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America Accidentally Attacked the Soviet Union and Other Lesser Known History Moments

Khalid Elhassan February 27, 2020 34 min

Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star - Aircraft — American F-80s in action during the Korean War. Squdron

10. The Nobleman Who Sided With Downtrodden Peasants Against His Class

In 1514, Transylvanian nobleman and soldier of fortune Gyorgy Dozsa (1470 – 1514) led an unsuccessful uprising of downtrodden Hungarian peasants against their aristocratic overlords. Known as the Hungarian Dozsa Rebellion, the peasant uprising was put down, and Dozsa with it. He went down in history as both a notorious criminal and a Christian martyr.

After earning a reputation for valor in wars against the Ottomans, Dozsa was appointed by Pope Leo X to lead a Crusade against the Turks. An army of about 40,000 volunteers soon assembled under his banner, comprised in the main of peasants, friars, and parish priests – the lowest rungs of society. The nobility however failed to supply the Crusaders, or to offer military leadership. That was particularly off-putting, since military leadership was the main justification for the aristocracy’s high social status.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.