From the Habsburg dynasty. King of Bohemia in 1617-1627 King of Hungary in 1618-1625 King of Germany in 1619-1636 Emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire" in 1619-1637. Son of Archduke Charles II of Central Austria and Mary of Bavaria. Zh.: 1) from 23 April. 1600 Maria Anna, daughter of Duke William V of Bavaria (b. 1574. Died 1616); 2) from 4 Feb. 1622 Eleanor, daughter of Vincenzo I, Duke of Mantua (b. 1598. Died 1655). Genus. 9 July 1578 Died 15 Feb. 1637
While still in infancy, Ferdinand lost his father and was brought up by his uncle, the Bavarian Duke Wilhelm. From 1590 he studied at the University of Ingolstadt, where the Jesuit fathers taught. Here the future emperor was inculcated with the strictest rules of faith and the most sublime ideas about his future destiny. FROM early years and until his death, Ferdinand considered himself a warrior of the Catholic Church, destined by God to restore its ancient teachings. In 1595 he returned to Grai, the following year he was declared of age and took possession of his Central Austrian duchy (which included Styria, Carinthia and Krajina). By nature, Ferdinand was a pleasant secular person: kind to those close to him and merciful to servants, he easily converged with people, was generous, passionately loved music and was passionately fond of hunting. At the same time, he was an active and business-like sovereign, who never neglected his duties. But main feature his nature was a fanatical commitment to the Catholic Church, which he was ready to serve with both word and sword. The Jesuits had a huge influence on him. Two of them were always in his hallway and had the right to enter him at any time, even at night, for advice and edification. As soon as he took power, the young duke began to relentlessly persecute the Protestants. Everyone who did not want to change their religion, Ferdinand ordered to leave the country. A few years later, in the Austrian possessions, where before half the population consisted of Lutherans and Calvinists, not a single Protestant church remained.
Soon the ambitious Habsburg was able to expand the field of its activities. Since the elders cousins Ferdinand, Rudolf and Matvey had no sons; from the beginning of the 17th century, they began to consider him as their potential heir. Every year he had more and more influence on imperial affairs. In 1617, Ferdinand was elected king of the Czech Republic, and the following year he ascended the Hungarian throne. Following this, complex negotiations began with the imperial princes on the election of Ferdinand as emperor. At this moment, in May 1618, a national uprising broke out in Prague, which served as a prologue to the devastating Thirty Years' War. Learning about the Prague events, Ferdinand began to act decisively and firmly. He ordered the arrest of the chief adviser to Emperor Matthew, Cardinal Kleze-la, who offered to make concessions to the Czechs. After that, the old and weak Matvey no longer interfered with Ferdinand and obediently signed all his decrees.
Meanwhile, the uprising in Bohemia was supported by Protestants in Austria itself. The Czechs, led by Count Turn, moved to Vienna and in June 1619 took possession of its suburbs. At the same time, Austrian rebels seized the imperial palace and demanded that Ferdinand proclaim religious freedom. One of the brave leaders of the opposition, Tonradel, even grabbed the button of the imperial jacket and pushed Ferdinand several times. Fortunately, a cavalry detachment had just entered the city, and the rebels were frightened by the loud sound of trumpets.
In August, after the death of Matthew, Ferdinand was elected emperor. He came to the throne under the most difficult circumstances. The Czechs had already openly seceded from the Habsburgs, declared Ferdinand deposed and handed over the crown to the Elector of the Palatinate Frederick V, the Hungarians were ready to follow their example, all Protestants considered the emperor their enemy. Everywhere there were preparations for war. At first, the Catholics had a significant advantage over their opponents. Tilly, who commanded the Bavarian army, easily suppressed the uprisings in Upper and Lower Austria, entered the Czech Republic and quickly pushed the rebels back to the walls of Prague. The Czechs occupied an elevation to the west of their capital, which was called the White Mountain. On November 8, Tilly attacked their positions and won a decisive victory. This put an end to the Czech uprising. Prague opened its gates to the victorious imperial army, Moravia and Silesia also expressed their obedience. The "Royal Rescript" and other acts that gave the Czechs national and religious freedom were destroyed, and the rights of the Sejm were curtailed so much that the Czech Republic was in the position of an Austrian province. But, in order to completely eradicate the spirit of freedom in the kingdom, laws alone were not enough. Severe repression fell upon the participants in the uprising: 24 nobles were beheaded in Prague, many nobles and ordinary citizens were whipped, imprisoned or expelled from the country. Then began the confiscation of estates, which took on colossal proportions. Three-quarters of all land was taken from the national nobility, given to monasteries and German Catholics. Since the nobility from time immemorial was considered the main force of the national movement, this action broke the freedom-loving spirit of the Czech people. At the same time there was a planting of Catholicism. All Czech books of suspicious content were burned. Anyone who did not want to renounce the Protestant faith was ordered to leave the country. About 40 thousand families then went into exile.
Since the elector of the Palatinate Frederick did not want to give up the title of Czech king given to him by the rebels, he became the next victim of the Catholics - by 1623 the Bavarians took possession of the entire Palatinate. Then, on the side of the Protestants, the Danish king Christian IV entered the war, having received significant subsidies from England for recruiting troops. Seeing that the Protestants were multiplying their forces, the leaders of the Catholic League began to demand help from the emperor. Ferdinand himself understood that it was impossible to place all the hardships of the war on one Bavarian army, but he had absolutely no means to recruit his own troops. In these difficult circumstances, the Duke of Friedland Wallenstein undertook to deliver an army to the emperor at his own expense. Two years later, he gathered under the banner of more than 50 thousand adventurers from all over Europe, organized them and created a completely combat-ready army. main idea Wallenstein was that the army should supply itself, collecting indemnities from the population. Soon he managed to put things in such a way that the maintenance of his army cost the emperor almost nothing. True, we had to turn a blind eye to the fact that everywhere where Wallenstein's soldiers appeared, general robberies, murders and cruel tortures of civilians began. But since his brave warriors were able not only to loot, but also to fight and actually won glorious victories, Ferdinand did not pay attention to their outrages for a long time.
In April 1626, Wallenstein inflicted a decisive defeat on the Protestants at the Dessau Bridge on the Elbe. Then he moved to Hungary and forced the rebels there into submission. Meanwhile, Tilly, beside Lutter, put Christian to flight. All of northern Germany hurried to show obedience to Emperor Wallenstein and Tilly, pursuing the Danes, took possession of all of Holstein, Schleswig and Jutland. In 1629, Ferdinand made peace with Christian. The Danish king received back all his possessions, but had to refuse to interfere in German affairs. In March of the same year, the emperor promulgated the edict of restitution (restoration), according to which the Protestants were to return to the Catholics all the lands they had seized after the Peace of Augsburg. This law took away from the Protestants two archbishoprics, twelve bishoprics, many monasteries, priories and other possessions. If it were carried out, the Protestant party would be finally broken. However, the Swedish king Gustavus Adolf stood in the way of Ferdinand's ambitious plans. In the summer of 1630, he declared war on the emperor and quickly took possession of Pomerania with Mecklenburg.
