World military leaders a biographical dictionary

Tai Lieu Chat Luong


World
Military Leaders
A Biographical Dictionary



World
Military Leaders
A Biographical Dictionary

Mark Grossman


World Military Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary
Copyright © 2007 by Mark Grossman
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Grossman, Mark.
World military leaders : a biographical dictionary / by Mark Grossman.
p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8160-4732-4 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Military biography—Dictionaries.
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This book is dedicated to my good friends Carol Hoffman,
Paula Herbst, and Audrey and Alan Taylor,
without whose incredible support this volume
would not have been completed;
and to my niece Julie Grossman
and my nephew Bradley Grossman,
who wanted to see their name in print
and finally get the chance.



Breathes There the Man
Sir Walter Scott

Breathes there the man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne’er within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand?
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim,
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentrated all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.



Contents
 
List of Entries
xi
Introduction
xv
Entries A to Z
1
Bibliography
367
Index

403



List of Entries
 
Abbas I
Abercromby, Sir Ralph
Ỉthelstan
Aetius, Flavius
Agricola, Gnaeus Julius
Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius
Ahenobarbus, Cnaeus Domitius
Alaric I
Albert, archduke of Austria
Alexander, Sir Harold Rupert Leofric George,
first earl Alexander of Tunis
Alexander the Great
Alfred the Great
Allenby, Edmund Henry Hynman, first viscount
Allenby of Megiddo
Alp-Arslan Mohammed Ibn Da’ud
Alva, Fernando álvarez de Toledo, duke of
Amherst, Jeffrey, Baron Amherst of Montreal
Anson, George, Baron Anson of Soberton
Antony, Mark
Astley, Jacob, Baron Astley
Attila the Hun
Augereau, Pierre-Franỗois-Charles, duc de
Castiglione

Augustus
Bagration, Prince Pyotr Ivanovich
Baird, Sir David

Barclay de Tolly, Mikhail Bogdanovich
Basil II
Bazaine, Franỗois-Achille
Beatty, David, first earl Beatty, Viscount Borodale of
Wexford, Baron Beatty of the North Sea and of
Brooksby
Belisarius
Benbow, John
Beresford, William Carr, Viscount Beresford
Bernadotte, Jean-Baptiste-Jules, prince de
Pontecorvo
Berwick, James FitzJames, first duke of
Birdwood, Sir William Riddell, Baron Birdwood of
Anzac and Totnes
Blake, Robert
Blücher, Gebhard Leberecht von
Boscawen, Edward
Boudicca
Braddock, Edward
Bradley, Omar Nelson
Brauchitsch, Heinrich Alfred Hermann Walther von
Brereton, Sir William
Brock, Sir Isaac
Brusilov, Alexei Alexseievich
Budenny, Semyon Mikhailovich
Buller, Sir Redvers Henry

Burgoyne, John
xi


xii  list of entries
Caesar, Julius Gaius
Campbell, Sir Colin, Baron Clyde
Charles XII
Charles, archduke of Austria
Charles Martel
Churchill, John, first duke of Marlborough
Clare, Richard FitzGilbert de, second earl of
Pembroke
Clark, Mark Wayne
Clinton, Sir Henry
Clive, Robert Clive, Baron
Condé, Louis II de Bourbon, prince de
Coote, Sir Eyre
Cornwallis, Charles, first marquis and second earl
Cornwallis, Viscount Brome, Baron Cornwallis
of Eye
Crassus, Marcus Licinius
Cromwell, Oliver
Cyrus the Great
Darius I
Davout, Louis-Nicolas
Dayan, Moshe
Decatur, Stephen
Decius, Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus
Denikin, Anton Ivanovich

Dewey, George
Drake, Sir Francis
Early, Jubal Anderson
Edmund II Ironside
Edward I
Edward II
Edward III
Eisenhower, Dwight David
Epaminondas
Essex, Robert Devereux, third earl of
Eugène, prince de Savoie-Carignan
Fairfax, Sir Thomas, third baron Fairfax, Baron
Fairfax of Cameron
Farragut, David Glasgow
Fisher, John Arbuthnot, Baron Fisher of
Kilverstone
Fleetwood, Charles
Foch, Ferdinand
Franks, Tommy Ray
Frederick II

French, Field Marshal Sir John Denton Pinkstone,
first earl French of Ypres and High Lake
Gaiseric
Gates, Horatio
Genghis Khan
Giap, Vo Nguyen
Gordon, Charles George
Grant, Ulysses Simpson
Greene, Nathanael

Gustav II
Haig, Douglas, first earl Haig and Baron Haig of
Bemersyde
Halsey, William Frederick, Jr.
Hamilcar Barca
Hamilton, Sir Ian Standish Monteith
Hancock, Winfield Scott
Hannibal
Harold II
Hawke, Edward, first baron Hawke of Towton
Hawkins, Sir John
Henry V
Hindenburg, Paul Ludwig Hans von Beneckendorf
und von
Holland, Henry Rich, first earl of
Hood, Samuel, first viscount Hood
Hooker, Joseph
Hopton, Ralph, first baron Hopton
Howard, Charles, second baron Howard of
Effingham and first earl of Nottingham
Howe, Richard, Earl Howe
Hunyadi, János
Ivan IV
Ivanov, Nikolai Yudovich
Jackson, Andrew
Jackson, Thomas Jonathan
Jellicoe, John Rushworth, Earl Jellicoe of Scapa
Joffre, Joseph-Jacques-Césaire
John III Sobieski
John of Austria

