|
Push Of Pike
The push of pike was a particular feature of late medieval and Early Modern warfare that occurred when two opposing columns of pikemen (often Swiss mercenaries or German Landsknechte) met and became locked in position along a front of interleaved pikes. Shoving match During push of pike, opposing blocks of pikemen would advance with their pikes "charged" horizontally at shoulder level to jab at one another until bodily contact was made. The two sides would then push physically until one or other of them gave way. The push of pike would continue until one of the opposing formations routed or fled, which would generally lead to massive casualties. Each man pressed on the one in front, and so sometimes the formations would crush against each other and many pikemen would have to fight in closer melee combat. The rear ranks would sometimes join the fray but their primary role was to add more weight to the push. Aside from getting impaled by enemy pikes, those in the front ranks die ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swiss Mercenaries
The Swiss mercenaries (german: Reisläufer) were a powerful infantry force constituted by professional soldiers originating from the cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy. They were notable for their service in foreign armies, especially among the military forces of the Kings of France, throughout the Early Modern period of European history, from the Late Middle Ages into the Renaissance. Their service as mercenaries was at its peak during the Renaissance, when their proven battlefield capabilities made them sought-after mercenary troops. There followed a period of decline, as technological and organizational advances counteracted the Swiss' advantages. Switzerland's military isolationism largely put an end to organized mercenary activity; the principal remnant of the practice is the Pontifical Swiss Guard at the Vatican. Ascendancy During the Late Middle Ages, mercenary forces grew in importance in Europe, as veterans from the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) and other con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Pavia
The Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–1526 between the Kingdom of France and the Habsburg empire of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor as well as ruler of Spain, Austria, the Low Countries, and the Two Sicilies. The French army was led by King Francis I of France, who laid siege to the city of Pavia (then part of the Duchy of Milan within the Holy Roman Empire) in October 1524 with 26,200 troops. The French infantry consisted of 6,000 French foot soldiers and 17,000 foreign mercenaries: 8,000 Swiss, 5,000 Germans and 4,000 Italians (black bands). The French cavalry consisted of 2,000 ''gendarmes'' and 1,200 lances fournies. Charles V, intending to break the siege, sent a relief force of 22,300 troops to Pavia (where the Imperial garrison stationed consisted of 5000 Germans and 1000 Spaniards) under the command of the Fleming Charles de Lannoy, Imperial lieutenant and viceroy of Naples, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irish Confederate Wars
The Irish Confederate Wars, also called the Eleven Years' War (from ga, Cogadh na hAon-déag mBliana), took place in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars in the kingdoms of Ireland, England and Scotland – all ruled by Charles I. The conflict had political, religious and ethnic aspects and was fought over governance, land ownership, religious freedom and religious discrimination. The main issues were whether Irish Catholics or British Protestants held most political power and owned most of the land, and whether Ireland would be a self-governing kingdom under Charles I or subordinate to the parliament in England. It was the most destructive conflict in Irish history and caused 200,000–600,000 deaths from fighting as well as war-related famine and disease. The war in Ireland began with a rebellion in 1641 by Irish Catholics, who tried to seize control of the English administration in Ireland. They ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Stratton
The Battle of Stratton, also known as the Battle of Stamford Hill, took place on 16 May 1643, during the First English Civil War. In the battle, the Royalists destroyed Parliament's field army in Devon and Cornwall. Background When the war started, Cornwall was generally supportive of the Royalist cause, while Devon and Somerset were sympathetic to Parliament, though significant opposition existed in both areas. In July 1642, King Charles named the Marquess of Hertford his Lieutenant General in the West, with Sir Ralph Hopton as his deputy. The Earl of Stamford was given command of Parliament's army in the West Country in January 1643, and appointed James Chudleigh his deputy. At Sourton Down in April, Chudleigh captured letters ordering Hopton to join forces with the Marquis of Hertford and Prince Maurice in Somerset. Hoping to destroy Hopton's army before the Royalists forces could combine, Stamford raised the largest army that he could by stripping Parliamentary gar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Nieuwpoort
The Battle of Nieuwpoort, was fought on 2 July 1600 during the Eighty Years War and the Anglo-Spanish war in the dunes near Nieuwpoort. The Anglo-Dutch companies met the Spanish veterans head on which, although their left flank nearly broke, were able to assail them with both infantry and cavalry. The Spanish gradually scattered in all directions and left their guns on the field. Background The battle pitted the military leaders of both of the Netherlands (the Dutch Republic and the Habsburg Netherlands) against each other: The armies of the Dutch Republic were commanded by Maurice, Count of Nassau; the armies of the Habsburg Netherlands were commanded by Albert, Duke of Burgundy. Albert ruled autocratically, Maurice had to abide by the demands of the Dutch parliament. Both commanded multinational armies. The Spanish army was 100 percent Catholic, the Dutch army predominantly Protestant. Maurice (1567-1624) was the son of the leader of the original Dutch rebellion, William ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Zutphen
The Battle of Zutphen was fought on 22 September 1586, near the village of Warnsveld and the town of Zutphen, the Netherlands, during the Eighty Years' War. It was fought between the forces of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, aided by the English, against the Spanish. In 1585, England signed the Treaty of Nonsuch with the States-General of the Netherlands and formally entered the war against Spain. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was appointed as the Governor-General of the Netherlands and sent there in command of an English army to support the Dutch rebels. When Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma and commander of the Spanish Army of Flanders, besieged the town of Rheinberg during the Cologne War, Leicester, in turn, besieged the town of Zutphen, in the province of Gelderland and on the eastern bank of the river IJssel. Zutphen was strategically important to Farnese, as it allowed his troops to levy war contributions in the rich Veluwe region. Therefore, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eighty Years' War
