How a domestic feud in Milan triggered the first major Italian War of 1494
The Italian War of 1494 began not with a grand geopolitical strategy, but with a bitter rivalry between two duchesses in Milan. When Ludovico Sforza felt threatened by his father-in-law, the King of Naples, he invited the French monarch to invade, inadvertently sparking a conflict that reshaped European power.
The conflict originated in the complex power dynamics of the Duchy of Milan. Ludovico Sforza, ruling as regent for his nephew Gian Galeazzo, faced intense pressure from his wife, Beatrice d'Este, and his niece-in-law, Isabella of Aragon. Isabella, married to the inept Gian Galeazzo, resented Beatrice’s influence. When Isabella’s father, Alfonso of Aragon, ascended the Neapolitan throne in 1494 and seized Bari, Ludovico feared for his position and invited Charles VIII of France to invade Italy to secure his own power.
Charles VIII arrived in 1494 with an army of 25,000 to 30,000 troops, including thousands of Swiss mercenaries and a revolutionary siege train of artillery. His campaign was marked by rapid movement and brutal sackings, such as at Mordano and Fivizzano. By February 1495, he captured Naples without a fight. However, his success was short-lived. The League of Venice, an alliance of Italian states, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire, formed in March 1495 to expel him. The subsequent Battle of Fornovo in July 1495 allowed Charles to retreat to France, though he lost most of his war booty.
The war had lasting consequences beyond the battlefield. It is believed to be the site of the first documented outbreak of syphilis among French troops in Naples. Furthermore, the conflict exposed the vulnerability of Italian states to foreign intervention. By 1496, England joined the League of Venice, signaling the war's transition into a broader European struggle. The peace eventually concluded between France and Milan in October 1495 left other allies feeling betrayed, illustrating the fragile and shifting loyalties that defined this era of Italian politics.
Source: Italian War of 1494–1495