Jones, John Paul
Junot, Jean-Andoche Alexandre, duc d’Abrantes
Kamimura, Hikonojo, Baron Kamimura
Khaled ibn al-Walid
Kitchener, Horatio Herbert, first earl Kitchener of
Khartoum and Broome


list of entries   xiii
Kluge, Hans Günther von
Kublai Khan
Kuropatkin, Alexei Nikolaevich
Kutuzov, Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev
Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves Roch-Gilbert du
Motier, marquis de
Lambert, John
Lannes, Jean, duc de Montebello
Lee, Robert Edward
Leslie, Alexander, first earl of Leven
Leslie, Sir David, first baron Newark
Lincoln, Benjamin
Lucan, George Charles Bingham, third earl of
MacArthur, Douglas
Macbeth
MacMahon, Marie-Edmé-Patrice-Maurice de, duc
de Magenta
Makharoff, Stepan Osipovich
Marion, Francis
Masséna, André, duc de Rivoli
Maurice, prince of Orange and count of Nassau

McClellan, George Brinton
Mehmet II
Miltiades
Moltke, Helmuth Johannes Ludwig, count von
Moltke
Moltke, Helmuth Karl Bernard, count von Moltke
Monash, Sir John
Monck, George, duke of Albemarle
Monmouth, James Scott, duke of
Montagu, Edward, second earl of Manchester
Montcalm de Saint-Véran, Louis-Joseph de
Montcalm, marquis de
Montfort, Simon de, earl of Leicester
Montgomery, Bernard Law, first viscount
Montgomery of Alamein
Montrose, James Graham, first marquis of
Moore, Sir John
Murat, Joachim
Napier, Sir Charles
Napier, Sir Charles James
Napoleon Bonaparte
Narses
Nebuchadnezzar
Nelson, Horatio, Viscount Nelson

Nevsky, Alexander, Saint
Newcastle, William Cavendish, duke of
Ney, Michel, duc d’Elchigen, prince of the Moskowa
Nimitz, Chester William
Nivelle, Robert-Georges

Nogi, Maresuke, Kiten
Norfolk, Thomas Howard, second duke of
Nur-ad-Din
Oda, Nobunaga
Oudinot, Nicolas Charles, duc de Reggio
Oxford, John de Vere, 13th earl of
Paskevich, Ivan Fedorovich
Patton, George Smith, Jr.
Paullus Macedonicus, Lucius Aemilius
Paulus, Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst
Penn, Sir William
Perry, Oliver Hazard
Pershing, John Joseph
Pétain, Henri-Philippe-Benoni-Omer-Joseph
Philip II
Philip VI
Phocion
Plumer of Messines, Herbert Charles Onslow
Plumer, first viscount
Pompey
Radetzky, Joseph Wenzel Anton Franz Karl, count
Radetzky von Radetz
Raglan, FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, first
baron
Ramses II
Rennenkampf, Pavel-Georges Karlovich von
Richard I the Lion-Hearted
Richard III
Ridgway, Matthew Bunker
Roberts, Frederick Sleigh, first earl Roberts of

Kandahar
Robert the Bruce
Rodney, George Brydges, first baron Rodney of
Stoke-Rodney
Rokossovsky, Konstantin Konstantinovich
Rommel, Erwin Johannes Eugen
Rooke, Sir George
Rosecrans, William Starke
Rupert, Prince
Saladin


xiv  list of entries
Samsonov, Alexander Vasilyevich
Santa Anna, Antonio López de
Sargon II
Saxe, Hermann Maurice, comte de
Scheer, Reinhard
Schwarzkopf, H. Norman
Scipio Africanus
Scott, Winfield
Sheridan, Philip Henry
Sherman, William Tecumseh
Slim, William Joseph, viscount Slim
Suchet, Louis-Gabriel, duc d’Albufera da Valencia
Taylor, Zachary
Theodoric the Great
Tilly, Johann Tserclaes, Count von
Timur

Togo, Heihachiro, Count
Tromp, Cornelis Maartenszoon Van
Tromp, Maarten Harpertszoon
Turenne, Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne, vicomte de
Vernon, Edward
Wallace, Sir William
Waller, Sir William
Warwick, Richard Neville, earl of
Washington, George
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, first duke of
Wet, Christiann Rudolf de
William I
Wolfe, James
Xerxes
Yamamoto, Isoroku
Zhukov, Georgi Konstantinovich


Introduction
It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it.
—Robert E. Lee