The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, taxation, and the rights and privileges of the nobility and cities. After the initial stages, Philip II of Spain, the sovereign of the Netherlands, deployed his armies and regained control over most of the rebel-held territories. However, widespread mutinies in the Spanish army caused a general uprising. Under the leadership of the exiled William the Silent, the Catholic- and Protestant-dominated provinces sought to establish religious peace while jointly opposing the king's regime with the Pacification of Ghent, but the general rebellion failed to sustain itself. Despite Governor of Spanish Netherlands and General for Spain, the Duke of Parma's steady military and diplomatic successes, the Union of Utre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Santo Domingo (1586)
The Battle of Santo Domingo (1586) or the Capture of Santo Domingo was a military and naval action fought on 1 January 1586, of the recently declared Anglo-Spanish War that resulted in the assault and capture by English soldiers and sailors of the Spanish city of Santo Domingo governed by Cristóbal de Ovalle on the Spanish island of Hispaniola. The English were led by Francis Drake and was part of his ''Great Expedition'' to raid the Spanish New World in a kind of preemptive strike. The English soldiers then occupied the city for over a month and captured much booty along with a 25,000 ducat ransom before departing on 1 February. Background War had already been unofficially declared by Philip II of Spain after the Treaty of Nonsuch in which Elizabeth I had offered her support to the rebellious Protestant Dutch rebels. The Queen through Francis Walsingham ordered Sir Francis Drake to lead an expedition to attack the Spanish New World in a kind of preemptive strike. Sailing fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)
The Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) was an intermittent conflict between the Habsburg Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of England. It was never formally declared. The war included much English privateering against Spanish ships, and several widely separated battles. It began with England's military expedition in 1585 to what was then the Spanish Netherlands under the command of the Earl of Leicester, in support of the Dutch rebellion against Spanish Habsburg rule. The English enjoyed a victory at Cádiz in 1587, and repelled the Spanish Armada in 1588, but then suffered heavy setbacks: the English Armada (1589), the Drake–Hawkins expedition (1595), and the Essex–Raleigh expedition (1597). Three further Spanish armadas were sent against England and Ireland in 1596, 1597, and 1601, but these likewise ended in failure for Spain, mainly because of adverse weather. The war became deadlocked around the turn of the 17th century during campaigns in the Netherlands, France, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Langside
The Battle of Langside was fought on 13 May 1568 between forces loyal to Mary, Queen of Scots, and forces acting in the name of her infant son James VI. Mary’s short period of personal rule ended in 1567 in recrimination, intrigue, and disaster when, after her capture at Carberry Hill, she was forced to abdicate in favour of James VI, her infant son. Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle, while her Protestant half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, was appointed Regent on behalf of his nephew. In early May 1568 Mary escaped, heading west to the country of the Hamiltons, high among her remaining supporters, and the safety of Dumbarton Castle with the determination to restore her rights as queen. Mary was defeated and went into exile and captivity in England. The battle can be regarded as the start of the Marian civil war. Queen's Men Mary's abdication had not been universally popular, even among sections of the Protestant nobility, and news of her escape were widely w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marian Civil War
The Marian civil war in Scotland (1568–1573) was a period of conflict which followed the abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her escape from Lochleven Castle in May 1568. Those who ruled in the name of her infant son James VI fought against the supporters of the Queen, who was exiled in England. Edinburgh Castle, which was garrisoned in her name, became the focus of the conflict and surrendered only after an English intervention in May 1573. The conflict in 1570 was called an "intestine war in the bowels of this commonwealth", and the period was called soon after an "intestine war driven by questions against authority." Queen's men and King's men The supporters of Queen Mary had popular international support for what was seen as the legitimate cause of supporters of an unjustly deposed monarch. The King's party claimed that their cause was a war of religion, like that in France, and that they were fighting for the Protestant cause. Mary had escaped from her imprisonment in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Ceresole
The Battle of Ceresole (; also Cérisoles) took place on 11 April 1544, during the Italian War of 1542–1546, outside the village of Ceresole d'Alba in the Piedmont region of Italy. A French army, commanded by François de Bourbon, Count of Enghien, defeated the combined forces of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain, commanded by Alfonso d'Avalos d'Aquino, Marquis del Vasto. Despite having inflicted substantial casualties on the Imperial troops, the French subsequently failed to exploit their victory by taking Milan. Enghien and d'Avalos had arranged their armies along two parallel ridges; because of the topography of the battlefield, many of the individual actions of the battle were uncoordinated. The battle opened with several hours of skirmishing between opposing bands of arquebusiers and an ineffectual artillery exchange, after which d'Avalos ordered a general advance. In the center, Imperial landsknechts clashed with French and Swiss infantry, with both sides suffering te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Battle Of Nieuwpoort")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Eighty Years' War")
