Have there been any significant or interesting events that involved

Oh, where mercenaries played a role bigger than just hired combatants.

That clears out a lot of conflicts.

Some of England's success in the Hundred Years War can be attributed to the fact that after their initial bouts, mercenary groups known as grandes compagnies hired by both sides proceeded to completely ignore a temporary peace treaty between the two kings. So France just kinda continued being burned and pillaged willy-nilly for a decade or so before the official fighting began again.

Mercenaries were a huge part of European warfare until the last few hundreds years. By the end of the 30 years war only a small minority of Swedish army for example was even Swedish, rest were mercenaries.

>>1863623
Yes, but are there any notable events where they do some crazy antics or start shit out of their own volition?

>>1863563
>grandes compagnies

So the French kings of England used French mercenaries to weaken France during peace?
And Brits will boast about that war....

>>1862224
Most African wars since decolonization.

>>1863741
For the most part, but they tended to be mixed bags. You had criminals from both sides, 'cadet' nobility i.e. second born sons who were forced to make a name for themselves, hired men from germanic states, Switzerland, italians, spaniards, etc.

Meanwhile, the English nobility had essentially gone native at this point. By the Hundred Years War, French was largely just an office language. I've read historians who say that the English increasingly tended to feign misunderstanding at the negotiation table when talk turned to points they weren't reticent to discuss. Never mind the fact that much of the argument over the throne came from the French being unwilling to entertain the idea of an English-born king of France. That alone should illustrate how wide the gap had become at that point.

File: The_Hanging_by_Jacques_Callot.jpg (2MB, 1458x643px) Image search: [Google]

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>>1862224
Thirty years war