T

he history of warfare can be considered the history of humankind. But
stories behind the wars—behind the leaders who led soldiers into battle—are equally important. This is not a work on why battles are fought, or
their ultimate disposition. This is a review of the lives and actions of those who
commanded armies, some vast and some small, in battle.
At Adrianople in Thrace, August 378, the Eastern Roman emperor Valens took on the Goths, led by Fritigern. Historians believe, through histories
written at the time and other evidence, that Valens commanded 20,000 men,

while Fritigern had about 100,000 behind him. Valens and nearly the entire
Roman army was massacred, one of the worst military defeats of ancient times.
However, the Roman historian Ammianus’s epic tale of the clash survives even
today: “Dust rose in such clouds as to hide the sky, which rang with fearful
shouts. In consequence, it was impossible to see the enemy’s missiles in flight
and dodge them . . . all found their mark, and [these] darts brought death
on every side. The barbarians poured on in huge columns, trampling down
horse and man and crushing our ranks so to make ordinary retreat impossible.”
Nearly 1,700 years later, warfare is still part of our lives. As American and other
coalition forces fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, tales of battles fought are being
written for future historians—and another leader, Tommy Franks, takes his
place among those who have held the title general.
In the midst of the buildup of American and British troops to invade
Afghanistan in October 2001, journalist David White wrote in the Financial
Times: “No one starts a war—or rather no one in his right senses should do
so—without being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war
and how he intends to conduct it.” The history of warfare—and humans’ role
xv


xvi  Introduction
in it—has been studied over the centuries through writings, reminiscences, and
strategies. The character, responsibilities, and service of these soldiers, from the
earliest of times to the present, are all examined in this work. The forces they
led and the battles they fought are all observed and considered.
In his Military Dictionary (1810), Charles James observes:
The best modern generals have never lost sight of the brilliant examples
that they have been left; they have never ceased to call into practice the
tactics of the ancients, as far as the difference of arms and a change of
manners would allow. To those who peruse the histories of the 17th and

18th centuries and read over the actions of the most celebrated generals this observation will appear peculiarly apposite. It is justified in the
uniform conduct of the great Condé, Prince Eugène, Turenne, Marlborough, Marshal Saxe and Frederick the Great. . . . Impressed as it were by
the result of cumulative reflection they overlook immediate occurrences,
plunge into futurity and snatch out of the womb of time the ultimate
issue of events.

But James wrote this at the dawn of the 19th century. Over the period
of human history, writers have studied the inner workings of the military and
military science. In the sixth century b.c., Sunzi (Sun Tzu) wrote, “An Army
should always be ready but never used.” Napoleon Bonaparte allegedly stated,
“Victory belongs to the most persevering.” A commander, be it of a land or
sea force, stands above all as the leader, the chief officer of his force, the chief
strategist, the chief inspiration for those who follow him. A leader has to embody the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage, and strictness.
As armies have gained in their abilities to fight differing kinds of wars, these
responsibilities and virtues have grown. From the beginning of human history,
when troops marched into battle with spears and knives, to today’s airborne
missiles and machine guns, this role has expanded. This work examines how
these leaders used the tools given them.
While such words as commander or leader are universally understood, the
terms general and admiral have only come into use within the last 500 years.
Thus, such leaders as Nebuchadnezzar, Belisarius, Mark Anthony, Julius Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius, Nur-ad-Din, Richard Neville, and Alexander Nevsky
are included in this book though none was termed admiral or general. The
custom of so naming commanders of armed forces became common in Europe
in the 16th century, and over time, certain terminology became standard.
The basic fighting unit, a regiment or battalion, was led by a lieutenant
colonel or colonel. Two or more regiments were called a brigade, commanded
by a brigadier general (one star), while two or more brigades formed a division,
commanded by a major general (two stars). Two or more divisions formed an
army corps under a lieutenant general (three stars), while two or more corps
became an army under a general (four stars). As armies and navies became ever

larger, a five-star rank became necessary for commanders in chief with several
armies under their command. In the United States, this officer is titled Gen-


Introduction   xvii
eral of the Army, although in some nations the much older term field marshal
is used. The same general principle applies to naval officers who may lead a
flotilla, then a squadron, then a fleet, and then fleets; the highest rank is Fleet
Admiral (Admiral of the Fleet in Great Britain).
The granting of such titles has often been merely an honor, a token of
gratitude from a nation. Frequent reference is made in this book to commanders being given the rank of field marshal for a notable victory, even though they
only led a division in the battle concerned. Thus, Congress specifically created
the six-star rank of General of the Armies for John J. Pershing (though he
never wore the insignia). George C. Marshall was awarded the rank of five-star
general, but he was not a commander in the field, and for this reason he was
excluded from consideration in this book.
It should also be remembered that when a country sends an army to fight
with an ally, the army commanders may be of equal rank, but one will have
authority over the other, with government agreement; Eisenhower and Montgomery in the Second World War are typical examples. In this book, I have
used commonly understood terms for clarity wherever possible.
I set out at the start with a list of some 1,000 names of military leaders I
hoped to examine. The one main objective was to focus on those generals and
admirals who had fought at least one major battle—on sea or land—which was
important to history. With this key goal in mind, the list was whittled down
to the entries that comprise this work. Any errors of fact or other errors are
entirely mine. Finally, the reader should note that all dates are rendered in the
European—and military—style of day-month-year.
I would like to thank the following people and institutions, without whose
help this work would never have been completed: The staff of the British Library, London, where much of this book was written; the staff of the New
York Public Library, who aided in finding some important material not found

anywhere else; the staff of the Hayden Library of Arizona State University,
Tempe, Arizona, where much of the research for this work was conducted; and
the staff of the Maricopa County Library, Phoenix, who ably retrieved for me
many books via interlibrary loan.
—Mark Grossman



