Landsknechte, etching by Daniel Hopfer, c. 1530.

Landsknechte (German plural, singular Landsknecht) were European, predominantly German mercenary pikemen and supporting foot soldiers from the late 15th to the late 16th century, and achieved the reputation for being the universal mercenary of Early modern Europe.

Etymology[link]

The term is from German Land (land or country) and Knecht (servant), recorded from ca. 1480. It was originally coined by Peter von Hagenbach and intended to indicate soldiers of the lowlands of the Holy Roman Empire as opposed to the Swiss mercenaries. As early as 1500 the misleading spelling of Lanzknecht became common because of the association with Lanze "lance".

The term "Landser" is directly based on Landsknecht, as is the name of the French card game.

History[link]

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 to 1519, formed the first mercenary Landsknecht regiments in 1487. He called upon Georg von Frundsberg (1473–1528), known by many^[who?] as the Father of the Landsknechts, to assist him in their organization. Landsknechts later went on to fight in almost every 16th-century military campaign, sometimes on both sides of the engagement.

The Landsknechte, formed in conscious imitation of the Swiss mercenaries (and, initially, using Swiss instructors), eventually contributed to the defeat of the redoubtable Swiss, whose battle formations - over-dependent on hand-to-hand fighting - became vulnerable to the increased firepower of arquebus and artillery. French artillery or Spanish firepower dealt serious blows to the Swiss formations, and the Landsknecht pike blocks were there to fight off the depleted Swiss attack columns once this had occurred.

Standard bearer fighting against five landsknechts, etching by Daniel Hopfer

The Landsknechte, although rather conservative in their usage of weapons, and always containing a large majority of pikemen, inclined more to the tactical employment of firearms than the Swiss were because Landsknechts relied less on the precipitous rush to close combat and, as Imperial soldiers, they also often fought in formations mixed with Spaniards during the reign of King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. These Spaniards made a good widespread use of the arquebus and late, of the musket.

Landsknechte typically came from Swabia, Alsace, Flanders, and the Rhineland, but ultimately the regiments were made up of men from all parts of Europe.

Their battlefield behavior was highly variable. Sometimes, such as at the Battle of Pavia (1525), they performed exceptionally well, fighting to the death on both sides of the conflict, even after their allies fled the field, as was the case for the French employed Landsknechts. The Imperial Landsknechte were instrumental in the Emperor's victory. However, on many other occasions, (such as in the later Italian Wars, French Wars of Religion and the Eighty Years War) their bravery and discipline came under severe criticism, and the Spanish elements of the Imperial army regularly deprecated the battlefield usefulness of the Landsknechts—it was said that the Duke of Alba hired them only to deny their services to the Dutch enemy, and put them on display to swell his numbers, not intending to fight with them. The Huguenots scorned their Landsknecht mercenaries after these were immediately routed by the battered Swiss mercenary pike-block they had been sent to finish off at the Battle of Dreux (1562).

Organization[link]

Landsknecht with his Wife. Etching by Daniel Hopfer. Note the huge Zweihänder sword over his shoulder, and the smaller Katzbalger sword at his hip, both emblematic of the Landsknecht.

The regiments often expanded from 4,000 to 10,000 men according to circumstances, or even larger—the Black Band, generally considered to have been a regiment of landsknechts, were 17,000 strong when raised by the French in 1515. It was this flexibility which allowed them to be used in various battle conditions. Oberste (colonels) were given recruiting commissions by the Emperor to form regiments, with a lieutenant-colonel and various regimental staff, and units divided into Fähnleins (companies) with a Hauptmann (captain) in charge, as well as lieutenants and Fähnriche (ensigns). Other ranks included majors of the court-martial and officers in charge of camp followers.

The Tross were the camp followers or "baggage train" who traveled with each Landsknecht unit, carrying the military necessities, the food and the belongings of each soldier and his family. Members of the Tross were made up of women, children and some craftsmen.