The war resumed with the same ferocity. In the same year, Tilly took Magdenburg and betrayed it to terrible ruin. The city burned to the ground, about 20 thousand people died from the sword, fire and horror. Then Tilly invaded Saxony and occupied Leipzig. The indignant Saxons, who had previously observed neutrality, went over to the side of Gustavus Adolf. On September 17, 1631, a great battle took place near the village of Breitenfeld, and Tilly was defeated in it. After this important victory, Gustavus Adolf took possession of Würzburg and invaded the Rhenish Palatinate. In 1632 he moved against Bavaria. In April, in the battle on Lech, Tilly was defeated for the second time and received a mortal wound. But when, following this, the Swedish king attacked Wallenstein's camp near Nuremberg, he met with a strong rebuff and retreated with heavy losses. Wallenstein followed him into Saxony. On November 16, a decisive battle took place at Lütsenne. Under pressure from the Swedes, Wallenstein's regiments were dispersed and driven back. But the victorious Gustav Adolf fell in this battle, and this brought to naught the whole success of his army. The Protestant coalition broke up. The Swedes avoided decisive action and no longer seemed so dangerous. But there was another threat. By the beginning of the 1930s, Wallenstein's power had become so great that it began to inspire fear in the emperor himself. In 1634, the senior officers of the army plotted in favor of their commander. Upon learning of this, Ferdinand ordered his loyal troops to crush the rebellion with all possible firmness, at the same time he gave a secret order to the governor of Eger Gordon to deal with Wallenstein. On February 25, the famous commander was suddenly caught by assassins in his castle and killed the minute he left the bathroom.
New boss imperial army Gallas took Regensburg, and in September defeated the Swedes at Nordlingen. The Elector of Saxony had to retreat from his allies and in the spring of 1635 made peace with the emperor in Prague. This treaty left to the Protestants the lands that they owned in 1552 and the right to use the possessions appropriated between 1552 and 1555 for 40 years. Other Protestant princes were indignant at the betrayal of the Saxons, but were forced one by one to join the concluded peace. The war might have ended there if not for the intervention of France. In October 1635, Cardinal Richelieu attracted Duke Bernard of Weimar to his side. On French gold, he recruited a large army and led successful operations against the imperial generals. The war began to flare up new force. Ferdinand never lived to see its end - he died two years after the Peace of Prague.
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Emperor Charles V had a younger brother, Ferdinand. He was the fourth child of Archduke Philip the Handsome of the Habsburg family and the unfortunate Queen Juana of Castile - "Juana the Mad".
By his mother, he was the grandson of the unifiers of Spain - Queen Isabella of Castile and her husband, King Ferdinand of Aragon, nicknamed "Catholic kings" for their steel-hard commitment to Catholicism. The Inquisition began to punish even minimal deviations from the dogmas of the Faith, starting with the "Catholic king and queen."
According to his father, Ferdinand is the grandson of Emperor Maximilian, the same one who, having married Mary, the only daughter of the last duke of independent Burgundy, Charles the Bold, acquired a huge, but incredibly restless “Burgundian inheritance”, the brightest diamond of which was the “Lower Lands”, otherwise called the Netherlands.
The future emperor received his name in honor of his grandfather Ferdinand the Catholic, King of Aragon, who, in fact, built “an empire over which the sun does not set. Ferdinand from his youth was in the shadow of his ambitious brother Charles. The brother once reacted with jealousy to the fact that the younger Ferdinand, who was brought up in Spain, was loved by the Castilians - he, Charles, subjects - and sent him in the spring of 1518 to the Netherlands. Ferdinand never returned to his beloved Castile, the fate of him and his descendants now belonged undividedly to Germany and Austria.
When Charles becomes emperor in 1519, Ferdinand receives the rights of his governor in Germany, divided into a huge number of independent principalities.
Ferdinand witnessed how, at the Church Council in the German city of Worms, the monk Martin Luther spoke out with his ideas about the need to correct abuses in the Roman Church. Despite the fact that the majority reacted very calmly to the speeches of the learned monk, Karl attacked him with the most severe criticism, accusing him of schismatic activity in relation to the united Christian world. With his imperial power, he insisted on the prohibition public speaking and Luther's sermons. Ferdinand could not understand why his brother went into such a frenzy, because there is so much truth in Luther's words!
Ferdinand was then 16 years old, and Charles 19.
In 1521, Ferdinand married Anna Jagiellonka, her father Vladislav II (from the family of Polish kings) was simultaneously the king of Bohemia (Czech Republic) and Hungary. These countries "rolled away" from under the scepter of the Habsburgs, and the marriage of Ferdinand pursued the goal of gradually returning them back. At the same time, he received from his older brother their main ancestral lands - Upper and Lower Austria, Carinthia and Styria, as well as Kraina (as Slovenia used to be called), and a little later - Tyrol. They were owned for several centuries by their ancestors, the archdukes of the Austrian houses of the Habsburgs.
In 1536, the marriage with Anna began to pay dividends - in the battle with the Turks at Mohacs, her childless brother Louis (in Hungarian Lajos), the king of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia, died. Ferdinand made his legal claim to these orphaned crowns. But the Hungarians and Czechs did not recognize the heredity of royal dignity in their countries. In October 1526, the Bohemian Sejm elected Ferdinand king, while setting certain conditions for him, while the Sejms of Moravia and Silesia recognized both Anna and Ferdinand as sovereigns by right of succession. In 1531 Ferdinand was also crowned king of Rome.
Further, Ferdinand had to fight for Hungary with the Turks for a long time, in that era the Great Ottoman Empire waged wars of conquest in Europe, and the task of stopping the Turkish invasion of Christian Europe quickly became for Ferdinand his life's work.
Ferdinand fighting the Turks for Hungary
Ferdinand was opposed by the ruler of Transylvania, Janos Zapolya, who in 1526, dissatisfied with the foreign ruler, the Hungarian nobles in the Tokay castle proclaimed king. In 1527–1528, Ferdinand's army invaded Hungary, defeated Zápolya's troops, and drove him out of the country to Poland. Janos Zapolya turned in 1528 for help to the Ottoman Empire.
In 1529 Suleiman the Magnificent invaded Hungary. Ottoman troops drove the Habsburg forces out of the country and restored Janos to power in most (eastern) parts of Hungary. Janos Zapolya in July 1529 took the oath of vassal Turkish sultan and was recognized by him as the king of Hungary.
But the most dramatic moment in the life of Ferdinand was the appearance in the spring of 1529 of the army of Suleiman the Magnificent near the walls of Vienna! The siege of the capital of Austria is seen by some historians as a test of strength for a large-scale Turkish invasion of Germany, and by others simply as a desire to unite Hungary under Turkish rule. The Turks near Vienna suffered great hardships, the number of deserters increased, and after an unsuccessful assault, Suleiman the Magnificent ordered a retreat. Ferdinand, with the help of the troops of his elder brother Emperor Charles V, kept western Hungary under his rule.
Ferdinand - arbiter of the German lands
Charles V "spent his whole life in the saddle", moving from one battle to another, his younger brother Ferdinand really ruled and decided every day the most difficult tasks. Ferdinand gained invaluable long-term experience in resolving the most difficult disputes between princes and Catholic nobles and electors, princes, dukes and landgraves who went over to the Protestant camp. When the older brother did not achieve complete victory by force of arms, the younger brother stepped in, possessing the ability to reach an agreement in almost hopeless cases.
The main achievement of Ferdinand as a ruler was the inter-religious peace concluded in the City of Augsburg in 1555. He formulated the principle "Whose power, that is faith." His elder brother for a long time did not want to recognize the rights of the Protestant princes to determine the dominant religion in their state. He correctly suspected that this would mean his personal defeat, the impossibility of maintaining a single Christian Empire and the final split of Germany along religious lines.
But the day came when even the Catholic allies of the emperor spoke out that it was impossible to fight endlessly, we had to negotiate! Thus came the personal triumph of Ferdinand Habsburg!
And for his descendants, this meant that the power of the Habsburgs was preserved in that part of Germany that defended its Protestant religion by force of arms. The Peace of Augsburg lasted for more than six decades.
