MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: VYTAUTAS THE GREAT.

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
October 12, 2018

Vytautas the Great (1350 - 1430), was a Lithuanian national leader who consolidated his country’s possessions, helped to build up a national consciousness, and broke the power of the Teutonic Knights.
Vytautas was the son of Kęstutis, who for years had waged a struggle with his brother Algirdas for control of Lithuania. The conflict between the two branches of the family continued into the next generation. Both Vytautas and his father were captured by Jogaila in 1382. Vytautas, however, escaped and two years later was able to make peace with Jogaila, who returned to Vytautas the family lands seized earlier. Jogaila married the 12-year-old Polish queen Jadwiga and was crowned king of Poland in Kraków on Feb. 15, 1386, as Władysław II Jagiełło.
Vytautas then waged an intermittent struggle for power with Jogaila and on occasion sought further assistance from the Teutonic Order. Vytautas’ popularity grew until his cousin was forced to adopt a conciliatory position. Jogaila offered to make Vytautas his vice regent over all of Lithuania. The offer was accepted, and in August 1392 a formal compact was signed. As time was to show, Vytautas by this act became supreme ruler of Lithuania in fact if not in law.
Vytautas began his rule by subduing and banishing rebellious and ineffective nobles and trying to conquer the Mongols in the east. His forces, however, were defeated by the Mongols in the Battle of the Vorskla River in present-day Russia on Aug. 12, 1399.
In this same period, union between Poland and Lithuania was proclaimed in a treaty concluded at Vilnius in January 1401.
Vytautas and Jogaila then turned their attention westward, and there followed a series of wars with the Teutonic Order, which recognized Švitrigaila (Swidrygiełło), a brother of Jogaila, as grand prince of Lithuania. Vytautas was able to drive Svidrigaila out of the country, but the Teutonic Order was able to retain control of a portion of Lithuania. Early in 1409 Vytautas concluded a treaty with Jogaila for a combined attack on the Order, and on June 24, 1410, the Polish-Lithuanian forces crossed the Prussian frontier. In the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) on July 15, 1410, the Teutonic Knights suffered a blow from which they never recovered. German supremacy in the Baltic area was broken and Poland-Lithuania began to be regarded in the West as a great power.
In 1429 Vytautas revived his claim to the Lithuanian crown, and Jogaila reluctantly consented to his cousin’s coronation as king, but before the ceremony could take place Vytautas died.

Painting: Battle of Grunwald (detail) by Jan Matejko, 3D by Rafał Kidziński.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: MURAT, NAPOLEON’S CAVALRY COMMANDER

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
October 21, 2018

Murat at the battle of Aboukir by Job. His previous battles in Egypt had seen Napoleon take a defensive posture while the Mamluk armies battered themselves to destruction. This time, he went on to the offensive. While the infantry attacked the centre of the first line, Murat’s cavalry was sent against both the left and right flanks of the Ottoman line. This first line was rolled up and forced back on to the second line. Napoleon then rested his army, before starting the second phase of the battle at three in the afternoon. This second phase resulting in a crushing French victory. The Ottoman army was forced back into the sea. Thousands of Ottoman soldiers drowned attempting to escape, while Sir Sidney Smith’s fleet attempted to rescue as many men as possible. Amongst the escapees was the future ruler of Egypt, Mohammed Ali. This part of the battle is probably most famous for one of the very few occasions where opposing generals fought a personal combat, in this case between Mustapha Bey and Murat, the French cavalry commander. Murat’s cavalry charge brought him within feet of Mustapha. The two commanders spotted each other. Mustapha fired at Murat from close range, hitting him in the jaw. Murat responded with a sabre blow, chopping off two of Mustapha’s fingers and taking his pistol with them!

Joachim Murat (March 25, 1767 —October 13, 1815), was an outstanding and dashing French cavalry leader who was one of Napoleon’s most celebrated marshals and who, as a surprising good king of Naples (1808–15), lent stimulus to Italian nationalism. Prone to wearing flamboyant costumes, he was extremely brave and fought in approximately 200 battles.
The son of an innkeeper, he studied briefly for a career in the church but enlisted in a cavalry regiment in 1787 and, when war broke out in 1792, won rapid promotion. In October 1795 he was on hand in Paris at the moment that Napoleon Bonaparte was entrusted with the mission of suppressing a royalist insurrection; Murat’s contribution in bringing up cannon won him a place as aide-de-camp to Bonaparte for the Italian campaign of 1796–97. In Italy and later in Egypt (1798–99) he established his reputation as a gifted and daring leader of cavalry. At Aboukir, he led a cavalry charge against the Ottomans and captured the Turkish commander, Mustapha Bey, in a single combat (one of the few genuinely documented examples of this happening). Again he served his chief well in the coup d’état of 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799), by which Bonaparte seized power as first consul. Murat’s reward was the hand of Napoleon’s youngest sister, Caroline.

Illustration by Giuseppe Rava: Murat leads the gigantic charge at Eylau.

In the Italian campaign of 1800 Murat helped win the decisive Battle of Marengo, and in 1801 he rapidly concluded the campaign against Bourbon-ruled Naples by imposing the Armistice of Foligno. As governor of Paris in 1804, he was included among the first generals promoted to the rank of marshal after Napoleon’s coronation as emperor on December 2. In 1805 he played a conspicuous role in the Austerlitz campaign, helping to pin the Austrian Army in Ulm, where it was forced to surrender, and defeating Austrian and Russian cavalry on the field of Austerlitz. At Jena in 1806 his energetic pursuit completed destruction of the Prussian Army; at Eylau in 1807 Napoleon ordered Murat to charge the Russians, and he led the 80 cavalry squadrons (15,000 men) of the cavalry reserve in one of the largest cavalry charges in history.

