Greed Is Good

Greed is good, proclaimed Gordon Gecko in the movie Wall Street and Jacob Fugger would have agreed. Fugger was born into a merchant family in Augsburg, Germany in 1459. His father died when Jacob was 10 years old and his mother took over the family business.

When Fugger was in his late teens, his mother sent him to Venice to learn about banking. Venice was the Renaissance equivalent of the financial wizardry in today’s London or New York. Fugger used the skills he learned to become the biggest competitor of the Venetian bankers.

One of his earliest deals involved loaning money to Duke Sigmund, a free-spending aristocrat who declared war against Venice to boot them out of the southern Tyrol. (The southern Tyrol was permanently transferred to Italy only after the World War I defeat of Austria and Germany.)

No banker would lend money to Sigmund because he had a habit of defaulting. Fugger could have lost every cent he had and most of his family’s wealth if Sigmund defaulted. So Fugger demanded collateral, a silver mine at Schwaz, Austria. When Sigmund inevitably defaulted after botching the war, Fugger took over the silver mine.  Under Fugger’s management, the mine eventually produced 4 of every 5 tons of European silver and made him fabulously wealthy.

Fugger became the lender of choice to the Spanish Habsburgs and to the Pope. He provided the loans that Charles V, King of Spain, used to buy the title of Holy Roman Emperor. Pope Leo X used Fugger loans to fund his massive construction projects in Rome.  

Of course, all those loans had to be repaid. Charles V made Fugger an Imperial Counselor, which elevated a peasant to the aristocracy and granted him business monopolies. Pope Leo X lifted the ban on usury or charging interest on loans which allowed Fugger to make more money. Every cardinal and bishop that had to buy their office usually financed with a Fugger loan. Most critically, Leo X sold indulgences which allowed the devout to buy an exemption from punishment in purgatory.

It all boiled over in 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Worms church door, starting the Protestant Reformation. In 1525, the German Peasants’ War erupted against social and economic inequities. Fugger funded the counter-revolution which crushed the rebellion at a cost of about 100,000 lives, mostly peasants.

Like most wealthy people, Fugger became a philanthropist. He is best known for building the Fuggerei, a housing project for the working poor. The Fuggerei is now the top tourist draw in Augsburg, Germany, having been rebuilt after World War II with Fugger money.

Fugger was once asked how long he planned to work. He replied that no amount of money was enough for him and he would continue making a profit as long as possible. At his death in 1525, his wealth equaled almost 2% of European economic output. But money can’t buy you love. As he lay dying, his wife was with her lover and his nephews were scheming to cut her out of the inheritance. His nephews’ descendants continue to live off the proceeds of the wealth they inherited.

For more information about Jacob Fugger, see The Richest Man Who Ever Lived by Greg Steinmetz (2015). It’s a lively, quick read.

Want to receive this blog straight to your inbox? Sign up for my mailing list.

One of a Kind

The Ottoman Empire was founded in 1299 and lasted until 1922 when Ataturk dissolved it to create modern Turkey. In all those centuries, it only had one queen: Roxelana (c. 1503 - 1558).

Roxelana was most likely born in modern day Ukraine. Ukraine, Crimea, and Poland were constantly at war, and a common practice was to abduct children to sell into slavery.

Roxelana was kidnapped as a teenager and sold or traded to the sultan’s household to be trained as a concubine of the sultan. At the age of 17, she became a concubine of Suleyman (also spelled Suleiman).

Roxelana was an exceptional woman—an astute politician who learned how to survive harem and court politics. She convinced Suleyman to give up all his other concubines and marry her. They married in 1536 and lived monogamously until her death. They were devoted parents to their five sons and one daughter.

After Suleyman (1494 – 1566) became sultan, he designated Roxelana as his queen. She became his eyes and ears at the court while he was away on military campaigns. To the east, Suleyman fought the Safevid Empire (modern Iran) for control of what is now Iraq. In an earlier version of today’s wars, the Ottoman Sunnis fought the Shias of Iran.

In the west, Suleyman fought to expand Ottoman territory in Eastern Europe. The Ottomans controlled much of modern Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia. The legacy of the Ottoman occupation was an underlying cause of the vicious fighting during the 1980’s when Yugoslavia tore itself apart.

Roxelana and Suleyman represent a cultural high point for the Ottoman Empire. He is known to history as Suleyman the Magnificent. One of his many achievements was revising the legal code which had a side effect of increasing social and political tolerance of Christians and Jews.

