Historically, Europe may have been the most war-fighting region in the world, or since the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe has entered a "Warring States Era". Especially after the division of the Charlemagne Empire, wars in Western Europe became more frequent, and the "Crusades", the Hundred Years' War between England and France, and the "Reconquistation Movement" in Spain all occurred during the Renaissance. Such a large number of wars are bound to require a large number of soldiers, as the main role in the military system - soldiers, its military organization is mainly manifested as samurai army, mercenary army, slave army, regular army, conscription army, militia. In Italy, because of its performance as a "small country and a widow", mercenaries became the main role. Mercenarism is a profession, a service messenger who sells military service for money, and while it is also for the purpose of receiving things such as land granting, citizenship or preferential treatment, military service is chosen only as a means of subsistence. In Italy, although mercenaries are the protagonists of the military system, the scale of wars is generally not large, although their number is not large, and mercenaries are mostly mobile and flow with war. By the 16th century the total number of mercenaries throughout Europe averaged 500,000. Throughout the Middle Ages, mercenaries were the protagonists, culminating in the Thirty Years' War, and then fading out of Italian history as Italy became a vassal of the Western European powers.
An introduction to the explanation of mercenaries
As a military system, there is a definite existence, under this invisible system, there is a special group, that is, mercenaries, who pursue the life creed of "selling their lives for money, selling their lives for risks", most of them can not see the sun, and have been struggling on the edge of politics; Regarding mercenaries, in addition to mystery, perhaps the most common thing is misunderstanding. In addition to money, they sometimes fight for honor, such as the Swiss Guard in the Vatican, but whether mercenaries are professional death squads or rabble-rousers, they exist justified, and mercenaries have their own reasons for existence. From ancient times to the present, from hot wars to the Cold War, from military to political, mercenaries have been active everywhere.
Mercenary, in English, is synonymous with "mercenary". The old Chinese saying "There will be brave men under heavy rewards" is a vivid description of this type of person. Wikipedia explains mercenaries this way: They are a special kind of soldier, a group of people who participate in an armed conflict for personal gain. The purpose of entering the war is only for money, rewards, as long as the other party bids high enough, he can be employed by anyone. Mercenaries do not enter into war for ideological or political beliefs, patriotism, or moral principles. "Selling for money, selling for risks" is the unswerving life creed of mercenaries, so it is defined as a type of person who is hired to carry out various terrorist activities such as assassination, kidnapping, smuggling, and even coup d'état. Unveiling its mystery, we will find that mercenaries have a complex composition and all kinds of people, but they have a common feature, that is, they like war, and war is everything in their lives. Article II of the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 1977 defines a mercenary as a person who has been specially recruited locally or outside the territory for combat in armed conflict; Participation in military operations for the purpose of gaining private interests and the material rewards received by one party to the conflict far exceeding those received by combatants within the regular forces; Neither citizens of a party to the conflict nor residents of territories controlled by a party to the conflict, members of the armed forces of a party to the conflict, or persons dispatched by States not parties to the conflict to perform official duties. The Convention also stipulates that mercenaries shall not have the right to be combatants or prisoners of war.
Mercenaries are the second oldest profession in human history, they are a special group, a special army, a profession that is closely related to war and close.
The historical origins of the Italian mercenaries in the Middle Ages
The history of mercenaries in Europe is very long, in the ancient era of Greek history has been the use of mercenaries for war activities, Greece is a country with many mountains and little flat land, its small peasant economy is very fragile, it is difficult to feed many people, coupled with Greece in the ancient wind era to the transition to the city-state system, its internal contradictions intensified, in the event of natural disasters and man-made disasters, small farmers are even worse, had to borrow from the nobles, rich people. "At that time, the poor people who were in debt and lost their land, in addition to becoming debt slaves, some became dependents, some drifted overseas to become mercenaries, and some left their homes and migrated to other places" The turmoil of ancient Greek politics and the prevalence of tyranny also provided a necessary premise for the emergence of mercenaries. The ancient Greek city-states were very obvious in the struggle between various interest groups, which also provided conditions for the emergence of tyrants. Some tyrants originated as corroborats. After these tyrants came to power, in order to prevent the overthrown nobles from counterattacking, it was often necessary to establish a guard of their own state or foreigners, which were essentially mercenaries. In addition, the frequent wars and political turmoil throughout the Mediterranean at that time provided a huge overseas market for ancient Greek mercenaries.