A
Abbas I  (Abbas the Great)  (1571–1629)  shah
of Persia 

With internal dissent and rebellion crushed, Abbas
turned back to the potential external enemy: the Ottoman Empire. He opened his attack in 1601, with his
forces taking the city of Tabriz (now the capital of East
Azerbaijan province, Iran) in 1604. The mountainous
area in what is now known as the Caucasus also fell to
Abbas’s forces, most notably Georgia and Shirvan. Although Abbas’s military exploits in this area were largely
successful, Ottoman resistance caused the conflict to last
until the end of his reign.
In 1606, Abbas fought off a major offensive by
the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Ahmed II, including a significant clash at Sis, where 20,000 Turks were
killed in a single battle. Although Turkey sued for peace,
they continued to fight Abbas and his empire in various
clashes. However, for many years there was relative peace
in his kingdom. It was not until 1616 that Abbas again
moved against the Turks, fighting a two-year war that
culminated in a major victory in 1618. In 1622, Abbas’s
army marched on the island of Hormuz, in the Strait of
Hormuz, and, with the assistance of the English East

India Company, threw out the Portuguese merchants
who controlled that island’s trade. Abbas then moved
the center of trading activity to the city of Gombroon
(now in Iran), renamed it Bandar Abbas, and established
a foothold in the major markets of the Persian Gulf. In
1623, Abbas’s forces took Baghdad, now in modern

Abbas the Great (ruled 1587–1629), known for his
military exploits in the Persian Gulf and in what is now
modern-day Iraq, was the grandson of Shah Tahmasp
and the son of Shah Mohammed Mirza Khudabanda
(d. 1595). Abbas may have been named after Abbas (d.
653), the uncle of Mohammed and of Caliph Ali. Abbas
I was named as ruler of Khurasan (now modern Khorasan, Iran) in 1581, and six years later, he succeeded his
father as shah when Mohammed abdicated.
As he took the throne of Persia (now Iran), Abbas’s
reign was challenged by a revolt in Persia and the threat
of an invasion by forces of the Ottoman Empire (centered in what is now modern Turkey). Abbas paid tribute to the Ottomans to forge a peace and end the threat
of incursion; he was then given a free hand to turn on
the rebellious forces within his country and defeat them.
A military campaign against rebelling Uzbeks (now part
of Uzbekistan) in Khurasan was also successful. In 1598,
after a lengthy and protracted war, he ended the threat
from the Uzbeks when his forces took control of the city
of Moshad (now one of Iran’s major cities). As the first
of the Safavid leaders, Abbas helped establish modern
Persia—later renamed Iran—as a single state, and his
advocacy of a single language—in this case, Farsi—unified that nation.



   Abercromby, Sir Ralph
Iraq, but when they tried to extend their hold on Mosul
(in modern northern Iraq) and Basra (in modern southern Iraq, near the Persian Gulf ), his troops were thrown
back and could not hold either city. In another clash, he
took the city of Kandahar (also Qandahar, in modern
Afghanistan), but it was lost to the Uzbeks in 1630, a
year after Abbas’s death.
During his reign, Abbas was also known for his
numerous public works projects, most notably at the
Persian capital of Esfahan. He died in 1629 at the age
of either 58 or 59. His tomb at Kashan, located in the
Shrine of Habib ibn-Musa, is considered one of the marvels of that age.
Modern historians remember Abbas not only for
his unification of Persia but for his skillful use of the
military to crush internal rebellion and meet external
threats. His drafting of two English brothers, the mercenaries Sir Robert and Sir Anthony Sherley, to train the
Persian army in modern fighting methods unknown to
most of the Middle Eastern world, rank him as one of
the lesser-known but more important military leaders in
world history. Historian Tom Magnusson writes: “A remarkable monarch, Abbas was intelligent and farsighted
but sometimes cruel and harsh; he was a skillful and
energetic administrator and general, and his reform of
the Persian army made it very nearly the equal of the
Ottoman army.”
References: Keegan, John, and Andrew Wheatcroft,
“Abbas,” in Who’s Who in Military History from 1453 to the
Present Day (London: Routledge, 1996), 1–2; Monshi,
Eskandar Beg, History of Shah 4Abbas the Great—Tarike

4alam ar aye 4Abbas I, translated by Roger M. Savory (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1978); Sherley, Sir Anthony,
His Relation of his travels into Persia: . . . (London: Printed
[by Nicholas Okes] for Nathaniell Butter, and Joseph
Bagfet, 1613); Magnusson, Tom, “Abbas I the Great,” in
The Encyclopedia of Military Biography, edited by Trevor
N. Dupuy, Curt Johnson, and David L. Bongard (London: I. B. Taurus, 1992), 2.

