The battle of La Motta was another significant battle of the Italian Wars, fought on 7 October 1513 between Republic of Venice and combined forces of Spain and Holy Roman Empire. Venice lost yet another battle, but its enemies were once again unable to take advantage of victory!
Another battle that happened during the War of the League of Cambrai (1508-1516), a particularly bloody episode during the Italian Wars where territory of Venice was often contested. Venetian forces were already crushed in 1509 at the battle of Agnadello, but had recovered.
Despite defeat, Venice was able to restore its possessions in the Italian Mainlands, the Terrafirma. Meanwhile the forces of the anti-Venetian League of Cambrai were busy fighting each other. In 1513, Venitians would ally with the French who had previously crushed them in 1509.
This was just another example how volatile and unpredictable the Italians Wars were. As part of alliance, the French released Venetian commander Bartolomeo d'Alviano whom they imprisoned at Agnadello. D'Alviano would now have to lead Venetian army against Spanish and Imperials.
The French invaded Italy but suffered a humiliating loss by the Swiss at Novara in June of 1513 and were routed back. Venice was now on its own and facing an invasion of combined Spanish and Imperial forces. D'Alviano retreated to Padua and was besieged there in August.
The combined army decided to lift the siege and plundered the Venetian lands instead in hopes of provoking D'Alviano to come out of Padua and face them on the open field. For entire September the Spanish and ferocious German Landsknecht mercenaries looted Venetian Terrafirma!
The pillaging was brutal and was also specifically designed to have a psychological effect as they burned down the villas of Venetian nobles to humiliate them! They even came close to Venice and fired some taunting shots with canons! D'Alviano fell for the provocation and moved.
The armies would meet on 7 October near Vicenza. The Venetians brought more men and a better more experienced cavalry, but regarding the quality of infantry the Spanish-Imperial side had a big advantage, the core of its troops being hardened Spanish and Landksnecht veterans.
D'Alviano commanded around 3000 cavalry. The 10000 Venetian infantry he brought were mostly city militias. Meanwhile the Spanish had only 1000 light cavalry, 4000 Spanish infantrymen and 3500 Imperial Landsknechts. Both sides had an impressive number of guns and artillery.
The Spanish-Imperial army was commanded by Ramon de Cordona, a rather mediocre commander who had lost to French at Ravenna a year earlier, but the infantry contingents were commanded by two capable and charismatic men Georg von Frundsberg and Fernando d'Ávalos of Pescara.
Frundsberg and Pescara understood the new pike and shot warfare and this battle would once again prove the importance of this infantry-based tactic that the Venetians had not yet mastered. Their leader D'Alviano used a much more cavalry-heavy tactic and tried to outflank the foe.
The Venetians started the battle well with their superior cavalry pushing the Spanish cavalry back, but when the two infantry forces clashed, the Spanish and the Landsknecht formations stood firm against the larger Venetian infantry which collapsed and was routed.
After the collapse of the Venetian infantry, their cavalry began to rout in panic as well. The battle was won by the Spanish and Imperial forces! The Landsknechts in particular were relentless in killing the fleeing Venetian infantry as they had scores to settle with hated Venice
The result was a total disaster for Venetians, losing around 5000 men in chaos that ensued. Many cavalrymen drowned trying to cross nearby rivers, while the commander of Vicenza didn't let the fleeing Venetian infantry in, afraid that the pursuers might enter with them!
The Spanish and Imperials then captured Vicenza but despite their big victory, they were not able to take any crucial advantage of it. D'Alviano escaped and would not take risks anymore. The combined Spanish-Imperial army continue to pillage, but could not hold the territories.
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Today is the anniversary of the glorious battle of Las Navas de Tolosa fought on 16 July 1212, the most famous and crucial battle of the Spanish Reconquista! The joined crusader force of Christian knights defeated the mighty Mohammedan army of the Almohad Caliphate! Deus vult!
The reason why this battle was so crucial was that it followed a string of successes of the Almohads, the mighty Caliphate that replaced the former Moroccan Almoravid dynasty by 1147 and imposed a much more strict form of Islam, treating other religions worse than past rulers.
The Almohads secured an important victory over the Christian forces of Castille in 1195 in the battle of Alarcos after which they captured a lot of Castillian cities and castles. The Mohammedans were on the offensive and Spain and entire Christendom was alarmed by their advance.
The epic 1515 battle of Marignano was fought between the French (led by young king Francis I) and the Swiss over two days and became known as the battle of the giants! The decisive encounter of the War of the League of Cambrai and one of the bloodiest clashes of the Italian Wars!
Before the War of the League of Cambrai started in 1508, the French held the Duchy of Milan and the war started with them invading Venice and crushing them in 1509. But in the next years, the alliances shifted and the tide turned against the French who ended up ousted from Italy!
The Duchy of Milan was occupied by Swiss mercenaries who beat the French at Novara in 1513 and installed Maximilian Sforza as the Duke of Milan. The French new ally Venice was beaten in the same year by Spanish-Imperial forces near Vicenza. Things looked bad for France in Italy!
Did you know? Hernan Cortes was the last European commander to have used a trebuchet catapult as a siege weapon in 1521 when he besieged the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. By then trebuchets were no longer in use in Europe. What made him do it? Very funny story, I explain...
According to conquistador Bernal Diaz there was a man in Cortes' unit who was a bit of a braggart and kept boasting about serving in the Italian Wars and fighting at Garigliano for the legendary Spanish El Gran Capitan Gonzalo de Cordoba against the French.
Not only did this man boast about his supposed military prowess and heroism in the Italian Wars but he also claimed that during his stay in Italy, he obtained profound knowledge of war-engines and siege weapons, and knew how to construct them!
On to the next major battle of the Italian wars, the battle of Novara fought on 6 June 1513 between France and the Swiss for the control over the Duchy of Milan. This battle was the high point of the Swiss mercenaries during the Italian Wars, routing the larger French army!
This battle was the next major battle after the bloody 1512 clash at Ravenna where the French beat the Spanish-Papal force of the Holy League alliance. Despite their victory, the French army collapsed soon after due their brilliant young commander Gaston of Foix dying in battle.
While the French managed to practically annihilate their opposing army, their casualties were also very high and without the charismatic leadership of Foix, the army disbanded. The French occupation of Duchy of Milan and other parts of northern Italy was now unsustainable.
One of the things that made historic European kingdoms and empires so powerful was their ability to learn from their defeats very quickly and come back stronger immediately. It was not rare in European history that the greatest days would come after the most bitter defeats!
This is why I'm also optimistic about the future. Europeans never get defeated, they learn lessons instead! What Europe is experiencing right now is a painful lesson, but people will learn a lot from it and come back stronger and wiser. Learn history and you will see what happens
For example Gonzalo de Cordoba and his Spanish forces humiliated at Seminara in First Italian War. Learns from it, comes back with a totally new pike and shot tactic that ensures Spanish dominance for 150 years.
I continue with the Italian Wars with the 1509 battle of Agnadello, a disaster for the Republic of Venice defeated by the mighty French army! Machiavelli famously said of this battle that in one day Venetians "lost what it had taken them eight hundred years' exertion to conquer."
The previous Italian War had ended in 1504 with peace between France and Spain but during those days peace would last very short in Italy! In the previous wars, France had already conquered the Duchy of Milan and Kingdom of Naples, which eventually ended in Spanish hands.
The Papal States also managed to expand with the army led by Cesare Borgia, the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI, but when his father died, he lost the favor of the papacy. The territories of the Papal States began collapsing and Venice took the opportunity to expand.