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Y305: The Renaissance c.1400–c.1600

The Impact of War: the Sack of Rome, new warfare and Machiavelli

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on the Sack of Rome, changes in artillery and infantry, the trace italienne, artists’ military work, The Prince and its conflict with Christian morality, and war and the universal man.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What was the effect of the Sack of Rome in 1527?

Numbers

What changes took place in infantry warfare?

Key term

Give two examples of Renaissance artists working on military projects.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What was the effect of the Sack of Rome in 1527?

    Model answer

    Mutinous imperial troops devastated the city, ended the papacy's role as the great free-spending patron for a generation, and scattered artists and scholars from Rome to other Italian and European courts.

  2. 2

    How did artillery change warfare in this period?

    Model answer

    The French brought mobile bronze cannon firing iron shot in 1494, which could quickly breach the high thin walls of medieval castles and towns, making sieges far shorter and old fortifications obsolete.

  3. 3

    What changes took place in infantry warfare?

    Model answer

    Massed Swiss and German pike squares displaced heavy cavalry as the decisive arm, and the arquebus proved its power at Pavia in 1525, where Francis I was captured.

  4. 4

    Describe the trace italienne.

    Model answer

    It was the new Italian system of fortification using low, thick, earth-backed walls with projecting angled bastions, so that defending guns could sweep every approach and cannon shot was absorbed rather than shattering the wall.

  5. 5

    Give two examples of Renaissance artists working on military projects.

    Model answer

    Leonardo da Vinci served as military engineer to Cesare Borgia, and Michelangelo directed the fortification of Florence during the siege of 1529.

  6. 6

    What is The Prince and when was it written?

    Model answer

    It is Machiavelli's short treatise on how a ruler gains, holds and loses power, written in 1513 after his fall from office and published in 1532.

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