stalemate , 1658 – 1666 . In 1658 , Ottoman power was redirected north in a campaign against George II Rákóczi , Prince of Transylvania , which evolved into a long conflict with the Habsburgs . For the next few years , the Venetian fleet , again under the command of Morosini , unsuccessfully attempted to maintain the blockade of the Straits of the Dardanelles . Morosini also resumed his tactic of attacking Ottoman strongholds : a siege of the island of Santa Maura ( Lefkada ) in August 1658 failed , but in 1659 , the Venetians , aided by the Maniots , sacked Kalamata in the Peloponnese , followed by Torone in the Chalcidice , Karystos in Euboea , and Çeşme . However , since Venice could not spare forces to occupy these places , these raids gained the Republic nothing of substance . On the Ottoman side , Köprülü Mehmed ordered the construction of two new forts , Sedd el Bahr ( " Rampart of the Sea " ) and Kilid Bahr ( " Key of the Sea " ) , at the European shore of the entrance of the Dardanelles , to prohibit the Venetians from entering the Straits again . In the meantime , war - weariness had set in among the Venetians , who suffered from the disruption in trade . Peace feelers were sent to the Ottomans , but their demand for the full concession of Crete as a condition for peace was unacceptable to the Republic . With the end of the war between France and Spain however , the Venetians became encouraged , hoping to receive increased assistance in money and men , especially from the French , whose traditionally good relations with the Porte had soured of late . This support did indeed soon develop , when individuals or whole companies of men from across Western Europe volunteered for the Republic ' s army , while Christian rulers also felt obliged to provide men , supplies and ships . The first French contingent of 4 , 200 men under Prince Almerigo d ' Este arrived in April 1660 , along with further contingents of German mercenaries , troops from Savoy , and Maltese , Tuscan and French ships . Despite this increase in strength , Morosini ' s operations in 1660 were a failure : an assault on Canea in August succeeded in taking the outlying fortifications but failed to retake the city itself ; similarly , an attack against the Ottoman siege lines at Candia in September achieved some success , but did not break the Ottoman siege . Following the death of Prince d ' Este at Naxos shortly after , the French contingent returned home , followed soon after by a disheartened Morosini , who was succeeded by his kinsman Giorgio . In 1661 , Giorgio Morosini scored a few minor successes : he broke an Ottoman blockade of Tinos , and , pursuing the Ottoman fleet , defeated it off Milos . The next few years however were relatively idle . Although the Ottomans were heavily engaged with the Austrians in Hungary , and that their fleet rarely sallied forth , the Venetians failed to make use of this opportunity , and , except for the intercept of a supply convoy from Alexandria off Kos in 1662 , there was little action . Final phase of the war , 1666 – 1669 . If the Venetians were idle , the Ottomans were not : with the signing of the Peace of Vasvár in 1664 , they were able to focus their strength against Crete . Grand Vizier Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed initiated large preparations in the winter of 1665 / 66 , and dispatched 9 , 000 men to bolster the Ottoman forces in Crete . An Ottoman peace proposal , which would have allowed Venice to keep Candia against an annual payment of tribute was rejected , and in May 1666 , the Ottoman army , under the personal leadership of the Grand Vizier , departed from Thrace for southern Greece , whence it would embark for Crete during the winter . In February 1667 , the Venetians received significant reinforcements from France and Savoy , totaling 21 warships and some 6 , 000 men , but , as in past years , disagreements among the leaders of the various contingents over precedence ( France , the Papal States , Malta , Naples , Sicily contributed ships and men ) hampered operations . Francesco Morosini , now again Captain General , sought to engage the Ottomans , but they avoided battle , and using their superior resources and bases , they steadily kept their forces on Crete supplied . The only allied success in 1667 was the repulsion of an Ottoman raid on Cerigo ( Kythera ) . On 8 March 1668 , the Venetians were victorious in a hard - fought night battle off the island of St Pelagia , where 2 , 000 Ottoman troops and 12 galleys attempted to seize a small Venetian galley squadron . Forewarned of their intentions Morosini reinforced it , and won a costly victory , which was to be Venice ' s last victory at sea in this war . Reinforced again with Papal and Hospitaller ships , the Venetians maintained a blockade of Canea , the Ottomans ' main supply base , during summer . To secure their anchorage off St Todero island , the allied forces seized the fortress island of St Marina , a minor success which did not in the end prevent the Kapudan pasha ' s fleet , bearing fresh troops and supplies , from reaching Canea in September , after the Maltese – Papal squadron had departed . Fall of Candia . The new Ottoman army arrived on the island during the winter of 1666 / 1667 , and in May , the final phase of the siege , overseen by the Grand Vizier himself , began . It would last for 28 months and cost the lives of 70 , 000 Turks , 38 , 000 Cretans and slaves who labored in the siege works and 29 , 088 of the city ' s Christian defenders . Faced with the renewed Ottoman assault and a struggling economy , despite the prospect of considerable reinforcements from Western Europe , in 1668 the " Signoria " hoped to end the war by striking a peace settlement with the Ottomans . Indeed , the Venetians hoped to use the imminent arrival of reinforcements to secure concessions from the Ottomans . Admiral Andrea Valier was at first appointed as envoy , but fell ill and was quickly replaced by the elderly nobleman Alvise da Molin . Molin and his embassy traveled to Larissa , where the Ottoman court resided during one of the Sultan ' s hunting expeditions . The Ottomans proposed that Venice keep one half of Crete , but the " Signoria " , emboldened by further pledges of reinforcements , especially from France , and renewed turmoil at the Ottoman court and within the Empire , refused the offer . Molin , in the meantime transported by the Ottomans to Canea in Crete , was ordered to continue negotiations and to continue observing the Ottomans ' strength and intentions , but not commit himself or the Republic . On 19 June , the first part of the long - awaited French contingent ( in total some 6 , 000 soldiers and 31 ships ) , under the command of François , Duke of Beaufort , arrived at Candia . The second part , comprising the galley fleet , would arrive on 3 July . The Ottomans had been making steady progress over the past years , having reached the outer bastions of the fortress ; the defenders were in dire straits , while most of the city of Candia lay ruined . The French staged their first sally on 25 June . Caught by surprise , the Ottomans were quickly routed , but the French became disorganized among the siege trenches , and an Ottoman counter - attack drove them back . The attack thus ended in disaster , costing the French some 800 dead , including the Duke of Beaufort himself , who was hit by a bullet and left on the field . The arrival of the second half of the French expeditionary force revived the defenders ' morale , and a combined attack was agreed upon , involving bombardment of the Ottoman siege lines by the powerful allied fleet . The attack was launched on 25 July , in an impressive display of firepower : up to 15 , 000 cannonballs were said to have been fired by the fleet alone . The Ottomans however were well - protected by their deep earthworks , and suffered comparatively little damage , while things went awry for the Christian fleet , as an accident caused the explosion of the French ship " Thérèse " , which in turn caused significant casualties among the surrounding French and Venetian ships . This failure , coupled with the disaster of the previous month , further soured the relations between the French and the Venetians . Cooperation was distinctly lacking in the few operations attempted during the next few weeks , while the bad supply situation , the spread of sickness among their troops and the continuous attrition of their forces in the everyday fighting at Candia made the French commanders especially keen to depart . The French contingent eventually departed on 20 August . Two Ottoman assaults on the 25th were repulsed , but to Morosini , it was clear that the city could no longer be held . After a council of war on 27 August , but without first consulting Venice , it was decided to capitulate . On 5 September 1669 , the city was surrendered to the Ottomans , while the survivors of the garrison , the citizens and their treasures were evacuated . On his own initiative , Morosini concluded a permanent peace agreement with the Ottomans , which , under the circumstances , was relatively generous : Venice would retain the Aegean islands of Tinos and Kythera and the isolated island fortresses of Spinalonga , Gramvousa and Souda off the Cretan coast , as well as the gains made in Dalmatia . War in Dalmatia . The Dalmatian front was a separate theater of operations , which was involved in the early phase of the war . The conditions there were almost reverse to those in Crete : for the Ottomans , it was too far away and relatively insignificant , while the Venetians operated near their own bases of supply and had undisputed control of the sea , being thus able to easily reinforce their coastal strongholds . In addition , and again unlike Crete , the Venetians enjoyed the support of much of the local population , particularly the " Morlacchi " . The Ottomans launched a large - scale attack in 1646 , and made some significant gains , including the capture of the islands of Krk , Pag and Cres , and most importantly , the supposedly impregnable fortress of Novigrad , which surrendered on 4 July , after only two days of bombardment . The Turks were now able to threaten the two main Venetian strongholds in Dalmatia , Zadar and Split . In the next year however , the tide turned , as the Venetian commander Leonardo Foscolo seized several forts , retook Novigrad , temporarily captured the fortress of Knin and took Klis , while a month - long siege of the fortress of Šibenik by the Ottomans in August and September failed . During the next few years , military operations stalled because of an outbreak of famine and plague amongst the Venetians at Zadar , while both sides focused their resources in the Aegean area . As other fronts took priority for the Ottomans , no further operations occurred in the Dalmatian theater . Peace in 1669 found the Republic of Venice with significant gains in Dalmatia , its territory tripled , and its control of the Adriatic thus secured . Aftermath . The surrender of Candia ended the four and a half centuries of Venetian rule in Crete , and brought the Ottoman Empire to its temporary territorial zenith . At the same time however , the cost and casualties incurred during this prolonged war contributed greatly to the decline of the Ottoman state during the latter 17th century . On the other hand , Venice had lost its greatest and most prosperous colony , its pre - eminent trading position in the Mediterranean had diminished , and its treasury was exhausted , having spent some 4 , 253 , 000 ducats on the defense of Candia alone . To all this , the Dalmatian gains were insufficient compensation . Upon his return to Venice in 1670 , Morosini was tried on charges of insubordination and treason , but was acquitted . Fifteen years later , he would lead the Venetian forces in the Morean War , where the Republic attempted , for the last time , to reverse its losses and reestablish itself as one of the major powers of the Eastern Mediterranean . During that war , in 1692 , a Venetian fleet attempted to retake Candia , but failed . The last Venetian strongholds off Crete fell in the last Turkish – Venetian War in 1715 . Crete would remain under Ottoman control until 1897 , when it became an autonomous state . The island continued under Ottoman suzerainty until the Balkan Wars . In their aftermath , on 1 December 1913 it was formally united to Greece .