The War of the League of Cambrai, also known by its second stage as the War of the Holy League, was fought from December 1508 to December 1516, as part of the wider Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fought for its entire duration, were France, the Holy Roman Empire, the Papal States, and the Republic of Venice; they were joined at various times by nearly every significant power in Western Europe, including Spain, England, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, the Duchy of Ferrara, and the Swiss.
The war was preceded by the Italienzug of Maximilian I, King of the Romans, who crossed into Venetian territory in February 1508 with the imperial army on the way to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the pope in Rome. Meanwhile, Pope Julius II, intending to curb Venetian influence in northern Italy, brought together the League of Cambrai, an anti-Venetian alliance consisting of him, Maximilian I, Louis XII of France, and Ferdinand II of Aragon, which was formally concluded in December 1508. Although the League was initially successful, later frictions between Julius and Louis culminated in the pope abandoning the League in 1510 and allying himself with Venice against France.
The Veneto–Papal alliance eventually expanded into the Holy League in 1511, that was also joined by Spain. The League drove the French from Italy in 1512. Later disagreements about the division of the spoils, however, led Venice to abandon the coalition in favor of an alliance with France in 1513. Under the leadership of Francis I, who had succeeded Louis on the throne of France, the French and Venetians would regain the territory they had lost in a campaign culminating in the Battle of Marignano in 1515; the treaties of Noyon (August 1516) and Brussels (December 1516), which were implemented by January 1517, would essentially return the map of Italy to the status quo of 1508.
This is an overview of notable events including battles during the war.
July 1506 – March 1507: A popular revolt in Genoa expelled the city's pro-French nobility to Savona. By late November 1506, king Louis XII of France was planning a military expedition to bring Genoa back under pro-French control.
28 March 1507: The Genoese revolutionary council declared war on the king of France, who had already reached Piedmont with his army.
22–29 April 1507: Siege of Genoa. French victory over the Genoese revolutionaries. Louis arranged a triumphal entry and forced the Genoese to swear loyalty to him.
April 1507: The Imperial Diet of Konstanz and Maximilian I declared Louis XII of France an enemy of Christianity and a threat to Italy, and requested (and received) funding for an Italienzug. Louis XII denied seeking war with the Empire or the Papacy.
14 May 1507: Louis XII left Genoa and held a similar triumphal entry in Milan.
28 June 1507: Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon met for six days at Savona to lay the groundwork for the League of Cambrai against Venice, most likely intending to include Maximilian and the Pope into the coalition. Ferdinand departed for Spain on 3 July.
July 1507: The Imperial Diet promised Maximilian 12,000 troops for his Italienzug. Because this was not enough to challenge the French in Milan, as he originally intended, Maximilian later ended up deciding to attack Venice instead on the grounds of refusing to ally with him against France, and refusing him passage to Rome.
Maximilian's Italienzug (1508)
24 January 1508: Maximilian requested permission to march to Rome through Venetian territory, but the Venetians suspected the ruse and prepared for war.
4 February 1508: Maximilian I proclaimed himself Holy Roman Emperor in Trento.
Early February 1508: Maximilian declared war on Venice. Venice requested France, then still their ally, to send aid, which Chaumont did in the form of several thousand troops from Milan.
20–21 February 1508: Imperial troops invaded Venice, sacking Ampezzo and besieging the Castello di Botestagno.
23 February 1508: Imperials captured Pieve di Cadore.
24 February 1508: Skirmish at Chiusa di Venas, Imperial victory over Venice.