- War has seldom been fun.
But the idiocy of the wars taking place on the Italian Peninsula during the Renaissance were, in part, highly laughable and ridiculous.
Most experts of this department of European history admit it is extremely difficult to figure out what the conflicts between these national leaders actually were all about. Probably, it was even more difficult for these rulers to understand themselves.
According to most sources, the troops of Cesare Borgia were very cruel. Not to speak of their commander himself.
However, a Renaissance Florentine like Luca Landucci author of “Diario Fiorentino dal 1450 al 1516”) actually viewed wars fought on Italian soil mainly being far too sissy in nature and also complained no real physical contact between the combatants took place.
Landucci, furthermore, called for the necessity of Italians
learning the art of true warfare from the nations north of Italy.
Apart from being an amateur historian, Landucci was a rather well off pharmacist.
Thanks to him, we today know young Florentine boys occasionally enjoyed playing some sort of football with the heads of newly decapitated criminals.
Italian Renaissance wars were largely fought by mercenary condottieri, which is Italian for "contractors."
Not surprisingly, the condottieri on opposing sides were not anxious to destroy their capital investment, their army, by engaging in mutually bloody battle. Their wars therefore tended to be sieges or minimally bloody manuever-fests.
This did not, however, keep the wars themselves from being bloody, as soldiers on all sides had no problems with pillaging and killing civilians.
Machievelli saw the problems with mercenary armies and tried to organize a Florentine national army. Didn't work out.
Not surprisingly, numerous condottieri took over as tyrants of many Italian states.
The whole system collapsed pretty thoroughly in 1494 with the French invasion. The condottieri fell apart when faced with a real army that fought for keeps.
Thereafter Italy was generally dominated and fought over by outsiders for the next 350 years or so.