The “First Siege of Shkodra” began one of the final campaigns of the Ottoman army to conquer Albania, lasting until the beginning of August 1474. The death of Skanderbeg had negative repercussions throughout the country and severely damaged the organization of the Albanian people’s resistance against Ottoman attacks. The League of Lezhë (1444) began to dissolve. Venice’s position in Albania, which also gained control of Kruja, was strengthening. On May 15, 1474, the Ottoman army, consisting of 80,000 soldiers, equipped with the most powerful artillery of the time and commanded by the Beylerbey of Rumelia, surrounded the fortress of Shkodra, where 2,000 fighters from the city and surrounding areas and a small Venetian garrison were stationed, along with 1,000 people from the city’s population, under the command of the Venetian governor Anton Loredani. Fighters from the surrounding areas also aided the defenders of Shkodra, launching successive attacks. During July, the fortress’s defenders repelled the continuous attacks of the Ottoman army. Faced with this resistance, the Ottomans, after leaving thousands dead on the battlefield, were forced to retreat. Local and foreign chroniclers, especially Ottoman chroniclers, emphasized that the spirit of this resistance was the local Albanian residents. (In the photo: View of Shkodra Castle.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2275.
Photo: © Xhoxhi L., personal archive
Graphic processing: AHCF
