In 1455, even after widely publicizing to neighboring coastal states and inviting Holy Roman Empire Emperor Frederick III to endorse the Empire, the Venetians repeatedly rejected Basileus Manuel III's proposals to buy back commercial privileges and the Aegean islands.
The accumulated contradictions between the two sides finally reached an irreconcilable point.
In March of the same year, after secretly promising to transfer some islands to the Genoese, the Empire issued an ultimatum to the Venetians, demanding the Aegean islands.
After their refusal, the Empire, now powerful enough in maritime trade to completely break free from Venice, immediately deployed over ten thousand troops to the port of Morai in southern Morea, posing as if to cross the sea and land on Crete.
Incidentally, in 1453, Manuel deliberately allowed a peasant uprising to break out in the Despotate of Morea, using the suppression of the peasant rebels as an excuse to weaken the Palaiologos family's control over the area and abolish the Autocratic State's autonomy.
Although Morea is still the territory of the Palaiologos family, its military and political affairs have been largely integrated into the Imperial system under the Gavras Dynasty.
In response to the Empire's strong stance, Venice also reacted by stationing more troops on Crete.
The flames of war, about to ignite in the Eastern Mediterranean, seemed poised to erupt at the southernmost tip of the Aegean Sea…
But to almost everyone's surprise, the Roman army was not to land on Crete, but on Euboea, opposite the Greek peninsula!
As March approached, after confirming that the Venetians had stationed their main force on Crete, Manuel III dispatched the navy to forcefully land at Chalcis, opposite Athens, taking advantage of their unprepared defenses to launch a successful surprise attack and capture the Venetian fleet left in the port.
Immediately after, a declaration of war was sent to the capital of the Republic of Venice, marking the beginning of the East Rome-Venice War.
At the same time, celebrations began to appear one after another in Constantinople, because the Empire was finally at war with the Venetians.
"Have you heard? The Emperor has finally made a move against the Latins!" On the edge of Golden Bull Square, a young upstart excitedly told a middle-aged man next to him.
"Excellent! That 'Goth' has finally struck at the Latins!" This middle-aged citizen, sympathetic to the Palaiologos family, immediately clenched his fists and became invigorated upon hearing the news.
"Damn it, kill these Latin dogs! And what do you call Manuel? What Goth? By the Virgin Mary, he is the only legitimate Basileus of our Roman Empire!"
"You're wrong, you stinking Goth from the Chersonese countryside, you can't even let us Constantinople people speak… Hey, why are you hitting me!"
On the other side, in the Constantinople Grand Palace, Manuel, who had made the decision to go to war with Venice, was dressed in warm casual clothes, listening with amusement as his Prime Minister reported on the war.
"By Your Majesty's great fortune, just as Your Majesty predicted, those overwhelmed Latin dogs indeed misjudged the situation.
Now, Admiral Falero has taken control of Euboea, and Commander Tukharovsky has already led his army to cooperate and take over the local garrison."
"Very good," Manuel smiled with satisfaction, "I will later have Bey Halil depart from the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea to cooperate with our army's actions."
The Bey Halil he referred to was his adopted son Bey Halil of Aydin, whose name became more Christianized and Hellenized as Bey Halil after his conversion to orthodox.
"By the way, Justinian," after this reconciliation between monarch and minister, Manuel addressed him by his given name, "try not to include personal emotions when reporting."
"Understood, Your Majesty, your humble servant will pay attention to this matter." Serenus bowed to indicate his understanding, and he quickly continued to report, "Speaking of which, Your Majesty, how should we deal with those Italian dogs from Venice who were arrested after the war began?"
"I don't think you've listened at all," Manuel, sitting on the throne, sighed, rubbing his forehead, "Keep those Venetians detained from various community embassies in the country for now; there are still powerful nobles from within Venice among them, enough to use as leverage."
"Your Majesty, do we still have to spend money to feed those Vandal bastards?"
"What do you take me for… just make sure they don't die easily; they are prisoners, not citizens.
I will later issue an order to Megaslogothetēs / Grand Secretary Anagnostes for specific matters; remember to cooperate and not act recklessly."
"As you command, Your Majesty."
By the end of March 1455, all Venetian leased territories and colonies on the Greek peninsula were captured by the Roman army.
On April 1, 1455, the Roman navy launched a lightning strike on Naxos, the capital of the Duchy of Naxos, a Venetian colony.
Duke Guglielmo II Crispo of Naxos fled in haste less than a week after Roman troops invaded the island.
Had the reacting Venetian fleet not arrived in time, the entire archipelago would have changed hands as quickly as Euboea within a month.
After this, to gain an advantage on the battlefield and retaliate against the Empire, the Venetian navy began large-scale raids on the coastal areas of the Roman Empire, fiercely attacking its merchant ships and maritime trade.
In response, the Empire also dispatched its fleet, which was no longer inferior to the Venetians, to attack their merchant ships and trade routes, and contacted the Genoese to lure them into jointly harassing the Venetians.
Furthermore, Manuel even wrote a letter, using both soft and hard tactics to persuade the Roman Curia to remain neutral in this war, causing the Venetians, who sought help from the Curia, to be rebuffed.
