Alessandro Farnese, the Duke of
Alessandro Farnese, the Duke of Parma, was the George C. Patton of his time: a stalwart, reliable, consistent general whom his troops trusted and his enemies feared. Parma's extraordinary reputation and significance as a military leader can be discerned in the way that the Spanish Armada engagement overall—for the Spanish invaders and English defenders alike—centered fundamentally on Parma and his professional army. He was revered by the Spanish as one of the greatest assets in their forces, their ace in the battlefield hole, and tremendously feared by the English, whose defensive plan focused essentially on thwarting a landing by Parma's armies. While it is extremely doubtful that Parma's soldiers could have "conquered" England upon alighting on British soil, the presence of such an intimidating professional army alone could well have helped to guarantee King Philip II of Spain some of his war aims—chiefly, cessation of English aid to the Dutch Protestant rebels and a clampdown on buccaneering by English pirates.
Parma is an intriguing figure, and not only as the answer to
common trivia questions about the Spanish Armada; he was, hands down, the most
masterful military figure of his age, and his victories had consequences of
historic proportions. Parma fought under
and alongside his cousin, Don John of Austria, in one of history's pivotal
battles—the naval victory of the Spaniards and their Christian allies against
the invading Muslim Ottoman Turks at Lepanto, in 1571. He distinguished himself as a courageous and
resourceful soldier here, and six years thereafter he was assigned to the
Besides being a fascinating figure to military historians
and a remarkable tactician and strategist, Parma's victories had important
historical consequences. Besides helping
to defeat the Turks in 1571—for whom a victory at Lepanto may have meant
control of the Mediterranean, and substantial inroads for Muslim Turkish forces
in southern Europe—Parma's accomplishments in the Low Countries helped to
prevent William the Silent's unification of the Dutch provinces under a
Protestant banner. Many valuable regions
in the
-- J. Wes Ulm, MD, PhD © 2004 All Rights Reserved
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