Murat, King of Naples by François Gérard, c. 1812.

When he was sent to act as Napoleon’s lieutenant in Spain he tried to gain possession of the unoccupied Spanish throne. His intrigues led instead to Spanish opposition and a rising in Madrid that, though quelled (May 2, 1808), ended his hopes. Though Napoleon gave the Spanish throne to his brother Joseph, he rewarded Murat with Joseph’s former place as king of Naples, under the name Joachim-Napoléon. In Naples Murat carried out important reforms, breaking up the vast landed estates and introducing the Napoleonic Code. The administration was opened to advancement by merit, cotton growing was encouraged, and effective measures were taken against the chronic brigandage. Murat even foresaw the unification of Italy, a development at whose head he sought to place himself through the encouragement of secret societies that eventually played a major role in the Risorgimento.

October 1815, Murat is executed by a firing squad, by Giuseppe Rava. His body was never found. Murat’s remains are thought to have been interred in a mass grave underneath Pizzo’s Church of St. George, but there were rumors that they had been spirited away to France.

In 1812 Murat took part in Napoleon’s Russian campaign and once more distinguished himself at Borodino; but, left in charge of the shattered Grand Army during the retreat from Moscow, he abandoned it to try to save his kingdom of Naples. In 1813 he wavered between loyalty to Napoleon and negotiation with the allies. The Austrians signed a treaty with him, but the former Bourbon rulers of Naples raised objections, and his situation was in doubt when Napoleon returned to France in 1815. Napoleon refused to offer him a military command during the Waterloo campaign, a serious mistake that greatly reduced the effectiveness of his cavalry at Waterloo. He then staked his hopes on an appeal to Italian nationalism, but he was forced to flee to Corsica disguised as a Danish sailor. In October, with 26 men, he made a last, hopeless attempt to recover Naples, was taken prisoner and shot. Before his death he shouted to the firing squad: "Soldiers! Do your duty! Straight to the heart but spare my face. Fire!"

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: QUEEN TOMRIS OF THE MASSAGETAE.

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
October 22, 2018

Tomris’ kingdom was located in the area to the east of the Caspian Sea, in parts of modern-day Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, western Uzbekistan, and southern Kazakhstan.
Many scholars have suggested that the Massagetae were related to the Getae of ancient Eastern Europe. Some authors, have proposed relating the Massagetae to the Gutians of 2000 BC Mesopotamia, and/or a people known in ancient China as the "Da Yuezhi" or "Great Yuezhi" who founded the Kushan Empire in South Asia.
The Massagetae were related to the Scythians in their dress and mode of living; they fought on horseback and on foot. Most people remember Queen Tomris for her role in the defense against an attack by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire (600/ 576 – 530 BC). In 530 BC, she may have killed one of the most famous Persians in history.
In order to acquire her realm, Cyrus first sent an offer of marriage to their queen, a proposal she rejected. He then commenced his attempt to take Massagetae territory by force. Queen Tomris' warriors won the day and according to Herodotus: "Tomris filled a skin with human blood, and sought for Cyrus' body among the Persian dead; when she found it, she put his head into the skin, and spoke these words of insult to the dead man: "Though I live and conquer thee, thou hast undone me, overcoming my son by guile; but even as I threatened, so will I do, and give thee thy fill of blood." - Herodotus, The History, Vol. 1.
Ctesias, in his Persica, has the longest account, which says Cyrus met his death while putting down resistance from the Derbices infantry, aided by other Scythian archers and cavalry, plus Indians and their elephants. According to him, this event took place northeast of the headwaters of the Syr Darya.

Art by Kanat Zharas.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: FLAVIUS STILICHO, THE “LAST ROMAN GENERAL”.

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
October 27, 2018

 

