The Military History Thread

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September 22, 1914
1st Battle of Picardy

After the Allied victory in the 1st Battle of the Marne (see posting), Joseph Joffre ordered the Allied armies to follow up with an attack against the retreating Germans who made a stand on the Aisne River. Here they repulsed Joffre’s tentative attacks on September 13-17. When these attacks failed, Joffre and Erich von Falkenhayn, the new German chief of staff, both planned to turn each other's northern flank. This began the Race to the Sea, as repeated attempts to achieve this moved the front north until it reached the coast.

Joffre made the first move, using Michel-Joseph Maunoury’s 6th Army in an advance up the Oise, at the western end of the Aisne battlefield. Joffre ordered Maunoury to advance on the right bank of the river, giving him more space to move around the German flank (Kluck’s 1st Army). Instead, 6th Army moved up the left bank, nearer the Germans, and did not cross over to the north until September 17. By that point Kluck had already moved his own right wing across the river, and the French advance stalled.

Having attempted to turn each others flanks with troops already on the Aisne, both Joffre and Falkenhayn now brought in new armies from Lorraine. French 2nd Army (Noel de Castelnau) formed up south of Amiens, the German 6th (Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria) around St. Quentin. The Germans also used their 7th Army (Josias von Heeringen), which had earlier been used to plug a gap on the Aisne. The French prepared to begin an advance on September 22, on a line from Lassigny north to Roye and Chaulnes around the German flank. Falkenhayn had decided that his 6th Army should attack towards the Channel coast and then envelop the French south of the Somme, but was preempted.

French 2nd Army crossed the Avre on a line from Lassigny northwards to Roye and Chaulnes but met German II Corps from 1st Army, which had arrived from the Aisne front, where new entrenchments had enabled fewer men to garrison the front. Despite the assistance of II Cavalry Corps (Georg von der Marwitz), the Germans were pushed back to a line from Ribécourt to Lassigny and Roye, which menaced German communications through Ham and St. Quentin. German XVIII Corps reached Ham on the evening of the 23rd after a 50 mile forced march from Rheims; the next day it attacked towards Roye and with the II Corps, forced back French IV Corps. To the north, the French reached Péronne and formed a bridgehead on the east bank of the Somme, which exhausted the offensive capacity of 2nd Army.

Joffre sent XI Corps, his last reserve, to 2nd Army and began to withdraw 3 more corps as reinforcements. The German XXI and I Bavarian Corps recaptured Péronne and forced 2nd Army west of the Somme, where the French managed to dig in on good defensive ground, from Lassigny to Roye and Bray. German II Cavalry Corps moved north to make room for the II Bavarian Corps on the north bank of the Somme, which had marched from Valenciennes. On September 25, a German attack near Noyon pushed back 2nd Army. French reinforcements attacked again and from September 25 to 27 restored the situation.

The main effort of both sides now moved north again, at Albert (September 25-29). The Germans took very little ground and after a lull the Germans renewed the offensive against 2nd Army, which was driven back from Lassigny to a line from Ribecourt on the Oise, to Roye west of Chaulnes and the plateau north of the Somme, between Combles and Albert. On October 1, the Germans attacked at Roye in 2nd Army’s center and on October 5, another attack at Lassigny was repulsed; on the 7th a French counterattack between Chaulnes and Roye took 1600 prisoners.

The French had used the undamaged railways behind their front to move troops more quickly than the Germans, who had to take long detours, wait for repairs to damaged tracks and replace rolling stock. The French had been able to move troops in up to 200 trains per day and use hundreds of motor vehicles, which were coordinated by two staff officers, Commandant Gérard and Captain Doumenc. They had also been able to use Belgian and captured German rail wagons and the domestic telephone and telegraph systems. The initiative held by the Germans in August was not recovered and all troop movements to the right flank were piecemeal. Until the end of the Siege of Maubeuge (August 24 - September 7), only the single track from Trier to Liège, Brussels, Valenciennes and Cambrai was available. The line had to be used to supply the German armies, while 6th Army had to be carried in the opposite direction, limiting the army to 40 trains a day, when it took 4 days to move a corps. Information on German troop movements from wireless intercept enabled the French to forestall German moves but the Germans had to rely on reports from spies, which were frequently wrong. The French resorted to more cautious infantry tactics, using cover to reduce casualties and a centralized system of control, as the German army commanders followed contradictory plans. The French did not need quickly to obtain a decisive result and could concentrate on conserving the army.

The front continued to move north, with the 1st Battle of Artois (September 27 - October 10). On October 14, the Race to the Sea effectively ended when the British Cavalry Corps, advancing from the west, met 3rd Cavalry Division, moving southwest around Ypres. There was now a continuous front from the North Sea to the Swiss border.

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194 BC
Battle of Placentia

In 200 BC, tribes in Cisalpine Gaul (Italy north of the Po) rebelled against the Republic, sacking the city of Placentia. The governor, Lucius Furius Purpurio, following senatorial orders, disbanded all but 5000 men in his army and took up defenses at Ariminum. Upon the arrival of the relieving consular army of Gaius Aurelius (20,000 men), the 5000 were moved to Etruria. On the following day, the Gallic army of 40,000, led by a Carthaginian general named Hamilcar attacked. They attempted to overwhelm the right flank of the Roman army with speed and numbers. Repulsed, they then failed to flank both Roman wings, but Purpurio had lengthened his flanks and called up legionary support. Counterattacking, Purpurio's men pressed back the Gallic flanks and broke their center, soon routing the enemy completely and killing or capturing over 30,000, including Hamilcar (killed).

