Italian Wars | Wikipedia audio article
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Italian Wars
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The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
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The Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy and sometimes as the Habsburg–Valois Wars or the Renaissance Wars, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved most of the Italian states as well as France, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, England and the Ottoman Empire.
An Italic League that ensured peace in the peninsula for 50 years had collapsed in 1492 with the death of Lorenzo De Medici, key figure in the bloc and ruler of Florence. In 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded the Italian peninsula and occupied the Kingdom of Naples on the ground of a dynastic claim. However, he was forced to leave the occupied territories after a northern Italian alliance won a tactical victory against him at the Battle of Fornovo. In an attempt to avoid the mistakes of his predecessor, Louis XII annexed the Duchy of Milan in the north of Italy and signed an agreement with Ferdinand of Aragon (already ruler of Sicily and Sardinia) to share the Kingdom of Naples. Nevertheless, Ferdinand of Aragon turned on Louis XII and expelled French forces from the Mezzogiorno after the battles of Cerignola and Garigliano.
After a series of alliances and betrayals, the Papacy decided to side against French control of Milan and supported Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and heir of Aragon territories in Italy. Following the battles of Bicocca and Pavia, France lost its control of Milan to the Habsburgs. Furthermore, his King Francis I was captured by the condottiero Fernando d'Ávalos. In 1527, mutinous German protestant troops of Charles V sacked Rome: this event was a turning point in the development of the European Wars of Religion and caused Charles V to focus on the growth of Protestantism in the Holy Roman Empire.
King Henry II of France took advantage of the situation and tried to establish supremacy in Italy by invading Corsica and Tuscany. However, his conquest of Corsica was reversed by the Genoese admiral Andrea Doria and his troops in Tuscany were defeated at the Battle of Scannagallo by the Florentines and the Imperials. With the abdication of Charles V, Philip II of Spain inherited Milan and the Mezzogiorno. The last significant confrontation, the Battle of St Quentin (1557), was won by Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy for the spanish and international forces: this led the restoration of the French-occupied Piedmont (predecessor state of Italy) to the House of Savoy.
In 1559, the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis was signed. The political map of Italy was largely affected by the end of the wars: the Mezzogiorno and Milan were under Spanish control; Genoa and Savoy re-emerged as political realities in Italy; and the Papacy had initiated the counter-reformation with the Council of Trent. In a jousting tournament held to celebrate the peace treaty, Henry II of France was killed by a lance: the instability that followed his death led to the French wars of religion.
Naples | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Naples
00:02:53 1 History
00:03:01 1.1 Greek birth and Roman acquisition
00:05:07 1.2 Duchy of Naples
00:07:39 1.3 Kingdom of Naples
00:07:47 1.3.1 Norman to Angevin
00:09:41 1.3.2 Aragonese and Spanish
00:13:12 1.3.3 Independent Two Sicilies
00:13:39 1.4 Italian unification to the present day
00:17:57 2 Architecture
00:18:06 2.1 UNESCO World Heritage Site
00:19:42 2.2 Piazzas, palaces and castles
00:22:14 2.3 Museums
00:24:02 2.4 Churches and other religious structures
00:24:46 2.5 Other features
00:25:39 2.5.1 Subterranean Naples
00:26:55 2.5.2 Parks, gardens, villas, fountains and stairways
00:28:02 2.5.3 Neo-Gothic, iLiberty Napoletano/i and modern architecture
00:29:13 3 Geography
00:30:13 3.1 Quarters
00:30:32 3.2 Climate
00:31:36 4 Demographics
00:33:54 5 Education
00:36:23 6 Politics
00:36:32 6.1 Governance
00:37:39 6.2 Administrative subdivisions
00:37:49 7 Economy
00:39:40 8 Transport
00:43:14 9 Culture
00:43:23 9.1 Art
00:44:52 9.2 Cuisine
00:47:43 9.3 Festivals
00:49:29 9.4 Language
00:50:39 9.5 Literature and philosophy
00:54:11 9.6 Theatre
00:56:04 9.7 Music
00:59:06 9.8 Cinema and television
01:01:59 9.9 Sports
01:03:51 9.10 Tailoring
01:08:42 10 Neapolitans
01:08:51 10.1 Honorary citizens
01:09:04 11 International relations
01:09:13 11.1 Twin towns and sister cities
01:09:35 11.2 Partnerships
01:09:44 12 See also
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
You can upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
Naples (; Italian: Napoli [ˈnaːpoli] (listen); Neapolitan: Napule [ˈnɑːpələ] or [ˈnɑːpulə]; Latin: Neapolis; Ancient Greek: Νεάπολις, lit. 'new city') is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy after Rome and Milan. In 2017, around 967,069 people lived within the city's administrative limits while its province-level municipality has a population of 3,115,320 residents. Its continuously built-up metropolitan area (that stretches beyond the boundaries of the Metropolitan City of Naples) is the second or third largest metropolitan area in Italy.
First settled by Greeks in the second millennium BC, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban areas in the world. In the ninth century BC, a colony known as Parthenope or Παρθενόπη was established on the Island of Megaride, later refounded as Neápolis in the sixth century BC. The city was an important part of Magna Graecia, played a major role in the merging of Greek and Roman society and a significant cultural centre under the Romans. It served as the capital of the Duchy of Naples (661–1139), then of the Kingdom of Naples (1282–1816) and finally of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861.
Between 1925 and 1936, Naples was expanded and upgraded by Benito Mussolini's government but subsequently sustained severe damage from Allied bombing during World War II, which led to extensive post-1945 reconstruction work. Naples has experienced significant economic growth in recent decades, helped by the construction of the Centro Direzionale business district and an advanced transportation network, which includes the Alta Velocità high-speed rail link to Rome and Salerno and an expanded subway network. Naples is the third-largest urban economy in Italy, after Milan and Rome. The Port of Naples is one of the most important in Europe and home of the Allied Joint Force Command Naples, the NATO body that oversees North Africa, the Sahel and Middle East.Naples' historic city centre is the largest in Europe and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with a wide range of culturally and historically significant sites nearby, including the Palace of Caserta and the Roman ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Naples is also known for its natural beauties such as Posillipo, Phlegraean Fields, Nisida, and Vesuvius.Neapolitan cuisine is synonymous with pizza – which originated in the city – but it also includes many lesser-known dishes; Naples has the greatest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide of any Italian city.The best-k ...