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Warfare: Generals Who Shaped How Battles are Fought From Ancient Times Through the Gunpowder Age

Khalid Elhassan January 26, 2025 15 min

Warfare - Hannibal Barca — Hannibal Barca. Pinterest

4. The Man Behind the Modern Military

Maurice of Nassau. Chateau de Versailles

Maurice, Count of Nassau (1567 – 1625), became Prince of Orange and stadtholder of the Dutch Republic from 1585 until his death. In that span, he led his Protestant countrymen’s fight for freedom from Catholic Spain, and secured the Dutch Republic’s de facto independence. He revolutionized warfare with radical innovations in military strategy and tactics, laying the foundations for what came to be known as The Military Revolution. There were early signs: since childhood, 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, Maurice proceeded to energetically implement his innovations.

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.