Thus, after much back and forth, the Venetian Senate finally pressured the government to authorize envoys to negotiate with the Romans.
And so, after the second round of negotiations broke down, this scene unfolded on a morning in early June—
Inside the Constantinople Grand Palace, Manuel's old acquaintance, Benito Gracio, who had dealt with him since the Bosporus period and was fully authorized by the Venetian authorities, accused the Basileus: "Manuel, I represent the will of the Venetian Council of Ten and the Senate and advise you to cease your unjust occupation of our country's lands."
"I must correct you," Manuel, holding a scepter and wearing a dalmatica, offered a "warm reminder," "these are all Roman lands.
Even if they were occupied by Latins for two hundred years, it does not mean they became foreign territories.
Moreover, I am doing this to save the Romans in these colonies; are you trying to say that Venice considers them all its citizens?
If I remember correctly, the status of Romans under Latin rule was even comparable to that of slaves from Africa."
"Our Catholic world once offered selfless aid in your time of peril; how can you be so perfidious?
Such actions will not earn the Lord's forgiveness!"
"The Roman Pontiff has no objection; how about this: you ask your Pope for a special charter, declare all of us Romans to be Lucifer worshipers who believe in Satan, and then call for another Fourth Crusade to support a weak Latin Empire and seize Roman islands once more?"
Upon saying this, distinct sounds of mockery immediately erupted in the court, further embarrassing the Venetian envoys.
But the Basileus did not stop his offensive, "And how can the Venetians represent the entire Catholic world and make such presumptuous remarks to the main force of the holy war back then?
Do you want me to publicly reveal your fence-sitting behavior during that holy war?
And, if you want to wave the banner of the Roman Pontiff, you'd best return Ravenna to His Eminence first."
At this, another round of laughter aimed at Venice erupted in the court.
"Oh, Manuel, how can you be like this?" Gracio reproached him with a pained expression, "Have you forgotten the happy times our two nations spent in sincere cooperation over the past years?"
"Enough, Lord Gracio, if you Venetians can't afford to lose, then surrender.
The past is the past, and the present is the present; if you keep treating the past as the present, why not start from the moment you were born?"
Manuel stood up, cleared his throat, and continued solemnly, "Moreover, you Latins must clearly understand that I am the Emperor of all Roman people, and all my actions are for the Romans."
After the negotiations broke down, it was useless for him to invoke any religious righteousness; what was more important was to directly put the opponent at a disadvantage in terms of morale.
"Your Majesty, you had better truly be…"
"I gave you a chance," Manuel said coldly, ignoring his murmur, "Originally, the Romans would pay, and you would give up privileges and some land, and everyone would be happy.
Now, both sides are unhappy; isn't this your own doing?
"Furthermore, if you want to drag it out, then drag it out." He said coldly, "I have plenty of time and energy to contend with you!"
Thus, these already failed negotiations completely broke down, and the war continued.
In August 1455, the Roman navy finally captured Apollonia Island, Venice's last stronghold in the Naxos archipelago, bringing the entire Western Aegean archipelago back under Imperial rule.
Over the next two and a half years, the two nations engaged in unrestricted naval warfare, sinking each other's warships and merchant ships indiscriminately in the Eastern Mediterranean, raiding each other's coastlines, and capturing and killing their military and civilian populations.
Initially, due to the Imperial navy's inferiority to the Venetians, the Romans suffered greater losses.
However, supported by the Empire's vast national power, the Venetians gradually fell into a disadvantage.
After all, besides maritime trade, the Empire could also profit by collecting various taxes and conducting overland trade, while the Venetians were entirely dependent on maritime trade.
This war, which was quite brutal for both coastal areas, continued until early 1458, when the Republic of Venice, unable to sustain the attrition, chose to surrender upon hearing rumors that the Roman Curia, the Republic of Genoa, and the Grand Duchy of Austria would betray them at the Empire's instigation.
After this battle, the Empire recovered all the Aegean coastal islands previously occupied by Venice, except for Corfu and Crete.
The blame for the defeat was also placed by the Venetian Council of Ten on the incumbent Doge, Francesco Foscari.
This elderly Doge had personally presided over and promoted all cooperation and competition with the Gavras Family, which had brought him many benefits and honors, but it was also for this reason that he was impeached and deposed that year.
Ultimately, the 85-year-old, with his frail body, left his homeland and silently died of illness in an Italian city-state not long after.
After the war, Manuel was not in a hurry to fulfill his promises to the Genoese.
He delayed until mid-1458, when the Republic of Genoa was occupied by the forces of King Charles VII of France, at which point he decisively took advantage of their predicament to renege on all his promises to Genoa.
In the same year, he recovered islands such as Chios by winning over nobles like the Gattilusio, who ruled Genoa's Aegean colonies.
As for the commercial privileges of the Latins, they were also completely revoked during this period.
From then on, the Aegean islands, except for Corfu and Crete, returned to the rule of the Roman Empire, and the Latin noose around the Empire's neck was completely torn apart.