Italian Wars

Italian Wars: Main Causes and Consequences
The Italian Wars, also known as the Great Italian Wars and the Wars of Italy, were a series of conflicts that occurred between 1494 and 1559 that involved,on separate occasions, the main countries of Western Europe : France , Spain , Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation , England , the Republic of Venice , the Papal States and most Italiancity-states , as well as the Ottoman Empire .
Initially it was a dynastic dispute about the inheritance rights of France on the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples , but the war quickly became territorialand power struggles between the players. The wars were marked by alliances, counter-alliances and frequent betrayals.
The Italian Peninsula had suffered during the Middle Ages numerous and constantconflicts between the various political entities occupying its territory.
However, in the second half of XIV century , though fragile, was reached some stability. In the north, the Treaty ofLodi (April 4 of 1454) ended the wars of Lombardy and brought peace for the development of the flourishing governments of Cosme and Lorenzo de Medici in Florence . In the south, the House de Aragón, whichreigned in Sicily (since 1282), Sardinia (1323) and Naples (1442), maintained its hegemony and integrity supported by the deterrent that gave him his powerful army.
The Kingdom of Naples, whose disputebegan the Wars of Italy, belonged to Aragon since 1442 when Alfonso V the Magnanimous snatched it to René of Anjou . Since then was ruled by monarchs of the Aragonese dynasty, which in practice made ita protectorate of the king of Aragon. Also, it was feudal lord of the Pope .
The division between the various conflicts that make up the whole of the Italian Wars was never standardized, varyingaccording to the dates in which they took place, of the monarchs who participated in them or the reasons that motivated them. The complexity of the whole, given by the many participants, stages,...