The eventual decline ofVeniceis largely due to external challenges” How far do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer. I agree that the eventual decline of Veniceis due largely to external challenges.(Point) One example would be the rise in maritime competition. With the discovery of new maritime routes such as that around the Cape of Good Hope, Venice lost its monopoly of the lucrative spice trade and greatly reduced the large profits which Venetian traders had earned for centuries. The Portuguese could now buy their spices directly from India and this led to competition with the Venetians. (Example)Therefore, maritime competition meant that Venice’s revenue declined drastically as it was no longer the only source of supplies from the East. (Explanation) Thus the eventual decline of Venice is due to this external challenge as the decline in revenue from maritime competition meant that Venice could not finance it defence against the new military rivals it faced.(Link) Another external challenge that led to the fall of Veniceis the emergence of new military rivals.(Point) As the Ottoman Empire expanded, the Venetians had to fight hard for their control of the Adriatic Sea. The Ottomans had acquired territories along the coast of the Adriatic Sea and launched attacks at Venetian territories from there.(Example) Venice had to use its galleys to fight off these attacks, thus disrupting the use of galleys for trading purposes. Therefore the war with the Ottoman drained and weakened Venice’s resources. (Explanation) This incident showed that another external challenge eventually led to the decline of Venice as Venice has to use it resources to fight with the Ottomans.(Link)
However, the eventual decline of Veniceis also due to internal challenges.(Point) One example is the weakening of the government. As older families died and a plague struck Venicein the 17th century, there was a decline in the population of the nobility. To retain their wealth and property, noble families arranged marriages among themselves, causing wealth to be concentrated in the hands of a few families.(Example) With a small group of nobles dominating the government, corruption grew especially in the higher offices, causing policies to be made to preserve the power of nobles rather than for the good of the city-state. (Explanation)Therefore, this incident showed that internal challenge eventually led to the decline of Venice as the weakening of the government meant that Venice could not implement good policies to cope with its new challenges.(Link) In conclusion, I agree that the eventual decline of Venice is largely due to external challenges. This is because even if Venice could rise to the occasion and met all the internal challenges like a weak government or implementing poor policy, Venice could not control the external challenges. Once Venice monopoly of her trade had been broken by maritime competition, it marked the start of the decline of Venice. With the fall in revenue, it could not met the other external challenge which is her war with the Ottoman empire as it did nto have enough money to fight the war. Therefore I agree that the eventual decline of Venice is largely due to external challenges.