The Siege of Shkodra of 1478-79 is a confrontation between the Ottoman Empire and the Albanians and Venetians at Shkodra and its Rozafa Castle during the First Ottoman-Venetian War (1463–79).
A small force of approximately sixteen hundred Albanian and Italian men and a much smaller number of women face a massive Ottoman force containing artillery cast on site and an army reported (though widely disputed) to have been as many as three hundred and fifty thousand in number.
The campaign is so important to Mehmed II “the Conqueror” that he comes personally to ensure triumph.
After nineteen days of bombarding the castle walls, the Ottomans launch five successive general attacks that all end in victory for the besieged.
With dwindling resources, Mehmed attacks and defeats the smaller surrounding fortresses of Žabljak Crnojevića, Drisht, and Lezha, leavesa siege force to starve Shkodra into surrender, and returns to Constantinople.
On January 25, 1479, Venice and Constantinople sign a peace agreement that cedes Shkodra to the Ottoman Empire.
The defenders of the citadel emigrate to Venice, whereas many Albanians from the region retreat into the mountains.
Shkodra now becomes a seat of the newly established Ottoman sanjak, the Sanjak of Scutari.
The Ottomans will hold the city until Montenegro captures it in April 1913, after a six-month siege.