In 1558, Charles V abdicated the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, and it was his brother Ferdinand, and not his son Philip, who became his successor-emperor. This marked the split in the history of the Habsburgs into Spanish and Austrian parts.
Ferdinand III (13.VII.1608 - 2.IV.1657) - Emperor since 1637, Archduke of Austria. Son of Ferdinand II. King of part of the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Bohemia. After the death of Wallenstein (1634) and before accession to the imperial throne, he was commander-in-chief of the imperial troops. Ended with him Thirty Years' War 1618-1648 .
Soviet historical encyclopedia. In 16 volumes. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 15 1974.
Ferdinand III (1608–1657), Holy Roman Emperor. The eldest son of Emperor Ferdinand II and Maria Anna, daughter of the Duke of Bavaria, Ferdinand was born on July 13, 1608 in Graz, and was raised by the Jesuits. In 1625 he was crowned as king of Hungary, and in 1627 - of the Czech Republic. Ferdinand wanted to lead the imperial army that fought in the Thirty Years' War, but this was not allowed by Wallenstein, who was then the commander-in-chief of the imperial forces. When Wallenstein was killed in 1634, Ferdinand captured Regensburg and Donauwert, and was also nominally considered the winner of the Swedes at Nordlingen (where Matthias Gallas actually commanded). In 1636 he was elected king of Rome, and after the death of his father in February 1637 he became emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Ferdinand sought to end Thirty Years' War, however, did not want to give the Protestants religious freedom. At the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, he refused to ensure the rights of Protestants in his lands. In 1656, Ferdinand sent an army to Italy, acting in alliance with the Spaniards against the French, and in 1657 he signed an agreement with Poland on joint actions against the king of Sweden. Carla X. Ferdinand died in Vienna on April 2, 1657.
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Ferdinand III (1608-1657). From the Habsburg dynasty. King of Hungary in 1625-1655 King of Bohemia in 1627-1656 German king in 1636-1657 Emperor "Holy Roman Empire" in 1637-1657 Son Ferdinand II and Maria Anna of Bavaria.
2) from July 2, 1648, Maria Leopoldina, daughter of the Archduke Leopold V of Tyrol (born 1632 + 1649);
3) from 30 Apr. 1651 Eleanor, daughter of Charles II, Duke of Mantua (b. 1630 + 1686).
Ferdinand succeeded his father at the height of the Thirty Years' War, when the Catholic party achieved a decisive advantage over its enemies and only the help of France saved the Protestant princes from complete defeat. The new emperor did not have a great state mind, was rather indifferent to the affairs of government and was not fond of the broad political plans of his father. True, he was a sincere Catholic, but he did not at all have that fanaticism that distinguished the spreaders of Catholic teaching. Ferdinand did not like the Jesuits, he sincerely felt sorry for his subjects, who experienced terrible hardships during the war, and, perhaps, was ready to give the Protestants religious freedom, but it was difficult for him to change his father's system of government and free himself from the heavy influence of his ministers.
Meanwhile, from the first years of Ferdinand's reign, hostilities began to take an increasingly less favorable turn for the Catholics. Huge french army entered the war in 1637 on the side of the Protestants, the Swedes still occupied northern Germany, and the leader of the Protestants, Duke Bernhard of Weimar, won important victories on the Rhine. In February 1638, he defeated the imperial army at Reinfeld, took Breisach in December, but died soon after. After that, the French took possession of Alsace, which they had conquered. The next year they took Arras and captured Argua. The Swedes in 1642 invaded Silesia, defeated the imperial army, penetrated into Moravia and began to threaten Vienna itself. Ferdinand, who had spent all his strength on the war and did not know where to recruit a new army, began to seek peace. Negotiations, which began in 1643, dragged on slowly, and meanwhile the war continued to rage. In subsequent years, the imperial army was defeated by the Swedes at Leipzig (in 1642) and Jankow (in 1645), and from the French at the battles of Rocroix (in 1643) and near Freiburg (in 1644). In 1648, the Swedes were already besieging Prague, and only the conclusion of the Peace of Westphalia saved this city from falling. The terms of the peace were very difficult for the empire. France received Alsace, Sundgau, which belonged to Austria, and important fortresses: Breisach and Philippsburg. Stetin, the island of Rügen, Wismar, the bishopric of Bremen and Verden went to Sweden. Their Protestant allies also received an increase in their territories. It was decided that the Protestants would retain all the lands acquired before 1624. About the Emperor's Hateful Restorative Edict Ferdinand II remembered no more. imperial power in Germany finally lost all significance: the Peace of Westphalia legitimized the independence of the princes, giving them the right to wage war and conclude alliances both among themselves and with foreign sovereigns.
All the monarchs of the world. Western Europe. Konstantin Ryzhov. Moscow, 1999.
Ferdinand II.
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Ferdinand II of Aragon, Catholic (1452-1516). Son of Juan II of Aragon and his second wife Juana Enriques of Castile, born in Sosa in 1452, Ferdinand became King of Sicily in 1468; the next year he married in Valladolid Infanta Isabella of Castile. After becoming king of Castile in 1474, he succeeded to the throne of Aragon in 1479. He led military campaigns against Portugal, then against Granada (1492) and entered Italy, capturing Cerdan and Roussillon before that in 1493; Naples was subject to the Crown of Aragon in 1504 and Navarre to the Crown of Castile in 1512. Ferdinand supported the church reform and the creation of the Inquisition Court, subjugated the nobility. He married his children in Portugal, Germany and England. Becoming regent of Castile after the death of Isabella in 1504, and then again in 1506 after his brother-in-law, Philip the Handsome, in 1516 he appointed his grandson, Charles of Habsburg - Charles V, heir to the crown of Aragon and Castile. A skilled politician and good strategist, Ferdinand represented a model of the ruler, who inspired Machiavelli to write the book The Sovereign.
Ryukua A. Medieval Spain / Adelina Ryukua. - M., Veche, 2014, p. 374-375.
Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella.
15th century gold coin
Ferdinand II (Fernando) of Aragon, Ferdinand the Catholic (10.III.1452 - 23.I.1516), - King of Aragon from 1479, Sicily (Ferdinand II) from 1468, Castile (Ferdinand V) in 1479-1504 (as husband (from 1469) of Isabella, who became Queen of Castile from 1474 (finally from 1479), King of Neapolitan (Ferdinand III) from 1504. He united Aragon and Castile on the basis of a personal union. After the death of Isabella (1504) he was declared regent of Castile under their daughter Juan the Mad. In 1492, he conquered Granada from the Arabs (thus completing the Reconquista), in 1493, under the Treaty of Barcelona with the French king, he annexed Roussillon and Cerdan, in 1512 he conquered Upper Navarre. As a result of hostilities against France, he annexed the Kingdom of Naples in 1504. Being in fact the first king of united Spain, Ferdinand sought to establish royal absolutism: under him the apparatus of state administration was centralized, the privileges of large feudal lords were significantly limited - they were deprived of the right to vote in the royal council, the right to mint coins. In the fight against the nobility, Ferdinand relied on the middle and small nobility and cities, then he also limited the privileges of the cities, subordinating their internal administration and judicial structure to the crown. During the reign of Ferdinand, the importance of the Cortes fell, which began to convene irregularly and were made dependent on the royal treasury. Ferdinand declared himself Grand Master of the spiritual and chivalric orders in Spain, representing a significant economic and political force. In 1486, Ferdinand issued the Guadalupe Sentence, which abolished serfdom in Catalonia (for a ransom), abolished the criminal jurisdiction of the lords, which became the prerogative of royal power. Ferdinand pursued an active prokatolytic policy, for which he received the nickname "Catholic". In 1480, Ferdinand and Isabella established a tribunal of the Inquisition in Castile, in 1492 they issued a decree on the expulsion of Jews, and intensified the persecution of the Moors, who were subjected to forced conversion to Christianity.
