Although he sat on the throne of France, the most powerful state of his time, according to Machiavelli, he is the embodiment of wrong alliances and strategic blindness. He came to the region with the ambition to conquer Lombardy and Italian lands. Although the initial call from the Venetians was a great opportunity, Louis behaved with enough lack of foresight to disregard the rules in the new territory he conquered. Instead of protecting his weak friends (small Italian states), he crushed them, recognized the Pope's sovereignty in Rome, and shook his security in the region. Moreover, his greatest and most fatal mistake was involving the King of Spain as a new enemy against the enemy he had already weakened. Machiavelli treats him as the primary indicator of insufficient, weak princes who cannot conduct the art of conquest and turn the most brilliant advantages into frustration.
As the King of France, he participated in the Italian Wars with the intention of obtaining religious (annulment of his marriage) and political (securing new relations) approval from the Pope, and was weakened step by step by being squeezed between the Pope and Spain.
Appears as a lofty king wandering among armies and flashy knights, yet is a figure bewildered by the blows received and bound by faulty diplomatic documents.
Venedikliler
Failed alliance partners who invited him to Italy and tricked the lion like a cat.
Papa VI. Alexander
A rival authority whom he sacrificed for personal gain, thereby weakening himself.