Not only did ancient Greece use mercenaries in warfare, but the Roman Empire also used mercenaries for its service. The main source of mercenaries in the Roman Empire was the friendly forces of the allied city-states, who promised to pay a lot of money, and then these allied city-states would send reinforcements to support, also known as mercenaries, vassals, and vassals. Most of the time, these city-states were defeated by the Roman Empire and signed treaties stipulating that when the Roman army went out, they had to send a certain number of troops to fight together. Once these troops betrayed, even if they could escape, the people of their homeland would be retaliated against by the Romans, so generally speaking, their loyalty was guaranteed, but at the same time never expect them to fight for your life.
The Romans were very focused on war strategy, and they would often select enemies of the enemy as their friendly forces, and hire their troops to fight with themselves, which were the early roman mercenaries. By the time of Malleus' reforms, most of these mercenaries had been regularized and had become vassal legions of Rome, while the remaining remained allies of Rome, fighting against roman legions when necessary. In addition to the friendly armies of the tribes attached to the city-state, there were also some abolition of the number of troops, or some local bandit groups, such mercenaries were usually either as the private arms of the nobles or continued to be local bandits, and in times of national crisis, the Roman generals or senate would send people to contact the leaders of these groups, and promised them a large reward to fight for Rome. But the loyalty of such mercenaries is hardly guaranteed. In the late Roman Empire, there were many incidents in which mercenary leaders in turn surrounded Rome and demanded higher rewards. In addition, there were barbarian mercenaries in the late Roman Empire, most of the time under the leadership of tribal leaders, the entire tribe turned to the Roman Empire to seek refuge, and in exchange, the tribe would organize a certain number of young people to fight for the Roman Empire as mercenaries of the Roman Empire, and most of the leaders of these mercenary groups were tribal leaders, and the Western Roman Empire died at the hands of such mercenaries.
It can be said that mercenaries accompanied the entire process of the decline of the Roman Empire, and after the fall of the Roman Empire, the frequent wars in Europe provided a good market for mercenaries to survive, which was also an important reason and historical source for the emergence of mercenaries in Italy in the Middle Ages.
The reason for the emergence of mercenaries in Italy in the Middle Ages
The urban system and urban network of the Italian peninsula directly influenced the economic and political life of Renaissance Italy. Most of the cities in northern and central Italy belonged to the industrial and commercial cities, with developed manufacturing and commercial prosperity, which were the economic centers of the time, while the southern cities were mainly administrative centers and consumer cities, so in the early capitalist economy of this period, the contribution of the southern cities was not large. Politically, during the Renaissance, on the basis of the above-mentioned urban network, a territorial state with small and medium-sized cities in the region as the core was gradually formed, which further strengthened the control of italian politics and the polycentric political pattern on the Italian peninsula, which had a far-reaching impact on the subsequent course of Italian history, and this political pattern of polycentric local autonomy greatly delayed the formation of a unified nation-state in Italy, and the various city-states fought with each other, conquered each other, and frequent wars.