War with Macedon delayed Roman plans to suppress the tribes north of the Po, but by 194 BC, affairs in Greece had calmed sufficiently. Tiberius Sempronius Longus, consul for 194 BC along with Scipio Africanus, invaded the territory of the Boii with his 4-legion-strong consular army. The Boii chieftain Boiorix and his two brothers built a camp in open country to challenge the Roman army to battle. Intimidated by the numbers and confidence of the Gauls, Sempronius asked for help from Scipio.

Seeing the Romans’ hesitation, the Boii decided to strike before the two consuls could unite their forces. They advanced on the Roman camp, waited two days for a Roman attack and then launched their own attack on the Roman position simultaneously from all sides. Two legions attempted to sortie out the main gates, but were pushed back. The fighting dragged on in the confined space, much of the effort consisting of using shields and bodies for pushing and shoving, instead of weapons, which were difficult to employ, such was the crush.

A centurion from the 2nd Legion, Q. Victorius, and a military tribune from the 4th, C. Atilius, threw the legionary standards in the midst of the Boii. The Romans attacked with renewed vigor to recover them and the 2nd Legion sprung to the open. At the same time, the Boii broke through the camp’s quaestorian gate and killed the quaestor along with three allied prefects and 200 men. A special cohort sent by Sempronius restored the situation and drove out the Gauls. The 4th Legion crushed its opponents as well and the battle shifted to outside the camp.

The fighting went on until noon, with the Gauls less able to withstand the heat, thirst and physical struggle. They were finally routed by the Romans and pushed back to their own camp. Sempronius ordered his men to withdraw, but a number of Romans disobeyed his order and stormed the Gallic ramparts. They were quickly defeated.

The Romans lost 5000 men and claimed to have killed 11,000 Boii. The Boii retreated to the most remote parts of their country, where the Romans could not pursue due to the forests and marshes. Sempronius retired and led his army to Placentia. According to Livy, Scipio either merged his forces with his colleague's and plundered the Ligurian and Boii homelands, or Scipio went to Rome for elections and did nothing of note.

The following year, another consular army, under Lucius Cornelius Merula confronted the Boii near Mutina. The result was a complete Roman victory, with 16,000 Boii dead. The victory was won at high cost, however, and a number of Merula’s officers accused him of negligence on the approach march. As a result, the Senate refused him a triumph on his return to Rome.

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September 23, 1197
German Crusade

The German Emperor Henry VI, having succeeded in his conquest of the Kingdom of Sicily by 1195 and produced a male heir in 1194, turned his attentions eastwards. His father, Frederick I Barbarossa, had died on his way to the siege of Acre in 1190. The considerable force of Germans, having trekked across the Balkans and Turkey had been seriously depleted. The death of Barbarossa exacerbated the matter and the army began to disintegrate rapidly. A paltry force finally arrived at Acre, playing a relatively minor role in its events, the other son of Barbarossa, Frederick of Swabia, succumbing to disease by 1191. Their most lasting effect was the foundation of a field hospital, which would later expand to become the Teutonic Order. Henry VI, for the sake of family pride and honor, set out and accomplish what the Lionheart, recently his prisoner, could not. He would recapture Jerusalem. As the Emperor of the West, the protection and security of the Holy Places of the East was matter of prestige. As Christendom’s foremost magnate, it was his duty, mirroring tales of Charlemagne, and his illustrious forebears Barbarossa and Conrad III to act.

Pooling the wealth of Sicily with the manpower of Germany, he assembled an army and fleet at Messina, comprising 4000 knights. He immediately dispatched a vanguard under his Chancellor to make the crossing to Outremer and establish a base of operations, while Henry finished matters in recently conquered Sicily. Henry had recently received word from Aimery de Lusignan, ruler of Cyprus, requesting the donation of a crown so that he might be King of Cyprus. In return, Cyprus would be a vassal of the Empire. Leo II of Armenia likewise petitioned Henry for a crown and he too was rewarded as such. The arrival of the German Chancellor saw their respective coronations.

The King of Jerusalem at that time was Henry II, Count of Champagne, who had been put in place in 1192 following the assassination of the previous King by the Assassins. Henry had married the heiress of the Kingdom, Isabella; he was her 3rd husband. The arrival of a significant number of troops encouraged Henry II to act. The Peace treaty established in 1192 had lapsed and the Ayyubid realm, following Saladin’s death in 1193, was in relative turmoil, as his brother Al-Adil and sons fought for dominance. Thus in the summer of 1197 Henry of Champagne assembled a combined army of native Franks and Germans and began raiding across the Jordan, capturing livestock and taking prisoners. Al-Adil responded with an attack on Christian held Jaffa, putting it under siege in September. Henry of Champagne gathered his returning troops in the capital of Acre and prepared to march south to relieve the siege. Unfortunately whilst he was negotiating with the Pisan envoys he leant backwards, falling out of a window in the palace to the courtyard below. His dwarf attempted to save him but was pulled out along with him, both falling to their deaths.