L. T. Milskaya. Moscow.
Soviet historical encyclopedia. In 16 volumes. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 15 1974.
Literature: Altamira y Crevea R., History of Spain, abbr. per. from Spanish, (vol.) 1, M., 1951, p. 418-97; Prescott W. H., History of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, v. 1-4, Phil., 1873-1904; Jiménez Soler A., Fernando el Católico, Barcelona, 1941; Vicens Vives J., Fernando el Católico, Madrid, 1952.
Ferdinand II, King of Aragon, Sicily, Valencia, Count of Barcelona
Ferdinand V, King of Castile
Ferdinand III, King of Naples
Ferdinand, King of Navarre
Ferdinand the Catholic
Fernando II el Catolico
Years of life: March 10, 1452 - June 23, 1516
Reigns: Aragon, Sicily, Valencia, Barcelona: January 20, 1479 - June 23, 1516
Naples: 1504 - 23 June 1516
Castile: 1506 - 23 June 1516
Navarre: 1512 - 23 June 1516
Father: Juan II
Mother: Juana Enriquez
Wives:
(1) Isabella I of Castile
(2) Germaine de Foix
Son: (1) Juan
Daughters: (1) Isabella, Juana, Maria, Catalina
Ferdinand was very handsome, combining the qualities of a brilliant knight and a clever politician. He was not very well educated and did not shine military talents but was a master of political intrigue. No wonder Machiavelli in the book "The Sovereign" called Ferdinand an exemplary ruler.
A smart and energetic mother raised Ferdinand in strictness. From a young age, he took part in campaigns, experienced the dangers of war during the siege of Barcelona. At the age of 17, he was proclaimed king of Sicily and viceroy of his father in Aragon. In 1468, Isabella of Castile, in search of a groom, chose Ferdinand, largely because of his personal qualities. Despite the fact that the spouses lived apart for a long time, each in their own state, very warm feelings remained between them all their lives.
After becoming king of Aragon, Ferdinand introduced reforms similar to those carried out by Isabella in Castile, aimed at strengthening royal power. Ermandades were created, unions of citizens to maintain order, which became the support of the king in the fight against recalcitrant nobles.
In 1482, Ferdinand and Isabella launched a war against the Emirate of Granada, the last stronghold of the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula. The first trips were not very successful. The Spanish troops suffered a series of defeats. Ferdanand was ready to abandon the continuation of the war, but his energetic wife kept him from this step. Soon, taking advantage of the strife between Emir Abul-Hasan and his son Abu-Abdallah, the Christians began to win. In 1487, after a three-month siege, Malaga was taken, in 1499 - Basa, and in 1490 the siege of Granada began, but at the very beginning of 1492 this city capitulated. Soon the power of a united Spain was felt in other parts of Europe. In 1493, Charles VIII was forced to give up Roussillon and Cerdanya, captured by his father. In 1502-1504. The Spaniards expelled the French from the Kingdom of Naples.
Meanwhile, in 1504, Isabella died, and the Castilian throne was to go to her mentally ill daughter Juana, unable to rule on her own. Ferdinand sought the position of regent for his daughter, but the Castilian nobles did not like the stingy and treacherous Aragonese and called for help from Juana's husband, Philip Habsburg, who lived in Flanders. Realizing that he was not able to fight Philip, Ferdinand successfully yielded, and he did the right thing: Philip died of a fever a few months later. Juana finally lost her mind, and the Castilians had to recognize the regency of Ferdinand. In Castile he ruled very carefully, respecting local customs, and his authority was not questioned.
The following years were the pinnacle of Ferdinand's power. In 1508, at Cambrai, he entered into an alliance with Pope Julius II, Emperor Maximilian and Louis XII against Venice, which owned several ports in the Kingdom of Naples. Leaving his allies to lead the main fighting, Ferdinand limited himself to the capture of these ports. When the French began to win one victory after another and dangerously intensified, Ferdinand entered into a coalition with Venice, England and the emperor. In 1512, France suffered several defeats and lost all Italian possessions. Ferdinand, meanwhile, conquered the Spanish half of Navarre. He died in 1516, having bequeathed all Aragonese possessions to his grandson Charles.
Used material from the site http://monarchy.nm.ru/
Ferdinand II the Catholic (Fernando II El Catlico) (1452–1516), King of Aragon and Sicily (as Ferdinand II), King of Castile (as Ferdinand V, in 1474–1504), King of Naples (as Ferdinand III, from 1504). Ferdinand, the son of King Juan II of Aragon and Juana Enriquez (both from Castile), was born in Sosa (modern Sos del Rey Catolico) on March 10, 1452. His marriage in 1469 to Isabella, who became in 1474 (not without armed struggle , which ended in 1479) as the queen of Castile, created the prerequisites for the unification of Spain, although formally the two kingdoms continued to be ruled separately. Ferdinand and Isabella established a lasting peace in the country, strengthened royal power and their active foreign policy, as well as colonial expansion, made Spain the most powerful power in Europe. Secretive and treacherous, skillfully using the mistakes and weaknesses of opponents, Ferdinand earned the highest praise of Machiavelli: “There is one sovereign in our time .. who, apart from peace and fidelity, never preaches anything. In fact, he is both great enemy; and it is true - if he had kept loyalty and peace, he would have long ago lost both glory and the state ”(The Sovereign, ch. 18). With the help of Isabella, Ferdinand managed to centralize power, crushing the resistance of the feudal nobility, clergy and cities. Instead of representatives of the highest aristocracy, people from the middle class and lower nobility were appointed to important administrative posts and to the royal council. The monarchs launched a struggle against the abuses of officials, with feudal freemen and robbery on the roads, monitored the strict observance of laws and adopted a number of decrees aimed at protecting and developing trade and entrepreneurship. However, they themselves largely devalued these measures and dealt a severe blow to the country's economy when, with the blessing of Pope Sixtus IV (1478), they established the Inquisition in Spain and expelled the Jews from the country (1492). Ferdinand and Isabella can also be blamed for their patronage of the Meste, the sheep breeders' guild, which pastured the forests and thus caused irreparable damage to the agriculture of Castile.
In general, the royal agrarian policy was aimed at the concentration of land in the hands of the aristocracy, which exacerbated the social and economic problems of Spain. At the same time, in Catalonia, Ferdinand put an end to the fierce struggle of the peasants and feudal lords, abolishing by his decision (Guadalupe maxim, 1486) serfdom in this kingdom, which allowed 50,000 peasants to become smallholders.
But Spain owes its greatness and power most of all to the policy pursued by Ferdinand in the international arena. If the country is obliged to Isabella for two events that occurred in 1492 - the conquest of the Emirate of Granada (she took an active part in this matter, both financially and practically - improved supply organization, the introduction of army hospitals) and the discovery of America (support provided to Columbus), then Ferdinand in 1493, by agreement with the French king, annexed Roussillon and Cerdan to Spain, took possession of the Kingdom of Naples in Italy (1504) and conquered Navarre (1512). To consolidate his acquisitions, Ferdinand married one of his daughters, Catherine, to the English king Henry VIII, and the other, Juan, to Philip the Handsome, son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.
