Great warriors always learn a lot from defeats. The Swiss learned an important lesson in the battle of Arbedo in 1422 which they lost against the mighty duchy of Milan. Now a largely forgotten battle, it was crucial to Swiss developing and refining their warfare tactics.
As the might of the Old Swiss Confederacy grew, the Swiss conducted campaigns over the Alps and clashed with the interests of the powerful Duchy of Milan. This led to many engagements, including the battle of Arbedo near Bellinzona in 1422.
At the time the Swiss were already hardened and well respected as an infantry force, having successfully fought off the Habsburg knights and established their de facto independence. However they were not yet the invincible pikemen force they would be at the end of the century.
At Arbedo, a very experienced Italian mercenary captain or condottiero awaited them - Francesco Bussone, Count of Carmagnola! He was a true man of war who rose from humble origins as a mercenary, now employed by the illustrious Visconti family of Milan to crush the Swiss!
The Milanese mercenary army was well trained and equipped, relying on mercenary men-at-arms and crossbowmen. They charged at the Swiss with the cavalry but the disciplined Swiss armed with their favorite pole arm weapons managed to defend against the charge of mercenary knights.
It looked like the battle would go the Swiss way, but Count of Carmagnola was a very clever commander who could adapt on the spot. He instantly ordered his knights to dismount and face the Swiss as an infantry, using their lances as improvised pikes! He also employed crossbowmen.
Carmagnola made his crossbowmen fire the Swiss from the flanks while he made his knights march forward in a tight infantry formation with their lances. In a melee that followed, the Swiss noticed their shortcomings. At the time, they had too many halberds and too few pikes!
While the Swiss already used pikes, they were not as pikemen-heavy infantry force as they would become later, and still relied on the more wieldy and maneuverable halberds more. But in a melee that followed, the halberds were outranged by the lances of Milanese mercenary knights!
The Swiss were basically "out-swissed" by the Milanese, who use improvised pike tactics against Swiss halberds. On top of that they were shot at by crossbowmen from the flanks. The battle was turning out to be a total disaster for them! They were soundly defeated.
The defeat would have been much worse for the Swiss if it wasn't for a band of foragers that appeared in nearby forest which the Milanese mistook for Swiss reinforcements and backed off, giving the Swiss time to retreat in peace and escape being cut down by victorious Milanese.
The Milanese gained control of Bellinzona, Leventina and Val d'Ossola while the Swiss returned home, learning an important lesson. After this defeat they increased the number of pikes relative to halberds for a style of warfare that would depend on pikemen even more.
While the halberds remained and important weapon for the Swiss to bring support to the pikes, the lesson at Arbedo showed them that pikes were the crucial element to their war tactics, which started the rise of the famed Swiss pikemen as a deadly infantry force in Europe!
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16th century Romans developed an interesting tradition of "talking statues", attaching anonymous political commentary on statues.
The Pasquino was the first of such statues.🧵
The Pasquino is an old statue in Rome dating back to Antiquity.
It was one of many random statues in Rome until early 16th century when Cardinal Oliveiro Carafa decorated the statue with Latin epigrams on the occasion of the Feast of Saint Mark.
The Cardinal's actions unintentionally inspired ordinary Roman people to start writing satirical poems and attaching them to the Pasquino.
It is speculated that these were first only consisting of lowbrow humor, but they soon began including controversial political criticism!
From 1475 on, the Venetians recruited the stradioti light cavalry from the Balkans as borderland troops in Friuli to defend against Ottoman raids.
These were known for cutting off the heads of dead or captured enemies and wanted to be paid extra for every head they brought back!
In one instance during the Ottoman raid on the town of Spilimbergo in 1499, the stradioti were able to respond quickly enough and in cooperation with local Friulian militias killed around 100 Ottomans whose heads they brought to a Venetian commander, demanding to be paid!
The territory of Friuli was acquired by Venice relatively late in 1420 following the collapse of the state of the Patriarchate of Aquileia.
Friuli would become a troubled borderland of Venice and faced many powerful enemies to the east.
I keep thinking about this town of Mahdia in Tunisia.
It used to be an important port but brutal wars through history reduced it to a quiet fishing town.
It's a place of significance for Western history as the first successful crusade-like expedition was launched here in 1087.
The Mahdia campaign of 1087 was a huge success for Pope Victor III who was able to rally the rival Italian maritime republics of Pisa, Genoa and Amalfi behind the Christian banner to attack the hated Muslim port of Mahdia from where pirate raids were staged by the Zirids.
11th century saw the rise of the maritime Republic of Pisa which was punching far above its weight in terms of power.
The Pisans continuously clashed with the Muslims for control of the Mediterranean and were eventually able to bring the war to them, sacking Tunis in 1130.