Indecision ensued. With Henry of Champagne dead, there was no clear and obvious leader for the crusading force in the Latin East until the Emperor arrived. Likewise Henry of Champagne had left no male heir, just 3 daughters. The Haute Cour of the Kingdom met in Acre and discussed what was to be done. At the prompting of the German Chancellor, Aimery de Lusignan was selected to marry the again widowed Isabella and take the crown of Jerusalem. Aimery was certainly experienced in the Latin East, having arrived there in the early 1170’s and having occupied official positions as Count of Jaffa and Constable of the Realm until his exile to Cyprus in 1193. He had been a right hand man to his brother Guy de Lusignan (r. 1186-92). With the acquisition of another crown by Aimery the German Chancellor potentially saw a benefit to the Empire, perhaps expecting the merger of the 2 realms and that Jerusalem might become of vassal state also. This would have been propaganda victory for the Hohenstaufen Emperors against the Papacy if nothing else.

On September 23, a substantial German army under Archchancellor Conrad of Mainz and Marshal Henry of Kalden landed at Acre, where their presence aroused the displeasure of Queen Isabella. As the German Princes denied the authority of Henry of Kalden, they elected Duke Henry of Brabant their commander and the crusaders proceeded to Tyre, initiating a campaign to expel the Muslims from Beirut and to subject the Levant coast up to Tripoli.

Aimery was married to Isabella and crowned King of Jerusalem in Tyre in October 1197. The delay, though, had seen the fall of Jaffa, its populace enslaved. Aimery thus turned his attention to Beirut. Since its capture by Saladin in 1187 it had been used as a base for piracy against Christian shipping. The crusading army of Aimery and the Germans marched northwards, securing Sidon along the way, and put Beirut under siege. Treachery by Christian citizens from within the city against their Muslim masters ensured a relatively quick victory. The city was granted to the Ibelin family, Aimery’s in-laws as the half siblings of his wife. Aimery then set out, as Henry of Champagne had before him, in raiding.

The crusaders continued their campaign and by reconquering the estates around Byblos Castle (Gibelet) restored the land link to the County of Tripoli. They even marched against Damascus and laid siege to Toron, when news of the emperor's death reached them. Henry had died in Messina in September. The bulk of the crusading army had yet to embark for the East, intending to come over in the autumn passage, but the death of the Emperor and the specter of civil war in Germany had caused the army to dissolve. This news had the same effect upon the German Crusaders who had made it to Outremer. Aimery thus found himself with a dwindling army. With no desire to antagonize the Ayyubids further, certainly without the prospect of western assistance, he began to negotiate peace terms.

By July 1198 most of the nobles had returned home. The remaining crusaders concluded another armistice with Al-Adil, who acknowledged the rule of Aimery, as King Amalric II, over the reconquered lands.

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September 24, 1326
Isabella Invades England

Roger Mortimer of Wigmore was a powerful Marcher lord, married to the wealthy heiress Joan de Geneville, and the father of 12 children. Mortimer had been imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1322 following his capture by King Edward II, but managed to escape on his birthday in 1323, making a hole in the stone wall of his cell before escaping onto the roof and using rope ladders provided by an accomplice to get down to the Thames, across the river and then on eventually to safety in France.

In 1325 Edward, Duke of Aquitaine and heir to the throne of England, journeyed to France to pay homage to Charles IV of France as his vassal. Queen Isabella of England, her marriage to Edward II strained to the breaking point, accompanied her son Edward and it was during that journey that her affair with Mortimer began. Isabella was reintroduced to Mortimer in Paris and they began a passionate relationship from December 1325 onwards; Isabella was taking a huge risk in doing so, female infidelity was a very serious offence in medieval Europe. There was clearly a strong sexual attraction between the 2, they shared an interest in the Arthurian legends and enjoyed fine art and high living. They also shared a common enemy - the regime of Edward II and his supporters, the Despensers.

Isabella was ordered to return to England after homage was paid but refused in January 1326, unless Hugh Despenser was exiled. Edward refused and then tried to have Charles force her to return. Charles refused (Isabella was his sister) and in return Edward cut off all financial support to Isabella. Then Pope John XXII spoke out against Isabella; Charles ordered her away and would not speak to her again for a long time. Mortimer’s supporters in England started to send food, armor and other aid by March, which Edward tried to stop, and also ordered his ports to be on the lookout for spies entering England. The Despenser regime faced increasing challenge, acts including the audacious killing of the Baron of the Exchequer, Roger de Beler.

Isabella and Mortimer left Paris in the summer of 1326, taking Prince Edward with them, and traveled to William I, Count of Hainaut. Isabella betrothed Prince Edward to Philippa, the daughter of the Count, in exchange for a substantial dowry. She then used this money to raise a mercenary army, scouring Brabant for men, which were added to a small force of Hainaut troops. William also provided 8 warships and various smaller vessels as part of the marriage arrangements. Although Edward II was now on alert, secrecy remained key, and Isabella convinced William to detain envoys from Edward. Isabella also appears to have made a secret agreement with the Scots for the duration of the forthcoming campaign.

Having evaded Edward II’s fleet, sent to intercept them, Isabella and Mortimer landed at the mouth of the Orwell on the east coast of England on September 24 with a small force, probably about 1500 strong. Most were Flemish, German or Bohemian mercenaries, as well as English exiles opposed to King Edward, including Edmund of Kent, Thomas Rosslyn, William Trussell, John de Cromwell, John de Ros, Simon de Berford, John de Hainault and the Count of Tylers.

