Prelude
The political situation in Europe after the War of the League of Cambrai was initially peaceful as all sides had exhausted themselves militarily and were not eager for another destructive war. However, the succession over the Holy Roman Empire with the death of Emperor Maximilian I in 1519 would become contested between Charles I of Spain, Maximilian’s grandson and a Habsburg, or Francis I of France, who presented himself as an alternative to the Habsburgs. The various electors of the HRE were conflicted as to who to vote for as bribes from Charles and Francis poured in with both candidates trying to sway the greediest of the electors. Later in the election process, however, Charles would gather an army near Frankfurt, where the electors were meeting, and soon after the electors would vote for Charles I of Spain in 1520, who would become better known as Charles V of the HRE.
This new found power for Charles V would make him one of, if not the most, powerful man in Europe controlling Spain and now the lands of Germany, which combined surrounded France making conflict between the two powers inevitable. Because of this, Francis I would make preparations to go to war with Charles V, who at this time was distracted with the burgeoning Reformation under Martin Luther in Germany. This would leave Francis with a golden opportunity to strike at Habsburgs and the majority of the fighting would occur in Italy, however, the war was not strictly located there.
Conflict
With the war starting in 1521, the first battles take place in Italy where the French gather their troops in Milan and then move out to strike the Imperial holdings in southern Italy with the Papal States also having joined Charles V. The French advance is beaten back by the Imperial army, mostly because the French commander ran out of money to pay his mercenaries with many of them deserting forcing the commander to retreat to Milan itself.
Next, the resulting Battle of Bicocca would end with an Imperial victory in 1522 with the battle ending the dominance of Swiss pikemen that had dominated the previous Italian Wars and firearms would prove to be a decisive aspect of the battle. This battle would put an enormous amount of pressure on Francis I, as he was surrounded on all sides by enemies with England under Henry VIII jumping into the anti-French coalition. Francis would become strapped for money, and grasping any opportunity to solve this problem, struck against one of his most powerful vassals the Duke of Bourbon who was wealthy but also Francis I’s most competent general. This would cause Bourbon to flee from France, which would have dire consequences for Francis, and join Charles V as he felt this would give him the greatest opportunity to exact his vengeance upon the French king. Another French army was sent into Italy in 1524 against Imperial forces, but was again soundly defeated at the Battle of the Sesia River, where arquebusiers proved there worth against the French army. This defeat would force the French back out of Italy with Imperial troops advancing into the French region of Provence, however, they were unsuccessful in taking land forcing them to retreat in the wake of a large French army under Francis I himself.
The Battle of Pavia
Francis I in 1524 led a French army totaling over 40,000 soldiers into Italy in order to beat back the advancing Imperial army that had been ravaging France itself. The French army was headed to Milan, where the French power base still remained and Francis could exert his influence over Italy in order to drive out the Imperial forces there. However, he stopped to siege the city of Pavia instead of rushing after the disorganized Imperial forces that did not have the numbers to stop Francis I, which would ultimately prove disastrous for France. Progress is made during the siege, which caused Francis I to feel confident enough to send part of his army south into Naples to help drive the Imperial army there out of Italy with Francis being heavily advised against this action.
An Imperial army under the command of Charles de Lannoy and the Duke of Bourbon arrived at Pavia in 1525 against the depleted French army hoping to win a decisive victory and end the war. On February 24, 1525, the battle would commence with the armies roughly the same size of 20,000 soldiers and the besieging French army using their fortifications as defenses against Imperial troops. Waves of Imperial troops attacked the French defenses with an attack near Francis I’s position proving to be the decisive moment of the battle as Imperial forces surrounded the French king taking him prisoner. With this development French troops began to flee the battlefield resulting in a great defeat for France that left them with over 8,000 casualties and the French state without their king.
Aftermath
The Battle of Pavia proved to be the deciding factor of the war as France was without its king and had suffered a crushing defeat to the combined Imperial army, made all the worse because of the Duke of Bourbon’s assistance to Charles V. Francis I is forced to agree to the terms dictated by Charles, with Francis having to renounce his claims in Italy and to give Charles complete control of the Duchy of Burgundy in return for his release from captivity. This treaty would be called the Treaty of Madrid, signed in 1526, that would be incredibly humilitating for Francis I, who had great ambitions for French domination over Europe, and allowed the Habsburgs to become the dominant force in Europe.
However, as soon as he is released from captivity Francis I reneges on the treaty stating that he simply does not have the power to follow through on the conditions leaving Charles V with few options. The Emperor had little to pay his armies with causing them to become increasingly more mutinous in Italy with this coming to a head when the army under Bourbon marches south against the Papal States and Rome itself. This would later become known as the Sack of Rome, where in 1527 the uncontrollable Imperial forces would devastate Rome culturally and economically with thousands of people being killed by Imperial forces and Bourbon being killed during the Sack leaving the army leaderless and destructive. Peace would finally come in 1530 with sporadic fighting in Italy ending in favor of the Imperials and Charles V having complete hegemony over Italy, ridding Italy of one foreign power in favor of another.
The Italian Wars During the Renaissance 