Biography
(Horatio) Herbert Kitchener — 1850-1916 Part I
Major-General Herbert Kitchener meets the Emir Mahmud after defeating him at Atbara, April 1898 The scene about Kosheh that afternoon in September 1896 was dazzling. The sun beat down relentlessly, bleaching the colour out of everything. Here and there the rays of light were reflected by the waters of the great Nile as it flowed past. But to the officers…
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Matilda of Tuscany (1046–1115)
The states of the Apennine Peninsula in the second half of the 11th century. The name Matilda means “mighty in war.” The gran contessa Matilda of Tuscany (1046–1115) lived up to her name. According to military historian David Hay, she was not only the most powerful woman of her time…
PRINCE EUGENE AND THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION I
Prince Eugene of Savoy and his General Staff at the Battle of Zenta The ‘first age of heroes’ Confidence, that critical of military factors, allowed the Habsburgs’ army to assume the offensive rapidly. As it rolled the Turks out of central and eastern Europe, the army became better disciplined and…
PRINCE EUGENE AND THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION II
The seizure of Cremona Villeroi fell back on Cremona, where events took a picturesque turn. After five months of careful consolidation following his victory at Chiari, Eugene again took the offensive. His army was still well provisioned and disciplined. He had executed forty-eight soldiers for looting houses around Mantua and,…
PRINCE EUGENE AND THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION III
Portrait of Prince Eugene of Savoy by Jan Kupecký. Shown here in late middle age. Austria, Grenadier zu Pferde (Horse Grenadiers) 1730 by Rudolf von Ottenfeld Eugene’s military reforms and Austrian white Eugene was keen to incorporate lessons learnt from his campaigning next to Marlborough. In his role as President…
Confederate General Earl Van Dorn
Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn (above) suffered a major defeat at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, in March 1862 due to a lack of coordination among several different Confederate commands. Confederate Earl Van Dorn did not have the right stuff to succeed as an army commander, but he excelled as a cavalry…
Thomas Francis Fremantle (1765-1819)
Thomas Francis Fremantle (1765-1819) was born in 1765 in Hampstead. His grandfather, John, came from a family of Lisbon merchants and had been a diplomat at Madrid, then Secretary to the Customs Board, and had married into the Spanish aristocracy. His father, also John, a colonel in the Coldstream Guards…