Italy's economic affluence was the main reason for the covetousness of other countries in Western Europe, and political divisions made this covetousness a market for mercenaries from other countries to earn a living. Medieval Italy was fragmented and had not yet formed a unified state, with the Republic of Florence, the Duchy of Milan, Venice, Genoa and other small states in the north, the Papal States in the center and the Kingdom of Naples in the south. Only a few of these countries have entered the modern capitalist society, and the vast majority of the other countries belong to feudal society. But the main reason is the strength of Italian cities and the relative weakness of feudal rule.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, on the one hand, there were constant wars between various city-states, competing with each other for supremacy; On the other hand, within the city-states, the class struggle is also very fierce and complex: there is the struggle of the "thin" (the poor) against the "fat" (the rich), there is the struggle of the industrialists and merchants against the feudal aristocracy, there is the struggle between the Gelphists (the Papal Party) and the Giberings (the Emperor's Party), there is the struggle between the famous families; In some economically developed cities, along with the emergence of the embryonic capitalism, the struggle of the proletarians against the bourgeoisie arose. The intricate and fierce struggles caused long-term unrest in the city-states.
The history of Renaissance Italy is the history of its five main countries. A delicate balance of power was maintained between these five regimes: the Kingdom of Naples, the Papal States, and the three northern city-states of Florence, Milan, and Venice. Naples was originally ruled by the French Dynasty and later administered by Aragon. Central Italy was still ruled by the Pope after consultation with the local nobility and due to the political unrest in Rome. Milan and subsequent Florence ceased to be a republic and were placed under the rule of a self-proclaimed autocratic monarch, during which Time Venice remained a republic, controlled by a small number of commercial oligarchs. There were many small-scale wars that created a golden age for the special product of Italian civilization— mercenary captains, military adventurers. In terms of foreign policy, the italian city-states actively pursued a policy of territorial annexation, and the larger states always wanted to annex the smaller states in order to establish their own regional or all-Italian hegemony. For example, in the 14th and 15th centuries, there were hundreds of small states annexed by the Visconti family alone.
In addition to the economic and political situation, chivalry also had an important impact on the emergence of mercenaries. Knights, the first impression we give us is war, when in fact Europe has entered an era of "strife among nations" since the fall of the Roman Empire, with monarchs large and small fighting with feudal armies, and large commercial cities and small republics fighting with mercenaries. Among them, most of the wars used by feudal armies were related to knights, who were in a strong position militarily. Most belonged to the aristocracy, some of whom also held administrative and judicial power, and these people played a prominent role in medieval society in Western Europe. In medieval Europe, a nobleman was a well-trained samurai. War is the beginning and the end of its training.
During the Renaissance, the knightly class joined the ranks of mercenaries for economic reasons on the one hand, and on the other hand, many mercenary captains came from the aristocratic class among the knights. At the same time, during the Renaissance, the qualities of the knightly class themselves found a path suitable for their own survival through a strife society in the midst of great social change. As one of the elites of that era, their values have always been linked to the military, only they themselves understand that the value of knights can only be best realized through war and military behavior, the highest honor of knights can only be reflected in war, war is their actual needs, war can bring them material to spiritual satisfaction, so they keep pace with the times during the Renaissance, or helplessly choose to join the ranks of mercenaries, and play their own specialties in this ranks. And that era of strife gave them such an opportunity.
In terms of religion, with the rise of capitalism, the confrontation between secular monarchy and clerical power intensified, and the intensification of contradictions led to armed conflict. During the Renaissance, with the advent of capitalist modes of production, this change had a profound impact on the "return of all kinds" of power in medieval Europe, the Church, first of all, to the absolute authority of the Pope. Driven by the powerful power of capital, the new civic class has stepped onto the stage of history. Proceeding from the economic interests of their own class, they formed an alliance with the king in the power struggle between the king and the pope, demanding the unity of the country, and thus developed a strong sense of the supremacy of national and national interests. At the same time, the public opinion orientation of western European intellectual circles is also conducive to the strengthening of monarchical power. The "prisoner of Avignon" is the result of this struggle of the nation-state to papal authority, so that the situation of two popes and two holy sees has emerged, and from a political point of view, it is the result of the struggle between France, Italy, and Germany for the control of the holy see. This also forces the countries of Western Europe and the political blocs to support one side and oppose the other according to their own political needs and economic interests. On the side of supporting the Pope are Italy, Germany, Bohemia, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, England, etc., and on the side of Pope Avignon are France, Spain, and Scotland. In this way, the countries of Western Europe split into two hostile camps. The focus of these contradictions is in Italy, which is divided and rich, and all these religious factors also provide a good excuse for the prevalence of the mercenary system in Italy.
