Venetian army

During Venice's imperial age in the Late Middle Ages and the Venetian expansion into mainland Italy (Terraferma) in the 15th century, its conflicts with the Duchy of Milan, the Papacy, and even France and Hungary, required the Venetian government to raise armies of tens of thousands.

Given Venice's small population and the Venetians' traditional preoccupation with naval affairs, these armies were mostly composed of mercenaries (such as the Balkan stradioti or the companies of the various condottieri).

During the Ottoman–Venetian Wars, primacy was usually held by the commanders of the Venetian navy, and the army forces served without distinction as shipborne infantry, in the field, or as garrisons of fortresses.

In the 16th century, the local militias were organized into the cernida system and a small permanent peacetime force of professional soldiers was created, to be augmented with mercenaries in wartime.

By the early 18th century, the regimental system had been firmly established, with the Venetian units separated into italiani (recruited in Italy), oltramontani (Swiss, Germans, and other from 'beyond the mountains'), and oltramarini (recruited from the Republic's overseas possessions in the Balkans).