773 – 774 · Northern Italy Theater
773 – 774
Answering the Pope's appeal against the Lombards, Charlemagne crossed the Alps and besieged the Lombard capital of Pavia through the winter. When the city surrendered in 774, he deposed and imprisoned King Desiderius, took the Iron Crown of the Lombards for himself, and annexed the kingdom of Italy to his own realm.
Commanders