Abstract: The Italian Wars of 1494—1559 demonstrated the multi-layered interaction between military technology, war and society in the transformational period of Europe from the 15th to the 18th century. The military and social outlook of Europe took on a new look during the interaction between the Italian Wars, the Renaissance, and Religious Reform and so on, which became a powerful momentum to promote the transformation of Europe from the Middle Ages to modern times. At present, scholars at home and abroad tend to explore the overall process of the Italian Wars, the issues of technology and society in the Wars and the mercenary issues during the war, and have made some achievements in exploring the European history in the political, military, diplomatic and social aspects during the transformational period. However, there are still some deficiencies in the current Italian Wars research, such as the tendency of homogeneity, the lack of interdisciplinary integration results and the lack of "humanistic care" in the social field. If we can correctly understand the importance of Italian Wars and introduce new research methods and perspectives, the research on Italian Wars in the transformational period will gain more remarkable achievements.

Key words: the Italian Wars, mercenary, technological innovation, military revolution, social transformation