Certain figures in history undertake actions that reverberate down through time; their successes and failure continue to have consequences centuries after they have died. One such man was Flavius Stilicho, magister utriusque militiae of the Western Roman Empire, guardian of the child Emperor Honorius, senior military commander of all Roman forces in the west and de facto ruler of the Western Empire from the death of Theodosius I in January 395 until his execution on August 23rd, 408.
Stilicho (365-408) was half-Roman, half Vandal. In 383 Stilicho served on an embassy to the Persian king Shāpūr III, afterward marrying Serena, the favorite niece of the emperor Theodosius. In 385 he was appointed master of the soldiery (magister militum) in Thrace, and shortly afterwards directed energetic campaigns in Britain against Picts, Scots and Saxons, and along the Rhine against other barbarians. Stilicho and Serena were named guardians of the youthful Honorius when the latter was created joint emperor in 394 with special jurisdiction over Italy, Gaul, Britain, Spain and Africa, and Stilicho was even more closely allied to the imperial family in the following year by betrothing his daughter Maria to his ward and by receiving the dying injunctions of Theodosius to care for his children.
Rivalry had already existed between Stilicho and Rufinus, the praetorian praefect of the East, who had exercised considerable influence over the emperor and who now was invested with the guardianship of Arcadius. Consequently in 395, after a successful campaign against the Germans on the Rhine, Stilicho marched to the east, nominally to expel the Goths and Huns from Thrace, but really with the design of displacing Rufinus, and by connivance with these same barbarians he procured the assassination of Rufinus at the close of the year, and thereby became virtual master of the empire. In 396 he fought in Greece against the Visigoths, but an arrangement was effected whereby their chieftain Alaric was appointed master of the soldiery in Illyricum (397). In 398 he quelled Gildo's revolt in Africa and married his daughter Maria to Honorius. Two years later he was consul. He thwarted the efforts of Alaric to seize lands in Italy by his victories at Pollentia and Verona in 402-3 and forced him to return to Illyricum, but was criticized for having withdrawn the imperial forces from Britain and Gaul to employ against the Goths. He maneuvered so skillfully in the campaign against Radagaisus, who led a large force of various Germanic peoples into Italy in 405, that he surrounded the barbarian chieftain on the rocks of Fiesole near Florence and starved him into surrender.
Empress Maria had died and in early 408 Honorius married another daughter of Stilicho, Thermantia. Stilicho’s influence, however, had declined. It was rumored that he wished to have his son Eucherius elevated to the throne. Reports reached him early in 408 that his army was disaffected. Then came news of the death of the Eastern emperor, Arcadius, and Stilicho proposed to go to Constantinople. Olympius, a palace official, spread the rumor that Stilicho was preparing to put his own son on the Eastern throne, and so the troops in Pavia killed nearly all of the officials present on August 13. Stilicho went to Ravenna but was imprisoned by Honorius’ orders. He was beheaded on August 22; his son Eucherius was put to death shortly thereafter.
In the disturbances which followed the downfall and execution of Stilicho, the wives and children of barbarian foederati throughout Italy were slain by the local Romans. The Gothic army broke through the gates of Rome and sacked the city in August of 410. Many historians argue that the removal of Stilicho was the main catalyst leading to this monumental event, the first barbarian capture of Rome in nearly eight centuries and a part of the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Art by Vilius Petrauskas: King Alaric and his staff during the siege of Rome.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: MAXIMINUS THRAX, THE GIANT SHEPHERD WHO BECAME ROMAN EMPEROR.

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,

November 16, 2018

Gaius Julius Verus was born in 172 or 173 AD in Thrace, a region northeast of Macedonia, to a peasant father and an Alanic mother. A number of Roman emperors of the 3rd–5th century were of Thraco-Roman backgrounds (Maximinus Thrax, Licinius, Galerius, Aureolus, Leo the Thracian, etc.). They were elevated via a military career, from the condition of common soldiers in one of the Roman legions to the foremost positions of political power.
Because of his place of birth, Maximinus became identified with the name of "Thrax". According to the Augustan History, he was a shepherd and bandit leader before joining the Imperial Roman army. In 190 AD he entered the military and because of his immense size and strength, quickly rose through the ranks, eventually commanding a legion in Egypt in 232 AD, governing the Roman province of Mesopotamia, and lastly, in 234 AD leading recruits in Germany.
Ancient Roman writers claimed that Maximinus Thrax stood 2,6 meters tall. His sandals were said to be twice the size of regular army issue. He wore his wife’s bracelet as a thumb ring. It was said he devoured 40 pounds of meat and 18 bottles of wine at each meal. They claimed he crushed rocks in his fists, out-pulled a team of horses, and knocked out a mule with one punch!
Maximinus was proclaimed emperor near the present-day city of Mainz on March 20, 235 AD. The Roman Senate reluctantly approved, even though they considered him a barbarian and below their social standing. His son Gaius Julius Verus Maximus would be named Caesar. Maximinus began his reign by massacring many of the friends of the late emperor, and even all those who showed any regret for his death!
Maximinus spent most of his reign fighting invading tribes along the Danube and the Rhine, earning the titles of Dacius Maximus and Samaticus Maximus. Maximinus was the first of the barracks emperors, rulers elevated by the troops without having any political experience, a supporting faction, distinguished ancestors, or a legitimate claim to the imperial throne. As their rule rested on military might and generalship, they operated as warlords reliant on the army to maintain power.
In 238 a group of landowners in Africa, discontented with imperial taxation, rebelled and proclaimed the aged Gordian emperor. The revolt was soon suppressed by the governor of Numidia. The Roman Senate, however, had used the revolt as an excuse to depose Maximinus and recognize Gordian, and they responded to Gordian’s defeat and death by proclaiming two new emperors, Pupienus and Balbinus. The army lost confidence in him and murdered him and his son in spring 238. The troops in Rome killed Pupienus and Balbinus and declared Gordian III Maximinus’s successor. At the time, Maximinus must have seemed an anomaly who briefly interrupted the military monarchy founded by Septimius Severus.
Illustration by Angus McBride.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: GENERAL FRANCISO JAVIER CASTAÑOS