They also built extensively. His most famous monument is the exquisite Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, where he and Roxelana were eventually buried. Roxelana was the first female member of the Ottoman court to build in Istanbul. Her most famous project is the Hasecki Sultan Complex, consisting of a mosque, a soup kitchen, elementary school (madrasa), and a hospital. The complex was restored in 2010 – 2012 and is now a tourist attraction.

After the deaths of Roxelana and Suleyman, their son Selim reverted to usual Ottoman practices. He murdered his remaining brothers and nephews so that they couldn’t threaten him or his sons. His sons were expected to fight to the death for the right to lead the empire. He also dispensed with a queen and ensured that no concubine would have more than one son as royal sons were a source of power in the empire.

For more information on the exciting and improbable life of Roxelana, see Empress of the East by Leslie Pierce (2017). I found the book a bit repetitive and disorganized at times but a fairly quick read nonetheless!

Want to receive this blog straight to your inbox? Sign up for my mailing list.

Living in Two Worlds

In 1742 or 1743, the Jemison family emigrated from Ireland and settled on the American frontier, about 10 miles from present-day Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. They brought along a baby, Mary, who was born aboard ship during the journey.

In the 1740’s and 1750’s, the American frontier was the battle zone between Britain and France as they fought to control what is now the U.S. and Canada. Since the British and French military forces were limited, they looked to their settlers to be a colonial militia. They also formed alliances with Indian tribes by promising to keep white settlers out of their tribal lands. Each side turned a blind eye to the atrocities committed by their allies, white and Indian.

In 1758 when Mary Jemison was about 15 years old, her family’s farm was attacked by Shawnee Indians and their French allies. Mary’s family was killed in the raid. She later saw their scalps drying by a fire during her march into captivity.

Near Fort Duquesne (modern Pittsburgh, PA), the Shawnee traded Mary to two Seneca women who adopted her to replace a deceased brother. Replacing a dead relative with a captive was a common practice. Captives could also be used as hostages to negotiate limits on land grabs, or as ransom for weapons, or simply as a terror tactic.

The Seneca, Mary’s new family, were called “The Keepers of the Western Door” because they controlled much of western New York State. They were the largest and some believe the fiercest tribe in the Iroquois Confederation. The Seneca tribe is still based at Salamanca, N.Y.

In 1763, the Seven Years War (aka French and Indian War) ended and each side negotiated a return of their captives. Mary was taken to Ft. Duquesne, renamed Ft. Pitt (guess who won the war), to talk to the British negotiators. But at the last minute, her Seneca sisters decided they couldn’t bear to lose Mary and took her home again.

Mary lived with the Seneca tribe for the remainder of her life. Her first husband died a few years after they married leaving Mary distraught with grief. Like many grieving spouses, she eventually recovered and remarried in 1765. Her second marriage lasted 50 years.

Mary was offered another chance to leave the tribe in the 1780’s after the American Revolution. But she feared that white people would despise her and her half-Indian children. Besides, in Seneca society, women had political, economic, and social powers that white women would not gain until the 20th century. Women can understand why Mary stayed with the Seneca, even if her male biographer didn’t get it.

Mary died in 1833 at the age of 90. Her descendants live in Ontario, Canada, and upstate New York, some as Seneca and some as whites. A memorial to her can be seen in Letchworth State Park, south of Rochester, NY. Mary’s story is known outside the Seneca community because she told her story to James E. Seaver, a local doctor, in 1823.

A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison, by James E. Seaver, is still in print. I recommend the version edited by June Namias which provides historical context for Mary’s life. A young adult version is Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison by Lois Lenski.

Want to receive this blog straight to your inbox? Sign up for my mailing list.

So Who Won the Battle?

Political spin is not new. One of the earliest examples comes from the Bronze Age battle of Qadesh.

Qadesh was an ancient city-state on the Orontes River near Homs in modern Syria. In 1300 B.C. Qadesh was at the crossroads of three empires. The Mitanni Empire covered most of the modern Kurdish areas of Turkey and Iraq. The Hittites controlled the rest of modern Turkey. The Egyptians controlled modern Lebanon and Israel including the ancient Hebrew kingdom.

In 1300 B.C., Hittite king Muwatallish had just defeated the Mitanni and wanted to secure his southern border against Egyptian expansion. Pharaoh Rameses II (Rameses the Great) was in his early 20’s and itching to prove he was a greater military leader than his father. Both kings marched toward their mutual border dreaming of military glory.

In a sort of comic opera, they met accidentally at Qadesh. Muwatallish arrived first and set up camp while he searched for the Egyptians. Rameses arrived at Qadesh with his army strung out miles apart. He had divided his army into four corps so that they would have sufficient forage and water for their animals.