Abercromby, Sir Ralph  (1734–1801)  British
general 
Sir Ralph Abercromby’s several important military victories were matched by his command of the British army,
in which he restored discipline and morale. Historians
Martin Windrow and Francis K. Mason write: “Al-

though his career was crowned by several notable victories, Abercromby is remembered more as the restorer of
high professional standards in the British Army than as
a master of tactics.”
Abercromby was born in the village of Tullibody,
in Clackmannanshire, Scotland, on 7 October 1734,
the eldest son of George Abercromby. He was educated at the prestigious Rugby school and later studied
law at the University of Leipzig and Edinburgh University. Entering into a military career, he was offered
a cornet’s commission in the 3rd Dragoon Guards in
March 1756. He saw action with this unit in the Seven
Years’ War (1756–63) and rose to become a lieutenant
colonel in 1773 and brevet colonel in 1780. In 1781,
he was named a colonel in the King’s Irish Regiment.
However, because he sympathized with the American
colonists fighting for independence, he felt it better to
leave the military than continue and possibly be forced
to fight in a war in which he did not believe. He retired
in 1783.

Abercromby decided to enter the political realm: He
was elected to a seat in Parliament from Clackmannan,
Scotland, but he quickly tired of his duties and left office;
he was succeeded by his brother Robert (1740–1827),
who also later served as a general in the British army.
When France declared war on En­gland in 1793, Ralph
Abercromby again took up arms for En­gland and was
named as commander of a brigade under the duke of
York, second son of George III. Serving for a time in Holland, he saw action at La Cateau (16 April 1794) and was
wounded at Nijmwegen. He was in charge of the British withdrawal from Holland in the winter of 1794 and
conducted this duty so well that he was honored with a
Knighthood of the order of the Bath. In 1795, the king
named him to succeed Sir Charles Grey as commander in
chief of British forces in the West Indies.
In 1796, Abercromby once again went into battle,
seizing the islands of Grenada, Trinidad, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent, and the then-French settlements of Demerara
and Essequibo. He was then recalled to En­gland, where
in 1797 he was appointed as head of the English army in
Ireland. However, the Irish government blocked his efforts to reform the army. Abercromby resigned his commission after less than a year in office. That same year,
1797, he was made second in command to the duke of
York, with whom he had previously served, in the En­
glish drive to retake Holland, which ended in disaster
and failure.


Æthelstan   
In 1801, Abercromby was sent to Egypt to help
drive the French out of that country. When the English
army landed at Aboukir Bay on 2 March 1801, 5,000

English soldiers faced a large French force under the
command of General Louis Friant. Historian George
Bruce writes: “The landing [of the English] was effected
under a heavy musketry and artillery fire, which cost the
assailants 1,100 killed and wounded. The French were
driven from their positions with a loss of 500 men.”
Aboukir is known to historians as an important
English military victory. After this success, Abercromby
advanced to the important French threshold of Alexandria. In the midst of the battle on 21 March 1801,
Abercromby was hit in the thigh by a rifle ball. He was
taken from the field and placed on the English flagship Foudroyant, but surgeons were unable to remove
the ball. As Abercromby lay dying, according to one account, one of his men placed a blanket under his head.
“What is it you have placed under my head?” he inquired. When told it was a soldier’s blanket, he replied,
“Only a soldier’s blanket? Make haste and return it to
him at once!”
Seven days after being shot, Abercromby succumbed to his wound at the age of 66. His body was
moved to Malta, and he was laid to rest there. The battle
of Alexandria, where he lost his life, was a significant one
for the French, who found the English troops to be their
equal and whose casualties were extremely heavy. The
English lost 1,464 men, including Abercromby.
A wave of sympathy for the dead general swept over
En­gland, and the House of Commons voted to erect a
memorial in his honor in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.
His widow was made Baroness Abercromby of Aboukir
and Tullibody, given a pension of £2,000 a year, and allowed to keep the title in her family for two additional
generations. A memoir of the later years of Abercromby’s life (1793–1801) by his third son, James (who was
Speaker of the House of Commons, 1835–39, and became Lord Dunfermline), was published in 1861.
References: Dunfermline, James Abercromby, Lord, Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, K.B., 1793–1801: a
Memoir by his son James Lord Dunfermline (Edinburgh,

Scotland: Edmonston and Douglas, 1861); Rough, Sir
William, Lines on the Death of the Late Sir Ralph Abercromby. (London: J. Bell, 1801); Windrow, Martin, and
Francis K. Mason, “Abercromby, Sir Ralph,” in The
Wordsworth Dictionary of Military Biography (Hertford-

shire, U.K.: Wordsworth Editions Ltd., 1997), 3–4;
Bruce, George, “Abukir II,” in Collins Dictionary of Wars
(Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995), 1.