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
November 23, 2018
 

Castaños (1758-1852) was only 10 years old when King Carlos III first granted him the rank of captain of infantry. As a young officer he went to study at the Seminar of Nobles, and later completed his training at the Academy of Barcelona.
Castaños was Alexander O'Reilly’s brother in-law, and went with him to Prussia to learn from Friedrich the Great's military institution.
In 1794 Castaños served in the army of Navarre, under general Ventura Caro (see our previous post about the War of the Pyrenees: https://www.facebook.com/groups/768183316680632/permalink/1209132945918998/). At the peace of 1796 he was made marechal-de-camp, and in 1798, a lieutenant-general. Castaños was later banished from Madrid by Manuel Gody. In 1808, when the French first invaded Spain, he offered his services to the Supreme Junta, and was made commander of the army that was sent to oppose the French led by general Dupont. He marched against them with 40,000. After Cordova was taken by the French, they were beaten back at the battle of Bailén (July 1808), the first ever open field defeat of a Napoleonic army.
Castaños was later heavily defeated at the battle of Tudela on November 23, 1808 and lost much of his influence. However, in 1811 the Regency, named him commander of the 4th Spanish army, and captain-general of Estremadura, Old Castile, Galicia, and other provinces. He commanded the lines at St. Roche and the principal Spanish army. He then participated in Wellington’s campaigns, the siege of Burgos (1812) and the battle of Vittoria (1813). When Napoleon returned from Elba, Castaños was placed at the head of an army of 70,000 Spaniards to assist the allies; but that assistance was not wanted, and Castanos retired from the frontiers of France.
Castaños finally resigned his command to general Luis Lacy y Gautier in the summer of 1816. From then, he took an active part in public affairs during the reigns of Fernando VII and Isabel II. Castaños died at Madrid in 1852 at age 94.
Source: A New Biographical Dictionary, of 3000 Contemporary Public characters, 1825.
Illustration: General Castaños, Madrid, 1808, by Dionisio A. Cueto.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: GRAND PRINCE OF SERBIA STEFAN NEMANJA

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
November 25, 2018

Nemanja (c. 1113 – 1199), son of a Prince of Zahumlje, became grand župan (clan leader) of Raška under Byzantine suzerainty in 1169. The Venetians incited the Slavs of the eastern Adriatic littoral to rebel against Byzantine rule. He sided with them and was eventually defeated by the avenging Byzantines. Although Nemanja bowed before Emperor Manuel I Komnenos and surrendered his personal sword, he was imprisoned and brought to the Imperial Capital of Constantinople to take part in a triumphal entry as a defeated barbarian. However, the emperor befriended Nemanja who vowed to never again attack Manuel, while the Emperor in return recognized Stefan Nemanja and his bloodline as the rightful Grand Župans of the Rascian lands.
Following Emperor Manuel I's death in 1180, Stefan Nemanja no longer believed he owed any allegiance to the Byzantines, he formed a new alliance with King Bela III of Hungary, and invaded Byzantine soil. Nemanja conquered Skopje, Prizren, and Tetovo.
In 1190, the new Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos prepared a massive and experienced army to strike against Nemanja. In fall of 1191, the well-prepared Byzantine army, led by the Emperor himself, crushed Nemanja's forces in South Morava. Stefan Nemanja retreated into the mountains, as Byzantines raided all along the river and even burned down the capital in Kuršumlija. However, Nemanja began raiding the Byzantine armies, so Emperor Isaac decided to negotiate a final peace treaty. Though again defeated, he retained Kosovo, Peć, Prizren, Bar, Skadar (Shkodër), and Kotor.
Serbia seemed once again endangered once as Nemanja's former ally, King Bela of Hungary invaded from the north. However, Nemanja's forces quickly pushed the Hungarians back across the border in 1193.
Nemanja abdicated in 1196 and joined his son in a monastery. His son, Stefan Prvovenčani (the “First-Crowned”), was granted the title of king of Raška by Pope Honorius III in 1217. His younger brother, Rastko (later canonized as St. Sava), became in 1219 the first archbishop of an independent Serbian Orthodox church. This close alliance between secular and sacred power gave the Nemanjić state much of its strength and stability.
Illustration: Stefan Nemanja with his army in the front of Byzantine fortress by Borivoje Mikic.

MILITARY OF THE DAY : MARSHAL OF THE SOVIET UNION KONSTANTIN ROKOSSOVSKY (1896-1968)

By Lohan Le Formal,
November 25, 2018

Rokossovsky, whose father was a railroad engineer, served in the imperial army as a noncommissioned officer in World War I. In 1917 he joined the Red Army and served in the Civil War, rising through the ranks to various Far Eastern commands, notably leading a cavalry brigade during the Soviet-Chinese dispute over control of the Chinese Eastern Railway (1929).
He was imprisoned in 1938 during the Stalinist purges but was released upon the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 because his military talents were needed. During World War II Rokossovsky had major roles in the battles at Moscow (1941), Stalingrad, and Kursk (1943), as well as in the Soviet drives into Bielorussia (1944), East Prussia, and Pomerania (1945). He won his greatest renown at Stalingrad when he directed six Soviet armies of the Don River front that, along with other Soviet forces, first trapped and then annihilated the 22 divisions of the German Sixth Army. He is the designer of the operation "Bagration"(with Joukov and Vassilievski) whose success, decisive through the destruction of the entire Army Group Center Wehrmacht, earned him his promotion to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union.

In 1949 he was named Soviet defense minister and deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of Soviet-dominated Poland and was accorded the title marshal of Poland. He held these positions until the return to power of Władysław Gomułka, former secretary of the communist Polish Workers’ Party, who had been imprisoned in 1948. Upon his expulsion by Gomułka (28 October 1956, on charges of attempting to stage a pro-Soviet coup), Rokossovsky returned to the U.S.S.R., where he was deputy minister of defense (1956–62) and held various other military posts until his retirement in 1962.
When he died in 1968, his funeral urn was sealed in the Kremlin wall.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: MICHIEL DE RUYTER, ONE OF THE GREATEST ADMIRALS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY.