Weapons[link]

Landsknechte were trained in the use of the famous long pikes and used the pike square formations developed by the Swiss. The majority of Landsknechte would use pikes, but others, meant to provide tactical assistance to the pikemen, accordingly used different weapons. For example an experienced Landsknecht could be designated a Doppelsöldner, an armoured soldier who served as the backbone for the formation and in addition to the pike as more recent recruits, they could also be alternatively employed wielding a 6-to-8-foot-long (1.8 to 2.4 m) halberd or partisan, or, more famously, a Zweihänder (literally: "Two-hander"), a two-handed sword as long as 180 cm (6 ft).^[1] These great war swords could be used to hack off the heads of enemy pikes; or more likely to knock the pikes aside, creating disorder among the tightly arranged enemy pikemen in order to break through their lines. Other Doppelsöldner were armed with an early matchlock firearm called an "arquebus" or crossbow would lay ranged fire support by the flanks of the pike square.^[2]

Ernst Friedrich, margrave of Baden-Durlach

However, the primary use of the two handed sword would be to serve as the guard for the standard bearer, as it is a weapon that allows for a few to oppose many ^[3]. The Swiss adversaries to the Landsknechts had specifically prohibited the use of these swords during the late 15th century, as they deemed them unsuitable for the constricted manner of pike warfare, though they continued to use the shorter longswords into and throughout the 16th century. "Doppelsöldner" meant "double mercenary", because they were paid double the wages of their less experienced counterparts. Landsknechts also used Kriegsmesser longswords, in German translating to War knife, a long curved sword clasped to the belt, the blade shown naked without a scabbard in some woodcuts from (1500–1520).

Design for a stained-glass window commemorating the landsknecht Christoph von Eberstein, by Hans Holbein the Younger

Other Landsknechts would use the arquebus, the precursor to the musket. When the Landsknechts were first formed, arquebusiers composed up to an eighth of the total number of soldiers, but the number gradually grew to be about a quarter.^{[citation needed]}

The universal Landsknecht weapon was a short sword called a Katzbalger, carried in addition to the Landsknecht's main weapon. Indeed, the Katzbalger was seen as the very symbol of the Landsknecht, Swiss illustrators being careful to depict it to indicate that a mercenary was a Landsknecht rather than a Reisläufer.

Landsknechte were a very powerful force due to powerful weaponry. Landsknecht Paul Dolstein wrote of the siege of Älfsborg in July 1502, fighting for the King of Denmark: "We were 1800 Germans, and we were attacked by 15000 Swedish farmers ... we struck most of them dead".^[4]

In this engraving by Hendrick Goltzius the massed pike formation is seen at the rear

Clothes[link]

What made the landsknechte so conspicuous was their elaborate dress, which they adopted from the Swiss, but later took to even more dramatic excess. Maximilian I exempted them from the prevalent sumptuary laws as an acknowledgement of their "...short and brutish" lives.^[5] Doublets (or Wams), deliberately slashed at the front, back and sleeves with shirts and other wear pulled through to form puffs of different-colored fabric, so-called puffed and slashed; parti-colored hose (or Gesses); jerkins (or Lederwams); ever-broader flat beret-type hats (or Tellerbarrets) with tall feathers; and broad flat shoes, made them bodies of men that could not be mistaken.

Camp[link]

Landsknechte adopted the Hussite tactic of creating a ring of limbers and wagons, surrounded by cannon, with the encampment in the middle. While in strong positions like this, many Landsknechts lived in tents; however, in more makeshift situations, they would often build crude huts made of straw and mud supported by Pikes and Halberds. Commissioned officers would always sleep in tents on campaign. Quarrels and disease would go about the camp, and if the landsknechte had been defeated in the battle the camp followers had little time to escape before rape and plunder took place. However, it was usually secure from the enemy.

Modern image[link]

There are Landsknecht associations in various European countries, as well as in the United States, which promote interest in the Renaissance tradition of the landsknechts and who often stage revivals and festivals. The action film Flesh & Blood portrays a group of Landsknecht and their fictional adventures in Italy. In the games Age of Empires 3, Europa Universalis 3 and Medieval 2: Total War, Landsknechts can be hired to fight for one's own use. In Civilization IV, Landsknechts act as the unique unit for the Holy Roman civilization. In Civilization V and Rise of Nations Landsknechts are the unique unit of Germany, replacing pikemen. In the For the Glory, the 1st level unit sprite of German nations is landsknecht with zweihander . In the Etrian Odyssey series, Landsknecht is a playable class. The Warhammer Fantasy Battles Imperial Greatswords have been modelled after Landsknechts. They also feature in the game Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War. The Original Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Irwindale, California, also has a group of landsknecht. There is also a unit of landsknecht re-enactors known as Das Geld Fahnlein at the Connecticut Renaissance Faire.

