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Venice’s failed war against Constantinople led to the first bond market

172 points · 59 comments · RickJWagner

  1. digilypse · · focus · HN ↗
    A few decades later, Venice brilliantly exploited the Fourth Crusade’s debt (and the fact that they built all the Crusade’s ships) to proceed on a debt-collection/revenge tour along the Adriatic, sacking Zara, getting the entire Crusade excommunicated, and ultimately diverting the entire force to Constantinople where they sacked the city in 1204 and replaced the government with the Latin Empire.

    I found City of Fortune by Roger Crowley to be a very entertaining read, the full story of the Crusade is absurd. Venice completely dedicated its entire economy to producing the Crusade’s ships for years to make this happen.

    1. BrtByte · · focus · HN ↗
      The Fourth Crusade really does read like a chain of "well, since we're already here…" decisions escalating into one of history's biggest geopolitical disasters
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