In the village of Roccaforzata, near Taranto (Italy), in a family with military traditions, Gjergj Dhimitër Basta (1550–1607) was born, a strategist, military theorist, and renowned general with European and worldwide fame, originating from the Arbëresh of Italy. He rose from a simple soldier, an Arbëresh cavalryman, to the highest military rank. Organized, directed and conducted many wars and battles, as commander-in-chief of the spanish armies in Belgium, Netherlands 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. He died in the city of Quartre (Belgium). (In the photo: Gjergj Dhimitër Basta)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 186.
Photo: © https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gjergj_Bashta
Graphic processing: AHCF