See also[link]

• Tross
• Tercio
• Burgmann
• Doppelsöldner
• Katzbalger

References[link]

1. ^ http://www.thearma.org/essays/2HGS.html Bidenhander sword
2. ^ Rogers, Cliff (2010). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology , Volume 1. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195334035. http://books.google.com/books?id=mzwpq6bLHhMC&pg=RA1-PA487&dq=Doppels%C3%B6ldner&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aZSsT9z6DoLH6QGeuvi_BA&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Doppels%C3%B6ldner&f=false. 
3. ^ http://www.thearma.org/essays/2HGS.html Bidenhander sword
4. ^ John Richards: Landsknecht Soldier, p. 51
5. ^ http://www.st-max.org/introduction-edu.htm Rachel Ward - Introduction page - Saint Maximilian Landsknecht Reenactment Guild: "The Landsknechts were exempt from the sumptuary laws regulating clothing styles that other citizens had to follow. Maximilian granted them this dispensation because their lives tended to be so 'short and brutish.'"

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Landsknecht

• Landsknecht.org, International Landsknecht enthusiast society.
• Das Todesengel Faehnlein, St. Maximilian Landsknecht Re-enactment Guild in Northern California.
• Heiligensturm Fahnlein, Website of Heiligensturm Fahnlein in Southern California.
• No Money No Landsknecht, Website of Wolfgang von Orlok, Landsknecht of the Bristol Renaissance Faire On the Illinois/Wisconsin Border.
• Landsknecht clothing

Hannes Wader
Hannes Wader performing at UZ-Pressefest in Dortmund, 2003
Background information
Birth name	Hans Eckard Wader
Born	(1942-06-23) June 23, 1942 (age 70) Bethel, near Bielefeld
Origin	Bielefeld, Westphalia
Years active	1969–present
Labels	Mercury, Pläne
Associated acts	Konstantin Wecker
Website	www.hanneswader.de

Hannes Wader (born Hans Eckard Wader on 23 June 1942) is a German singer-songwriter ("Liedermacher"). He was an important figure in German leftist circles from the 1970s on, with his songs covering such themes as socialist and communist resistance to oppression in Europe and other places like Latin America. He both wrote new songs and played versions of older historical works.

Life and work[link]

Wader was born in Bethel, near Bielefeld, Westphalia, Germany. His works are mostly based on German folk songs. Aside from his own lyrics, he also performs works of famous poets like Eichendorff. He now rarely sings the workers' songs and socialist hymns that used to be a large part of his repertoire. He recently published an album exclusively with songs by Franz Schubert. He also performed translated works from Carl Michael Bellman on the album "Liebe, Schnaps & Tod".

Remarkably, many of the social issues Wader sang about are still relevant today. Besides Franz Josef Degenhardt, Wader is one of the most active political singers in Germany.

In the 1970s, Hannes Wader became one of the stars of the political left through his provocative songs. He was a member of the German Communist Party from 1977 to 1991. The publication of the song Der Tankerkönig stirred up controversy, as it covered the kidnapping of the son of the tycoon Rudolf August Oetker. Wader even came under suspicions of terrorism.

In 1973 he moved to Struckum, in Nordfriesland, where he published some of his later albums. In 1998, he and his family moved to Steinburg, district of Schleswig-Holstein.

He has published numerous albums and still tours throughout Germany. He appears in open-air concerts and also in clubs.

Performed songs (selected)[link]