As Rameses approached Qadesh a couple of local guys said the Hittites were still far away, rather than just across the river. Rameses realized the local guys had lied to him when his guards caught a couple of Hittite soldiers hiding by the river watching them set up camp. Under torture, the Hittite soldiers admitted that their army was across the river on the opposite side of Qadesh.

Rameses immediately sent word to the closest of his supporting corps to pick up the pace. As the corps approached Qadesh it was hit in the flank by the Hittites. In a Bronze Age version of a panzer attack, the Hittite charioteers drove into the Egyptian infantry. Egyptian soldiers who weren’t trampled or speared ran in all directions. The Hittites regrouped to attack Rameses’ camp.

The Hittites were on the verge of winning when they were distracted by shiny baubles. The Egyptian army traveled with a lot of bling, including a gold throne for Rameses. The Hittites were so busy looting the camp they allowed Rameses to escape and organize a counterattack.

Ramses led the counterattack, routing the Hittites who were worn out from all their fighting and looting. As the battle swung in favor of the Egyptians, Muwatallish ordered a diversionary attack to allow his disintegrating army to escape back across the Orontes River. Another Egyptian corps arrived on the battlefield to defend the diversionary attack.

At that point, everyone was exhausted so Muwatallish and Rameses decided to give peace a chance. They met long enough to agree on the border for their respective empires. Egypt was given control of Qadesh.

Then Muwatallish and Rameses packed their kit bags and left. Back home they each created an official account of the battle. Naturally, each man claimed a great victory due to his brilliant military leadership.

The battle of Qadesh is discussed in many military anthologies although it offers little of military significance. Qadesh is significant because it’s the earliest battle for which we have an account written by each side. That allows us to compare versions of the “truth” and spot the political spin.

My source for the battle is the Osprey Military Campaign Series, Qadesh, 1300 BC: Clash of the Warrior Kings, by Mark Healy (1993).

Want to receive this blog straight to your inbox? Sign up for my mailing list.

Schemer, Traitor, Betrayer

Alcibiades (c. 450 - 404 BC) takes the prize as the most traitorous weasel of all time. His charm attracted people even as his ego and self-dealing meant no one trusted him. His machinations may have single-handedly prolonged the Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 BC) between Athens and Sparta.  

Sparta wanted to maintain its dominant position against the rising power of Athens. Both city-states prepared for war, seeking allies while also negotiating with each other. Into this diplomatic dance stepped 19-year-old Alcibiades.

Alcibiades came from a prominent Athenian family. He wanted to use his family’s standing and connections to take credit for any peace deal between Athens and Sparta, but the Spartans ignored him.

So Alcibiades whipped up anti-Spartan feeling in Athens while simultaneously secretly promising the Spartans that he would help convince the Athenians of their good intentions. He then betrayed each side, stirring up so much mutual distrust that Athens and Sparta went to war for almost 30 years. 

Silver-tongued Alcibiades became an Athenian ambassador traveling from city to city whipping up support for Athens. He developed a network of friends in all the cities he visited as ambassador, including Sparta.  

But he also lived the ancient world’s version of “Lives of the Rich and Famous” spending money extravagantly. His arrogance and egotism created enemies among all those he betrayed. Eventually, his Athenian enemies decided to get rid of him by accusing him of blasphemy. He was ordered to return to Athens where his enemies intended to give him a fair trial before executing him.

Alcibiades wasn’t stupid; he went into exile. To buy time, he ratted out his co-conspirators in a separate plot, betraying them to the city-state that they were conspiring against. Alcibiades moved to Sparta where he convinced them that he had inside military information about Athens, and so they let him live.

Alcibiades was a serial conspirator. He even conspired with the Persians, ignoring the fact that the Persian Empire was the biggest external threat to the Greek city-states. His ultimate goal remained the same: to be a hero in Athens. 

He got his chance during the Oligarchic Coup of 411 BC when the democratic government in Athens was overthrown. Playing everyone against each other, Alcibiades eventually negotiated his return to Athens as the hero who saved them from the oligarchs. 

His death is shrouded in mystery. Some sources say he was murdered by a Spartan hit squad. Coincidentally, his death occurred about the same time the war ended.

The adventures of Alcibiades are detailed in History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. The Penguin Classics translation includes maps and notes providing context for the events.

Want to receive this blog straight to your inbox? Sign up for my mailing list.

