Condottieri

Mercenary troops have a long history. For the Poles, it is enough to recall those bravely fighting, for Polish money, German mercenary troops mentioned by Sienkiewicz in "The Deluge", or the famous Lisowczyks. One of these brave warriors was immortalized by Rembrandt. But the history of mercenaries is older and more universal. Already the Greek hoplites served for money from the Egyptian pharaohs. Xenophon - a student of Socrates - a philosopher in the expedition of ten thousand Greek mercenaries, recruited by Cyrus the Younger, who stood against his elder brother Artaxerxes. Despite the miracles of valor performed by the Greeks, the followers of Cyrus collapsed at the Battle of Cunaxa, near Babylon, in 401 BC. The return of the Greeks to their homeland through hostile territories was later described by Xenophon. Both Rome and Carthage used the services of islanders from the Balearic Islands, famous for their skillful slinging of stones, and no less valued archers from Crete. The revolt of the mercenaries was described by Flaubert in “Salammbô”. It was not until the decline of the ancient empires that the use of mercenary troops to defend their possessions was widespread. Rome paid for its defense to the barbarians: the Alamanni, the Sarmatians, and others. The military forces of Byzantium for many centuries consisted of foreigners - the Germans and Normans constituted the elite corps of the imperial guard. The Franks also served in the Byzantine army. It wasn't just the Christians who were at the mercy of the empire. There were also old enemies: Turks, Scythians and Pechenegs... In Western Europe, it was not until the late Middle Ages that the custom of military mercenaries was resumed. In the thirteenth century, individual princes hired military men to participate in a single campaign. The Franco-English Hundred Years' War was the heyday of mercenary troops. One of the mercenary chiefs of this period, Arnaud de Cervol, was known for his cruelty. He seized many castles and extorted tribute from large estates. Even the Pope in Avignon, for peace of mind, paid him huge sums. During this period Italy was entirely in the hands of the chiefs of the mercenary armies, who were called "condottieri". Hence the nickname given to me in the Congo by a sympathetic Belgian missionary. Every city, every province had its "condottieri" and not necessarily Italians. Suffice it to mention the famous Englishman John Hawkins. To avoid armed robbery in times of peace, the Italian princes were the first to understand the necessity of paying mercenaries even when they were not at war. It was the beginning of the existence of professional troops. At the beginning of the Renaissance, Charles the Bold produced troops of mercenary infantry, which, when he had no money to pay them, betrayed him during the Battle of Nancy, which sealed his fate. It was also during these times that the war fame of the Swiss spread so that the princes raced to buy their services. Soon, on many battlefields, Swiss troops were often in opposing camps. Francis I, whose cavalry had defeated the Swiss, was nevertheless so impressed by their valor that he concluded a perpetual peace with Helvetia, which included the obligation to deliver six thousand soldiers to the royal banner. The Swiss Corps survived in the French army until the Revolution. To this day, the Swiss Guard serves the Pope. In the eighteenth century, the king of France was served by whole regiments of German, Scottish, and even one Turkish regiment. Not only were the armies foreign: but so were their leaders. In the 17th and 18th centuries, many famous commanders roamed Europe offering their swords to princes who could pay them with money and honors. One of the most famous was Maurice von Sachsen, the illegitimate son of Prince August of Saxony and Princess Aurora of Denmark. He started fighting on the side of Tsar Peter the Great against the Swedes, and later against the Turks. Then he went to France, where to this day he is famous to the burden of the French for his name: Maurice de Saxe. Having obtained the title of Duke of Courland, after winning the Battle of Fontenoy, he became a Marshal of France. He died in 1750 in the chateau of Chambord on the Loire. Around the time of the French Revolution, the "classic" type of soldier-mercenary disappears. Since then, the mercenaries are more and more often driven by ideological motivations, they serve a cause they consider right. This concept was completely foreign to their predecessors, for them only money mattered. Such a "new type" mercenary was Francisco de Miranda. A Spaniard from Venezuela who, at the age of seventeen, having reached the rank of captain in his native army, joined the French forces supporting George Washington. Then he fought in the ranks of the French Republican Army and attained the rank of general. Then he returned to Venezuela and devoted himself to fighting for the independence of his country. Garibaldi was another of this type. This Italian born in Nice had fought in Brazil against Argentina and then put his sword at the service in Peru. Having gained fame during the Italian Wars of Independence, fighting against the French. This did not prevent him from helping France in the war with Prussia in 1870. In the 19th century, conscript armies became the rule. The twilight of the mercenaries has come. However, by this time Louis-Philippe had created the French Foreign Legion... which he immediately used to quell Abd el-Kader's revolt in Algeria and then "borrowed" them out to friendly monarchs, such as the Queen of Spain. After World War I, many military pilots found themselves unemployed and went to fight in China. There were French, Germans, and even Americans. One of the latter, a certain Smily1, later fought on the side of the Emperor of Ethiopia against Italy. At the outbreak of World War II, he offered his services to France. Having been refused, he went to fight against the Soviets in Finland. For free. After the Second World War, mercenaries seemed to be history. But decolonization, the upheaval in Africa and the Middle East, and the difficult birth of state structures created a new demand for them. And so, the supply was provided by demobilized soldiers from Korea, Vietnam, and Algeria. But they were already fighting for one cause and one enemy, albeit on many fronts. To this species belonged, on the other side, Che Guevara. He fought for money, but only for the Reds.