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
December 10, 2018

Michiel Adriaanszoon De Ruyter (1607-1676) was a famous Dutch seaman. His brilliant naval victories in the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch wars enabled the United Provinces to maintain a balance of power with England.
Employed at sea at the age of nine, De Ruyter by 1635 had become a merchant captain. After serving as rear admiral of a Dutch fleet assisting Portugal against Spain in 1641, he returned to the merchant service for the next 10 years, fighting against the Barbary pirates off the north African coast. With the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652–54), he accepted a naval command, serving with distinction under Maarten Tromp and attaining the rank of vice admiral in 1653 after his victory off Texel. De Ruyter’s successes in battle have been attributed to his development of an effective combat order, stressing fleet discipline.
In 1659 De Ruyter supported Denmark against Sweden in the Baltic in the First Northern War (1655–60). He fought against the English (1664–65) off the Guinea Coast of Africa, helping to restore the Dutch West India Company’s commercial dominance in the area, but he was unsuccessful in subsequent campaigns against the English in the West Indies.
Returning to the United Provinces in 1665, De Ruyter was named lieutenant admiral of Holland and worked closely with Johan De Witt to strengthen the Dutch navy. In the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–67), his greatest victories were in the Four Days’ Battle (June 1666) and in the raid on the Medway (June 1667), in which much of the English fleet was destroyed; the latter victory accelerated the Anglo-Dutch peace negotiations that had begun at Breda in April 1667. De Ruyter’s blaming Admiral Cornelis Tromp for the defeat in the St. James’s Day battle in August 1666 resulted in the withdrawal of Tromp’s commission and his resignation from the navy until 1673, when the two distinguished commanders were reconciled.
De Ruyter’s performance in the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672–74) has been considered his greatest achievement: his victories over larger Anglo-French forces off Solebay (1672) and Ostend and Kijkduin (1673) prevented an invasion of the Dutch Republic from the sea. In 1675–76 he fought against the French in the Mediterranean and was mortally wounded off Sicily. - Encyclopædia Britannica.
Painting by Karel Dujardin in 1669.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: MATTHIAS CORVINUS (Hunyadi Mátyás), THE POWERFUL HUNGARIAN RENAISSANCE KING.

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
January 24, 2019 · 

Matthias Corvinus (1440-1490) was born in Cluj, Transylvania. The nickname “Corvinus,” comes from the Latin corvusa, or crow, a bird depicted on the Hunyadi coat of arms. On the death of Hunyadi, a bitter struggle over the crown of Hungary broke out. In January 24, 1458 a faction of Hungarian nobles elected Matthias as the next king, believing as a young and educated man he would be easy to control.
Opponents of Matthias proclaimed as king the Habsburg emperor Friedrich III, who accepted his election and seized the crown jewels of Hungary as symbol of his authority. Matthias proved an able leader, however, and crushed opposition, taking as prisoners many of his rivals as well as Vlad Dracula, the prince of Wallachia. In 1463, Friedrich gave up his claim, accepted Matthias as the king of Hungary, and returned the crown. 

Black Army infantry, by Croatian artist Velimir Vuksic from the series "The Army of Janos Hunyadi and Matthias I Corvin".

Matthias raised a powerful army of mercenaries, the Black Army, to expand the borders of Hungary. In the beginnings, the core of the army consisted of 6–8,000 mercenaries. In the 1480s, the number was between 15,000 and 20,000, however the figures in the great Viennese military parade reached to 28,000 men (20,000 horsemen, 8,000 infantry) in 1485. The soldiers were mainly Bohemians, Germans, Serbs, Poles and, from 1480, Hungarians. Thus the Black Army was far larger than the army of Louis XI of France, the only other existing permanent professional European army in the era.
Matthias campaigned against the Turks in the Balkan Peninsula, defeating them in several battles in Serbia and Transylvania. In 1471 Matthias renewed the Serbian Despotate in south Hungary under Vuk Grgurević for the protection of the borders against the Ottomans. In 1479 an Ottoman army, on its return home from ravaging Transylvania, was annihilated at Szászváros (13 October 1479) in the Battle of Breadfield. The following year Matthias recaptured Jajce, drove the Ottomans from northern Serbia and instituted two new military banats, Jajce and Srebernik, from reconquered Bosnian territory. 

Art by Tibor Tornyai: Coronation of Matthias Corvinus on 24 January 1458. The young prince was then only 14 years old.
 
In 1480 an Ottoman fleet seized Otranto in the Kingdom of Naples. At the solicitation of the pope Matthias sent the Hungarian general, Balázs Magyar, to recover the fortress, which surrendered on 10 May 1481. Again in 1488, Matthias took Ancona under his protection for a while, occupying it with a Hungarian garrison. 

At home he established a new judicial system, improved education, and patronized several Italian artists, whom he invited to work at his court. He also built a prestigious library of books and manuscripts, the second largest in Europe after the papal library in Rome. According to Marcus Tanner, Matthias ruled "a European superpower" at the end of his reign. His conquests, however, were lost within months of his death.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: ALI PASHA OF EGYPT'S SWORD: HIS OWN SON IBRAHIM PASHA, CONQUEROR OF GREECE AND SYRIA.

