List of battles of the Italian Wars

Italian War of 1494–98

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Italian Wars of 1499–1504

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Second Italian War (1499–1501)
  • September 1499: Venetian invasion of the Duchy of Milan and anti-Sforza revolt inside the city of Milan; the rebels opened the gates to the Venetian army commanded by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio.
  • 19 December 1499 – 12 January 1500: Siege of Forlì [it]. Franco-Papal victory by Cesare Borgia over Caterina Sforza.
  • 5 February 1500: Ludovico Sforza's Swiss mercenary army retook the city of Milan from the French.
  • 21 March 1500: The Sforzescan army retook Novara from the French.
  • 8–10 April 1500: Battle of Novara (1500). French victory over Ludovico Sforza.
  • 24 July 1501: Sack of Capua.
  • 25 July 1501: Franco-Aragonese forces occupied Naples.
Third Italian War (1502–1504)

War of the League of Cambrai

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Prelude (1506–1508)
  • July 1506 – March 1507: A popular revolt in Genoa expelled the city's pro-French nobility to Savona.[1]
  • 22–29 April 1507: Siege of Genoa. French victory over the Genoese revolutionaries.[2]
  • Early February 1508: Maximilian declared war on Venice. Venice requested France, then still their ally, to send aid, which Chaumont did in the form of several thousand troops from Milan.[3]
  • 20–21 February 1508: Imperial troops invaded Venice, sacking Ampezzo and besieging the Castello di Botestagno.
  • 23 February 1508: Imperials captured Pieve di Cadore.
  • 24 February 1508: Skirmish at Chiusa di Venas, Imperial victory over Venice.
  • 27 February 1508: Imperials captured Castello di Botestagno.
  • 2 March 1508: Battle of Cadore. Venetian victory over the Emperor.[3]
  • March–May 1508: Successful Venetian counter-offensives into Imperial territory. The Venetians captured Trieste on 6 May.[4]
War of the League of Cambrai proper (1508–1510)
  • 14 May 1509: Battle of Agnadello. French (Cambrai) victory over Venice.
  • 15–30 September 1509: Siege of Padua. Venetian victory over the League of Cambrai.
  • 22 December 1509: Battle of Polesella. Ferrarese (Cambrai) victory over Venice.
  • May 1510: French, Ferrarese, and Imperial troops invaded Venice.
  • July 1510: The Pope and Venice formed an alliance and went on a counter-offensive.
Ferrarese War (1510–1511)
  • August 1510: Failed Papal attack on Ferrara.
  • 17 August 1510: Papal–Venetian troops captured Modena.
  • October 1510: French troops were repulsed at Bologna.
  • December 1510: Papal troops captured Concordia.
  • 2–19 January 1511: Siege of Mirandola (1511). Papal victory over Ferrara.
  • 23 May 1511: French troops captured Bologna after an anti-Papal revolt.
  • Late May 1511: French troops recaptured Mirandola.
War of the Holy League proper (1511–1514)
  • 18 February 1512: Sack of Brescia. French victory over Venice. The city of Brescia had revolted against French control, garrisoning itself with Venetian troops. Gaston de Foix, recently arrived to command the French armies in Italy, ordered the city to surrender; when it refused, he attacked it with around 12,000 men. The French attack took place in pouring rain, through a field of mud; Foix ordered his men to remove their shoes for better traction.[5] The defenders inflicted heavy casualties on the French, but were eventually overrun, suffering 8,000 – 15,000 casualties.[6] The Gascon infantry and landsknechts then proceeded to thoroughly sack the city, massacring thousands of civilians over the next five days. Following this, the city of Bergamo paid some 60,000 ducats to the French to avoid a similar fate.
  • 11 April 1512: Battle of Ravenna (1512). Franco-Ferrarese victory over the Pope.
  • May 1512: Holy League troops drove French troops out of Milan.
  • June 1512 – June 1515: Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre. Spanish victory over France.
  • 10 August 1512: Battle of Saint-Mathieu. English victory over France.
  • 6 June 1513: Battle of Novara (1513). Milanese–Swiss victory over France.
  • 16 August 1513: Battle of the Spurs (Guinegate). Anglo-Imperial victory over France.
  • 8–13 September 1513: Siege of Dijon. Swiss victory over France.
  • 9 September 1513: Battle of Flodden (Flodden Field, Branxton). English victory over Scotland (allied with France). Scotland abandoned France and left the war. The kingdoms of France and Scotland had traditionally enjoyed a close diplomatic relationship, reflected in a defensive treaty signed between the two kingdoms in 1512. When Henry crossed the English Channel to campaign in France, the King of France activated the treaty, sending arms, money and military advisers to James IV of Scotland to encourage him to fulfil his obligations, in the hope that this would draw English resources away from the invasion of France. James crossed the border with a force of some 35,000 men, including 5,000 French advisers.[7] He was opposed by an English force under the Earl of Surrey. During the Battle of Flodden, the Scottish army was heavily defeated, losing some 9,000 men and many nobles, including King James, the King's illegitimate son, and twelve earls.[8]
  • 7 October 1513: Battle of La Motta (1513). Spanish and Imperial victory over Venice (allied with France). Also known as the Battle of Schio, Vicenza or Creazzo. A Venetian army under Bartolomeo d'Alviano attempted to prevent the Spanish and Imperials under Ramón de Cardona from withdrawing from the Veneto, but was defeated and scattered.
Francis I's First Italian War (1515–1516)
  • 13–14 September 1515: Battle of Marignano (Melegnano). Decisive Franco-Venetian victory over Switzerland and Milan.
  • 4 October 1515: French troops captured Milan and dethroned Sforza.

