War of Gradisca (dec 1, 1615 – sep 26, 1617)

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In 1606, the Ottomans and Holy Roman Empire signed the Treaty of Zsitva-Torok which prohibited cross border raiding across the two states. In 1615, the treaty was renewed, prompting more Uskoks to turn towards piracy in the Adriatic Sea. Their activities had negatively impacted the mercantile interests of the Republic of Venice since as far as 1564, which was already aiming to expand its territory towards Habsburg Istria.[1] Venice hired mercenaries in the Kingdom of England and the Dutch Republic, launching blockade of Holy Roman, Adriatic ports. On 20 December 1615, the blockade escalated into the Uskok War with a Venetian invasion of the coastal areas. The Spanish Viceroy of Naples Pedro Téllez-Girón, 3rd Duke of Osuna, intervened into the conflict on the Imperial side, without Spanish approval. The Habsburgs failed to mount an appropriate response as the country faced an internal power struggle. Nevertheless the Venetians were decimated by disease, failing to exploit their numerical superiority. Although negotiations continued throughout the conflict, an agreement was only reached in 1617 with the aid of Spanish, Papal and French mediation

In December 1615 Venetian troops besieged Gradisca, on the Isonzo River.

The Venetians launched a diplomatic campaign for allies, since the Uskoks were vassals of Archduke Ferdinand of Inner Austria (who was likely to seek help from the Holy Roman Emperor Matthias, his uncle and King Philip III of Spain, his brother-in-law). In September 1616, Count John Ernest of Nassau-Siegen agreed to raise 3,000 men in the Dutch Republic for Venetian service. They arrived in May 1617, followed six months later by another 2,000 with a contingent of English volunteers. Spanish support was blocked at sea by a flotilla of 12 Dutch and 10 English warships, and on land by the war in Mantua.

War ended with Treaty of Madrid, concluded through the mediation of Philip III, Holy Roman Emperor Matthias, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and the Republic of Venice (now known as the Preliminary Treaty of Paris and the Treaty of Madrid) resolved that pirates would be driven from the maritime areas of the House of Austria. The Venetians returned to their Imperial and Royal Majesty all the places occupied by them in Istria and Friuli.

The Venetians, did, however, achieve the expulsion of Uskoks by Mark and at the same time, the recognition of their sovereignty over the Gulf. Nevertheless, the overall picture was bleak: in the early 1600s, Friuli was in misery, famine, fever, livestock diseases, and incursions of wolves

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