Soldiers of Misfortune

 the history of mercenaries

Enlightenment and Absolutism

Pierre Cuillier-Perron (1755-1834)
French military adventurer and "Free Lance" in India

Maurice Benyovszky (1746-1786)
Hungarian adventurer, traveler and "Emperor of Madagascar"

Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1730-1794)
Prussian adventurer and drillmaster of the American Revolutionary War



20th Century

Ernst Röhm (1887-1934)
German military officer, co-founder of the Nazi SA and military adviser in Bolivia

Morris Abraham "Two-Gun" Cohen (1889-1970)
Polish, British and Canadian adventurer and bodyguard of Sun Yat-sen

Claire Lee Chennault (1890-1958)
American aviation advisor for China's General Chiang Kai-shek

Costas Georgiou aka "Colonel Callan" (1951-1976)
British mercenary executed in Angola