September 1494 – February 1495 · The length of Italy Theater
September 1494 – February 1495
Charles VIII crossed the Alps with 25,000 men and a siege train of forty bronze guns on horse-drawn carriages, invited in by Milan to claim the throne of Naples. Italy's fortresses had been built to withstand months of medieval siege; the French guns reduced them in hours. He walked the length of the peninsula in four months and entered Naples without fighting a real battle.
Commanders