Biography
Stupor Mundi III
Stopping only very briefly in Cyprus, the Emperor reached Brindisi on 10 June. He found his kingdom in a state of helpless confusion. His old enemy Gregory IX had taken advantage of his absence to launch what almost amounted to a Crusade against him, writing to the princes and churches of Western Europe demanding men and money for an all-out…
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Baibars
The Battle of Al Mansurah was fought from February 8 to February 11, 1250, between Crusaders led by Louis IX, King of France, and Ayyubid forces led by Emir Fakhr-ad-Din Yusuf, Faris ad-Din Aktai and Baibars al-Bunduqdari. The Mamluks under Baibars (yellow) fought off the Franks and the Mongols during…
Jan Žižka (1360?–1424) I
Jan Ĺ˝iĹľka leading his troops (illumination from the late 15th century) Leader of Hussite Forces during the Early Catholic Crusades To most of his contemporaries he was, it seems, not so much an individual character as a great and frightful natural phenomenon: a terrific power, sent by God to save…
Jan Žižka (1360?–1424) II
While peasants provided the bulk of the manpower, Ĺ˝iĹľka did have some nobles in his army with cavalry expertise. They stayed within the wagenburg until the enemy charge had been broken; then the defenders would open a gap and the cavalry would engage in pursuit. The infantry were the backbone…
Jan Žižka (1360?–1424) III
Through the second half of 1420 Ĺ˝iĹľka had to engage in some intra-Hussite fighting. The poorest people of Bohemia not only embraced the teachings of Hus but carried them further into a millennial belief that a completely equal society would bring about Christ’s second coming. The middle class and minor…
TRAJAN AND THE DACIAN WARSÂ I
Marcus Ulpius Traianus (AD 56–117) He always marched on foot with the rank and file of his army, and he attended to the ordering and disposition of the troops throughout the entire campaign, leading them sometimes in one order and sometimes in another; and he forded all rivers that they…
TRAJAN AND THE DACIAN WARSÂ II
It does seem to have been fairly common by the late first century AD to form the first line of infantry from auxiliary troops, whilst the legions formed the second and subsequent lines. This was certainly logical, for the higher organization of the legions, with ten cohorts coming under the…