The Battle of Les Saintes took place from April 9 to April 12, 1782, during the American War of Independence, between the English fleet led by George Rodney and the French fleet led by the Count of Grasse. The English fleet emerged victorious. The clash was named after Les Saintes, a group of island
The Battle of Vienna (to be distinguished from the Siege of Vienna of 1529) took place on September 12, 1683 on the Kahlenberg hill near Vienna. (Leopold I renamed it immediately after Leopoldsberg, giving the name of Kahlenberg to a nearby hill, the Sauberg or Schweinsberg or even Josephsberg. The
The Battle of Assaye took place on September 23, 1803, near the small town of Assaye in the current state of Maharashtra north of Aurangabad. General Arthur Wellesley is at the head of an army composed of British and Sepoys amounting to some 13,500 men. He encounters a large Indian force representin
n The tercios were the administrative and tactical unit of the Spanish infantry from 1534 to 1704. Bringing together around three thousand professional, highly trained and disciplined infantrymen, the tercios were deemed invincible until the Battle of Rocroi. In other countries, they were often cal
Rapier, first half of the 17th century. The rapier is a long and thin sword, with an elaborate hilt, with a flexible blade, intended primarily for thrusting. The rapier, while not made for slicing a man in half, is sharp, and can cause serious slashes if a volley hits the opponent. Only the court s
A musket (from the Italian moschetto) is a portable firearm with a long barrel, shoulder stock and lock with a matchlock or spinning wheel. Authors and French military manuals of the 18th century clearly differentiate the matchlock musket, in use in the armies until around 1700, from the flintlock
The left hand is a dagger used in the weak hand, mainly to aid in parrying thrusting attacks, the other hand usually holding a rapier or court sword. Some can also, if necessary, be used for attack if the opportunity arises. Carried across the loins handle to the left so that it can be unsheathed at
The arquebus is a firearm with a limited effective range (less than 50 meters), quite heavy and bulky, but the latest versions of it could be supported. “Arquebuse” comes from the German Hakenbüchse. The matchlock arquebus, which appeared around 1450, weighs 5 to 9 kilograms and requires support on
Reîtres (in German Reiter, literally horseman) are a heavy cavalry of Germanic origin that appeared in the 1540s. This type of cavalry appeared following the invention of the wheel gun which allowed firing in the saddle and the abandonment of the lance. A reiter was armed with at least a pair of pi
Pikemen are Renaissance infantry armed with a very long spear called a pike. Origins Infantrymen armed with a pike several meters long, they formed the basis of the armies of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. They appeared from the beginning of the 14th century among the Scots and the Flemi
Pierre Terrail, lord of Bayard, (Castle of Bayard, Pontcharra (Isère) 1476 - Rovasenda (Val Sesia, formerly Milanese, today Piedmont, province of Verceil or Vercelli, Italy) 1524), better known as Bayard or du Chevalier Bayard, was a nobleman from the Dauphiné who distinguished himself in particular
Nicolas Machiavelli (in Italian Niccolò Machiavelli) (born May 3, 1469 in Florence - died June 21, 1527) was an Italian Renaissance thinker, political and war theorist. The proper name Machiavelli has given rise to several terms in French:Machiavellianism and its derivatives, which refer to a cynic
Martin Luther Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben. Raised in a Catholic family, he became a monk. By being thus within the ecclesiastical environment, Luther saw many unpleasant actions there, in particular the sale of indulgences. Paradise was promised for money which, in reali
Lucrezia Borgia (Lucrezia Borgia in Italian), born in Subiaco on the 18 April 1480 and died in Ferrara on June 24, 1519, is the natural daughter of the Valencian cardinal Roderic Borgia (future Pope Alexander VI). She marked her time as protector of the arts and letters. Natural daughter of Cardina
Leonardo da Vinci (Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci) painter, sculptor, goldsmith, musician, architect, physicist, astronomer, scientist, geologist, surveyor, anatomist, botanist, alchemist, visionary inventor, mechanical engineer, and soldier, watchmaker, town planner, and man of multidisciplinary
From the German Landsknecht, attested since 1480, Knecht (valet) indicating a servitude vis-à-vis the employer and Land (country or more certainly in this case campaign, plain) marking the origin of these mercenaries who did not come from the mountains, unlike the Swiss piqueurs. From 1500, we find
Persecuted Protestants In France, the first Protestants were persecuted on the orders of François the First, Catholic King. He stabs them, beheads them, hangs them, or burns them alive just because they practice Christianity differently. Calvin must flee France and takes refuge in Basel, a Swiss ci
Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vassilievich (in Russian Иван Васильевич), known as Ivan the Terrible (Иван Грозный), born August 25, 1530 in Kolomenskoye, died March 18, 1584 in Moscow, Grand Prince of Vladimir and Moscow from 1533 to 1584, first Tsar of Russia from 1547 to 1584. Son of Vassili III (14
Hernán Cortés Monroy Pizarro Altamirano, or Hernando Cortés, sometimes written Cortez, is a Spanish conquistador:he conquered part of present-day Mexico for the crown of Spain. He was born in Medellín in Extremadura (Spain), to Martín Cortés and Catalina Pizarro Altamirano in 1485 and died in Castil
François I (1494 - 1547), was crowned King of France in 1515 in Reims Cathedral, and reigned until his death in 1547. Youth Younger brother of Marguerite de Navarre (1492 - 1549), François Ier belongs to the Valois-Angoulême branch of the Capetian dynasty. He was born on September 12, 1494 in Cogna
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of germination, love, pleasures and beauty. It has the equivalent of Venus in Roman mythology. We can distinguish two different conceptions of Aphrodite:that of the pleasure of the flesh, more earthly in a way, and that of spiritual love, pure and chaste in its beauty.
George W. Bush was the 43rd president of the United States and his term was marked by the terrorist attacks promoted by Al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001. George W. Bush is internationally recognized as the 43rd US president, serving a term from 2001 to 2009. His government was marked by the attacks c
Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt (The Führer Gives a City to the Jews) was a documentary film that was shot in the Czechoslovak countryside of Theresienstadt , today Terezín, to sell the goodness of the Nazi camps to the international community. Movie recording The Ministry of Propaganda o
Isandlwana was one of the hardest blows to the forces of 19th century imperialism; the events that took place there reminded the colonial powers not to underestimate the capacities of the indigenous opposition. Initially intimidated by the firepower of the British, the Zulu warriors crushed the Engl