To what extent did Skanderbegs diplomatic and military skills prevent the Ottomans from taking over Albania?

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To what extent did Skanderbeg’s diplomatic and military skills prevent the Ottomans from taking over Albania?

By

Genc Hoxha

Extended Essay

Ms. S. Shimens

May 2012

Word Count: 3987


Abstract

George Kastrioti, also known as Skanderbeg, was a 15th century Albanian leader. Born in 1405 to the noble Kastrioti family, he was raised in a village in Dibra.  As a young child, he was taken hostage by Sultan Murad II and as a result, he fought for the Ottoman Empire as a General. In one of his battles, he deserted the Ottomans and became the ruler of Kruje. However, there is wide debate over how influential Skanderbeg’s diplomatic and military skills were in protecting the Albanian people, which raises the research question: To what extent did Skanderbeg’s diplomatic and military skills prevent the Ottomans from taking over Albania?

Although Skanderbeg’s victories and losses during his time of protecting Albania are well documented, it is still unclear as to the extent of Skanderbeg’s diplomatic and military skills in preventing Ottoman rule over Albania. Much of what we know about Skanderbeg comes from the museum that is located in Kruje castle, containing art compositions, stone and wood engravings, and maps that portray Skanderbeg’s life against the Ottomans.

In this essay, I propose that both Skanderbeg’s diplomatic and military skills were successful in preventing the Ottomans from taking over Albania to a large extent, as many different techniques within each category were used.  His diplomatic skills were crucial in defending Albania since he required a vast amount of men to help against the Ottoman attacks; he showed his diplomacy skills through family and armies in order to maintain connections with powerful allies. His military skills were also important, and he portrayed these skills through his tactics, and through his morale boosting techniques.

Word Count: 264


Table of Contents


To what extent did Skanderbeg’s diplomatic and military skills prevent the Ottomans from taking over Albania?

Introduction

During the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire was one of the strongest powers in the world. Their plan was to dominate Western Europe, and once they arrived in Europe, most of the colonies fell to the Ottomans. However, their main goal was to capture Rome, and the only way they could get to Rome was to go through a small country called Albania. In Albania, they were opposed by a chieftain called Gjergj Kastrioti, nicknamed Skanderbeg. Within his country, he had a fortress on the side of a mountain, and never more than twenty thousand armed men at his disposal.  Yet, under his leadership, he was able to hold the mightiest army of the world at bay, saving not only his own country from defeat, but with it the peninsula of Italy and the remainder of Western Europe.   To what extent did Skanderbeg’s diplomatic and military skills prevent the Ottomans from taking over Albania?  In the long conflict against the Ottomans, Skanderbeg’s diplomatic and military skills were very effective in fending off the Ottomans from capturing Albanian territory to a large extent.

Section One: Diplomatic Skills

When Skanderbeg first abandoned his role as a general for the Ottomans in order to protect Albania from them, Skanderbeg needed effective diplomatic skills in order to adequately fend off the Ottomans from their land. He first used his family in order to maintain connections with powerful allies that would eventually provide aid for him in the long run. Skanderbeg had nine siblings, five of them sisters including:  Mara, Angelina, Jelena, Vlajka and Mamica, and all of them married individuals of high power, which would greatly support Skanderbeg in the future, since they provided him with men that were used to fight off the Ottomans from Albanian territory. The first family Skanderbeg was connected to was with the Crnojevic family, through Mara; they eventually became the first royal Montenegrin family in command of many soldiers, many of whom were provided to Skanderbeg, since he required a large amount of men in order to protect Albania from the Ottomans, who had the largest army at that time. He was then connected with the Arianiti family, through Angelina, who already had a good relationship with the Byzantine imperial family, who had one of the strongest armies and also put forth soldiers for Skanderbeg to lead. Jelena and Vlajka provided Skanderbeg connections with the Musachi family, who had an admirable relationship with the Venetians, and provided Skanderbeg with the most amount of aid, not just soldiers, but also other supplies including money and food. Finally, Mamica connected Skanderbeg with the Balsha family, whose power and pretensions were already well-established.

Once Skanderbeg maintained connections with the influential leaders through marriage, Skanderbeg strengthened his diplomatic ties by branching out and connecting with other armies. These groups can be categorized into religious leaders, Italians and other neighbouring armies. Skanderbeg first reached out to Pope Pius and the Holy Army in order to receive some men from the Pope in order to defend Albania. Pope Pius declared a crusade against the Turks, and promised any Christian armies that would assist him would be protected by his very powerful army. Skanderbeg was one of the Christian armies who accepted Pope Pius’s offer. This connection showed Skanderbeg’s diplomatic skills since he supported the Pope in his crusade, and in return the Pope would provide Skanderbeg with the men to hold off the Ottomans in their mission to take over Albania. However, Pope Pius died a few months later after the crusade, which was initiated on November 17, 1463, and Skanderbeg never received any men. Regardless, this demonstrates how he successfully negotiated with Pope Pius about the fact that if he were to fight with him, that Skanderbeg would be able to receive soldiers to protect him from the Ottomans. Another religious leader who supported Skanderbeg was Pope Eugene IV. Just as Pope Pius had done, Pope Eugene IV also invited Skanderbeg to take part in the crusade initiated by Gjon Hunyadi, the Hungarian leader, who also gained respect for Skanderbeg due to the fact that he abandoned his role as general in the Ottoman army. Once Skanderbeg assisted them, they supplied him with some men to protect him from the Ottomans.  His diplomatic skills continued to be demonstrated when he assisted Pope Eugene IV and Gjon Hunyadi in their time of need. In return, they supported Skanderbeg when he required attention, by supplying him with soldiers from their armies. Finally, Skanderbeg was able to receive the support from many other Christian Armies when Skanderbeg converted back to Christianity from Islam.  The fact that Skanderbeg converted back to Christianity after having followed the Muslim religion while he was fighting for the Ottomans demonstrates Skanderbeg’s diplomatic abilities since he then received assistance and negotiations from fellow strong Christian armies once they realized that Skanderbeg converted.

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When referring to the Italians, the first army Skanderbeg aligned himself with were the Venetians. When the Albanians and the Ottomans had declared a truce, Skanderbeg took this time to align himself with individuals who would provide him with the men necessary to adequately protect and defend Albania from the Ottomans if the truce were to be broken, which eventually occurred. This truce with the Ottomans was intended to startle the Venetians into giving greater consideration to Albanian purposes than they had ever done in the past.  This successful alliance with the Italians clearly shows Skanderbeg’s diplomatic skills in order to ...

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