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unusual facts about mercenaries



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Hermann (1928) identifies as such *ansulaikaz the hymns sung by the Germans to their god of war mentioned by Tacitus and the victory songs of the Batavi mercenaries serving under Gaius Julius Civilis after the victory over Quintus Petillius Cerialis in the Batavian rebellion of 69 AD, and also the 'abominable song' to Wodan sung by the Lombards at their victory celebration in 579.

Antiochus VII Sidetes

Marching east, with what would prove to be the last great Seleucid royal army (including a force of Judean mercenaries under John Hyrcanus), he defeated Mithridates in two battles, killing the aged Parthian king in the last of these.

Balian of Beirut

He also had the support of Philip of Novara and Philip of Montfort and he employed mercenaries and galleys in the endeavour.

Bardas Phokas the Younger

At this point Basil II obtained timely aid, in the form of Varangian mercenaries, from his brother-in-law Vladimir, the Russian prince of Kiev, and marched to Abydos.

Baron Franz von der Trenck

Trenck earned most of his fame during the War of the Austrian Succession, as the leader and commander of a unit of pandurs, or paramilitary troops in the Austrian army which specialized in frontier warfare, guerrilla tactics and surprise hit-and-run actions, into which he recruited mostly Croatian mercenaries, experienced fighters from the Austro-Ottoman border.

Battle of Baesweiler

After mercenaries robbed a number of Brabantine merchants on the territory of William II, Duke of Jülich in 1371, William refused to pay reparation to Wenceslaus I of Luxembourg, husband of the Duchess of Brabant, let alone punish the mercenaries, instead protecting them and even hiring some.

Battle of La Forbie

The Battle of La Forbie, also known as the Battle of Harbiyah, was fought October 17, 1244 – October 18, 1244 between the allied armies (drawn from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the crusading orders, the breakaway Ayyubids of Damascus, Homs and Kerak) and the Egyptian army of the Ayyubid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub, reinforced with Khwarezmian mercenaries.

Battle of Sirmium

The centre, which had constituted the rearguard on the march, was commanded by Kontostephanos himself, and consisted of the imperial guards units, including the Varangians and Hetaireiai, units of Italian mercenaries from Lombardy (probably lancers) and a unit of 500 armored Serbian allied infantry, as well as the Vlach cavalry.

Black Company

The Black Company or the Black Troops was a unit of Franconian mercenaries during the Peasants' Revolt in the 1520s, during the Protestant Reformation in Germany.

Castulo

In 213 BCE, Castulo was the site of Hasdrubal Barca's crushing victory over the Roman army with a force of roughly 40,000 Carthaginian troops plus local Iberian mercenaries.

Cephissus

Battle of the Cephissus, 15 March 1311 conflict between the Frankish Greek forces of Walter V of Brienne and the mercenaries of the Catalan Company

Christopher II of Denmark

He was given a simple house at Sakskøbing on Lolland, but even that was burned by German mercenaries.

Clan Barrett

The Barretts then migrated to Ireland with the Norman warlord Strongbow (Richard Le Clare, the 2nd Earl of Pembroke) as hired mercenaries at the end of the twelfth century in the Norman Invasion of Ireland.

Dawnthief

The Raven are band of mercenaries, from the continent of Balaia, who are famous, with a reputation for being the best at what they do.

Demons of War

In February 1996, a unit of Polish IFOR troops detains and releases three foreign mercenaries in Srebrenica, before they can be executed by a Bosnian mob.

Duchy of Racha

The rival noble clans, especially Tsulukidze and Tsereteli, attempted to counter the move by invoking a force of Ottoman and Dagestan mercenaries, only to be routed by the royal army in 1786.

Émile Derlin Zinsou

In his autobiography, Bob Denard has mentioned that Emile Derlin Zinsou was to be reinstated in power in the aftermath of the coup, and that he was in fact waiting on board the mercenaries' plane that fled the country when the coup attempt failed.

Executive Outcomes

The Commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, Jerry Singirok – who reversed his support for the operation – ordered the detaining of all the mercenaries on their arrival, and forced the Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan to resign with Papua New Guinea coming close to a military coup.

Francis Yaxley

Francis owed his introduction at court to William Cecil; about 1547 he obtained employment by the privy council, possibly in the signet office, and in September 1548 he was engaged in hiring Italian mercenaries for service in England.

Gyuri Sarossy

He has also appeared in 2011 film Mercenaries alongside Billy Zane, and numerous theatre productions.

Halaesa

The city was of Siculian origin, and its foundation is related by Diodorus, who informs us that in 403 BCE the inhabitants of Herbita (a Siculian city), having concluded peace with Dionysius I of Syracuse, their ruler or chief magistrate Archonides determined to quit the city and found a new colony, which he settled partly with citizens of Herbita, and partly with mercenaries and other strangers who collected around him through enmity towards Dionysius.

Irkab-Damu

A clay tablet found in the archives at Ebla bears a copy of a diplomatic message sent from king Irkab-Damu to king Zizi of Hamazi, along with a large quantity of wood, hailing him as a brother, and requesting him to send mercenaries in exchange.

John D. Ray

His principal field of interest covers the Late and Hellenistic periods of Egypt, with special reference to documents in the demotic script, and he is also known for deciphering the Carian script, a writing system used by Anatolian mercenaries who fought for the late-period Egyptians.