After Isabella's death in 1504, Philip claimed the crown of Castile for himself. Ferdinand did not dare to come into conflict with his son-in-law and his powerful supporters from the Castilian nobility and moved to Aragon. In October 1505, Ferdinand married Germaine de Foix, niece of the King of France. In 1506, Philip the Handsome died, and Ferdinand was declared regent of Castile under his daughter Juan the Mad. Ferdinand died in Madrigalejo (Extremadura) on January 23, 1516. On the throne of Aragon, he was succeeded by his grandson Charles V, later Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, who, in addition to Spain and the New World, was to soon unite in his hands the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, as well as the possessions of the Austrian house of Habsburg and Dukes of Burgundy.
Materials of the encyclopedia "The World Around Us" are used
Ferdinand II (1452-1516) - King of Aragon in 1479-1516. King of Naples 1504-1516 Son of Juan II and Juana Henriquez.
1) from 1469 Queen of Castile Isabella I(b. 1451 + 1504);
2) from 1506 Germaine, daughter of Count John de Foa (+ 1536).
Ferdinand, according to all his contemporaries, was an extremely handsome man and combined the properties of a brilliant knight and a clever ruler. His courageous and intelligent mother brought him up in a completely different way than the Spanish kings were usually brought up. Under her leadership, already in childhood, he experienced all the dangers of war, participated in campaigns in Catalonia and in the siege of Barcelona. At the age of seventeen he was proclaimed king of Sicily and appointed his father's viceroy in Aragon. In 1468, when the Castilian princess Isabella was looking for a groom, she chose Ferdinand without much hesitation, largely because of his personal merit. This marriage also had the advantage that in the future it should lead to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single state. The union of Ferdinand and Isarella was successful. Despite the fact that Ferdinand cheated on his wife (the couple lived apart for a long time, each in his own kingdom), she loved him passionately and tenderly all her life.
Ferdinand was very superficially educated, turned out to be a mediocre commander, but he was a very clever politician and a master of intrigue. Machiavelli himself, in his book The Sovereign, declared Ferdinand the model of all sovereigns who wish to increase their power. Having received the Aragonese crown after the death of his father, Ferdinand G spent a lot of effort on strengthening
royal power. Like his wife, Ferdinand introduced the germandades in Aragon - police unions of the townspeople to maintain order. In 1498 he made them royal. This allowed Ferdinand to create a large army to fight the recalcitrant nobles and to restore order in the country.
In 1482, Ferdinand and Isabella began a war against the Mohammedans of Granada and waged it continuously for ten years. The beginning of hostilities was unsuccessful for Christians. In the first year of the war, Ferdinand went to the Henil valley and laid siege to the rich and heavily fortified city of Lohu. The Moors made a sortie and defeated the Spaniards, who then lost many brave knights. Another campaign ended in defeat, the following year. But soon a strife began in Granada between the emir Abul-Hasan and his son Abu-Abdallah. Christians began to win. In 1487 Ferdinand laid siege to Malaga. For three months there was a fierce war at sea, on land and underground; mine explosions destroyed part of the city wall; The inhabitants began to languish from hunger and thirst. In August, they surrendered to the mercy of the winner. Ferdinand and Isabella, however, treated them without any condescension: all the property of the Muslims was confiscated, and they themselves were enslaved and sold to Africa. In 1488 Ferdinand went to Basu. This city was almost impregnable and had large food supplies. The siege lasted nine months. Finally, the residents surrendered on the terms of keeping their property. After that, the entire mountainous region submitted to the Spaniards. In 1490 the siege of Granada began. Its inhabitants also capitulated when they were promised the preservation of their faith, customs and property. In January 1492, Isabella and Ferdinand solemnly entered the conquered city. Thus ended the dominion of the Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula.
It was the first successful war fought by a united Spain. Its power was soon felt in other parts of Europe. In 1493, the French king Charles VIII returned to Ferdinand Rousillon and Cerdan, captured by his father Louis XI. In 1502-1504. The Spaniards ousted the French from the Kingdom of Naples and took control of southern Italy. In 1504 Isabella died. According to the law, the throne was to go to her daughter Juana. But because of her mental disorder, she could not rule on her own. Ferdinand was declared regent for his daughter until her son Charles came of age. But not all Castilians were happy with this state of affairs. The nobles did not want to be ruled by an Aragonese; the personal qualities of the king were also unpleasant: stinginess, pettiness and deceit. The Castilians turned to Juana's husband Philip I, Archduke of Austria, who was then living in Flanders, for support. Ferdinand did not want to give in to his son-in-law of Castile and, in order to upset his alliance with the French king, he was lazy in 1506 on the niece of Louis XII, Germain de foa. At the same time, an agreement was reached on the Kingdom of Naples - the rights to it were transferred to Germain and her children. In view of this, Philip had to abandon the war with his father-in-law. In April 1506, he arrived with his wife in Castile and was enthusiastically received by the nobles there. Ferdinand saw that it was dangerous to fight Philip now. In June he renounced the regency in favor of a son-in-law, but was convinced that he was losing power for a short time. And indeed - in September of the same year, Philip died of a fever. After that, Juana completely lost her mind. The Castilians had no choice but to recognize Ferdinand's regency again. In 1507 he came to Castile, and since then his authority here has not been questioned. He ruled very carefully, carefully observing legal forms, did not take revenge on any of his enemies, and thus strengthened the connection of the two kingdoms. These and subsequent years were the pinnacle of Ferdinand's power. He was so good at cunning and intrigue that he managed to outwit all his external enemies. In December 1508 he signed an alliance treaty at Cambrai with Pope Julius II, Emperor Maximilian and Louis XII against Venice, which owned several ports within the Kingdom of Naples. Leaving his allies to exhaust their forces in the war with the Venetians, Ferdinand himself limited himself only to the capture of these ports. Then, when the French began to win one victory after another and became dangerous neighbors, Ferdinand in 1511 formed a coalition against them, which included Venice, the English king and emperor. In 1512, France suffered several defeats and lost all Italian possessions. Ferdinand meanwhile conquered the Spanish half of Navarre. He died shortly thereafter, having bequeathed both kingdoms and all Spanish possessions in the Old and New Worlds to his daughter Juana and her descendants (that is, in fact, to the grandson Charles). Like his wife Isabella, Ferdinand was an outstanding sovereign, although in a completely different way. He was much inferior to her in the nobility of nature, he was treacherous, cunning and stingy, but he understood well and firmly defended the interests of Spain. It was to him that she owed the first steps of her world greatness.
All the monarchs of the world. Western Europe. Konstantin Ryzhov. Moscow, 1999.
Read further:
Marita A. Panzer. "Catholic royal couple": Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon (1479-1504/16) ( Spanish kings. Rostov-on-Don, 1998).
Historical Persons of Spain (index of names).
The main events of the XVI century (chronological table).
Literature:
Piskorsky V. History of Spain and Portugal. St. Petersburg, 1909
Socio-political development of the countries of the Iberian Peninsula under feudalism. M., 1985
Kuchumov V. Formation of estate representative monarchy in Aragon and Catalonia in 12-15 centuries. Dissertation abstract. M., 1990
Altamira y Crevea R., History of Spain, abbr. per. from Spanish, (vol.) 1, M., 1951, p. 418-97;
Prescott W. H., History of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, v. 1-4, Phil., 1873-1904;
Jiménez Soler A., Fernando el Católico, Barcelona, 1941;
Vicens Vives J., Fernando el Católico, Madrid, 1952.
Part 2
The combat path of 653 and 654 battalions of self-propelled guns "Ferdinand"
The battle is over for Kursk Bulge and the German troops "aligning" the front line, began a slow retreat towards Ukraine, where the construction of a new defense line "Eastern Wall" on the Dnieper River by the Germans had already begun.
