Gjergj Dhimitër Basta (1550–1607), strategist, military theorist and general of European and world fame, originally from Arbëresh in Italy, passed away in the Quarter of Belgium. He was born in the village of Roccaforzata, near Taranto (Italy), in 1550. He reached the highest military rank from a simple soldier, knight of the arboretum. He Organized, directed and conducted many battles and battles, as commander-in-chief of the Spanish armies in Belgium, Holland and France and of the German armies in Hungary, in the Balkan mountains, in Transylvania against the Ottoman armies. Artillery General and Hereditary Count of the Holy Roman Empire, in Germany. Hereditary Count of the City of Hust, in the Netherlands, Governor of Vienna (Austria). Conveyor of the tradition of using and leading the light cavalry of Skanderbeg’s army in Italy, in the European armies of the XVI-XVII centuries. Gjergj Basta wrote three theoretical and practical military works, which were recognized in Europe: “Il maestro di campo generale” (“The master of the general camp”, 1606); “Governo della cavalleria leggera” (“On the direction of the light cavalry”, 1612); “On the direction of artillery” (1612). They were translated from Italian, published and reprinted in French, German, Spanish, from the 17th century to the present day; the first two were published in Albanian, in 1996. (In the photo: Gjergj Dhimitër Basta)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 186.
Graphic processing: AHCF
