While it doesn't change anything about the actual power of French artillery (that was at the time incredible) the article makes it seem like it was the only rea

While it doesn't change anything about the actual power of French artillery (that was at the time incredible) the article makes it seem like it was the only reason that Charles VIII could make this incursion in Italy relatively easily. As a matter of fact, besides and before the military successes, what allowed him to traverse Italy almost without fighting was the terror he managed to spread, from a modern viewpoint it is a perfect example of well designed "PSY-ops/public relations/propaganda". In Emilia Romagna he first assaulted the (insignificant from a strategic/military viewpoint) Castle of Bubano (essentially to make pressure to Caterina Sforza) but, since it couldn't conquer it fast enough, it turned to the (possibly even less important) nearby Mordano which was easily taken (thanks to the powerful artillery), and then the French massacred everyone (men, women, children), literally everyone. Next was (descending into Tuscany) Fivizzano (as well not-so-impenetrable as a fortification) and once again there was the killing of all the soldiers (that had surrendered) and of most of the inhabitants. At this point the mere notice of Charles VIII intention to pass nearby made cities/castles/fortifications surrender in advance. Florence was a little bit different as in the same days there was what essentially amounts to a revolution, the Medici were forced to flee and the Republic was instated, and when Charles VIII came near Florence (notwithstanding the stories of terror) found that the whole people were ready to take arms against his army (that would have been largely outnumbered) and through some diplomacy the "crisis" was solved without any fight. The whole story (for those interested) is in two chapters of the Storia d'Italia by Francesco Guicciardini, which are (surprisingly) very readable via Google Translate (IMHO more readable than the 1763 English translation available on archive.org[0]): https://it-wikisource-org.translate.goog/wiki/Storia_d%27Italia/Libro_I/Capitolo_XIV?_x_tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=it https://it-wikisource-org.translate.goog/wiki/Storia_d%27Ita... https://it-wikisource-org.translate.goog/wiki/Storia_d%27Italia/Libro_I/Capitolo_XV?_x_tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=it https://it-wikisource-org.translate.goog/wiki/Storia_d%27Ita... [0] https://archive.org/details/historyofitaly01guic/page/230/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/historyofitaly01guic/page/230/mo...