A Brill Calendar: September 11

Few ploys are more fruitful when studying history than thath of bringing two seemingly independent contexts together.

Delineating humanity’s organic past in segments like political, philosophical or economical history – to mention just a few – is a delicate intellectual task with its inherent limitations. It is easy, for instance, to set Europe’s military history aside for description, analysis and interpretation: by all means a venerable tradition in a small and densely populated subcontinent and one which has always prided itself in bellicose prowess and achievement. Without additional enquiry, it results in little more than in a rather short list of military icons, like Caesar, Napoleon and Marlborough.

If it is extended a little – just a little – it is seldom that surprising affiliations and connections do not emerge. Napoleon Bonaparte, not exactly known for the modesty of his military planning and activity, didn’t see himself as the greatest military leader ever: that proud title the Corsican reserved for Henri de la Tour d’Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne (Sedan, September 11 – Sasbach, Baden-Baden, July 27 1675).

In a sense, it isn’t surprising that Turenne was a grandson of William of Orange: his maternal uncles Maurice and Frederic Henry, alumni of Leyden in military matters, taught him the trade. Modern warfare may be said to begin in the same cultural context as the rebellion against post-medieval Habsburg Spain.