• Abschied
• Am Fluß
• Ankes Bioladen
• Arschkriecher-Ballade
• Auf, Auf zum Kampf
• Begegnung
• Bella Ciao
• Brüder seht die rote Fahne
• Damals
• Darfst nun getrost
• Das Einheitsfrontlied
• Das Loch unterm Dach
• Dem Morgenrot entgegen
• Der kleine Trompeter
• Der Rattenfänger
• Der Tankerkönig
• Die freie Republik
• Die Internationale
• Die Moorsoldaten File mp3
• Die Thälmann-Kolonne
• Dioxin
• El pueblo unido
• Es ist an der Zeit (Wader's German translation of "No Man's Land" by Eric Bogle)
• Es ist schon viele Jahre her
• Gut, wieder hier zu sein
• Heute hier, Morgen dort (Day to Day, music by Gary Bolstad titled "Indian Summer", lyrics by Hannes Wader)
• Hotel zur langen Dämmerung
• Ich hatte mir noch so viel vorgenommen
• Im Garten (Liebeslied)
• Johnny
• König von Preußen
• Kokain (Cocaine)
• Krieg ist Krieg
• Landsknecht
• Leben einzeln und frei
• Lied vom Knüppelchen
• Mamita mia
• Manche Stadt, manch ein Land
• Monika
• Rohr im Wind
• Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind
• Sage nein
• Schon Morgen
• Schon so lang
• Schön ist die Jugend
• Solidaritätslied
• Sommerlied
• Stellungnahme
• Talking-Böser-Traum-Blues
• Traum vom Frieden
• Trotz alledem (...daß sich die Furcht in Widerstand)
• Unterwegs nach Süden
• Vaters Land
• Viel zu schade für mich
• Wir werden sehen
• Wünsche

Discography[link]

• 1969 HANNES WADER SINGT (Conträr)
• 1971 ICH HATTE MIR NOCH SO VIEL VORGENOMMEN (Mercury )
• 1972 7 LIEDER (Mercury)
• 1973 DER RATTENFÄNGER (Mercury)
• 1974 PLATTDEUTSCHE LIEDER (Mercury)
• 1975 VOLKSSÄNGER (Mercury)
• 1976 KLEINES TESTAMENT (Mercury)
• 1977 HANNES WADER SINGT ARBEITERLIEDER (Mercury)
• 1978 HANNES WADER SINGT SHANTIES (Mercury)
• 1979 WIEDER UNTERWEGS (Pläne - ARIS)
• 1980 ES IST AN DER ZEIT (Pläne - ARIS)
• 1982 DASS NICHTS BLEIBT WIE ES WAR (live) (Pläne - ARIS)
• 1983 NICHT NUR ICH ALLEIN (Pläne - ARIS)
• 1985 GLUT AM HORIZONT (Pläne - ARIS)
• 1986 LIEBESLIEDER (Pläne - ARIS)
• 1987 BIS JETZT (live) (Mercury)
• 1989 NACH HAMBURG (Mercury)
• 1990 HANNES WADER SINGT VOLKSLIEDER (Mercury)
• 1991 NIE MEHR ZURÜCK (Mercury / CD 510 080-2)
• 1992 SCHON SO LANG ‘62 – ‘92 (Compilation) (Mercury)
• 1992 BLICK ZURÜCK – Das Beste aus den 80er Jahren (Compilation) (Pläne - ARIS)
• 1995 ZEHN LIEDER (Pläne - ARIS)
• 1996 LIEBE SCHNAPS TOD – WADER SINGT BELLMANN (m. R. Mey & K. Hoffmann) (Pläne - ARIS)
• 1996 Professor Jecks Tierlieder-ABC (Europa)
• 1997 AN DICH HAB ICH GEDACHT – WADER SINGT SCHUBERT (Pläne - ARIS)
• 1998 AUFTRITT (live mit Klaus Weiland & Benjamin Huellenkremer) (Pläne - ARIS)
• 1999 DER POET (Compilation / 2 CD) (Mercury)
• 1999 DER REBELL (Compilation / 2 CD) (Mercury)
• 1999 DER VOLKSSÄNGER (Compilation / 2 CD) (Mercury)
• 2001 WAS FÜR EINE NACHT (Konstantin Wecker und Hannes Wader live) (Pläne)
• 2001 WÜNSCHE (Pläne)
• 2003 DAS KONZERT (Wader/Mey/Wecker)
• 2004 ...UND ES WECHSELN DIE ZEITEN (Pläne)
• 2005 JAHR FÜR JAHR (Pläne)
• 2006 MAL ANGENOMMEN (Pläne)
• 2007 NEUE BEKANNTE (Pläne)
• 2010 KEIN ENDE IN SICHT (Konstantin Wecker und Hannes Wader live) (Sturm & Klang)

Literature[link]

• Thomas Rothschild: Liedermacher. 23 Portraets. Frankfurt 1980.
• Ulrich Maske: Daß nichts bleibt wie es war - Hannes Wader und seine Lieder. Verlag pläne Dortmund 1984
• Matthias Henke: Hermes Handlexikon. Die großen Chansonniers und Liedermacher. Düsseldorf 1987.
• Beate Dapper (Hrsg.): Hannes Wader - Liederbuch. Bund-Verlag Frankfurt 1999.