Introduction to the Medieval Italian Mercenaries: Organizational Composition, Performance
Soldier source
Renaissance Italy, whether it was a city-state republic or a kingdom, was characterized by "small countries and widows". With this limited human resources and the uncertainty of the effective use of mercenaries, these city-state monarchs naturally saw them as their citizens. Its army composition is mainly dominated by mercenaries, as well as citizen army, but in the Renaissance Italian citizen army because of its domestic party strife, the citizens and nobles do not trust each other, so the citizen army is a very small part, but in the later period, the drawbacks of mercenaries are becoming more and more obvious, and there are signs of a large number of use of citizen army in Florence. By the 16th century, the standing army and militia were supplemented by mercenaries.
As a major player in the Italian mercenary system during the Renaissance, the mercenary captain was able to achieve each other's goals by contracting a contract with another main character monarch, that is, between the Italian city government and the hired generals. The main duty of the mercenary captain is to find the presence of a hostile force and to provide a battle without delay, providing a guarantee of survival for his men. This relationship was very common in Italy between the 14th and 15th centuries.
As a major player in the mercenary system, its captain is not only a general, he is also a prudent entrepreneur who makes huge returns from investment. From the huge proceeds paid to him, the mercenary captain retains enough to provide food, clothing and weapons for his soldiers, and a part is set aside for signing sub-level contracts with other mercenary captains. The mercenary captain would quickly pay the soldiers a salary (plus, not only the promised loot, but sometimes something extra). Armies that do not receive honorariums are difficult to control and easy to escape. On the battlefield, mercenary captains are cautious, inclined to be strategic and mobile, unwilling to lead their own armies into hopeless plans. But when necessary, mercenary captains also take great risks, and many mercenary captains and their soldiers die on the battlefield.
This trait is more distinctive in the Italian mercenary captain than any group of characters in the Renaissance. On the one hand, such figures were deeply hated by the Italian humanists, and on the other hand, in this era of "mercenary captains", such figures were also one of the patron roles of the Renaissance. These were the rulers of some of italy's small city-states and the ranks of mercenary captains, such as the rulers of Ferrara, Mantua, and Urbino, and it was through this control of the cities that it made it possible for them to cultivate the culture of the Renaissance. Without this historical role, people today would not have learned about the great achievements of that era.
In Renaissance Italy there were two types of mercenary captain roles, one belonged to the aristocratic class, this type of mercenary captain, whether from foreign or italian native, they all through their military merits and then rose to the rank of marquis, such as Sir John Hawkwood from England, he was a knight who learned many skills in the Hundred Years' War and obtained the title of knight. He was demobilized after the Peace of Bretikin was signed in 1360 and was employed by Pisa in Italy in 1364. As head of white's company, he later fought for the Pope and Milan, became a general of Florence in 1382, and commanded an army protecting Florentine interests for many years before his death in 1394. To thank him for his service, the government also made a statue of him in his memory. In addition, there were descendants of small nobles from the heart of Italy, and both Muzio and Braccio grew up to be important mercenary captains of their time. The former fought for Florence and Milan until 1412, when he began serving King Ladislas and Queen Joanna II of the Kingdom of Naples. Braccio occupies his birthplace and makes himself the owner of the land, the first mercenary captain to own the state. In 1420, Pope Martin V recognized his legitimacy and conferred on him the title of "Diocesan Bishop". Another type of mercenary captain is that he is the ruler of some small Italian cities, and they maintain their small state by being a mercenary captain. In addition, some people from abroad, such as Maximilian I of Germany, Charles VI of France, louis XII of France, are a kind of mercenary captain, but this kind of mercenary captain is a bit like a robber.
