Battle of Agnadello

Overview

The Battle of Agnadello, also known as Vailà, was fought on 14 May 1509 between the army of King Louis XII of France and the Venetian rear-guard elements commanded by Bartolomeo d'Alviano. After a three hour struggle, and after Bartolomeo found himself abandoned by a part of his army, the Venetians were defeated with losses in excess of 4,000 men. Louis then occupied the rest of Lombardy.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The Battle of Agnadello was fought between the French army of King Louis XII and Venetian forces commanded by Bartolomeo d'Alviano. After a three-hour struggle, d'Alviano's force — described as rear-guard elements — was defeated with losses in excess of 4,000 men, a severe blow given that the Venetian force engaged numbered around 8,000 against a French army of roughly 30,000. A contributing factor in the defeat was the abandonment of part of d'Alviano's force mid-battle. The immediate strategic consequence was decisive: Louis XII proceeded to occupy the rest of Lombardy. Within the War of the League of Cambrai, which had arrayed France and other powers against Venice, Agnadello thus represented a pivotal French success that stripped Venice of its mainland territorial position in Lombardy and demonstrated the vulnerability of Venetian land power when confronted by a substantially larger French force.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (3)