Francesco I Sforza was an Italian condottiero who founded the Sforza dynasty in the duchy of Milan, ruling as its (fourth) duke from 1450 until his death. In the 1420s, he participated in the War of L'Aquila and in the 1430s fought for the Papal States and Milan against Venice. Once war between Milan and Venice ended in 1441 under mediation by Sforza, he successfully invaded southern Italy alongside René of Anjou, pretender to the throne of Naples, and after that returned to Milan. He was instrumental in the Treaty of Lodi (1454) which ensured peace in the Italian realms for a time by ensuring a strategic balance of power. He died in 1466 and was succeeded as duke by his son, Galeazzo Maria Sforza. While Sforza was recognized as duke of Milan, his son Ludovico would be the first to have formal investiture under the Holy Roman Empire by Maximilian I in 1494.
The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and several other names, was fought from February 1508 to December 1516 as part of the Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fought for its entire duration, were France, the Papal States, and the Republic of Venice; they were joined at various times by nearly every significant power in Western Europe, including Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, England, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, the Duchy of Ferrara, and the Swiss.
Pietro Loredan was a Venetian nobleman of the Loredan family and a distinguished military commander both on sea and on land. He fought against the Ottomans, winning the Battle of Gallipoli (1416), played a leading role in the conquest of Dalmatia in 1411–1420, and participated in several campaigns against Venice's Italian rivals, Genoa and Milan, to secure Venice's mainland domains (Terraferma). He also held a number of senior political positions as Avogador de Comùn, ducal councillor, and governor of Zara, Friuli, and Brescia, and was honoured with the position of Procurator of St Mark's in 1425. In 1423, he contended for the position of Doge of Venice, but lost to his bitter rival Francesco Foscari; their rivalry was such that when Loredan died, Foscari was suspected of having poisoned him.
Filippo Maria Visconti was duke of Milan from 1412 to 1447. Known to be cruel and paranoid, but shrewd as a ruler, he went to war in the 1420s with Romagna, Florence and Venice in the Wars in Lombardy, but was eventually forced to accept peace under Pope Martin V. He would return to the offensive again where another peace agreement was required to end the fighting. He married twice, the second in 1428 to Marie, daughter of his ally Amadeus VIII. When he died, he was the last of the Visconti male line and was succeeded by Francesco Sforza, husband to his daughter.
Niccolò Piccinino was an Italian condottiero.
Francesco Bussone, often called Count of Carmagnola, was an Italian condottiero.
The Golden Ambrosian Republic was a short-lived republic founded in Milan by members of the University of Pavia with popular support, during the first phase of the Milanese War of Succession. With the aid of Francesco Sforza they held out against the forces of the Republic of Venice, but after a betrayal Sforza defected and captured Milan to become Duke himself, abolishing the Republic.
Bartolomeo Colleoni was an Italian condottiero, who became captain-general of the Republic of Venice. Colleoni "gained reputation as the foremost tactician and disciplinarian of the 15th century". He is also credited with having refurbished the Roman baths at Trescore Balneario.
The War of Ferrara was fought in 1482–1484 between Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, and the Papal forces mustered by Ercole's personal nemesis, Pope Sixtus IV and his Venetian allies. Hostilities ended with the Treaty of Bagnolo, signed on 7 August 1484.
The military history of the Republic of Venice started shortly after its founding, spanning a period from the 9th century until the Republic's fall in the 18th century.
The Wars in Lombardy were a series of conflicts between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan and their respective allies, fought in four campaigns in a struggle for hegemony in Northern Italy that ravaged the economy of Lombardy. They lasted from 1423 until the signing of the Treaty of Lodi in 1454. During their course, the political structure of Italy was transformed: out of a competitive congeries of communes and city-states emerged the five major Italian territorial powers that would make up the map of Italy for the remainder of the 15th century and the beginning of the Italian Wars at the turn of the 16th century. They were Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papal States and Naples. Important cultural centers of Tuscany and Northern Italy—Siena, Pisa, Urbino, Mantua, Ferrara—became politically marginalized.
Pandolfo III Malatesta was an Italian condottiero and lord of Fano, a member of the famous House of Malatesta.
Carlo I Malatesta was an Italian condottiero during the Wars in Lombardy and lord of Rimini, Fano, Cesena and Pesaro. He was a member of the powerful House of Malatesta. Carlo's wife was Elisabetta Gonzaga; they were married in November 1386. Francesco I Gonzaga married Carlo's sister Margherita Malatesta in 1393, cementing ties between the families. Carlo was the brother of Pandolfo III and Andrea Malatesta, with whom he fought in numerous occasions.
The Battle of Zagonara was fought on 28 July 1424 at Zagonara between the armies of the Republic of Florence and that of Filippo Maria Visconti, duke of Milan, an episode of the Wars in Lombardy. A number of famous Italian condottieri of the 15th century took part in the battle. The only condottiero who died in the battle was Lodovico degli Obizzi, who fell off his horse and suffocated in the mud.
The Battle of Soncino was a battle of the Wars in Lombardy, fought in March 1431. It was fought between the armies of the Republic of Venice, under Count of Carmagnola, and of the Duchy of Milan, under Francesco I Sforza.
Niccolò Mauruzzi, best known as Niccolò da Tolentino was an Italian condottiero.
Luigi dal Verme (died 1449) was an Italian condottiero.
Taddeo d'Este was a condottiere, a freelance military leader, who was known for his defense of the Republic of Venice in 1439 against Milanese forces under Niccolò Piccinino. Unlike many other condottieri of the day, who often changed sides, he served Venice almost exclusively throughout his thirty-year military career. During most of this period Venice was constantly at war with one or more of the neighboring states in northern Italy.
The War of Padua was a conflict in 1404–1405 between the Republic of Venice and the Carrarese lordship of Padua. In the power vacuum produced by the death of the Duke of Milan, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, in 1402, Francesco II da Carrara endeavored to expand into the Veneto and capture cities held by Visconti troops. These designs alarmed Venice, which allied with Milan to counter the common threat posed by the Carrarese state, and for the first time adopted a policy of direct intervention in the affairs of its hinterland.
Duchy of Mantua 
Duchy of Milan 