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
April 9, 2019 

Ibrahim Pasha was born at Kavala, Rumelia (now Greece). A son (or adopted son), of the famous Albanian vali Muḥammad ʿAlī, in 1805 Ibrahim joined his father in Egypt, where he was made governor of Cairo. During 1816–18 he successfully commanded an army against the Wahhabite rebels in Arabia. Muḥammad ʿAlī sent him on a mission against the remnants of the Mamluks to the Sudan in 1821–22, and on his return he helped train the new Egyptian army on European lines.
When the Ottoman sultan Mahmud II asked for Egyptian assistance to crush the Greek revolt, an expedition commanded by Ibrahim landed in Greece in 1824 with 17,000 men and subdued the Morea (Peloponnese). He defeated the Greeks in the open field, and though the siege of Missolonghi proved costly to his own troops and to the Ottoman forces who operated with him, he brought it to a successful termination on April 24, 1826. But he suffered setbacks in Mani (Southern Peloponnese), the Greek guerrilla bands harassed his army, and in revenge he desolated the country and sent thousands of the inhabitants into slavery in Egypt. These measures of repression aroused indignation in Europe and led to the intervention of the naval squadrons of the United Kingdom, the Restored Kingdom of France and Imperial Russia in the Battle of Navarino (October 20, 1827). Their victory was followed by the landing of a French expeditionary force, the Morea expedition. By the terms of the capitulation of October 1, 1828, Ibrahim evacuated the country.
In 1831, his father's quarrel with the Porte having become flagrant, Ibrahim was sent to conquer Syria. He took Acre after a severe siege on May 27, 1832, occupied Damascus, defeated an Ottoman army at Homs on July 8 defeated another Ottoman army at Beilan on July 29, invaded Asia Minor, and finally routed the Grand Vizier Reşid Mehmed Pasha (with whom he had conquered Missolonghi 6 years before) at Konya on December 21. There were now no military obstacles between Ibrahim's forces and Constantinople itself! In May 1833, Ibrahim became governor-general of the provinces of Syria and Adana ceded to Egypt after his victories during the Egyptian–Ottoman War. In 1838, the Porte felt strong enough to renew the struggle, and war broke out once more. Ibrahim won his last victory for his father at Nezib on June 24, 1839. But the United Kingdom and the Austrian Empire intervened to preserve the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. By 1848 Muḥammad ʿAlī had become senile, and Ibrahim was appointed viceroy but ruled for only 40 days before his death on November 10, 1848.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: FIELD MARSHAL ERNEST GIDEON, BARON VON LAUDON (1717 - 1790)

By Siniša Đuričić,
April 17, 2019

 
The son of a Swedish officer of Scottish descent, Laudon entered the Russian Army as a cadet in 1732. After an unsuccessful bid to serve Prussia, he joined the Austrian forces in 1741. He distinguished himself during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48), but his rapid rise began with the Seven Years’ War, a worldwide conflict that in Europe involved the struggle between Austria and Prussia for supremacy in Germany. Laudon defeated Frederick II the Great of Prussia at Kunersdorf (1759) and Landshut (1760) and became Austrian commander in chief for Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. Although he was crushed by Frederick at Liegnitz (1760), he captured Schweidnitz in a surprise attack in 1761 in the last Austrian success of the war. After retiring in 1763, he served without distinction during the War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–79). Recalled in 1788, he crowned his career by capturing Belgrade from the Turks in 1789 and was made commander in chief of the Austrian armed forces.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: ALP ARSLAN, 2nd SULTAN OF THE SELJUQ EMPIRE.

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
April 23, 2019

ʿAḍud al-Dawla Abū Shujaʿ Muḥammad ibn Dāʾūd Chaghribeg, (c. 1030—1072), was the second sultan of the Seljuq Turks, who inherited the Seljuq territories of Khorāsān and western Iran and went on to conquer Georgia, Armenia, and much of Asia Minor (routing the Byzantine army at Manzikert).
The Seljuq empire was a medieval Turko Persian Sunni Muslim empire founded by Tughril Beg in 1037. It controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Arabian Gulf. They united the eastern Islamic world and played a key role in the first and second crusades.
To expand the influence of Islam in the neighboring territory, Alp Arslan ("Heroic Lion") marched into Armenia and Georgia, and finally subdued them in 1064 AD. Alp Arslan invaded the Byzantine empire in 1068 AD but during the first three campaigns, the Turks were defeated and driven across the Euphrates.
At the Battle of Manzikert, fought in 1071, the Seljuk Empire clashed again with the Byzantine Empire led by Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes. What followed was a disastrous defeat for the Byzantine army. The emperor was betrayed by his Cuman Turks as well as the contingents of Franks and Normans, the Byzantines totally routed. Romanos IV was captured and brought to Sultan Alp Arslan. Alp Arslan placed his boot on the Emperor's neck and forced him to kiss the ground. A week later, he was released by Arslan in exchange of a large ransom.
This large victory was followed by Seljuq conquest of most of Anatolia and marked the beginning of the end for the Byzantine Empire as a militarily viable state.
11 months later, the Sultan had arrested Yussuf al-Khwarezmi, the hostile commander of the Berzem fortress when preparing to march against Turkestan. He condemned Yussuf to death but was suddenly stabbed by him with a dagger and died shortly thereafter.
Sultan Alp Arslan died at the age of 43. Alp Arslan's conquest of Anatolia from the Byzantines is seen as one of the pivotal precursors to the launch of the 1st crusade.
Art by Mustafa Öner.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: CHILBUDIUS, MAGISTER MILITUM PER THRACIAM (? - 534)

By Siniša Đuričić,
May 10, 2019

 