External links[link]

• http://www.hanneswader.de (www.scala-kuenstler.de/hannes-wader.html)
• http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/9962/wader2.html&date=2009-10-25+06:04:53
• http://www.flensburg-online.de/musik/hannes-wader-tournee-2005.html Text über die Tour 2005 "...und es wechseln die Zeiten"
• Hannes Wader discography at Discogs

The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History is a 1978 book by Michael H. Hart, reprinted in 1992 with revisions. It is a ranking of the 100 people who, according to Hart, most influenced human history.^[1]

The first person on Hart's list is the Prophet of Islam Muhammad.^[2] Hart asserted that Muhammad was "supremely successful" in both the religious and secular realms. He also believed that Muhammad's role in the development of Islam was far more influential than Jesus' collaboration in the development of Christianity. He attributes the development of Christianity to St. Paul, who played a pivotal role in its dissemination."^[3]

The 1992 revisions included the demotion of figures associated with Communism, such as Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong, and the introduction of Mikhail Gorbachev. Hart took sides in the Shakespearean authorship issue and substituted Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford for William Shakespeare. Hart also substituted Niels Bohr and Henri Becquerel with Ernest Rutherford, thus correcting an error in the first edition. Henry Ford was also promoted from the "Honorary Mentions" list, replacing Pablo Picasso. Finally, some of the rankings were re-ordered, although no one listed in the top ten changed position.

Hart wrote another book in 1999, entitled A View from the Year 3000,^[4] voiced in the perspective of a person from that future year and ranking the most influential people in history. Roughly half of those entries are fictional people from 2000–3000, but the remainder are actual people. These were taken mostly from the 1992 edition, with some re-ranking of order.

Hart's Top 10 (from the 1992 edition)[link]

Rank	Name	Time Frame	Image	Occupation	Influence
1	Muhammad	c. 570–632		Secular and religious leader	The central human figure of Islam, regarded by Muslims as a prophet of God and the last messenger. Active as a social reformer, diplomat, merchant, philosopher, orator, legislator, military leader, humanitarian, philanthropist.
2	Isaac Newton	1643–1727		Scientist	English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian. His law of universal gravitation and three laws of motion laid the groundwork for classical mechanics.
3	Jesus Christ	7–2 BC – 26–36 AD		Spiritual leader	The central figure of Christianity, revered by Christians as the Son of God and the incarnation of God.
4	Buddha	563–483 BC		Spiritual leader	Spiritual teacher and philosopher from ancient India. Founder of Buddhism and is also considered an Gautama Buddha in Hinduism.
5	Confucius	551–479 BC		Philosopher	Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese and Indonesian thought and life. Founded Confucianism, and influenced Neo-Confucianism and New Confucianism.
6	St. Paul	5–67 AD		Christian apostle	One of the most notable of early Christian missionaries, credited with proselytizing and spreading Christianity outside of Palestine (mainly to the Romans) and author of numerous letters of the New Testament of the Bible.
7	Cài Lún	50–121 AD		Political official in imperial China	Widely regarded as the inventor of paper and the papermaking process.
8	Johannes Gutenberg	1398–1468		Inventor	German printer who invented the mechanical printing press.
9	Christopher Columbus	1451–1506	70px	Explorer	Italian navigator, colonizer and explorer whose voyages led to general European awareness of the American continents.
10	Albert Einstein	1879–1955		Scientist	German theoretical physicist, best known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass–energy equivalence, expressed by the equation E = mc2.

See also[link]

• Time 100

References[link]

1. ^ Michael H. Hart The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. first published in 1978, reprinted with minor revisions 1992. ISBN 978-0-8065-1068-2
2. ^ The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History^{[dead link]}
3. ^ Michael H. Hart, "The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History", Citadel Publishing, 2000, ISBN 978-0-8065-1350-8
4. ^ Michael H. Hart. A view from the year 3000: a ranking of the 100 most influential persons of all time; first published in 1999

External links[link]

• Religious Affiliation of History's 100 Most Influential People