After a short period of confusion during which they attempted to work out where they had actually landed, Isabella moved quickly inland, dressed in widow’s clothes. A number of key supporters immediately joined her, perhaps having been pre-warned of her arrival, including the Bishops of Lincoln and Hereford. Local levies mobilized to stop them immediately defected and victims of the Despensers flocked to their cause. By the following day Isabella was in Bury St Edmunds and shortly afterwards had swept inland to Cambridge. Thomas, Earl of Norfolk, joined Isabella and Henry, Earl of Lancaster, Isabella’s uncle, also announced he was joining her faction, marching south. On September 26, Isabella captured Cambridge after a brief fight.

By September 27, word of the invasion had reached the King and the Despensers in London. Edward issued orders to local sheriffs, including Richard de Perrers the High Sheriff of Essex, to mobilize opposition, but with little confidence that they would be acted upon as he suspected that Perrers detested the Despensers. London itself was becoming unsafe due to local unrest and Edward made plans to leave.

Isabella struck west again, reaching Oxford on October 2, where she was “greeted as a savior”. Edward fled London on the same day, heading west toward Wales. Isabella and Mortimer now had an effective alliance with the Lancastrian opposition to Edward, bringing all of his opponents into a single coalition.

Isabella now marched south towards London, pausing at Dunstable on October 7. London was now in the hands of the mobs, although broadly allied to Isabella. Bishop Walter de Stapledon, unfortunately, failed to realize the extent to which royal power had collapsed in the capital and tried to intervene militarily to protect his property against rioters; a hated figure locally, he was promptly killed - his head was later sent to Isabella by her local supporters. Edward, meanwhile, was still fleeing west, reaching Gloucester by the 9th. Isabella responded by marching swiftly west in an attempt to cut him off, reaching Gloucester a week after Edward, who slipped across the border into Wales the same day. Isabella was joined by the northern baronage led by Thomas Wake, Henry de Beaumont and Henry Percy which now gave her total military superiority.

Hugh Despenser the Elder continued to hold Bristol against Isabella and Mortimer, who placed it under siege on October 18. Despenser's garrison held out against several assaults. Isabella’s forces used battering rams to break down the gates, and Isabella rescued her daughters, Eleanor of Woodstock and Joan of the Tower from Despenser’s custody. After one final attack, Despenser was forced to surrender on the 25th, and he was hanged the next day. Isabella's men had taken the greatest city in western England.

By now desperate and increasingly deserted by their court, Edward and Hugh Despenser the Younger attempted to sail to Lundy, a small island just off the Devon coast, but the weather was against them and after several days they were forced to land back in Wales.

With Bristol secure, Isabella moved her base of operations up to the border town of Hereford, from where she ordered Henry of Lancaster to locate and arrest her husband. After a fortnight of evading Isabella's forces in South Wales, Edward and Hugh were finally caught and arrested near Llantrisant on November 16, the same day that the rest of the Despensers were defeated at Cardiff which brought an end to the civil war.

Isabella and Mortimer summoned a parliament, the king was forced to relinquish the throne to his son, who was proclaimed king in London on January 25, 1327. The new king was crowned as Edward III on February 1. Edward II died at Berkeley Castle on September 21, most likely assassinated by orders of Isabella and Mortimer. Hugh Despenser the Younger was hanged, drawn, and quartered. This brought an end to the Despenser wars but saw the start of a year of looting of the Despenser estates and the issuing of pardons to thousands of people falsely indicted by them.

It was not long before the new king began to fall out with Roger Mortimer, now the de facto ruler of England. Mortimer used his power to acquire noble estates and titles, and his unpopularity grew with the humiliating defeat by the Scots at the Battle of Stanhope Park and the ensuing Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, signed with the Scots in 1328. Mortimer knew his position was precarious and subjected Edward to disrespect. Eventually, Edward decided to take direct action against Mortimer. With a small number of trusted men, Edward took Mortimer by surprise at Nottingham Castle on October 19, 1330. Isabella's lover was executed at Tyburn, but Edward III showed leniency and he was not quartered or disemboweled. Isabella remained under virtual house arrest until her death in 1358. Edward III's personal rule began.

[haroldeye]

Wasn't Edward II killed by having a red hot poker shoved up his bottom, or was that his boyfriend?

[Ennath]

From The Mystery of Edward II's Death (The History Vault website)


The method of murder was never stated officially and the men involved in it never spoke about it publicly, and fourteenth-century chroniclers rushed to fill the gap with their own ideas. Some say merely that Edward II died at Berkeley without saying how, others that he died of natural causes, one that he was alive in the morning and dead in the evening, one that he died of illness, another that he died of sorrow and yet another that he was murdered ‘by a trick’. Suffocation, strangulation and ‘either a natural death or by the violence of others’ are also given. Some contemporary or near-contemporary chronicles, written between the 1330s and the 1350s, give the infamous red-hot poker story, including the Brut, Geoffrey le Baker and Ranulph Higden’s Polychronicon. The Scalacronica, written by the son of a man who knew Edward II very well, says rather movingly that Edward died ‘by what manner was not known, but God knows it.’ Chroniclers of the later fourteenth century, with no way of knowing what had really happened, simply copied earlier chronicles, and the lurid red-hot poker tale became widely spread and is still often repeated as certain ‘fact’ even today.

