Renaissance warfare

"With the dawning of the Renaissance came not only enlightenment in painting and sculpture but also technological and social advances that changed forever the art of warfare. First, firearms replaced bows as the weapons of choice on Western battlefields; then the new skills of literacy, numeracy, and book knowledge became essential to lead men into war. Suddenly, the old order, and the old commanders, were out, and new-style armies were taking the world by storm"

Thomas F. Arnold (Author) : The Renaissance at War (Editor's note)

Renaissance armour

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  Late medieval armour after an italian painting (c. 1504-1505) in Castelfranco (Sienna).
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  Child Half-armour of young Francis II of France.
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  Heavy armoured horseman. Detail from the "The Battle of Issus" by Albrecht Altdorfer.
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  Half-armour : Portrait of Vincenzo Anastagi († 1585) by El Greco.
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Renaissance weaponery and military equipment

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  Halberds and pikes were the two main pole weapons of the Renaissance.
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  Type of tools used by foot soldiers by the end of the Middle Ages for "unhorsing" of heavily armoured noble horsemen to capture and ransom them.
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  Late 16th century Italian rondache shield.
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  Burgonet of Francis I of France.
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  16th century Spanish bronze helmet.
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  Gunpowder flasque.

Uniforms

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  Martin Frobisher by Ketel. During the Renaissance, regular uniforms were not yet of general use and fighting men still used civilian clothes under their military equipment.
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  The flamboyant Landknechts uniform.
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  Military musicians.
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  A Dutch army clerck after Hendrick Goltzius (1580s).

Cavalry

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  Charge of French Gendarmes during the Italian Wars.
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  Heavy cavalry charge. Detail from the "The Battle of Issus" by Albrecht Altdorfer.
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  Cavalry mêlée during the Battle of Jarnac.
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  Ottoman cavalry.
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  Renaissance Reiter.

Infantry

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  Mêlée of Swiss infantry and Landknechts. Engraving by Hans Holbein the Younger. Albertina, Vienna.
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  Early Renaissance infantry column.
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  Pikemen. Detail from the "The Battle of Issus" by Albrecht Altdorfer.
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  Arkebusier
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  Georgian infantry man of the 16th century.

Artillery

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  Renaissance artillery
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  16th century artillery.
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  Polish artillery at the Battle of Orsha.
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  Leonardo da Vinci project for a multi-barreled gun.
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  Turkish heavy bronze gun.

Naval warfare

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  Swedish warship of the Renaissance.
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  Ottoman and spanish warships during the Battle of Tunis, 1535.
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  Model of a Turkish galley, 1543.
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  Model of a Venetian warship of the Renaissance.
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  Battle of Messina Straights : galleys and carracks in battle, engraving after Brueghel, c. 1561.

Fortress

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  Siege warfare during the Renaissance.
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  Portuguese fort of Anjediva in Goa.
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  The Nakhl Fort, a 16th century portuguese fort in Oman.
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  Battle of Komarno in 1594.
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  Tower of London in 1597.

Colonial wars

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  Portuguese ships in India after a 1500 map by Juan de la Cosa.
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  The Portuguese in Africa : brass plate depicting a Portuguese soldier (above) and native Benin warriors (below).
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  Portuguese and Tupiniquins natives attacking a Tupinambás village in Brazil.
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  The Spaniards in Mexico.
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The Ottomans

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  Ottoman horse archer after the Süleymanname.
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  Ottoman Mameluk horseman armour circa 1550.
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  Ottoman troops marching on Tunis in 1569.
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  Ottomans at the Battle of Mezokeresztes (Hungary) in 1596, from an old Turkish manuscript.
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  Ottoman volley (multi-barreled) gun.

Great military figures

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  Henry VIII of England.
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  François Ier, King of France, and the Chevalier Bayard after Buguet.
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  Emperor Charles Quint after Titian.
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  Suleiman the Magnificient.
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  Henri IV of France.

The Art of War

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  A German city under siege after a 1519 drawing by Albrecht Dürer.
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  Niccolò Machiavelli's Art of War in a 1573 edition.
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  Blaise de Montesquieu-Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de Montluc, a prominent French general and military memorialist of the Renaissance period.
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  The Battle of Dreux in 1562 : engraving depicting different phases of the battle, with cavalry attacking an infantry formation.
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  The victors of the Battle of Lepante.

The Horrors of War

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  The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
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  Looting of the Churches of Lyon by the Calvinists in 1562.
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  Dutch engraving depicting the horrors of the Eighty Years war.
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  The killing of Oudewater (Netherlands) : Spanish troops murdered all civilians after a siege during the Eighty Years war.
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  Ottoman invasion of Hungary.

The Tournaments

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  English Officers of Arms in 1511.
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  Jousting armours of the Renaissance in Dresden.
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  Jousting armours of the Renaissance in Dresden.
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  The death of Henri II of France during a joust.