Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz (3 February 1721 – 8 November 1773) was a Prussian officer, lieutenant general, and among the greatest of the Prussian cavalry generals. He commanded one of the first hussar squadrons of Frederick the Great's army and is credited with the development of the Prussian cavalry to its efficient level of performance in the Seven Years' War. His cavalryman father retired and then died while Seydlitz was still young. Subsequently, he was mentored by Frederick William, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Seydlitz's superb horsemanship and his recklessness combined to make him a stand-out subaltern, and he emerged as a redoubtable Rittmeister (cavalry captain) in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) during the First and Second Silesian Wars. Seydlitz became legendary throughout the Prussian Army both for his leadership and for his reckless courage. During the Seven Years' War, he gained renown for his ability to assess an entire battlefield quickly. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Wilhelm_von_Seydlitz> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1813: Argentine War of Independence: José de San Martín and the Mounted Grenadiers Regiment defeated Spanish royalist forces in the Battle of San Lorenzo (depicted). <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Lorenzo> 1941: World War II: Free French and British forces began the Battle of Keren to capture the strategic town of Keren in Italian East Africa. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Keren> 1986: Steve Jobs purchased Pixar from Lucasfilm and launched it as an independent computer-animation studio. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar> 2006: Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen: 23 convicts, including several militants associated with al-Qaeda escaped from a prison administered by the Political Security Organization in Sanaa, Yemen. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Sanaa_prison_escape> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: trailblazer: 1. Synonym of pathfinder. 2. One who discovers or makes a new path or way through an untraversed region. 3. (figurative) One who is the first to do something in a particular field; an innovator, a pioneer. 4. About Word of the Day 5. Nominate a word 6. Leave feedback <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trailblazer> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: Words like virtue, nobility, honor, honesty, generosity, have become almost impossible to use or else they have acquired bastard meanings; language is no longer equipped for legitimately praising a man’s character. --Simone Weil <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_Weil> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe write to: [email protected] Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