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September 25, 1915
2nd Battle of Champagne

In June 1915 the Allies had met in the first inter-allied conference of the war. Britain, France, Belgium, Russia, Italy and Serbia had been represented, and all had agreed to coordinate their attacks. Circumstances intervened to prevent this from happening. The Battle of Gorlice-Tarnow (May 2 - June 27) broke the Russian front and forced a dramatic retreat from Poland. It was followed by a combined Austrian-German-Bulgarian invasion of Serbia in October 1915, the threat of which prevented any earlier Serbian offensives. Finally, the Italians launched the first of the eleven Battles of the Isonzo (June 23 - July 7), without achieving anything. By the end of the year 3 more Isonzo battles would repeat the failure.

This only left the British and French offensive on the Western Front. Initially it had been hoped to launch this attack in late August, but it took much longer than expected to build up sufficient supplies in Champagne to support a major offensive. Preparations included the construction of a new light railway into the rear area.

This gave the Germans time to increase the strength of their defenses. A new second line was constructed, running 3 miles behind the first line. Concrete machine gun posts were built between the 2 lines. The rear lines were normally built on the reverse slopes of any available high ground, making it much harder for the Allied artillery to bombard the German second line.

The attack was to be launched by Philippe Pétain’s 2nd Army and Fernand Langle de Cary’s 4th Army, under the overall command of Noel Castelnau’s Central Army Group. The attack was preceded by a lengthy bombardment. Chlorine gas was then released immediately before the infantry assault. On the morning of September 25 the attack went in. On the same day the attacks began in the 3rd Battle of Artois and at Loos (see posting).

On September 25, 20 French divisions attacked at 9:15 AM, with each division on a 1500-2000 yard front. A second line of 7 divisions followed, with an infantry division and 6 cavalry divisions in reserve. 6 divisions of German 3rd Army (Karl von Einem) held the line opposite, in a front position and a reserve position the R-Stellung (Rückstellung, Reserve Position) further back. French artillery observers had benefited from good weather but on the night of September 24-25, heavy rain began and fell until midday.

The German first line was broken in 4 places and two of the penetrations reached as far as the R-Stellung, where uncut wire prevented the French from advancing further. The French took 14,000 prisoners and several guns, but French casualties were also high; the Germans had anticipated the French attack, having been able to watch the French preparations from their high ground and outposts. The main defensive effort was made at the R-Stellung, behind which the bulk of the German field artillery had been withdrawn. A supporting attack by the French 3rd Army on the Aisne took no ground.

Joffre allotted two reserve divisions and ordered the Eastern Army Group to send all 75mm field gun ammunition, except for 500 rounds per gun, to 2nd and 4th armies. Meanwhile, the Germans were also reinforcing, eventually reaching a strength of 19 divisions. On September 26, the French attacked again, closed up to the R-Stellung on a 7.5-mile front and gained a foothold in one place. On the 28th, French attacks broke through, but a German counterattack the next day recaptured the ground, most of which was on a reverse slope, which had deprived the French artillery of ground observation; Joffre suspended the offensive until more ammunition could be supplied and ordered that the captured ground be consolidated and cavalry units be withdrawn. Smaller French attacks against German salients continued until October 5.

On October 3, Joffre abandoned the attempt at a breakthrough in Champagne, ordered the local commanders to fight a battle of attrition and then terminated the offensive on November 6.

The offensive had been disappointing for the French. Despite their new “attack in echelon” they had only made quick progress during the time it took for the Germans to strip reserves from elsewhere and rush them up. They advanced the French line for about 2.5 miles, at a cost of 143,000 men. German casualties were about 90,000, including 25,000 prisoners and 150 guns.

Joffre claimed that the autumn offensive had resulted in important tactical gains, inflicted many casualties and achieved a moral superiority over the Germans and that only a lack of artillery had led to a failure to achieve the strategic objectives of the offensive. To keep as many German troops as possible away from the Eastern Front, offensive operations must continue but troops in the front line were to be kept to the minimum over the winter and a new strategy was to be formulated.

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September 26, 1687
Destruction of the Parthenon

The origins of the siege of Athens lay in the larger Great Turkish War (1683-1699), which pitted an alliance of the Venetian Republic, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Ottoman Empire. Venice and the Ottomans had long competed for hegemony in the eastern Aegean Sea, and Venice sought to regain lost territory in Greece.

Francesco Morosini, a 64-year old veteran still stinging from the loss of Crete in 1669 (see posting, Fall of Candia), was chosen as Captain General of the expedition. He swiftly gained the Peloponnese, known at that time as the Morea. He marched all the way up to the Isthmus by the middle of 1687. At a council at Corinth, it was decided that Athens would be the next objective. On September 21, the Venetians landed at the Piraeus, then called Porto Leone for the classical lion statue that stood by the harbor. The Turkish garrison withdrew to the Acropolis, where it improved the walls and installed guns. This involved, among other things, the demolition of the Temple of Athena Nike (completed 420 BC). Morosini’s forces advanced into Athens uncontested. Venetian siege artillery was placed on Mouseion Hill, the Pnyx, and the Areiopagos; shelling began September 23.

In one of his reports to Venice, Morosini explains that “two batteries, the one made up of six pieces of cannon, and the other of four mortars” were deployed to harass the enemy. Of particular interest is a set of maps, produced by the chief engineer of the expedition, Verneda, showing the Venetian positions in the city. Two mortars were emplaced on the east side of the Acropolis, and Verneda’s drawings make it seem that these were the guns that fired the shot that destroyed the Parthenon.