Abrantes, duc de  See Junot, Jean-Andoche
Alexandre, duc d’Abrantes.
Ỉthelstan  (Athelstan)  (ca. 894–95–939)  English
king
Crowned on the King’s Stone at Kingston-uponThames (with a claim to be the first undisputed king
of all En­gland), Ỉthelstan is most remembered for his
warfare against the Scots and Welsh. According to several sources, he was born in either 894 or 895, the son
of Edward the Elder (870–924), who served as king of
En­gland from 899 to 924, and Edward’s wife Egwina
(or Ecgwyn). Edward’s father was Alfred the Great (ca.
849–899), the great Saxon king whose battles to save
En­gland from Danish invasions culminated in the capture of London and victory at the battle of Edington
(878). When Edward the Elder died, his son Ỉthelstan
succeeded on 4 September 924, and he was crowned at
Kingston-upon-Thames shortly afterward. A year later,
the new monarch signed a treaty with Sihtric of York,
to avoid warfare for Northumbria. However, when Sihtric died in 927, Ỉthelstan expelled Sihtric’s brother,
Guthfrith, and as his forces moved into Northumbria.
He met with several tribes, including the Northumbrians and Strathclyde Britons, who agreed to allow him
to take control, the first southern English king to do so.
Thereafter he called himself rex totius Britanniae (king

of all Britain).
In 934, Ỉthelstan’s forces invaded Scotland by land
and sea; his land forces quickly moved as far north as
Dunottar, while the navy seized Caithness. He took control over Scotland, but three years later a mighty confederation formed by King Constantine III of Scotland,
the Welsh of Strathclyde, Owen of Cumberland, and
two Norwegian leaders, Anlaf Godfredsson and Anlaf
Sihtricsson, set out to end his reign. These forces confronted Ỉthelstan’s army—which was supported by his
half brother Edmund—at Brunanburh. Since the 12th
century, historians have tried to locate the exact site of
the battle, to no avail; many historians believe it was
fought in either northwestern En­gland or southwestern
Scotland, near the Solway Firth. What little informa-


  aetius, Flavius
tion that exists comes from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
for 937:
In this year King Aethelstan, Lord of warriors,
ring-giver to men, and his brother also,
Prince Eadmund, won eternal glory
in battle with sword edges
around Brunanburh. They split the shield-wall,
they hewed battle shields with
the remnants of hammers.
The sons of Eadweard, it was only befitting
their noble descent
from their ancestors that they should often
defend their land in battle against
each hostile people,
horde and home. The enemy perished,

Scots men and seamen,
fated they fell. The field flowed
with blood of warriors, from sun up
in the morning, when the glorious star
glided over the earth, God’s bright candle,
eternal lord, till that noble creation
sank to its seat. There lay many a warrior
by spears destroyed;
Northern men
shot over shield, likewise Scottish as well,
weary, war sated.

It remains unknown whether this “account” was written by an observer or a mere writer wishing to catalog
this great battle. Few historians mention the casualties
inflicted at Brunanburh; historian George Bruce reports
that there was “great slaughter.” In any event, Ỉthelstan
prevailed.
Ỉthelstan lived for two years following his great victory at Brunanburh. He died on 27 October 939, was
buried at Malmesbury Abbey, just south of Wiltshire, and
was succeeded by his half brother Edmund. His reign had
lasted a short 15 years, but in that time he established
himself as a significant figure in English history. Ỉthelstan was the first English king to develop relations with
other European rulers, and his half sisters married into the
royal families of France and the Holy Roman Empire.
References: Hilliam, David, “Athelstan,” in Kings,
Queens, Bones and Bastards: Who’s Who in the English Monarchy from Egbert to Elizabeth II (Phoenix Mill, Thrupp,
Stroud, U.K.: Sutton Publishing Limited, 2000), 17; At-

tenborough, F. L., ed. and trans., The Laws of the Earliest English Kings. (New York: Russell & Russell, 1963);
Garnett, James Mercer, Elene; Judith; Ỉthelstan, or, The

Fight at Brunanburh; Byrthnoth, or, The Fight at Maldon;
and The Dream of the Rood: Anglo-Saxon Poems. Translated
by James Mercer Garnett (Boston: Ginn & Company,
1901); Philpotts, Robert, What Happened at Maldon?
The Story of the Battle of Maldon, August 991 (London:
Blackwater Books, 1991); Macrae-Gibson, O. D., “How
Historical Is the Battle of Maldon?,” Medium Ævum, 39,
no. 2 (1970): 89–107; Dumville, David N. “Between
Alfred the Great and Edgar the Peacemaker: Ỉthelstan,
First King of En­gland,” in Wessex and En­gland from Alfred to Edgar: Six Essays on Political, Cultural, and Ecclesiastical Revival (Woodbridge, U.K.: Boydell Press, 1992),
141–171.

