For two weeks, Salm led a gallant resistance. The city had poor fortifications, improved only by frantic last-minute efforts. De facto, if not official, commander, he led the garrison of Vienna against a Turkish army as much as ten times its size under the illustrious Suleiman the Magnificent. (Image source: WikiMedia Commons) Nicholas, Count von Salm - The Man Who Stopped the TurksĪ 70-year-old veteran by 1529, Count von Salm’s last mission proved his most formidable. Wallace’s next battle without him would prove a complete disaster. Apparently, he succumbed to wounds sustained at Stirling Bridge. However, Moray drops out of the historical record in November of 1297.
Moray had a hand in personally killing Edward’s loathed treasurer, Hugh Cressingham. The Scottish advance blocked the bridge and drove the English van into a river bend where it became trapped and was slaughtered. Moray and Wallace allowed the English vanguard to cross the bridge, then charged. He then joined his army with Wallace’s for the Battle of Stirling Bridge on Sept.
While Wallace raised a rebellion against Edward I of England in southern Scotland, Moray led the north of the country. William Wallace has of course achieved much greater fame, but his co-commander, Andrew de Moray, deserves his share of the glory. (Image source: WikiMedia Commons) Andrew de Moray - William Wallace’s Silent Partner When Rome fell, it did so to German barbarians, not the Huns. The Visigoths got their revenge as they counterattacked Attila’s flank and drove his army from the field.
As Theodoric tried to inspire his men, he was either thrown from his horse and trampled or killed by an Ostrogoth spear. Theodoric and his Visigoth shieldwall held the right flank against charges from their Ostrogoth cousins and the dreaded Hunnish horse archers. The two armies met in the legendarily ferocious Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. His fearsome army caused the Romans to momentarily set aside their differences with the barbarians settled in Gaul, foremost among them Theodoric and the Visigoths. In 451, Attila the Hun invaded Gaul intent on conquering the crumbling Western Roman Empire. Theodoric (Image source: WikiMedia Commons) Theodoric the Visigoth - Attila’s Nemesis Thebes produced no worthy successor and lost its ascendancy soon afterwards. Epaminondas’s surprise attack proved successful again, but he went down in the fray. He repeated his tactics from Leuctra after first having his troops pull back and ground arms, causing the enemy to let their guard down. At Mantinea in 362 BC, he found himself facing a combined Spartan and Athenian force. At Leuctra, Epaminondas weighted his left flank with a 50-rank-deep phalanx and attacked en echelon, routing a larger Spartan army. The Theban mastermind’s innovative tactics and flair for surprising the enemy broke Sparta’s power forever at the Battles of Leuctra and Mantinea. (Image source: WikiMedia Commons) Epaminondas - Greece’s Greatest General At least that’s how the propagandists of their day presented the story.
#HEROES GENERALS DEAD FULL#
Military history is full of similar ‘tragic heroes’ in the tradition of Achilles great commanders who were felled in battle, often just as that battle was being won. It’s the irony of his death, which comes at the moment of the very victory he himself helped bring about, that makes Achilles’ fate all the more poignant. (Image source: WikiMedia Commons) “Military history is full of … great commanders who were felled in battle, often just as that battle was being won.”ĪCHILLES, one of the most beloved figures from Greek mythology, is something of a tragic hero.Īfter performing feats of martial daring and leading the Greeks to victory over the defenders of the city of Troy, the legendary champion was felled by an arrow. The Death of Wolfe is a stirring depiction of the final moments of the British general at the Battle of Quebec, 1759.
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