While the cannons were accurate, the mortars left something to be desired. Their commander, Antonio Mutoni, had to be “publicly corrected” by Morosini’s second-in-command, the Swedish Count Koenigsmarck. Venetian “bombs,” the term for mortar rounds, had struck an ammunition deposit in the Propylaea, igniting it. Then, a Turkish defector made his way to the Venetians and explained that the Ottomans had moved their gunpowder into the Parthenon.

This is where questions arise as to whether the Venetians intentionally targeted the Parthenon, or that it was simply a chance round that managed to penetrate the heretofore intact marble roof of the ancient temple. Morosini called it a “fortunato colpo”, a fortunate shot. A companion to Koenigsmarck’s wife recounts that Koenigsmarck felt compelled to fire on the temple. An anonymous Venetian officer present at the time believed that the bombardment was conducted randomly, owing to Mutoni’s poor gunnery. A Hanoverian fighting with the Venetians reported that the Parthenon was deliberately bombarded for 2 days before the fateful round struck. Finally there is the account of a certain Major Sobiewolsky; he relates the story of the Turkish deserter. Then he writes: “Upon this report [of the Turkish deserter], several mortars were directed against the temple, but none of the bombs was able to do damage, particularly because the upper roof of the temple was somewhat sloping and covered with marble, and thus well protected. A lieutenant from Lüneburg, however, offered to throw bombs into the temple, and this was done. For one of the bombs fell through (the roof of) the temple and right into the Turkish store of powder, whereupon the middle of the temple blew up and everything inside was covered with stone, to the great consternation of the Turks.”

Three hundred people, both men and women as Morosini reports, were killed, and fragments of marble were sent flying into the Venetian lines. Three out of the four walls of the Parthenon nearly collapsed and most of the famous frieze fell to the ground. Fourteen of the 46 outer columns, each weighing an average of 80 tons, fell. A fire burned for two days on the Acropolis while Koenigsmarck repulsed a Turkish relief column from Thebes on the 28th. The garrison surrendered on October 4 on condition of transportation to Izmir.

Despite the fall of Athens, Morosini's position was not secure. The Ottomans were massing an army at Thebes, and their 2000-strong cavalry effectively controlled Attica, limiting the Venetians to the environs of Athens, so that they had to establish forts to secure the road linking Athens to the port at Piraeus. Morosini had foreseen some of the logistical difficulties of holding on to the city and had objected to attacking Athens in the first place. On December 26, the 1400-strong remnant of the Hanoverian contingent departed, and an outbreak of plague during the winter further weakened the Venetian forces. The Venetians managed to recruit 500 Arvantines (ethnic Albanians) from the rural population of Attica, but no Greeks were willing to join the Venetian army.

In a council on December 31, it was decided to abandon Athens and focus on other projects, such as the conquest of Negroponte (Chalkis, on Euboea). A camp was fortified at the Munychia to cover the evacuation, and it was suggested, but not agreed, that the walls of the Acropolis should be razed. As the Venetian preparations to leave became evident, many Athenians chose to leave as well, fearing Ottoman reprisals: some 4-5000 people, were evacuated by Venetian ships and settled as colonists in Argolis, Corinth, Patras, and Aegean islands. Morosini decided to at least take back a few ancient monuments as spoils, but on March 19 the statues of Poseidon and the chariot of Nike fell and smashed into pieces as they were being removed from the western pediment of the Parthenon. The Venetians abandoned the attempt to remove further sculptures from the temple, and instead took a few marble lions, including the Piraeus Lion mentioned before, which today stands at the entrance of the Venetian Arsenal. On April 10, the Venetians evacuated Attica for the Peloponnese. Their expedition to Athens had accomplished little besides temporarily pushing the Ottomans north and is only well known for the destruction it did to the Parthenon.

[Ennath]

286 BC
Surrender of Demetrius

After the defeat and death of Antigonus at Ipsos, 3 large states were in the making: Ptolemy’s in Egypt, with an annex in Syria; Seleucus’ in Asia; and Lysimachus’ in Europe, which now included a part of Asia Minor. However, there was one disturbing element, Demetrius. He had escaped from Ipsos and still controlled large parts of the Peloponnese. But his popularity had diminished, as he had conscripted many men from the member states of the Greek League. On the other hand, he still commanded a large navy and was master of the Nesiotic League and Cyprus. He was effectively a sort of pirate king.

Cassander and Lysimachus had reason to fear the presence of the man in the region, and Ptolemy’s Phoenicia lay dangerously exposed to his attacks. A treaty was concluded in 300, confirmed by marriage: Ptolemy’s daughter Arsinoe II was married to Lysimachus, and Lysandra was given to Lysimachus’ son Agathocles. Another reason for this alliance may have been Ptolemy’s fear that Seleucus would try to drive him out of Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. The new king of Asia was already building new cities (like Seleucia and Antioch).

Seleucus had nothing to fear from Demetrius, but understood that Ptolemy was preparing a war. He now allied himself to Demetrius and married Demetrius’ daughter Stratonice (299). Demetrius was now sufficiently covered, and expelled Cassander’s brother from Lycia and Cilicia (298). At the same time, Seleucus raided Samaria. Cassander was dying and could not intervene, and Ptolemy was so overawed by Demetrius and Seleucus, that he accepted a treaty.

