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→The Rise of Spain
The Italian city-states were very rich but also vulnerable to their larger neighbors. The kingdoms of Europe were becoming national states, with a unified government and standing armies. By the 16th century, the Italian city-states looked much weaker that large kingdoms such as France. In the 1490s, [[What was the impact of Charles VIIIs invasion of Italy (1494) on the Renaissance?|the French invaded Italy]], in order to conquer the kingdom of Naples. The Spanish Monarchy refused to allow the French to dominate southern Italy <ref>Lopez, p. 67.</ref> The French army eventually retreated from the Kingdom of Naples after a plague decimated the army. However, their invasion was to result in several decades of war, between France and Spain, for the control of first Naples and later Italy.
Over the following decades, Italy became a battleground for the first time in centuries.<ref>Lopez, 112.</ref> This was to have a negative impact on the Renaissance. In 1527, the [[Did the Sack of Rome in 1527 ended end the Renaissance in Italy?|Spanish army sacked Rome]] and caused widespread loss of life and devastation. Eventually, the Spanish, under Phillip II, established Spanish domination in Italy. The Italian city-states were still technically independent, but they were under de-facto Spanish control. The Spanish control resulted in a loss of political and individual freedom and this dealt a blow to the Renaissance as increasingly artists and thinkers were unable to create the worked they wanted or to freely express their own ideas and opinions.
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