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The Italian Wars

1494-1559

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Italian wars of 1494 to 1559

This website gives the reader insight to the many events that took place in Italy in order to make it the independent country that it is today. Italy went through a significant amount of battles so that they could take back control of the land that had been stolen from them on many separate occasions. Many battles and lives were lost and there were many different countries and states that were involved, such as Spain and France. The motivating factor to go to war was that the larger territorial states were attempting to absorb the smaller ones around them in order to claim the most power and land. There was a total of eight wars that occurred in Italy from 1494 until 1559 and all of them played a significant part in Italy's success.

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Why the Italian wars began

 When the Italian wars began, they involved the city-states of Italy, Papal states, Republican states and most of the states in Western Europe. The war started because there was a dispute between different states for the power of the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples. The reason that these wars lasted for so long was because there was an ongoing competition for power and territories amongst the various states and they were fighting for superiority. 

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The events that took place

Different wars

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The first war began in 1494-98 and was called the King Charles VIII war, the second war was King Louis XII war and it began in 1499-1504, the third war was from 1508-1516 and was the war of the League of Cambria. The next set of wars that came was the Italian war of 1521-26, followed by the war of League of Cognac from 1526-30. Italy had a break for a few years and then a number of more wars broke out from 1536-38, 1542-46, and finally 1551-59. Italy still faced more conflicts and battles after these wars but these are the significant Italian wars that structured history and led to the peaceful country that Italy is in the twenty-first century.  

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The First Italian war

There were a series of wars that occurred in Italy and the first was the war of Charles VIII (1494-96). This war was a result of the French's attempt to conquer the Italian Kingdom of Naples, which was the largest state in Italy. The takeover was led by King Charles VII of France who got his army to invade Italy. The armies of the Italian city-states were unable to resist them and the French army was winning. On March 23rd, 1495 Italy formed a League of Venice as a way to fight back against the French. The league consisted of many different city- states and Spain joined as well. The French were unsuccessful and the battle ended with Spain taking the dominant power of the Kingdom of Naples.

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King Louis XII's war 1499-1504,  & The League of Cambria 1508-16.

  - The second Italian war started in 1499 and began when Louis X11 invaded Milan in August and got rid of the Duke that was in charge. Louis XII became the new Duke of Milan and in 1501 the he made a deal with Aragon to split the kingdom of Naples. The deal fell apart and the French attacked but didn't defeat the Spanish.

- The third Italian war can be split up into three different conflicts that were ongoing from 1508-1516. The first part is the war of the League of Cambria which was an attack on Venice with of many different alliances teaming up to conquer the city. The next part was the War of the Holy League which was a result of the Pope being concerned about French power and wanted to reduce it by forming alliances. Last part of the third war was Francis I’s first invasion of Italy, this happened because Francis I was trying to secure his ownership of Milan.

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The More You Know

 - The fourth part of the war began in 1519, after a four-year break and this was because Charles I of Spain was made the Holy Roman Emperor. This caused a fight between the two kings for power.

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- The next part of the war was called the war of League of Cognac from 1526-30 and this war came directly after the last one. This war happened because the Pope Clement VII was threatened by the      power of the Empire and the League of Cognac was born which was made up of many important figures which were the Papal states under Pope Clement VII, France under King Francis I, England under Henry VIII, The Republic of Venice, Republic of Florence and Duchy of Milan

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Ending the War

1536-38, 1542-44, 1551-59

The next three parts of the Italian wars were the Hapsburg- Valois Wars and they started in 1536 and lasted until 1559 with only a few breaks of peace in between. It took six years for the sixth war to begin and this is because Francis spent most of his time plotting against his enemy. He married the Duke of Orleans to Catherine de Medici, she later became a dominant figure in the French wars about religion.
The seventh war was the last battle between Francias I and Charles V and was another argument about power. It continued until King Francis died in 1547 and his son Henry II took over. He declared war against Charles with the intentions of taking over Italy and making sure the French dominated Europe.

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The Aftermath of the Italian Wars

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The last event that took place in the Italian wars was the death of Henry II of France in 1559. There was a celebration of peace at the end of the wars and he was fatally wounded during this event. His fifteen-year-old son, Francis II was to be left in charge but he had died the following year in 1560. This caused many problems for the French Monarchy and it was during the time of the French wars of Religion, which is considered one of the deadliest wars of all.
Milan and Naples were still under the control of the Spanish Habsburgs and this left Italy to be reduced to a lower power. Italy didn't give up and fought to save Milan, they did this by turning seventy tons of bronze that was originally meant for a statue to be built by Leonardo da Vinci, into military weapons.
The Italian wars were important to the revolution of military tactics and technology and some historians consider this time to be the dividing point of medieval and modern technology.

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Primary Source

1534

The primary source document that was found and is relevant to the Italian wars is called Relation Originale Du Voyage de Jacques Cartier. This document is from the sixteenth century and was written in 1534. The text is about the events that took place in France and the how the settlement of the new world came to be. During this time France was only focused on its rivalry with different European continents making it a priority to gain power over more land. France was not as concerned as they should have been about the exploration and settlement of the New World.

            The French were at a disadvantage because they had been weakened by the wars of religion which was a period of war that involved Roman Catholics and Huguenots (protestants). It took place in France and lasted until 1598, it resulted in disease, famine and violence and was considered to be one of the deadliest religious wars in European history.

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Primary Source Continued

  A man names Giovanni, who was an experienced Italian navigator was left responsible to discover a new route to China for King Francis I. The man found one and ten years later Jacques Cartier was asked to undertake another expedition of the new world. He traded with some friendly Indians that he had met and brought two of them back who were either kidnapped by him or were allowed to depart with him so that the French would return European goods. King Francis wanted to do another voyage and the two young Indian men that were with Cartier were the ones who guided it in the year 1535.

 This primary source was hard to analyze because most of it was written in French and it needed to be translated. However, I think the document related well with this website because it gives the reader a better understanding of how obsessed the French were with taking over other countries and continents. The Italian wars were basically a power struggle between different states and this could have potentially changed the way history would have played out for France and the other countries. This is because instead of focusing on other important historical events that were taking place around the sixteenth century, France was too concerned with winning the war. A lot of the battles and wars were fought for nothing because in the end Italy got its continents, cities and countries back. Around the fifteenth and sixteenth century people didn't understand that owning more land didn't make you much more powerful and this is why they participated in the battles. I assume that eventually they realized it was about politics, economics and armies that defined a State’s

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Bibliography

Sources Used

Black, J. (2002). European warfare, 1494-1660. London: Routledge.

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Cartier. J. (2015) Relation Originale Du Voyage De Jacques Cartier: au Canada en 1534. S1: Forgotten Books.

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Finlay, R. (1999). The Immortal Republic: The Myth of Venice during the Italian Wars (1494- 1530). Sixteenth Century Journal,30(4), 931. doi:10.2307/2544605

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Levy, J (1985). Theories of General War. World Politics, 37(3), 344-374. Doi:10.2307/2010247

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 Massimo Rospocher (ed.), Beyond the Public Sphere: Opinions, publics, spaces in early modern Europe, Bologna/Berlin, Il Mulino/Duncker & Humbolt, 2012, Annali dell'Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento, 27, 93-114

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Shaw, C., & Mallot, M. (2012). Italian Wars 1494-1559: War, State and Society of Early Modern Europe.

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Songs of War. Historical and Literary Narrative of the ‘Horrendous Italian wars. (1494-1559)

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Warriors for a living: The Experience of the Spanish Infantry in the Italian wars, 1494-1559

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