Meanwhile, the Greeks had forgotten their alliance with Demetrius. For example, Athens had concluded a peace treaty with Cassander. This offered Demetrius a pretext to intervene in Greece, and in 296 he started to besiege Athens, which surrendered in 295. This time, the conqueror had lost his patience: there was no “freedom and autonomy” for the town, but there were 3 garrisons. He continued to the Peloponnese, where he reestablished his power in 294.

The real object of Demetrius’ return to Europe, however, was not Greece, but Macedon. In 298 Cassander had died. Only a few mourned for the man who had massacred the Macedonian royal house and garrisoned Greece. He was succeeded by his son Philip IV, who died within 2 months (of natural causes). His two brothers now divided the kingdom: Antipater received the western and Alexander the eastern half (the river Axios being the border). As was to be expected, they immediately started to quarrel. Alexander felt threatened, and in 294 invited two men to come to his assistance: Demetrius and Pyrrhus, a prince who had been made king of Epirus by a coup that had been financed by Ptolemy (297).

Pyrrhus was the first to intervene. In 294, he invaded Macedonia, restored the balance of power between the two brothers, and received Ambracia, a town in western Greece that had been occupied by the Macedonians, in return. It became the new capital of Epirus.

By now, Demetrius had returned from the Peloponnese and was entering Macedonia. King Alexander went out to greet him and thank him (for nothing), and tried to kill his powerful neighbor. However, Demetrius discovered the plan, and instead had Alexander killed. Almost immediately, the Macedonian army proclaimed Demetrius king. He went on to attack the second brother, Antipater, who fled to Lysimachus.

However, Demetrius had to pay for his success. He had given up positions in Asia, which were immediately seized by Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy. The first helped himself to the towns on the west coast of Anatolia, the second seized large parts of Cilicia, and the third occupied Cyprus, Lycia and eastern Cilicia (291-287). Demetrius did not really care, and conquered the remaining parts of Greece. The only parts that he did not possess were Sparta in the south and Aetolia in the west. When Demetrius invaded the last-mentioned country, Pyrrhus came to the help of the Aetolians and defeated one of Demetrius’ generals. However, when he decided that he was now strong enough to invade Macedonia, he was defeated (289). In the last weeks of the year, the two kings signed a peace treaty.

Although Demetrius’ kingdom was smaller than that of Lysimachus, Ptolemy or Seleucus, he was the strongest of the 4 monarchs: his army was of the size of that of Alexander the Great, and his navy was stronger. Moreover, he could count on the Greeks. As usual, power provoked resistance, and his 3 competitors allied against him. Ptolemy would send his navy into the Aegean Sea, and Lysimachus was to invade Macedonia, together with Pyrrhus. Seleucus, whose territories did not border on Demetrius’, gave moral support.

At this moment, the Macedonians revolted against their king (288). It is not exactly clear why, but it is tempting to suppose that they were shocked by Demetrius’ oriental court and the forced conscription, which must have been a disappointment after the quiet last years of Cassander. The revolt seems to have broken Demetrius, who knew that he would lose his kingdom if he stayed in Macedonia. Therefore, he installed his son Antigonus Gonatas as governor of Greece, and decided to launch an all-out attack on the east.

It was a desperate gamble, but he hoped to defeat the troops of Lysimachus in Turkey, which would force him to look to the east instead of Macedonia. If Demetrius could also defeat Seleucus, he could break through to the eastern satrapies, gather troops, and come back with a large force. Eumenes had done the same, and had caused a lot of trouble for Antigonus.

The first stage of this campaign was a success: his navy expelled the fleet of Ptolemy from the Aegean, and Demetrius made an unopposed landing in Asia, where he captured important towns like Miletus and Sardes (287). Now, he emulated Alexander and started his march against the king of Asia. However, his soldiers became unquiet as the odds grew. Even worse, Lysimachus’ general, his son Agathocles, dogged Demetrius' army. Late in 286, most of his men deserted him, and ultimately, Demetrius was forced to surrender.

He was taken captive by Seleucus and treated kindly. His host may have wanted to use his father-in-law as a tool against Lysimachus, but Demetrius was unable to wait. The last of the generation of warrior kings drank himself to death (283). The future belonged to the more stable monarchies of Ptolemy and Seleucus. But his immediate inheritance was a war between Lysimachus and Pyrrhus: who was to succeed him as king of Macedonia?

[Ennath]

September 27, 1529
1st Siege of Vienna

In August 1526, Sultan Suleiman I decisively defeated the forces of King Louis II of Hungary at the Battle of Mohacs (see posting), paving the way for the Ottomans to gain control of southeast Hungary; the childless King Louis was killed. His brother-in-law, Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria, brother of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, claimed the vacant Hungarian throne. Ferdinand won recognition only in western Hungary; while a noble called John Zapolya, from a power-base in Transylvania, challenged him for the crown and was recognized as king by Suleiman in return for accepting vassal status within the Ottoman Empire. Thus Hungary became divided into Royal Hungary and Ottoman Hungary until 1700.

On October 26, Ferdinand was declared king of Royal Hungary due to the agreement between his and Louis’ families, cemented by Ferdinand's marriage to Louis’ sister Anna. Ferdinand set out to enforce his claim on Hungary and captured Buda in 1527, only to relinquish his hold on it in 1529 when an Ottoman counterattack stripped Ferdinand of all his territorial gains.