As for the personnel of the 653rd and 654th battalions of self-propelled guns "Ferdinand", the military fate prepared for the soldiers and officers a dangerous military fate.
They will still fight well in Ukraine, Italy, Ukraine and will fight to the end in the same way in Berlin besieged by the Red Army, and at the end of the war, most of them will die on the battlefields.
And returning to our story about " combat way"of the above battalions, it should be noted right away that starting from the middle of 1943 in the Wehrmacht, the situation with the operational reserves of armored vehicles developed in such a way that both of the above battalions became either another "lifesaver" or a "fire brigade" for the German high command, since their as the "last line of defense" for the retreating German troops constantly thrown from one breakthrough to another.
After the fighting on the Kursk Bulge in the second half of August 1943, the Withdrawal of the 656th regiment of heavy tank destroyers to the rear began. And the information enshrined in the documents shows us how much the German high command and Hitler personally valued the Ferdinands as the strongest strike force ..
August 13, 1943 G. Guderian wrote:
“The Fuhrer decided to immediately withdraw the 654th battalion and the 216th assault tank battalion armed with the Ferdinands and transfer them to Dnepropetrovsk in order to restore them there again, near the tank factories with their workshop companies, to the full combat readiness of the existing tanks.
And transfer the 653rd Ferdinand Battalion as a personal (separate - ed.) unit to Orleans in order to retrain it there for heavy anti-tank Panthers; Subordinate the battalion 58 to the reserve tank corps»..
Two weeks later, the decision changed to the exact opposite: the remaining 50 vehicles and 19 self-propelled guns of the 654th battalion, which had suffered heavy losses, were transferred to the 653rd.
And here is his personnel sent to Orleans for retraining for new types of Jagdpanther tank destroyers.
The repair companies of the two Ferdinand battalions were also merged. Oberleutnant of the 654th battalion Wolfgang Roemer, military official Rudolf Szafranek shared responsibility for the work.
Meanwhile, the transportation of the battalion from Bryansk caused many difficulties. It was not easy to prepare a suitable place for repairs in Dnepropetrovsk, but nevertheless, already on August 22, the first self-propelled guns "Ferdinand" were already unloaded in Dnepropetrovsk, and on September 1, 1943, Wolfgang Roemer sent the following report on command:
In the Battle of Kursk, 50 Ferdinands survived, but each of them required repair.
1. Since the battalion has been in combat for three weeks without the possibility of maintenance and repair, most of the vehicles need major repairs (in order to prevent this, it is worth taking the vehicles for maintenance every 5-6 days).
2. All machines need improvement in design. Annex I contains detailed information on this subject. The most important is:
a) Improvement of the protective grilles of the engine.
b) Fuel line protection.
c) Installation of a flexible outlet on the water supply pipe.
d) Alternator modification.
III. How many vehicles can be quickly prepared for combat without a major overhaul?
I) A week after arriving in Dnepropetrovsk, ten Ferdinands were already of limited combat readiness.
2) Urgent repair of the remaining Ferdinands was impossible, since all repair work requiring removal of the felling takes a long time.
3) The battalion commander spoke out against partial repairs, adding that after such repairs he could not guarantee the reliability of vehicles in battle.
4) An immediate decision must be made - either an accelerated repair of these 10 Ferdinands, or a major overhaul of all, since each of these decisions will require different actions to implement it.
I. Repair and maintenance will be carried out:
1. In the Ferdinand battalion:
a) Maintenance company of the 653rd battalion of heavy tank destroyers.
b) Maintenance company of the 654th heavy tank destroyer battalion.
At the cost of a considerable effort, the repairmen managed to put 15 Ferdinands and 25 assault guns on alert within seven days. The design of the machines did not improve, but for most of them the tracks and engines were replaced.
Despite the continued repair of the Ferdinand self-propelled guns, they were again required in battle and on September 11, 1943, 12 Ferdinands and 13 assault tanks) under the command of Hauptmann Baumunk were sent to Sinelnikovo and Pavlograd, located in the direction of the Soviet advance to the northern sector of Army Group South ".
Here are the footage of the military newsreel showing us the self-propelled guns "Ferdinand" and others. german tanks in a real battle in 1943 in Ukraine. These are unique shots telling the truth about the war!!! I strongly recommend it to everyone who has high-speed Internet to watch!
https://yandex.ua/video/search?filmId=IRUKe0W2UXI&text=
The battle group was ordered to hold railway Sinelnikovo - Pavlograd and the road Pavlograd - Dmitrievka.
In mid-September 1943, due to the situation at the front, the overhaul of Ferdinands and assault tanks in Dnepropetrovsk had to be interrupted.
The entire maintenance battalion, other maintenance services and the material support service were relocated to continue urgent repairs in Nikopol.
On September 19, 1943, the 656th Heavy Tank Destroyer Regiment received an order from the High Command to send all vehicles ready for battle to the Zaporozhye bridgehead.
This foothold on the eastern bank of the Dnieper had to be held at all costs. It covered Europe's largest hydroelectric power plant, Dneproges, with a 760-meter-long dam, whose turbines generated electricity for the entire industrial zone of Ukraine.
However, even here the Ferdinands, in unfavorable terrain for combat, with their enormous firepower, provided support in many battles throughout the bridgehead.
The battle for the city of Novo-Aleksandrovka in the southern part of the bridgehead turned out to be especially fierce. It was there that the Ferdinands and assault tanks on October 10, 1943 repelled the attack of Soviet armored vehicles. The regiment reported 48 destroyed Soviet tanks.
In the early morning of October 13, the Ferdinands were withdrawn from the bridgehead. Huge fighting vehicles slowly crossed the dam to the western bank of the Dnieper, and soon after, on October 15, the dam was blown up.
In the same days, the bridgehead near Zaporozhye was evacuated ..
October 23, 1943 Oberleutnant Konnak took command of the company.
A very turbulent period began for the 656th Heavy Tank Destroyer Regiment. The regiment was divided among three army corps.
Fourteen "Ferdinands" went to the LVII Army Corps near Krivoy Rog, of which 6 self-propelled guns were attached to the 11th tank division entrenched in the area to prevent the return of the city Soviet troops.
Four more combat vehicles were attached to the XXX Army Corps, three more to the XVII Army Corps.
The first defensive battle began on November 20, 1943.
The battles for the villages of Mareevka (November 20, 1943) and Katerynivka (November 23, 1943) were very important for holding the German defensive line. The Ferdinands proved to be especially successful in the battle near Miropol.
Their crews announced the destruction of 54 Russian tanks, 21 of them by the crew of Lieutenant Franz Kretschmer (gunner, non-commissioned officer Alois Moosdil; driver, non-commissioned officer Heinrich Appel; radio operator, chief corporal Peter Scheid; first loading gunner Otto Isen; second loading gunner Paul Schmidt). For this battle, Lieutenant Franz Kretschmer was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on December 17, 1943.
By the end of November, the situation with self-propelled guns of the 653rd battalion looked like this: 4 - ready for battle; 8 - in short-term repair; 30 - in overhaul; 4 - lost forever.
Moreover, the latter were not even destroyed in battle, but burned out on the march due to self-ignition after an average run of 2000 km.
This difficult situation with combat vehicles forced G. Guderian to report to A. Hitler:
“The condition of the 656th anti-tank regiment, even if this full-fledged formation should last only for months, requires an immediate withdrawal. Thanks to replenishment and own repairs in the rear or in the General Government, combat readiness can be restored again in a replenishment time of about 8 weeks.
As a result, it was decided to withdraw the regiment from the front.