Chilbudius or Chilbuldius (Greek: Χιλβούδιος, Khilboudios) was a Byzantine general, holding the rank of magister militum per Thraciam in the early 530s. He was apparently killed in battle c. 533, but an impostor claimed his identity c. 545-546. The only source for both men is Procopius.
According to some scholars Chilbudius was probably a Slav, although Florin Curta argues this view was misled by the story of the Antian namesake who claimed his identity.
The name has also been considered to be Germanic origin.Bohdan Strumins'kyj suggested a Gothic name, *Hil(i)baudeis / *Hil(i)būdeis, a name attested in Old High German as Hillibodo, rather than the traditional Slavic etymology of *xvalibud ("awakener of glory"). This demonstrates the difficulty in etymologizing proper names.
Chilbudius served as a member of the household of emperor Justinian I (r. 527-565). Procopius introduces him as a vigorous soldier and commends him for his lack of avarice. He claims that Chilbudius was not seeking to amass wealth for himself.
Chilbudius was appointed magister militum per Thracias "in the fourth year" of Justinian' reign (530/531). He was the direct successor of Germanus in that post. He was tasked with defending the Danube limes against barbarian incursions. He served for three years (c. 533/534), eventually moving his forces to the north of the Danube. In this manner, Chilbudius prevented invasions in Byzantine territories while taking the battle to hostile territory. He was reportedly killed in battle with Slavs (South Slavs) at the end of this period.
In 545/546, one of the Antae, held captive by the Sclaveni, claimed to be Chilbudius. With the Antae and the Sclaveni temporarily at peace with each other, the Chilbudius impostor passed to the hands of another member of the Antae. A Byzantine captive held by the same man persuaded their master that his fellow slave was the real Chilbudius. He also tried to convince said master to return the captive to Justinian, which would require a journey through Byzantine areas. When among the other Antae, the impostor revealed his actual identity and tried to claim the status of a freedman. His tribesmen found him more useful as Chilbudius than as one of them. He was pressured to continue the pretense.
At about this time, Justinian started negotiations with the Antae. He offered to them the ancient city of Turris, "to the north of the river Ister" (the Danube), and its vicinity. The city had been reportedly built by Trajan (r. 98-117) but lay deserted at the time. The Antae would be allowed to settle in this area and receive payment for guarding the Byzantine borders against the Huns, effectively gaining foederati status. The Antae accepted, but on the condition that "Chilbudius" would be restored to office, attempting to raise their man to the rank of magister militum. The plot was reportedly unveiled by Narses, who captured the Chilbudius impostor and transported him to Constantinople. His subsequent fate is unknown. Whatever his real identity, the impostor reportedly spoke Latin fluently.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: SAMBHAJI, 2nd RULER OF THE MARATHA.

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
May 16, 2019

After a lifetime of exploits and guerrilla warfare with Adilshah of Bijapur and Moghul emperor Aurangzeb, the local lord Shivaji founded an independent Maratha nation in 1674, with Raigad as its capital. Shivaji died in 1680, leaving a large, but vulnerably located kingdom. His eldest son Sambhaji (1657-1689), after a bloody tussle with the party supporting his half-brother Rajaram (1670-1700), ascended the Maratha throne.
Brave and arrogant, he somehow lacked his father's statesmanship. Meanwhilc Aurangzeb was distracted by the unrest in Rajputana and the rebellion of his son, Prince Akbar. Instead of strengthening the Maratha state and army under those favorable conditions, Sambhaji chose to wage useless wars against the Sidi rulers of Janjira Island and the Portuguese of Goa. The Mughals organized a number of expeditions against the Marathas and forced them to abandon the siege of Goa.
In 1684-1685 the Mughal army undertook a new offensive against Maharashtra and succeeded in taking a few important forts and the Karwar port. Sambhaji, however, found it more important to fight not the Mughals but the Shirkes, a hostile Maratha clan. In 1686-1687 Aurangzeb diverted his armies from Maharashtra and used them against Bijapur and Golkonda. Both sultanates were vanquished and acceded to the empire. Sambhaji neither assisted the sultanates nor made an attempt to strike the Mughals from the back. After the two sultanates were conquered, Aurang zeb invaded Maharashtra again. In a covert operation, a Mughal force captured Sambhaji who was traveling with a small detachment. Brought to Aurangzeb, Sambhaji was sentenced to a slow torturous death on March 11, 1689. - War and Religion: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict, 2017.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: MEMNON OF RHODES, ALEXANDER THE GREAT'S TOUGHEST ADVERSARY.

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
May 17, 2019.

Memnon (380 - 333) was a Rhodian commander in the service of the Achaemenid Empire. Related to the Persian aristocracy by the marriage of his sister to the satrap Artabazus II, together with his brother Mentor he served the Persian Empire for most of his life and was Alexander's most capable adversary.
Exiled for a few years at the court of Philip II of Macedon, he got convinced of Philip's intentions to invade Persia and re-entered the Persian service with a clear understanding of Macedonia's military capabilities.
When the Macedonians attacked in 336 the vanguard was commanded by Parmenion and Attalus. They proved to be no match for Memnon, who defeated Parmenion at Magnesia and was able to isolate him in the northwest of modern Turkey.
Following the assassination of Philip, Alexander joined his generals. From now on, the Macedonians were in numbers superior to the Persians. Memnon, appointed supreme commander, managed to keep the Persian naval base Halicarnassus for a long time and was able to evacuate the town without unacceptable losses.
He then started using the empires naval superiority against Alexander and opened negotiations with Sparta in order to take the war to mainland Greece. He began a campaign to capture the Aegean islands using the Persian fleet and led a direct assault on Macedonia, while Alexander was resting at Phaselis. Memnon managed to capture the island of Chios and most of Lesbos. Demosthenes, after hearing of Memnon's successes, began to prepare Athens for a revolt against Alexander, along with other Greek cities, while Sparta began to prepare for war. By a stroke of fortune for Alexander, Memnon died during the siege of Mytilene. No other could bring Alexander to a halt and disrupt his plans.
Memnon's wife Barsine eventually became the mistress of Alexander; in 327, they had a son named Heracles.
Art by Joan Francesco Oliveras Pallerols.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: JACOB DE LA GARDIE (1583 - 1652), SWEDISH GENERAL AND STATESMAN WHO CONQUERED MOSCOW

By Siniša Đuričić,
June 20, 2019

On June 20, 1583, Jacob De la Gardie was born, a Swedish statesman and a Field marshal. He was at the head of the Swedish War Council, and had a high position of state Constable (Riksmarsk), even higher than that of a Marshal. His family De la Gardie was of French origin because his father moved from France to Sweden and married himself to a highly-positioned Swedish woman.