In the spring of 1529, Suleiman mustered a great army in Ottoman Bulgaria, with the aim of securing control over all of Hungary and reducing the threat posed at his new borders by Ferdinand. Estimates of Suleiman’s army vary widely from 120,000 to more than 300,000 men mentioned by various chroniclers. As well as thousands of janissaries, the Ottoman army incorporated a contingent from Moldavia and renegade Serbs from the army of John Zapolya. Suleiman acted as commander-in-chief (as well as personally leading his force), and in April he appointed his Grand Vizier, a Greek former slave called Ibrahim Pasha, as Serasker, a commander with powers to give orders in the sultan’s name.

Suleiman launched his campaign on May 10, 1529 and faced numerous obstacles from the outset. The spring rains characteristic of southeastern Europe were particularly heavy that year, causing flooding in Bulgaria and rendering parts of the route barely passable. Many large-caliber guns became hopelessly bogged down, leaving Suleiman no choice but to abandon them, while camels brought from the eastern provinces, unused to the difficult conditions, were lost in large numbers. Sickness and poor health became common among the janissaries, claiming many lives.

Suleiman arrived in Osijek on August 6. On the 18th he reached the Mohacs plain, to be greeted by a substantial cavalry force led by John Zapolya (which would accompany Suleiman to Vienna), who paid homage and helped recapture several fortresses lost to the Austrians since the Battle of Mohacs, including Buda, which fell on September 8.

As the Ottomans advanced towards Vienna, the city’s population organized an ad-hoc resistance formed from local farmers, peasants and civilians. The defenders were supported by a variety of European mercenaries, mainly German Landsknecht pikemen and Spanish arquebusiers sent by Charles V. The Hofmeister of Austria, Wilhelm von Roggendorf, assumed charge of the garrison, 16-20,000 strong, with operational command entrusted to a 70-year-old German mercenary named Nicholas, Count of Salm, who had distinguished himself at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 (see posting). Salm arrived in Vienna as head of the mercenary force and set about fortifying the 300-year-old walls surrounding St. Stephen’s Cathedral, near which he established his headquarters. He blocked the 4 city gates and reinforced the walls, which in some places were no more than 6 feet thick, and erected earthen bastions and an inner earthen rampart, leveling buildings where necessary to clear room for defenses.

The Ottoman army that arrived in late September had been somewhat depleted during the long advance into Austrian territory, leaving Suleiman short of heavy artillery. Many of his troops were in a poor state of health after the tribulations of a long march. Of those fit to fight, a third were light cavalry, or sipahis, ill-suited for siege warfare. Three richly dressed Austrian prisoners were dispatched as emissaries by the Sultan to negotiate the city’s surrender; Salm sent three richly dressed Muslims back without a response.

As the Ottoman army settled into position, the Austrian garrison launched sorties to disrupt the digging and mining of tunnels below the city walls, in one case almost capturing Ibrahim Pasha. The defending forces detected and successfully detonated several mines intended to bring down the walls, subsequently dispatching 8000 men on October 6 to attack the Ottoman mining operations, destroying many of the tunnels, but sustaining serious losses when the confined spaces hindered their retreat back into the city.

More rain fell on October 11, and with the Ottomans failing to make any breaches, the prospects of victory began to fade rapidly. In addition, Suleiman was facing critical shortages of food and water, while casualties, sickness, and desertions began taking a toll. The janissaries began voicing their displeasure at the course of events, demanding a decision on whether to remain or abandon the siege. The Sultan convened an official council on October 12 to deliberate the matter. It was decided to attempt one final, major assault. Extra rewards were offered to the troops. However, this assault was also beaten back. Unseasonably heavy snowfall made conditions even worse. The Ottoman retreat turned into a disaster with much of the baggage and artillery abandoned or lost in rough conditions.

The 1529 campaign produced mixed results. Buda was brought under the control of Zapolya, strengthening the Ottoman position in Hungary. The campaign left behind a trail of collateral damage in neighboring Habsburg Hungary and Austria that impaired Ferdinand’s capacity to mount a sustained counterattack. However, Suleiman failed to force Ferdinand to engage him in open battle, and was thus unable to enforce his ideological claim to superiority over the Habsburgs. The attack on Vienna led to a rapprochement between Charles V and Pope Clement VII, and contributed to the Pope's coronation of Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor on February 24, 1530. The outcome of the campaign was presented as a success by the Ottomans, who used the opportunity to show off their imperial grandeur by staging elaborate ceremonies for the circumcision of princes Mustafa, Mehmed, and Selim.

Nicholas, Count of Salm, had been injured during the last Ottoman assault and died on May 4, 1530. Ferdinand erected a funeral monument for Nicholas, as a token of appreciation of his efforts. The Renaissance sarcophagus is now on display in the baptistery of the Votivkirche Cathedral in Vienna. Ferdinand’s son Maximilian II later built the Castle of Neugebaeudeon the spot where Suleiman is said to have pitched his tent during the siege.

Suleiman would lead another campaign against Vienna in 1532, but it never truly materialized as his force was stalled by the Croatian Captain Nikola Jurisic during the Siege of Güns (Köszeg). Jurisic with only 700-800 Croatian troops managed to delay the sultan until winter closed in. Charles V, now largely aware of Vienna’s vulnerability assembled 80,000 troops. The Ottomans turned back, laying waste the southeastern Austrian state of Styria in their retreat. The two Viennese campaigns marked the extreme limit of Ottoman logistical capability to field large armies deep in central Europe at the time.