It was supposed to be sent for overhaul, in St. Polten and St. Valentin.
On December 10, 1943, the 656th Heavy Tank Destroyer Regiment received the following order:
“The 656th regiment of heavy tank destroyers is being withdrawn from the sector of the Army Group South (Krivoy Rog / Nikopol region), and together with the 653rd battalion of heavy tank destroyers and the 216th assault gun battalion is sent to St. Pölten for repair work ".
In the period from December 16, 1943 to January 10, 1944, the entire regiment on 21 transport trains was returned to Germany.
In Germany, modernization was supposed to be preceded by a major overhaul and modernization ..
The prerequisite for it was the conclusions made after the debut of self-propelled guns on the Kursk Bulge by the Porsche representative in the 653rd battalion of heavy tank destroyers Heinz Groshl and included in the company's report dated July 26, 1943:
“Our vehicles spent three weeks in combat, and, given the path before that, they traveled an average of 500 kilometers each. I have collected enough information to present you the positive and negative aspects of our machines.
I am inclined to agree with most of the gentlemen of the battalion that the weapons from them turned out to be successful, and everyone regrets that so few were issued. Given that each vehicle accounts for an average of 15 tanks destroyed, we can indeed speak of success.
First of all, I must note that this figure could be much higher, but, unfortunately, the bulk of the machines are constantly under repair. Moreover, the situation is getting worse and worse every day - the stock of spare parts, already small, has finally been depleted along with the increased wear of all machine parts.
And there was practically no replenishment of this stock, with rare exceptions. Of the original 44 vehicles, the battalion lost 17. Seven of them, by order of the regimental command, were transferred to other battalions. Another 10 are irretrievably lost. .....
The annex to the report dated September 1, 1943 stated:
“In order to improve the combat capability and reliability of Ferdinand tank destroyers, it is considered necessary to make the following changes:
A. Fire fighting measures.
1. Change the protective grilles for better protection against fragments.
2. Protect the fuel line from exhaust gases.
3. Improve exhaust pipe connections.
4. Shield against oil leaks on the fan casing.
5. Protection against clogging of exhaust pipes with leaves and other debris.
6. Simplification of access to the engine compartment from the crew compartment.
7. Installation of a fire fighting system consisting of two carbon dioxide fire extinguishers with a capacity of 5 liters each.
B. Mine Damage Reduction
1. Elastic suspension of batteries.
2. Remove the fixed feet from the generator housing.
3. Improved fastening of the alternator.
C. Troubleshooting the low voltage electrical system.
1. Installation of alternators with new anchors designed by Bosch.
2. Supply of 12 volts to the generators (instead of 24) to improve the quality of communication.
3. Reduction of interference introduced by the wheelhouse and hull.
4. Protection of the ammeter from damage.
B. Propulsion system.
1. Replacing the floating clutch with a rigid one.
2. Installation in the propulsion system of gears of a larger diameter.
3. Delivery of new tracks.
4. Replacement of rubber pads on tracks.
E. High voltage electrical system.
1. Resistance adjustment K 58.8 (surge protection).
2. Replacement of high-resistance with grounding.
3. Complete cleaning of all electrical equipment and switches.
4. Remove the generator housing from under the sealed partition.
F. Cutting.
1. Installation of gutters on its front.
2. Sealing the hatches of the driver and radio operator in its front part.
3. Sealing the seam between the hull and deckhouse.
4. Covering the gratings with a net.
5. Increasing the tension of the springs of the hatches of the driver and loaders.
6. Installation of handrails on the hull before felling.
7. Fixing spare tracks, tools and equipment boxes on the back of the wheelhouse.
8. Installation of anti-solar and anti-rain visors over viewing slots.
9. Installation of a sealed partition at the rear of the case.
10. Improvement of welding on the access hatch to the engine compartment.
G. Other changes.
1. Changing the shape and inclination angles of the gun mantlet.
2. Protection against fragments behind the mask of the gun.
3. Strengthening the armor or strengthening the front flat part of the cabin. (Recommendation: weld the hatch of the loaders, but only if step 4 is completed.)
4. Emergency exit through the maintenance hatch at the rear of the wheelhouse.
5. Turret with observation devices for the commander.
6. It is recommended to equip the vehicles with a machine gun coaxial with the gun.
7. Equip vehicles with course machine guns in place of the driver.
8. Viewing device for the radio operator.
9. Installation of a machine telegraph for communication between the commander and the driver.
10. The best rubber gaskets for viewing slots.
11. Improved cooling and ventilation systems.
12. Improve the lids of the mouths for collecting water so that they close more tightly; attach the lids to the necks with chains.
13. Improve the mounting of the rear additional armor.
14. Changing the nuts on the "fingers" of the tracks (tightening with a hex wrench).
15. Modification of the exhaust gas removal system (removal of exhaust gases from the tracks is necessary).
Modernization was carried out taking into account the combat experience gained in the USSR. She went from January to early April 1944.
. The upgraded "Ferdinands" by order of May 1, 1944 received the official name "Elephant".
"Elephant" differed from "Ferdinand" only in details, but those were very important details.
The Ferdinands were equipped with Otto and Maybach HL-120 TRM engines, that is, the power plants were unified. In the frontal armor plate of the hull, to the right of the main caliber gun, a ball machine gun mount with a KwMG-34 was placed.
Self-propelled gun received a weapon of self-defense and destruction of light targets - a lesson Battle of Kursk was adopted. The machine gun mount was covered with an overhead armor plate, as a result of which the armor thickness in this place was increased to 300 mm: 100 mm of the original armor of the Tiger hull, 100 mm of the Ferdinand's overlay armor and 100 mm of a new armor plate. An armor plate 30 mm thick was welded on the bottom in the area of the driver's seat to increase security in the event of a mine explosion.
A commander's cupola was placed on the roof of the cabin, replacing the rectangular commander's hatch of the Ferdinand. Now the commander of the vehicle could observe the battlefield without the risk of getting a bullet in the forehead.
To simplify the change of the mask of the gun and the barrel, the shield on the barrel was now officially mounted with the ribs outward. The caps over the blinds of the engine compartment were reinforced.
Internal electronic intercom supplemented mechanical system signaling between the commander and the driver ("machine telegraph"), the driver's periscopes are equipped with sun visors. In the engine compartment, two 5-liter fire extinguishers were remotely installed.
Instead of 600 mm Kgs-62/600/130 tracks, the tracks were assembled from 640 mm Kgs-64/640/130 tracks. Ammunition for the cannon has been increased to 55 rounds. All tools and spare tracks were moved to the stern. The vertical surfaces of the hull and the lower part of the cabin were covered with zimmerite - a special coating used to protect armored vehicles from magnetic mines and cumulative action grenades, as well as fire mixtures.
While the self-propelled guns were undergoing modernization, the command changed in the 656th regiment. Baron von Jungenfeld was promoted to colonel and moved to staff work.
The post of regimental commander was taken by Colonel Richard Schmitgen. Jungenfeld did not remain at the headquarters for long, he ended the war with the Knight's Cross in the position of commander of a battle group.
The regiment, after being sent to Italy by the 1st company of the 653rd battalion and the 216th battalion, never again gathered into a single unit.
Fighting in Italy
In January 1944, the first company of the 653rd battalion, consisting of 11 "Elephants" (modernized "Ferdinands"), one repair and recovery vehicle also based on the chassis of the Tiger (P) tank and two ammunition transporters was transferred to Italy to counter the offensive of the British American troops. Heavy self-propelled guns participated in the battles near Nettuno, Anzio, Rome.