Jacob De la Gardie was born in Reval (today's Tallinn), in the area of ​​today's Estonia (at that time the Estonian territory belonged to Sweden). Already in his youth De la Gardie became a soldier and in 1609 and 1610 he led the Swedish atrmy against Russia. He managed to conquer even Moscow, and young Vladislav IV. from the Swedish Dynasty Vasa was then crowned as the Russian Emperor. However, the Swedes soon left Moscow, so that the whole tundertakinng remained only a passing episode.

In 1615, De la Gardie became a Swedish Field marshal (Flemtmarskalk), and in 1620 he gained a higher position of the state constable (Riksmarsk). By this he was placed at the helm of the overall Swedish military force, and he also received the title of Count. Interestingly, Count Jacob De la Gardie was contemporary of another famous Swedish statesman - Count Axel Oxenstierne. Namely, Count Oxenstierna was only about two years older and held high office of the Chancellor of the State (Rikskansler). That is why Oxenstierna was at the head of the Swedish government at about the same time that De la Gardie was at the helm of the Swedish military force. Both have left enormous traces in history, as Sweden was one of the strongest forces in Europe at this time.

MILITARY LEADER OF THE DAY: JACQUES DE LINIERS (1753-1810), THE FRENCH KNIGHT OF MALTA WHO FOUGHT FOR SPAIN AND SAVED BUENOS AIRES.

By Eric G. L. Pinzelli,
June 27, 2019 

After graduating from the Order of Malta military school at age 15, Jacques de Liniers (from a very ancient French noble family) was commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant of Cavalry in the Royal-Piémont Regiment at Carcassonne, France. In 1774 Liniers enlisted as a volunteer in the Spanish campaigns against the Moors in Algiers.

At the campaign's conclusion, Liniers took an exam as a Midshipman in Cádiz, to serve as a volunteer for the Spanish Crown. In 1775 he earned the rank of Ensign in the Spanish Navy. In 1776, under the orders of Pedro de Cevallos, Liniers sailed to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata and took part on the occupation of Santa Catarina Island in Brazil and the attack on Colonia del Sacramento (Uruguay).

In 1779, Liniers was an officer on the San Vicente which part of the Spanish-French Naval Squadron fighting the British Royal Navy in South America. Liniers distinguished himself during the American Revolution. In 1780, with a few sloops, he captured a three-masted ship of 24 guns. In 1782, during the siege of Port Mahon, under fire, he moved to where two British ships had collided, which were laden with arms and ammunition. He seized the ships and conveyed them to the Spanish lines. He was promoted to Frigate Captain.

A few months later Liniers took part in a new expedition against the city of Algiers, in North Africa. When Madrid tried to negotiate with the local dey, Liniers was entrusted with the mission. The Spanish court rewarded Liniers for his diplomatic successes, promoting him to the rank of captain and entrusting him with the command of the Río de la Plata in 1788 to organize a flotilla of gunships.

In June 23, 1806, a British expeditionary force of 1,700 men landed on the left bank of the Río de la Plata and invaded Buenos Aires, which had been abandoned by the Viceroy. Liniers remained in the city in disguise, staying in the Dominican convent. At the altar of the Virgin, he vowed to return with the flags of the occupiers. He escaped to Montevideo and, with the help of its governor Pascual Ruiz Huidobro, galvanized the people, raising a troop of 1,200 volunteers.

He embarked with this liberation army on a few schooners, which joined a French privateer corvette and local militia. Landing on August 4, Liniers and his men rushed across the marshes to Buenos Aires. The city was recovered after fierce street fighting that ended with the storming of the cathedral, which had been fortified by the British. British General William Carr Beresford capitulated and offered his sword; true to Liniers's vow, British flags (those of the Highlanders regiment and Green St. Helena) were transferred to the church of the convent of the Dominicans, where they are still held.

When a second larger British invasion with 11,000 men was imminent, the Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires confirmed Liniers as commander-in-chief, and appointed him as interim viceroy.

The British forced entered into the city and found a strong resistance, and many battalions were defeated, while others tried to resist at strategic points. Whitelocke suggested a truce, which was rejected by Liniers, who also attacked the British ships within cannon range. After suffering 311 killed, 679 wounded and 1,808 captured or missing Whitelocke's defeat was complete, and Liniers demanded that all British forces be removed from the territories of Viceroyalty, including the Banda Oriental, in no more than 2 months, as well as an exchange of prisoners. Whitelocke accepted the conditions and surrendered.There was a large number of celebrations after the victory against the British. Liniers was officially appointed as viceroy in May 1808, and awarded the title of "Count of Buenos Aires".

When the May Revolution took place in 1810, Liniers decided to come out of his retirement and organized a monarchist uprising in Córdoba. Jacques de Liniers was defeated, captured, and executed without trial.

Painting: Reconquest of Buenos Aires by Charles Fouqueray, Museo Histórico Nacional, Buenos Aires.