The Italian War of 1521–1526 was a part of the Italian Wars. The war
pitted Francis I of France and the Republic of Venice against the Holy
Roman Emperor Charles V, Henry VIII of England, and the Papal States.
The conflict arose from animosity over the election of Charles as
Emperor in 1519–20 and from Pope Leo X's need to ally with Charles
against Martin Luther. The war broke out across western Europe late in
1521 when the French invaded Navarre and the Low Countries. Imperial
forces overcame the invasion and attacked northern France, where they
were stopped in turn. The Pope, the Emperor, and Henry VIII then signed
a formal alliance against France, and hostilities began on the Italian
peninsula. At the Battle of Bicocca, Imperial and Papal forces defeated
the French, driving them from Lombardy. Following the battle, fighting
again spilled onto French soil, while Venice made a separate peace. The
English invaded France in 1523. A French attempt to regain Lombardy in
1524 failed and provided Bourbon with an opportunity to invade Provence
at the head of a Spanish army. Francis himself led a second attack on
Milan in 1525. While he was initially successful in driving back the
Spanish and Imperial forces, his disastrous defeat at the Battle of
Pavia, where he was captured and many of his chief nobles were killed,
led to the end of the war. Although the Italian Wars would continue for
another three decades, they would end with France having failed to
regain any substantial territories in Italy.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_War_of_1521%E2%80%931526>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1775:
American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Quebec, British forces
repulsed an attack by the Continental Army to capture Quebec City and
enlist French Canadian support.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Quebec_%281775%29>
1857:
Queen Victoria selected Ottawa as the capital of the British colony of
Canada.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa>
1972:
American baseball player Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash en
route to deliver aid to victims of the Nicaragua earthquake.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Clemente>
1999:
Boris Yeltsin, the first democratically elected President of Russia,
resigned and named Vladimir Putin as Acting President.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin>
2004:
Taipei 101 in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan, one of the world's
tallest skyscrapers, opened to the public.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_101>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
ancillary (adj):
Subordinate; secondary; auxiliary; accessory
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ancillary>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy... Let's go exploring!
--w:Calvin and Hobbes
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/w%3ACalvin_and_Hobbes>