Aetius, Flavius  (Aëtius)  (ca. 390–454)  Roman
general
Noted chiefly for having defeated A ttila and the
Huns in what was the last major military victory for the
Roman Empire before it fell, Flavius Aetius was born
at Dorostolus, in the province of Moesia (now near the
Black Sea in the Balkans). He was the son of Gaudentius, who is identified simply as a master-general in the
Roman army cavalry, later to become master of the horse
and count of Africa. Moesia was a Roman stronghold in
the Balkan area when Aetius was born. At some point in
his youth, he was kidnapped by barbarians and raised as
one of them, first by the Goths and later by the Huns;
he was raised personally by Rhuas, the king of the Huns.
Aetius acquired the knowledge of barbarian tactics, and
in 424 he commanded a force of some 60,000 barbarians into what is now Italy.
Following the death of the Roman emperor Honorius on 15 August 423, there was a fierce struggle to succeed him. Although Honorius’s relative Valentinian had
positioned himself to become emperor, the throne was
seized by Ioannes (also called Johannes), the primicerius

notatiorum (chief notary), who was backed by ambassadors Aetius and the Huns. The Eastern Roman emperor
Theodosius II sent ambassadors to Rome, and they persuaded some of Ioannes’s aides to betray him; he was
arrested, taken to a small village, and executed. When
word of Ioannes’s arrest (but not his execution) arrived
at the Huns’ camp, Aetius set out with a force to rescue
him. Valentinian, taking control of Rome, offered Aetius


aetius, Flavius   
a pardon and named him the count of Italy in exchange
for his ending any war against Ioannes’s killers. Aetius
accepted this offer, which led to his becoming one of the
most important generals in the Western Roman Empire.
In 429, he was named a magister utriusque militum (master of the soldiers).
One of Aetius’s chief rivals for power was Count
Bonifacius (Boniface), the comes (count) of Africa, who,
siding with the Vandals in Africa, marched on Rome to
end Aetius’s influence. When the Hunnic and Vandal
armies met in battle at Rimini (432), Aetius killed Bonifacius with his own javelin.
From 433, Aetius was involved in the Roman wars
in Gaul (modern France) against many of the barbarian
tribes there, including the Visigoths and Franks. However, few of his military accomplishments are noted by
historians. In 436, Aetius and a Hunnic army defeated
the Burgundians, a group of East Germanic tribesmen,
after they had invaded Upper Belgica (now north and
east of the River Loire in modern France). Aetius’s victory against this tribe was so complete—more than
20,000 Burgundians died in battle, as opposed to few
Romans and Huns—that the clash is remembered in
history in The Nibelungenlied, an epic poem written in
Middle High German around 1200.

Aetius’s greatest military victory is that of Châlonssur-Marne, also called the battle of Maurica or Campus Mauriacus, or the battle of the Catalunian Plains.
On 20 September 451, Aetius, commanding groups of
barbarian soldiers, including Visigoths and Burgundians—both of whom he had previously defeated—faced
Attila and the Huns, Aetius’s former allies. Attila had
turned against the Roman Empire to rampage across
Rome-controlled Europe, devastating the Balkans and
exacting tribute from the Eastern Roman Empire. When
the Huns turned on Gaul, Western Roman emperor
Marcian called on Aetius to defeat his former allies. At
Châlons-sur-Marne, Attila gathered the forces of many
barbarian tribes, including the Ostrogoths, the Gepids,
the Thuringians, and the Franks. To start the battle, Aetius dispatched Thorismund, the son of King Theodoric
of the Visigoths, and his forces to seize an area that overlooked the whole field; Thorismund battled back the
Hunnic forces to take the area. The Huns joined the
Ostrogoths to assault the main Visigothic regiment, but
the Visigoths held despite the death of King Theodoric.
A contingent of Gepids attacked a position held by Romans and Franks, but they, too, could not break through.

The battle lasted throughout the day; it is estimated that
perhaps 300,000 men died, although many historians
dispute this number. The end of the fight came when,
in the darkness, Thorismund and his men charged down
the hill from the heights he had seized and drove the
Huns and Ostrogoths into flight.
Edward Creasy, who named Châlons as one of the
15 most decisive battles in world history, writes: “But
when the morning broke and revealed the extent of the
carnage with which the plains were heaped for miles,
the successful allies saw also and respected the resolute
attitude of their antagonist. Neither were any measures

taken to blockade him in his camp, and so to extort by
famine that submission which it was too plainly perilous
to enforce with the sword. Attila was allowed to march
back the remnants of his army without molestation, and
even with the semblance of success.” The battle was critically important in the history of Europe since it halted
the advancement of the Huns to France and broke the
hitherto unstoppable Attila, who died two years later. As
a result, the Huns were never the power they had been
before Châlons-sur-Marne.
Aetius’s dreams of victory were short-lived. In September 454, he was about to marry one of his sons to the
daughter of Roman emperor Valentinian III. However,
during an argument over whether Aetius’s son could
become emperor, Valentinian drew a dagger and murdered the general. The foul deed would cost the Roman
Empire its very existence: Lacking a reliable military
commander to stave off outside threats, Rome would
be invaded and destroyed in two decades’ time. Aetius’s
death was avenged when one of his friends accosted Valentinian at the Campus Martius in Rome and stabbed
him to death.
References: Gwatkin, H. M., et al., eds., The Cambridge
Mediaeval History, 8 vols. (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge
University Press, 1911–36), I:418–419; Hodgkin,
Thomas, Italy and Her Invaders, 6 vols. (Oxford, U.K.:
Clarendon Press, 1880–89); Mócsy, András, Pannonia and
Upper Moesia: A History of the Middle Danube Provinces of
the Roman Empire (London: Routledge & K. Paul, 1974);
“Challons, Battle of,” in The Hutchinson Dictionary of
Ancient and Medieval Warfare (Oxford, U.K.: Helicon
Publishing, Ltd., 1998), 64–65; “Flavius Aetius,” in Command: From Alexander the Great to Zhukov—The Greatest Commanders of World History, edited by James Lucas
(London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1988), 39–40.

