After 1453 Mehmed continued his program of expansion. He set his sights—and his ships and troops—on conquering lands in eastern Europe, the Black Sea, and the Greek islands. In 1454–59 he sent armies into Serbia, eventually annexing it to the Ottoman Empire. In the 1460s he seized Bosnia, Albania, and the Peloponnese. From 1463 to 1479 he fought a long and bitter war against the Republic of Venice. As soon as this was settled, in 1480 Mehmed invaded southern Italy, at Otranto, which his men sacked and burned; a small crusade summons was required to reclaim the town the following year.