The mercenary captain is not so much a leader as an entrepreneur, who knows how to maximize the benefits of investment, retaining enough of his huge income to provide food, clothing and weapons for his soldiers, and he knows how to be flexible and mobile on the battlefield. The great advantage of mercenaries is that they already know how to use weapons and how to deploy themselves to fight. So in order to win on the battlefield, they pay more attention to the use of new weapons. In fact, the Renaissance was militarily manifested as a transition from the previous era of iron weapons to the era of mixed iron and fire weapons. In the past, the military equipment of knights was roughly divided into three aspects, namely, riding war horses, offensive weapons, defensive armor and shields. Weapons include spears, swords, short swords, bows and arrows, etc., and by the Renaissance, the appearance of infantry as the main and cavalry as a supplement, while firearms troops appeared; Thanks to the advancement of metallurgical technology, weapons were improved, and at the same time firearms, muskets, artillery appeared, the use of these weapons made mercenaries guaranteed the greatest victory on the battlefield at a small cost.
Mercenaries are soldiers who fight for remuneration, and they are often hired by countries to which they have no allegiance. Most renaissance soldiers were mercenaries. The total number of mercenaries in Europe in the 16th century averaged 500,000. Mercenaries active in Italy are mainly from Britain, France, Spain, Germany and Switzerland. Most of the mercenaries condemned by Pietrak were foreigners rather than Italians, such as the German, Hungarian, and French and British armies who trampled on Italy for most of the 14th century. After Anjou occupied southern Italy, a large number of French troops were introduced, and they were soon employed in some parts of Italy. In the French army, there are many civilized Swiss mercenaries; The Catalans of Sibanya were also among the early mercenaries. Henry VII came to Italy at the beginning of the 14th century, and the ambitions and interests of the Empire brought many Germans to Italy. In 1340, Jovana I of Naples married the youngest brother of the Hungarian king and later her Hungarian husband was killed, leading to a large number of Hungarian troops coming to Italy. Finally, the British and French armies came to Italy, where they were in a state of temporary truce and no work after the Signing of the Treaty of Bretini in 1360 during the Hundred Years' War. Like Swiss and German mercenaries, most small-scale mercenaries during the Renaissance consisted of soldiers recruited en masse from a region. In general, these areas, such as Gasconi, Swabia and Scotland, are plagued by high unemployment and depressed economies. In medieval Switzerland, because its territory was mostly mountainous and resource-poor, many people used mercenaries as a profession. Because the language barrier could be a conundrum, a high degree of coordination within them that could easily communicate was strategically important, and by 1500 there might have been a hundred soldiers in these mercenary groups, heavy cavalry and spearmen dominated the mercenary market in the 15th century, and between 1500 and 1600, soldiers experienced in the use of artillery and small firearms gradually replaced most cavalry. The famous mercenary on horseback in the 15th century was the leader of mercenaries in Italy.
Due to various factors, foreign mercenaries served in Italy until the 1670s, without any problems. In general, they are stronger and more specialized than the Italian army. Politically, these mercenaries from abroad were used only when they were not too risky. The people believed that a foreign mercenary captain was not an Italian nobleman, and that he was unlikely to usurp an Italian state power. For this reason, for most of the 14th century, foreign mercenaries and their captains played an important role in Italy, but at the same time these foreign mercenaries included Italians. In addition, there were also Italian mercenary captains who fought with their own troops and foreign mercenaries. From the late 14th century onwards, these foreign mercenaries gradually began to leave the Italian battlefield, and the native Italians took on the role of "mercenaries". On the one hand, there were wars elsewhere in Europe, and many foreign mercenaries were thrown into a wider market, while on the other hand, Italy's economy was in recession and it was no longer able to pay mercenaries.