Despite the dominance of Allied aviation and the difficult terrain, the company has proven itself from the very better side, so, according to German data, only on March 30-31, on the outskirts of Rome, two self-propelled guns destroyed up to 50 American tanks, armored personnel carriers and cars and were blown up by the crews after using up fuel and ammunition.
On June 26, 1944, the company, in which two combat-ready Elefants remained, was withdrawn from the front and transferred first to Austria, and then to Poland to join the 653rd battalion.
American troops managed to capture one self-propelled gun "Ferdinad" and as a unique military trophy it was sent to the USA for study. There, in our days, this car has been completely restored.
Here is a video film about the second of the Ferdinand self-propelled guns preserved in the world, which is stored near Moscow in a tank museum.
Recent battles in Western Ukraine
The two remaining self-propelled gun companies in April 1944 were transferred to the Eastern Front, in the Ternopil region.
In addition to 31 Elephanta, the companies included two repair and recovery vehicles based on the chassis of the Tiger (P) tank and one based on the Panther tank, as well as three ammunition transporters.
In heavy battles at the end of April, the companies suffered losses - 14 vehicles were disabled; however, 11 of them were quickly restored, and the number of combat-ready vehicles even increased due to the arrival of repaired vehicles of the 1st company from the factories. In addition, by June, the composition of the companies was replenished with two unique models of armored vehicles - the Tiger (P) tank with frontal armor reinforced to 200 mm and the Panther tank with a PzKpfw IV tank turret, which were used as command vehicles.
In July, a large-scale offensive by the Soviet troops began, and both companies of the "Elephants" were embroiled in heavy fighting.
On July 18, they were thrown without reconnaissance and training to help the SS division "Hohenstaufen" and suffered heavy losses from the fire of Soviet anti-tank and self-propelled artillery.
The battalion lost more than half of the vehicles, and a significant part of them were to be restored, however, since the battlefield was left behind by the Soviet troops, the damaged self-propelled guns were destroyed by their own crews.
On August 3, the remnants of the battalion (12 vehicles) were transferred to Krakow. Where the German command is trying to restore the combat capability of the crews of the self-propelled guns "Ferdinand" they began to collect everything as in the proverb "a naked shirt from the world on a string"
The remnants of the battalion, the 2nd, 3rd and headquarters companies, have now been reinforced to six tank destroyers (three were earlier, three returned from Italy).
The battalion was commanded by Hauptmann Rudolf Grillenberger, the 2nd company was commanded by Lieutenant Werner Salomon, and the 3rd company by Lieutenant Bernhard Konnack.
On April 6, the battalion began to arrive in Berezhany, where it was then attached to the XXXIV Panzer Corps and entered the operational subordination of the headquarters of the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen. She had to recapture Tarnopol from the Red Army. At the end of the second week of April, the Ferdinands advanced to the front line, where in the Zolotnikov region they took part in fierce battles with units of the Soviet 10th Guards Tank Corps.
By April 9, only four combat-ready Ferdinands remained in the battalion.
These vehicles were included in the Salomon battle group, which defended Zlotniki, while the 3rd company closed the Red Army's path to Malovody.
It was not possible to defend Malovody, after which the company with great difficulty crossed the Styr River. The German operation in the Tarnopol region failed. Soviet counterattacks carried out in the next few days forced the Germans to completely evacuate the bridgehead near the town of Osovtsy.
After a short period of rain, the weather improved and fighting resumed. Now the "Elephants" supported the actions of the 100th Jaeger Division,
Be that as it may, hard times have come for the German tank units, regardless of the localization of the front, and the 653rd battalion was no exception.
Tanks and self-propelled guns got stuck in the mud, broke down, and were blown up by mines. One "Elephant" scooped up dirt with the barrel of the gun, and when trying to fire, the shell exploded in the barrel. The loader was killed, the commander was seriously injured.
The battalion was taken from the front for a short rest near Brzezhany.
The respite ended on June 22, 1944, with the start of the largest offensive of the Red Army.
During it, the 653rd battalion took part in defensive battles near Pomoryany and Rogatin, and then, together with the 1st Panzer Army, retreated to Lemberg (Lvov).
In just two weeks at the end of July, the battalion lost at least 22 armored vehicles (19 Ferdinands, one Porsche Tiger and two Berge-Elephants), two-thirds of its fleet.
After forcing the San River, the 653rd battalion retreated further west through Przemysl and Tarnow to Rabka, where it was temporarily attached to the Northern Ukraine Army Group.
By August 1, only 12 "Elephants" had survived in the battalion, assembled in the 2nd company of Lieutenant Werner Salomon.
The personnel of the 3rd company were evacuated to Vienna and Dollersheim, where it was planned to equip the company with Jagdtigr heavy tank destroyers.
While the 2nd company was stationed in Krakow, two self-propelled guns repaired in Vienna after the Italian odyssey arrived here.
On September 19, the 2nd company of the 653rd battalion was transferred to the 17th Army of Army Group A (the former Army Group "Northern Ukraine") and assigned to the reserve, moving the company to the Tarnow region. On November 24, Lieutenant (soon received the rank of Hauptmann) Bernhard Konnack took command of the company.
At the same time, the 653rd battalion was transferred to the Jagdtigers, and a new 2nd company was formed on the Jagdtigris.
Soon the original 2nd company was renamed the 614th separate tank destroyer company. On December 22, 1944, the 614th company was attached to the 4th tank army and relocated to the vicinity of Kielce.
On January 14 and 15, the company happened to find itself at the forefront of another Soviet offensive, which started on January 12 from the Sandomierz bridgehead. In heavy fighting east and south of Kielce, the company lost most of its "Elephants".
Hauptmann Ritter, the new company commander, on January 30, 1945, reported to the General Inspector of Tank Forces about four combat-ready Elefants and one Bergepanther BREM remaining in the company.
Further, the company retreated through Oppeln, Breslau, Sorau, Spratau to Frankfurt an der Oder.
Here, the remnants of the company were withdrawn to the reserve, in the Wünsdorf area.
There were also plans to increase the number of "Elephants" to ten cars, to strengthen the company with "Jagdtigers", to form new crews from the ranks of the Reserve Army ...
But all this was already impossible - no new self-propelled guns of this type were built.
All four remaining cars needed serious repairs. There was not even enough spare parts, which had to be delivered from Linz.
Fighting in and around Berlin
Until February 1945, this company, which consisted of 13 self-propelled guns, was in reserve. On February 25, 1945, the company was transferred to Wünsdorf to strengthen the anti-tank defense of German units.
On April 20, 1945, the Ritter battle group began to form (who led this formation on April 22), consisting of the headquarters of the 2nd tank battalion of the 36th tank regiment, the 4th company of the 11th tank regiment, a company of armored vehicles and the 614th battery tank destroyers.
The last unit had four Elefant self-propelled guns, two of which were abandoned due to malfunctions in the Frankfurt an der Oder region. The remaining vehicles were fighting in the suburbs of Berlin in the area of the test site of the city of Zossen.
Additionally, the captured Soviet T-35 tank was included in the company, which was soon shot down. . Many years later he recalled:
“We took advantage of the last Ferdinand that remained in the vicinity of Berlin.
We acted separately, having no King Tiger or Jagdtiger and only a tank with five turrets. During the last battles at the Zossen test site, the crews abandoned their vehicles.
Mine was hit, I was taken prisoner together with Hauptmann Ritter and returned home only on November 2, 1949 ... ".
In the surrounded city, the last two Elefant self-propelled guns fought as part of the Berlin garrison - on Karl-August Square and near the Church of the Holy Trinity.
(end of part 2)