War of Urbino

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  • January 1517: Siege of Urbino. Urbinate victory over the Pope. Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino retook Urbino from occupying Papal troops.
  • April 1517: Siege of the Mondolfo castle. Urbinate victory over the Pope.
  • ? 1517: Battle of Monte Imperiale. Urbinate victory over the Pope.
  • ? 1517: Raids in Tuscany and Umbria. Papal victory over Urbino.

Italian War of 1521–1526

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War of the League of Cognac

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Italian War of 1536–1538

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  • March 1536: French invasion of Piedmont.
  • 3 April 1536: French army captured Turin.
  • July 1536: Habsburg invasion of Provence.
  • 13 August 1536: Habsburg army captured Aix-en-Provence.
  • August 1536: Franco-Ottoman army and fleet failed to capture Genoa.
  • Late 1536: Franco-Ottoman army captured Piedmontese towns.
  • Spring 1537: Battles of Lens, Arras, Crécy and Hesdin.
  • 1537: Ottoman siege of Corfu.

Italian War of 1542–1546

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Italian War of 1551–1559

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  • 15 August 1551: Siege of Tripoli (1551). Ottomans captured Tripoli from Maltese Knights Hospitaller.
  • July 1551 – March 1552: Siege of Mirandola (1551). French victory over Imperial-Spanish-Papal army.
  • 5 August 1552: Battle of Ponza (1552). Franco-Ottoman victory over Genoa.
  • 19 October 1552 – 2 January 1553: Siege of Metz (1552). French victory over Imperial army.
  • 11 April – 20 June 1553: Siege of Thérouanne. Spanish-Imperial victory over France. The Imperials razed Thérouanne to the ground on the orders of Charles V in revenge for the defeat at Metz.
  • 1553–1559: Invasion of Corsica (1553). Ottomans & French temporarily occupied most of Corsica.
  • 2 August 1554: Battle of Marciano or Scannagallo. Decisive Florentine-Spanish victory over Siena and France.
  • 12 August 1554: Battle of Renty. French victory over Imperial army.
  • September 1556: Spanish invasion and occupation of the Papal States.
  • 20 April - 15 May 1557: Siege of Civitella. The French unsuccessful siege the Spanish.[14]
  • 10–27 August 1557: Battle of St. Quentin (1557). Hispano-Savoyard-English victory over France.
  • September 1557: Spanish occupation of the Papal States.
  • 1–8 January 1558: Siege of Calais (1558). French victory over England.
  • 17 April – 23 June 1558: Siege of Thionville (1558). French victory over Imperial-Spanish army.
  • 13 July 1558: Battle of Gravelines (1558). Anglo-Spanish victory over France.

Notes

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  1. ^ Mallett & Shaw 2012, p. 83.
  2. ^ Mallett & Shaw 2012, p. 84–85.
  3. ^ a b Mallett & Shaw 2012, p. 86.
  4. ^ Mallett & Shaw 2012, p. 87.
  5. ^ Baumgartner, Louis XII, 220.
  6. ^ Baumgartner, Louis XII, 220; Norwich, History of Venice, 421. Baumgartner gives 8,000 as a minimal estimate, while Norwich gives 15,000.
  7. ^ Guest, Ken, and Denise Guest, British Battles, p. 80
  8. ^ Guest, Ken, and Denise Guest, British Battles, p. 85
  9. ^ Saint Ignatius of Loyola, The Autobiography of St. Ignatius, p. 21
  10. ^ Mallett & Shaw 2012, p. 141.
  11. ^ Mallett & Shaw 2012, p. 143.
  12. ^ Arnold, Renaissance at War, 180; Blockmans, Emperor Charles V, 72–73; Oman, Art of War, 213.
  13. ^ Potter 2011, p. 178–180.
  14. ^ Mallett & Shaw 2012, pp. 276–277.

References

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  • Arnold, Thomas F. The Renaissance at War. Smithsonian History of Warfare, edited by John Keegan. New York: Smithsonian Books / Collins, 2006. ISBN 978-0-06-089195-4.
  • Baumgartner, Frederic J. Louis XII. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. ISBN 0-312-12072-9.
  • Blockmans, Wim. Emperor Charles V, 1500–1558. Translated by Isola van den Hoven-Vardon. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-340-73110-9.
  • Hackett, Francis. Francis the First. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1937.
  • Guicciardini, Francesco. The History of Italy. Translated by Sydney Alexander. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984. ISBN 0-691-00800-0.
  • Norwich, John Julius. A History of Venice. New York: Vintage Books, 1989. ISBN 0-679-72197-5.
  • Mallett, Michael; Shaw, Christine (2012). The Italian Wars: 1494–1559. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. ISBN 978-0-582-05758-6.
  • Oman, Charles. A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century. London: Methuen & Co., 1937.
  • Phillips, Charles and Alan Axelrod. Encyclopedia of Wars. Volume 2. New York: Facts on File, 2005. ISBN 978-0-8160-2851-1.
  • Potter, David (2011). Henry VIII and Francis I: The Final Conflict, 1540–47. Leiden: Brill. p. 562. ISBN 9789004204317. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  • Taylor, Frederick Lewis. The Art of War in Italy, 1494–1529. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1973. ISBN 0-8371-5025-6.

Further reading

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