John Pieterszoon Coen was an officer of the Dutch East-India trading company. While an officer he tried to maintain a monopoly over the trade of nutmeg and mace, which could only be obtained from the Banda Islands. Although the Dutch East-India trading company had contracts with the native inhabitants to be allowed cheap spices, they were angered that the English were still a trading partner with the natives in these spices.
In 1621, Coen led an armed assault on the island of Lonthor to subdue the inhabitants and gain access to the monopoly he desired. He encountered stiff resistance from natives armed with English cannons and other weapons, but he eventually was victorious. After winning his prized monopoly he killed or exiled all the inhabitants totaling around 15,000 people.
John Pieterszoon Coen
July 6, 1495 - Battle at Fornovo
Through claims by his paternal grandmother, Charles VIII of France gained claims to the Kingdom of Naples in Italy. Charles decided to take a French army, aided by many Swiss mercenaries, into Italy to claim what was, in his mind, rightfully his. Upon entering Italy he was given safe passage through Milan, but was opposed by the pope and the Florentine kingdom. The armies thrown at the French by the small, divided Italian kingdoms were no match for the French and Charles excised a level of brutality across the Italian countryside they had not been seen on the peninsula before.
Through claims by his paternal grandmother, Charles VIII of France gained claims to the Kingdom of Naples in Italy. Charles decided to take a French army, aided by many Swiss mercenaries, into Italy to claim what was, in his mind, rightfully his. Upon entering Italy he was given safe passage through Milan, but was opposed by the pope and the Florentine kingdom. The armies thrown at the French by the small, divided Italian kingdoms were no match for the French and Charles excised a level of brutality across the Italian countryside they had not been seen on the peninsula before.
The Venetians and their allies were the real force to confront the French. They camped at Fornovo some thirty kilometers southwest of Parma to wait for the French. The Venetian senate was split, however, on whether to fight the French or not. Charles grew anxious as he saw Venetian armies being reinforced, while his army had no hope for re-supplies or reinforcements. This anxiety caused Charles to send a recon force of forty men to observe the Venetian positions and troops, but they were routed by the Stadioti. These Stadioti were of Greek-Albanian decent and were veterans of the Albanian-Turkish war only twenty years prior. Finally Charles, running low on supplies, decided to attack the Venetians and their allies. They moved three separate lines of forces against the Venetians. After an hour the battle was a stalemate with both sides taking heavy losses (French lost about 1,000 while the Venetians twice as many). The Venetian army was lucky in the fact that it had captured all of the treasure Charles had captured in his Italian campaign. This caused Charles to evacuate Italy without gaining anything and vowing to return, though he never did.