   Agricola, Gnaeus Julius

Agricola, Gnaeus Julius  (37–93)  Roman general
Although Gnaeus Agricola is remembered for his conquests of the British Isles, most of the information on
him comes from notes taken by his son-in-law, the
famed Roman historian Tacitus, which appeared in
the work Agricola. He was born on 13 June a.d. 37 in
Forum Julii, in the province of Gallia Narbonensis (now
Fréjus, in the area of Provence, France), the son of Julius
Graecinus, a praetor (a magistrate with judicial duties).
When he was 18, he was made a tribunus laticlavius
(military tribune) on the military staff of Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, who served as governor of Britain from
a.d. 58 to 61. He also served on the staff of Paulinus’s
successor, Publius Petronius Turpilianus. After marrying,
Agricola was made a quaestor (a magistrate with financial powers), considered the first step in a career in the
Roman governmental hierarchy. In 66 he was advanced
to the office of people’s tribune, and two years later he
became a praetor peregrinus (a judicial magistrate who
decided cases between foreigners).
In a.d. 69, when a civil war broke out in Rome,
Agricola sided with Vespasian against the Emperor Vitellius. Vespasian was victorious, and he rewarded Agricola
by naming him legatus legionis (commander of a legion
[today’s general]). He commanded the 20th Legion in
Britain, serving under the governor Quintus Petillius
Cerialis. Agricola was given the status of a patrician
when he returned to Rome in 73 and served for a short
time as governor of Aquitania (a.d. 74–77). In 77, he
was named a consul as well as legatus augusti pro-praetore, or governor, of Britain. It was during this period
that Agricola rose to become a major military leader.

From 78 until 84, he fought numerous tribes in England and Wales. In 78, Roman forces decisively defeated the Ordovices tribe in northern Wales and routed
the Druids on the island of Ynys Môn (today’s Anglesey) off the northwestern coast of Wales. Using these victories, Agricola colonized En­gland with a series of
garrisons. Marching northward and westward into Scotland and Wales, his forces took more territory under
their control, and he established a frontier of posts
between the firths of Clota and Bodotria (now the
Clyde and Forth rivers). In 83, the Caledonians tried
to destroy Roman forces, but the Romans crossed the
Forth and Agricola defeated them at Mons Graupius
(now Ardock) in 84. A legacy of Agricola’s campaign is
the Roman fortress at Inchtuthil (near Dunkeld), built
that year.

It was at this time that the new Roman emperor,
Domitian, recalled Agricola to Rome, probably out of
jealously of Agricola’s conquest of the British islands. Agricola was offered the proconsulship of Asia (today’s western Turkey), but he refused and instead retired to his family
home in Gallia Narbonensis (today’s southern France),
where he died on 23 August 93 at the age of 53.
References: Tacitus, Cornelius, The Agricola, edited by
Duane Reed Stuart (New York: Macmillan, 1924); Hanson, W. S., Agricola and the Conquest of the North (Totowa,
N.J.: Barnes and Noble, 1987); Charlesworth, Martin Percival, Five Men: Character Studies from the Roman Empire
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1936).

Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius  (63–12 b.c.) 
Roman general and statesman
Little is known of Marcus Agrippa’s beginnings. He was
born in 63 b.c. to parents of a lower class, although
some historians doubt this; his schooling and upbringing remain unknown. At some point in his life he became friends with Octavian (later Augustus), whose
uncle, Julius Caesar, became the great Roman general
and statesman. Agrippa was at Octavian’s side when
the latter was informed in March 44 b.c. that Caesar

had been assassinated in Rome, and Agrippa went with
him to Rome to claim the throne of the Roman Empire. When Caesar’s enemies blocked Octavian, Agrippa
aided his friend in forming a private army to fight them.
Although the two were close during this period, no
mention of Agrippa is made in any of the histories of
the famous battles between Octavian and his enemies,
most notably Philippi (42 b.c.). However, during the
so-called War of Perusia (40 b.c.), a year-long siege of
what is today Perugia, Agrippa took a leading role, and
Octavian rewarded him by naming him governor of
Gaul (modern France).
In 38 b.c., while still governor of Gaul, Agrippa
led an army to annihilate a force of rebel tribes from
Aquitane; he followed this victory by crossing the Rhine
River in a punitive expedition against the German
tribes, a service for which he was named consul. At the
same time, Octavian had been defeated by Sextus Pompeius, the son of the famed Roman general Pompey,
at the battle of Cumæ (38 b.c.). Agrippa took control
of Octavian’s army in what is known as the War of the
Second Triumvirate. At Naucholus on 3 September 36