Prelude
The Republic of Venice during the early 1500s was one of the most powerful states in Italy, arguably the powerful due to its involvement in the spice trade that provided great wealth to the city. Because of this wealth, Venice was able to gather a large military force that allowed the republic to expand beyond the island of Venice into other parts of the Adriatic Sea. This expanded influence would inevitably get the republic involved in fighting other Italian states and the one that Venice would fight would be the Papal States that were ruled by Pope Julius II, called by some the ‘Warrior Pope’ for his military exploits in Italy. Julius II had been an ardent opponent of Pope Alexander VI, however, when Julius II took over the Papacy he had to deal with Cesare Borgia, Alexander VI’s son, who had been given personal lands and military forces to carve out his own principality.
Borgia had relied on support from his father but with him dead it left his lands vulnerable to attack from his enemy Pope Julius II. Venice, however, would see this as an opportunity to expand southward into Italy by attacking Borgia’s lands in Romagna but this would bring in the Papal States as well. In response to Venice not giving the cities and territories that he wanted Pope Julius II created the League of Cambrai in 1508 with France, the Holy Roman Empire, and Spain combining their forces against Venice. An important note to make here is the recurring theme of Italian princes asking for help from foreign nations in order to help them maximize their own personal political power.
Conflict
The first offensive was launched by the French in 1509 as they already controlled territory in Italy, namely the Duchy of Milan, where they encountered a Venetian force that was made up of mostly mercenaries. The mercenary commanders of Venice did not know how to stop the French army of almost 30,000 soldiers and divided themselves to find some way to defeat the French. This would lead to the disastrous Battle of Agnadello, where the French inflicted about 10,000 casualties on the Venetian army of 15,000. With news that the other Venetian army had been defeated in battle, the mercenaries of the army began to desert in large groups, further demonstrating the fickle nature that mercenaries had during this time.
These two massive blows to Venice’s military proved to be too much to overcome as the French, Papal, and HRE forces took various cities from the Venetian territory. However, Imperial forces were unable to take all of the Venetian territory, specifically the city of Padua that Maximilian I failed to take in a siege in late 1509. Pope Julius II by this time was starting to have concerns about inviting France into Italy, as he began to feel that French ambitions would disrupt the delicate balance of power in Italy in favor of France. In order to rectify this new problem Julius II sent out Papal forces to provoke the French into attacking the Papal States, which was successful, allowing the Pope to organize the Holy League against France in 1511. The Holy League consisted of the Papal States, Spain, Venice, the Holy Roman Empire, and even England showing how quickly the political winds of 16th century Europe could change. One of the first engagements of this new conflict takes place at the Battle of Ravenna, where French forces under Gaston de Foix engaged the Holy League forces of the Papal States and Spain. One reason that this battle is significant for the Italian Wars is the widespread use of mercenaries on both sides with German mercenaries, called landsknechts, were employed with Swiss mercenaries fighting for both showing how much of the fighting power of these countries did not come from their own people, Machiavelli surely would have hated this.
The French would emerge victorious from this battle, however, de Foix was killed dealing a heavy blow to the French military command and would eventually force the French to leave Italy with the Holy League fulfilling its purpose of driving France out in 1512. However, the death of Pope Julius II opened the door for France to reaffirm their power in Italy with the French and Venetians agreeing to an alliance to regain lost territory for both powers. Louis XII attempts to make this a reality but dies in 1515 leaving the throne to his cousin Francis I, who was determined to take back the Duchy of Milan and set out with a massive army of 30,000 soldiers and united with Venetian reinforcements that would prove invaluable. The Battle of Margiano would be the decisive battle of the war with the French emerging victorious over Milan and Swiss forces bringing Milan back under French control and Venice regaining the lands it had lost.
Aftermath
The War of the League of Cambrai was a complex and exhausting affair for the countries involved lasting about eight years and the territory returning to what it was before the war. France and Venice were able to keep the land that they had gained even after most of the strongest European powers had united against them, showing how strong France as a nation had become. It also became increasingly clear that Italy was the place for other countries to exert their influence in as the Italian states themselves had proven that they could not resist the French on their own. Also, one of the themes of the Italian Wars was the prioritizing of a prince’s own self interest against the interest of the rest of Italy that would result in repeated invasions and the devastation of Italian land. The war would also set up the heated rivalry between Francis I of France and Charles I of Spain, as both were young kings at the time and were ambitious enough to want hegemony over Europe. This rivalry would only intensify with time, and the Valois-Habsburg hostility would help to shape the various nations of Europe into the world powers that they would be.
The Italian Wars During the Renaissance 