Military organization
Mercenaries were often organized according to legions, led by excellent soldiers and shrewd merchants who demanded money. Since mercenaries act only on the basis of market principles, regardless of the nature and purpose of war, they must have sufficient pockets of money if they want to win the war. As an organizer of mercenaries, first and foremost a man of great financial resources and ability. His first step was to recruit commanders, commonly referred to as military contractors, and then sign appointment-type agency contracts with these military contractors, laying out the detailed terms and legal relationships, determining the budget for funds, and then the military contractors themselves went to find the deputies and the heads of the formations. Most of these commanders were the descendants of the bankrupt knights of the minor princes, with considerable military talent, and some had undergone continuous tempering in various wars and were very experienced. In addition, these people generally have a group of people he knows well, and after being hired, he will first go to his former courtiers and friends to be his deputies and group leaders. These are the most important positions of a team, and these positions have trustworthy people, and a team is basically guaranteed, forming a combat core and organizational system.
The next task is to review the situation of these candidates, at a certain time and place, the commander screens the candidates according to their physique, mental outlook and their own weapons, whether they can be selected, to ensure whether these candidates are qualified, and to count the number of people, to prevent those who fish in muddy waters to defraud commissions. Then they went into formation work, organized into a company of as many people as possible, and some mercenaries of the general size were 400 people in a company, and 10 companies were organized into a regiment. Mercenaries in Switzerland, for example, are such an establishment. Each company has a certain number of veterans, and the main role is to lead the new from the old, and usually the remuneration of these veterans is two parts of the remuneration of the new recruits. Commanders also appoint ombudsmen and supervisors, flag officers. After the formation, the commander announces to the mercenaries the provisions of the mercenary industry specification, clarifying the rights and obligations of each branch of the army and stipulating restrictions. At the same time, these provisions are complex and strict, and almost every violation and its punishment are listed: such as mutiny and unauthorized plunder are punished, no dereliction of duty is allowed to buy drunk, only one woman is allowed to accompany the army, etc. In general, such publicity activities are carried out once at a certain time, especially on the eve of going to the front, such publicity activities must be held once to improve morale. In addition to the company commander, each company consisted of an adjutant, a chaplain, a military doctor, and a quartermaster. The remaining procedure also consists of groups of rows below, each of which decides for itself the platoon leader. In addition, there were various non-staff members in the team, soldiers often dragged their families with them, and sometimes some traders would accompany the army, even prostitutes. Finally, the first month's salary was paid, and a mercenary army was officially formed. This was followed by the legion organizers looking for countries and regions at war, and then signing a contract with the monarch of the mercenary country to determine the number of troops to be conscripted and armed, the remuneration to be paid, and the time and place of the first call. Sometimes, in anticipation of danger (or simply to prevent the team from being recruited by another war country), a "late payment" ("wartgelt" in German, meaning "money in waiting") is not paid until the entire dispatch has been completed or the crisis has passed. In most cases, however, mercenary organizers should ensure that their men "pay as they see fit".
Mercenary corps come in all sizes, and in general, contemporaries of noble birth, if they have greater financial resources, can recruit more military forces. For mercenaries active in Italy, foreign mercenaries were the main ones in the early stage, and more Italian mercenaries in the later period.
Weaponry and actual combat performance
The era of the Indentured witnessed the further development of war. In the 15th century, light cavalry became increasingly important, and they were used to find food and scout and pursue defeated enemies in battle. By the 1670s, the Italians began recruiting hussars known as the Scots, usually of Greek or Albanian descent. Stradiotelli served in the Venetian army for a long time, but they began to be used by other Italian countries, and they had spears, bows or crossbows on their bodies. Around 1480, Naples began employing Tirkis light cavalry, who also proved the important role of cavalry in warfare.