John V, Count of Oldenburg

In his effort to become the ruling count John V invaded the Weser and North Sea marshes of Stadland and Butjadingen with mercenaries in April 1499, to both of which the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen claimed its overlordship, in order to subject their free peasants.

Karanis

"It was one of a number of towns established in the Arsinoite nome under Ptolemy II Philadelphus as part of a scheme to settle Greek mercenaries among the indigenous Egyptians and to exploit the potential fertile Fayum basin".

Lobar the Wolf

Lobar the Wolf was the leader of a troupe of Brabançon mercenaries which had fought in numerous battles all across Europe in the latter half of the twelfth century.

Ludwig von Erlichshausen

As the Order was short on cash since the expensive First Peace of Thorn (1411), Ludwig had to hand over the Order's headquarter Marienburg Castle in Malbork to his mercenaries in lieu of pay during the war.

Maximilien Globensky

Born in Verchères, Lower Canada, Maximilien was the seventh child of August Franz Globensky, a Prussian-born Polish surgeon who served with Hessian mercenaries and settled in Lower Canada after his detachment fought on the side of the British in the American War of Independence.

MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries

MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries was released in September 1996 as a stand-alone add-on to MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat and the last BattleTech game made by Activision.

Murder in LaMut

It details the story of Durine, Kethol and Pirojil, three mercenaries who have spent the past twenty five years fighting Tsurani, the Bugs and Goblins.

National Revolutionary Militias

On 17 April 1961, together with the combatants of the Rebel Army and the National Revolutionary Police, the militias confronted and defeated in less than 72 hours 1,500 mercenaries whom the United States financed, armed and trained to invade Cuba at Playa Girón (Giron beach), in what became known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

Navarrese Company

In 1366, after peace was made, the mercenaries were organised into a coherent company of soldiers under Louis, Count of Beaumont-le-Roger in his own right and Duke of Durazzo in right of his wife, Joanna.

Oprichnik

The Twelve Wallachian mercenaries in the 2009 novel Twelve by Jasper Kent are named after the original Oprichniki, but are not directly connected to them.

Orientalizing period

During this period, the Assyrians advanced along the Mediterranean coast, accompanied by Greek mercenaries, who were also active in the armies of Psammeticus in Egypt.

Palazzo del Te

In July 1630, during the War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–31), Mantua and the palace were sacked over three days by an Imperial army of 36,000 Landsknecht mercenaries.

Pita Driti

Driti came to international attention on 6 November 2006, when he publicly accused the Qarase government of smuggling 400 kilograms of Australian arms and mercenaries into Fiji, and called on then-Commissioner of Police Andrew Hughes (an Australian) to answer for it.

Ramon Muntaner

The Catalan Company was an army of light infantry under the leadership of Roger de Flor that was made up of Aragonese and Catalan mercenaries, known as Almogavars; Roger led the Company to Constantinople to help the Greeks against the Turks.

Rib-Hadda

Rib-Hadda was involved in a long-standing dispute with Abdi-Ashirta, the ruler of Amurru (probably in southeastern Lebanon and southwestern Syria), who hired mercenaries from among the Habiru, Shardana, and other warlike tribes.

Robert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester

Robert apparently went to Flanders, where he raised a large force of mercenaries, and landed at Walton, Suffolk, on 29 September 1173.

Rome: Total War: Alexander

Persia: The Persian army of Darius III is made up of a variety of troops, from poorly equipped masses of infantry and archers, to quality cavalry and elite units like the Immortals, as well as mercenaries from Greece and Phrygia.

Royal Swazi National Airways

The mercenaries disguised themselves as Ancient Order of Froth Blowers rugby players and fans, but were exposed as they passed through customs when an alert official discovered a dismantled AK-47 in one of the mercenaries' luggage.

Sachan

This clan served as mercenaries in the army of Shiva Ji and other Maratha Sardars and had taken part in the Maratha missions of Rohilkhand to crush the Rohilla Pathans before and after the 3rd war of Panipat This clan was the part of Maratha mission 1771 AD and later settled around the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh hence the surname seems of Maratha origin.

Soluntum

It was certainly one of the cities that usually formed part of their dominions in the island; and in 307 BCE it was given up by them to the soldiers and mercenaries of Agathocles, who had made peace with the Carthaginians when abandoned by their leader in Africa.

The Houndcats

The show bears some similarity and may have been inspired by the Western-action-adventure TV series Bearcats, which featured Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole as mercenaries roaming the turn of the century Old West in their Stutz Bearcat in search of fortune and adventure.

Treason of Novara

In the spring of 1500, Ludovico Sforza in his turn hired Swiss mercenaries in his bid to re-conquer the duchy.

Unam sanctam

On 7 September 1303, the king's advisor Guillaume de Nogaret led a band of two thousand mercenaries on horse and foot.

Walter Leslie

They traveled via Italy; they appear as witnesses to a deal signed by the authorities of Florence with the notorious English "White Band", a group of English mercenaries who had fought in the Hundred Years War plying their trade in Italy.

Xak III: The Eternal Recurrence

Yaksha Knight, a mysterious leader of a group known as the Storm Mercenaries.


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