Ottoman
The Continuing Mongol Threat in Eastern Europe
Battle of Liegnitz Following the cataclysm of 1241–1242, King BĂ©la IV of Hungary made efforts to prepare for the next assault, instigating the construction of stone castles on his eastern frontiers and entering into marriage alliances with several of his neighbors, including a Cuman chief whose daughter married his son and heir Stephen (later Stephen V); he also recruited Cumans…
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Barbary corsairs. “The Regencies.”
Cornelis Hendriksz Vroom, Spanish Men-of-War Engaging Barbary Corsairs, 1615 The “corsairs” were the navies and cruising warships of several small Muslim principalities-Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis- in the Maghreb. They were so called in the West from their traditional form of naval warfare, the “corso.” This practice was directly comparable to…
Achaia
The Prince of Achaia, Louis of Burgundy (1313-1316). Â Manuel Kantakouzenos. Despot of the Morea (1347-1380). A Frankish principality in southern Greece established after the overthrow of the Byzantine Empire by the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204). The French nobles William of Champlitte and Geoffrey I of Villehardouin undertook the conquest of…
Britain was the only global maritime power
Ville de Paris in 1854. The escadre d’évolution, under vice-admiral Penaud. The ships Ville de Paris, AlgĂ©siras and Gloire can be seen. Capture of Saigon by France, 18th February 1859. When the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, Britain was the only global maritime power. Even with a major reduction in…
Karl XII of Sweden (1682-1718)
King of Sweden, 1697-1718. “Lion of the North.” He succeeded his father, Karl XI, two months shy of his 15th birthday. From his earliest boyhood, he was fascinated by all things military-in a manner reminiscent of his lifelong bete noir, Peter I. The early death of his warrior father encouraged…
War of the Cities (1454–1466)
The Battle of Ĺšwiecino (named for the village of Ĺšwiecino, near Ĺ»arnowiec Lake, northern Poland) also called the Battle of Ĺ»arnowiec or in German Battle of Schwetz, took place on September 17, 1462 during the Thirteen Years’ War. The Poles commanded by Piotr Dunin, consisting of some 2000 mercenares and…
Ottomans – The European Challenge
Janissaries The once prevalent idea that the Ottoman Empire entered into a period of decline after the reign of Suleyman is no longer accepted. It is perhaps preferable to view the Ottoman experience from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries as a period of transformation during which the Ottomans struggled…