Although infantry warfare was often associated with cavalry, the use of infantry also increased in the 15th century. These individuals were previously demoted to garrison missions because they were seen as vulnerable and unreliable in open operations. By the mid-15th century, mercenaries began to include a large number of infantry. These were heavy infantry, the armor was relatively good, protected and fought with swords or pole arms, light infantry armies also included light infantry carrying swords and shields, and while some mercenaries used archers, the main catapult weapon in Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries was the crossbow. With the advancement of gunpowder technology, these technologies were gradually replaced by pistolmen. Pistols of this period were very simple, easy to produce and relatively easy to produce. In the armies of the 14th and 15th centuries, craftsmen slowly replaced crossbowmen, not only for garrisons, but also in the field army, the earliest Italian pistol, Chapelo, which was dated to the late 13th century, and its simplest form was nothing more than a giant barrel mounted on a pole with an exhaust hole. As technology progressed, so did the technology of the pistol, making it a more effective and reliable weapon. By the end of the 14th century, muskets had been developed: a fixed weapon fitted with a spring trigger. In the 1690s, the armies of the Papal States were able to deploy cavalry musketeers. Larger gunpowder weapons proved more problematic. Artillery manufacturing technology has developed relatively slowly. On the battlefield, the movement and deployment of artillery poses huge practical problems. Their slow firing speed meant that they usually did not play much role in better-maneuverable enemies, and it was common practice to use them only in garrisons. In the 15th century, the use of battlefield fortifications increased, which meant that the cannon found a new battlefield role. They were most commonly used in sieges, and in 1357 Galeto Maratesta was the first to use mortars, an original type of mortar, in the Italian sieges.
Mercenaries, as a profession that exist for money in their own right, sometimes become dangerous to employers to a greater extent than mercenaries are dangerous to their enemies. In order to squeeze money from their employers, these wealthy mercenaries sometimes deliberately delayed a long battle, or resorted to sit-in strikes, or even threatened a complete retreat in an emergency. For money, many people will not hesitate to blackmail or defect, and some even usurp power themselves in the countries they so call defending. Mercenaries not only cause harm to the national economy and people's livelihood, but are also often inferior and incompetent militarily. Their chess-playing tactics may have been exaggerated, but mercenary leaders were most concerned with the fact that they preserved their strength and pay their salaries, not to destroy the enemy. The most obvious military weakness of the mercenaries was their crushing defeat at the Battle of Fornovo in July 1495, despite the fact that their opponents, the army of King Charles VIII of France, were inferior in strength. Machiavelli was sent to the front line of the siege of the city of Pisa on the Arnault River to inspect the Gasconian mercenaries and Swiss mercenaries fighting for Florence. The mercenaries were embarrassed by the issue of salaries and refused to carry out orders, which resulted in the defeat of the siege. This is why Machiavelli hates mercenaries. The Italian wars of the Renaissance, in general, were not large in scale, and the Italians were more focused on diplomatic strategy, and many wars ended at the beginning, so the two sides signed peace agreements, so these mercenaries became a burden when there was nothing else to do, and in the face of the threat of poverty, many mercenaries decided to continue to fight, but this time for their own sake, the mercenaries would sometimes seize and hold some castles, and levy protection fees on the surrounding areas until they were satisfied.
epilogue
The fact that mercenaries flourished in Italy and accompanied the rise and fall of Italy shows how wrong it is for a country to entrust the responsibility of defending the country to mercenaries, so many people of insight of the time witnessed the shortcomings of this system and proposed measures to reform, although they failed, but at least mercenaries were unpopular in many countries. The prevalence of mercenaries in Italy is only an inevitable choice in special circumstances, political divisions, coupled with the "small country and widow" type of state. Italy went from a few hundred small states in the early Middle Ages to the remaining five major states in the 15th century, and to some extent the use of mercenaries was also a major condition for hastening the demise of these small "states".
The history of mercenaries is more of an experience left to later countries to govern the army and govern the country, and it is in practice that Britain, France, Spain and other countries have discovered the various ills of the Italian city-state in using mercenaries, thus establishing their own professional legions, the clear purpose of which is to inspire the same enduring tradition of bravery and strict group loyalty, and to take a step closer to the modern nation-state.
During the Renaissance, Italian mercenaries faded from Italian history as the Italian city-states declined, and then Italy became a dependency of Spain and France, appearing on the world stage with a new style; Today's world situation is still like the situation in Italy during the Renaissance, with many countries, history seems to repeat itself, and the mercenary phenomenon illustrates all this.
(Zhilan Society)