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During the first stage of the War of the League of Cambrai, Venice had assembled a large mercenary army under the joint command of Bartolomeo d'Alviano and Niccolo Pitigliano with the specific orders not to directly engage the main French Army and focus on picking off smaller detachments. On the 14th of May, forces under the command of d'Alviano confronted a large detachment of French Calvary and Swiss Mercenaries. d'Alviano did not retreat but stationed his forces on a nearby hillside. Initially d'Alviano's forces were able to repulse and give the French a blood nose by taking advantage of hillside and a downpour making it difficult for the French forces advance. At this point d'Alviano sent word to Pitigliano requesting reinforcements to which Pitigliano responded by urging d'Alviano to retreat. Unfortunately for Venice d'Alviano did not listen to Pitigliano and the Louis XII arrived with the main French army and the Venetian army was surrounded and attacked from three sides. The Venetian forces were eventually overwhelmed with d'Alviano taken prisoner by the French. When news of the defeat reached Pitigliano's forces, most of the mercenaries simply deserted and Pitigliano was forced to retreat to Padau. This battle made the French the dominate power in Italy and led to fears of Venice being invaded. The Battle of Agnadello is often considered one of Venice's worst defeats with Machiavelli claiming "Venice lost in a single day what had taken eight hundred years of effort to gain"
How would the League of Cambrai evolve if either the Venetian army under d'Alviano had retreated when Pitigliano suggested they do or with Pitigliano had brought his army back to support Pitigliano? Would the French-Papal Alliance be maintained? Could Venice continue the war and successfully bring it to a favorable conclusion where they maintain their dominate position in Italy?