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The Greatest and Most Cunning Military Innovators

Khalid Elhassan February 25, 2022 39 min

17. The Badass General Who Kicked Off the Modern Military Revolution

Maurice, Count of Nassau (1567 – 1625), became Prince of Orange and stadtholder of the Dutch Republic from 1585 onwards. In his years in office, Maurice cemented his reputation as a great general when he led his Protestant countrymen’s fight for freedom from Catholic Spain, and secured the Dutch Republic’s de facto independence. While at it, he changed warfare when he implemented radical innovations in military strategy and tactics, and laid the foundations for what came to be known as The Military Revolution.

Ever since he was a tot, Maurice had been fascinated by all things military, such as ballistics, engineering, and mathematics. A bookworm and history buff, he developed military theories that he was eager to put in practice. As soon as he was confirmed as Prince of Orange in 1585, at age eighteen, he proceeded to energetically implement his innovations. His first step was to reorganize the Dutch army. He then led it in what came to be known as the Ten Glory Years, in which he and his men captured vital fortresses and towns from the Spanish. That rounded out the borders of the Dutch Republic, and make it more defensible.

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.