A Friendly Enemy

It is easy to fight an opponent that we think is stupid, brutal or duped into supporting a bad government. But that image is seldom accurate, as was the case with a World War II German officer named Hans von Luck. 

Colonel Hans von Luck was always interested in other cultures and studied the classics, including learning Latin and Greek. He traveled extensively around Europe in the 1930’s and became fluent in French, Italian, English and Russian. He also had a knack for making friends wherever he went. 

Luck followed family tradition by becoming a soldier. His officer training included infantry tactics taught by Erwin Rommel. (The textbook Infantry Attacks by Rommel is still in print). He later served under Rommel in North Africa and in France as an officer with the 21st Panzer Division.

In 1943, Luck was sent on a special mission to plead with Hitler to withdraw the Africa Corps from North Africa before it was trapped between the British and American forces. Hitler refused and 130,000 German and Italian troops surrendered to the Allies soon after. (Most of them were shipped to POW camps in the U.S.). Luck was transferred to Northern France with the re-constituted 21st Panzer Division to prepare for the expected Allied invasion. 

Old Pegagus Bridge

(Courtesy of Wiki Images)

On June 6, 1944, Luck commanded forces defending the Pegasus Bridge, the only bridge over the Orne River north of Caen. British airborne troops led by Major John Howard attacked the bridge in order to protect the British flank attacking toward Caen. For most of the battle, British and German soldiers held opposite ends of the bridge and fought at point-blank range. Eventually, Luck’s troops withdrew.

88mm Gun

(World War Photos)

On another occasion, Luck desperately needed artillery support when he found an anti-aircraft battery with its 8.8cm gun pointing at the sky. Luck asked the battery commander to lower the barrel and fire at the advancing enemy. The commander refused; his 88 was intended for use against aircraft, not ground troops. Luck won the argument when he drew his Luger, shoved it in the commander’s face and invited the crew to lower the gun barrel and begin firing.  

Luck ended the war on the Eastern Front. He spent five years in Russian POW camps before being released in 1949. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, Luck was a guest of the British Staff College’s “battlefield tours” used for teaching young officers tactics by touring the Operation Overlord battle sites. He often toured with his friend John Howard so that they could tell both sides of the story of Pegasus Bridge.

His memoirs are available in English as Panzer Commander (1989).

Want to receive this blog straight to your inbox? Sign up for my mailing list.

A Flawed Hero

Welcome to the first installment of my new history blog. This blog, which will range over centuries and continents, looks at people and events that fascinate me. I’m beginning with a 20th-century soldier who was also a lawyer.

© IWM

Robert Blair “Paddy” Mayne was born in 1915 in Northern Ireland. In the late 1930’s, he was a professional rugby player, legendary for his ferocity on and off the playing field. He would often sneak out of the team’s hotel to go drinking. The night usually ended in a brawl with other patrons of the pub.

Mayne might be remembered only as the bad boy of Irish rugby if not for World War II. He immediately enlisted in the Royal Ulster Rifles, a conventional military unit. Not surprisingly, he didn’t fit in well. Fortunately for Mayne, the Special Air Service (SAS) was created in 1941 and he immediately transferred to it.

The SAS was the brainchild of David Stirling, another misfit serving in a conventional British unit. His idea was to take a small mobile force behind enemy lines in the North African desert to attack enemy supply lines and Luftwaffe airfields. His idea was accepted because in 1941 the British were losing more often than winning.

SAS recruits were trained as paratroopers. They did most of their training on the ground due to a lack of aircraft for training missions. How do you train a paratrooper without jumping out of an airplane? Paddy Mayne is credited with the solution: recruits jumped out of a jeep or truck moving at 30 mph while wearing full-kit (120 pounds).

After training, SAS personnel disappeared into the desert to begin attacking German airfields. A typical attack began with a few men infiltrating the enemy airfield and planting explosives on the planes. In the next phase of the attack, a larger unit would drive on to the airfield in jeeps to strafe the enemy troops responding to the bombs.

© IWM

When not in combat, Mayne continued his drinking and brawling habits. His insubordinate, hard-living behavior is believed to be the reason he was never awarded the Victoria Cross (the British equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor). After the war, he returned to his career as a solicitor.

Paddy Mayne is a fascinating man because of his contradictions. He was almost superhumanly brave in combat. But he never overcame the demons that triggered his drinking and brawling. He died in a road accident at the age of 40.

His exploits with the SAS are covered in Rogue Heroes (seen above) by Ben Macintyre (2016).

Want to receive this blog straight to your inbox? Sign up for my mailing list.