European Heroes

[Nicholas]

Francisco Pizarro and Hernán Cortés. European conquerors of America.

[Dombra]

Every member of an immigrant hostile party <3

[Nicholas]

Carl Peters. German colonial ruler.

[Nicholas]

Edward Codrington, Henri de Rigny and Login Geiden. Commanders of the Anglo-French-Russian squadron in Battle of Navarino.

[Adamastor]

Luís Vaz de Camões. A Poet, Militant and Adventurer, notably well known for writing "Os Lvsiadas".
Did I mention he lost an eye, in one of his many Quests? How cool is that.


Painting by Mestre Carlos Alberto Santos.


Monument to Luís Vaz de Camões (Lisbon, Portugal)

[Comte Arnau]

Countess Ermessenda of Carcassona. Ruling in different ways for over 65 years (991-1058 AD), she's been one of the women with more power ever in the history of Catalonia. She favored war with the Muslim powers to the South, partly because of the discontent of the nobles at her son's policy of peace.

[Kastrioti1443]

None of these men mentioned here is not at least equal to Skanderbeg and prince Lek Dukagjini.

[Petros Houhoulis]

Leo III the Isaurian (c. 685 – 18 June 741)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_III_the_Isaurian



Stopped the Arab advance and the process of Islamization during a critical moment in European history. Had the Arabs overrun him (or Justinian II a few years earlier) we would all be bowing five times towards Mecca every day.

He reorganized the empire and begun the process which would lead towards the enlightenment several centuries later, by suppressing monastic privilege and outright idolatry.

[Shkembe Chorba]

Tervel of Bulgaria


Tervel in Constantinopol

On 25 May 717 Leo III the Isaurian was crowned Emperor of Byzantium. During the summer of the same year the Arabs led by Maslama crossed the Dardanelles and besieged Constantinople with 200,000 men. According to Arab sources his fleet consisted of 2,500 ships.
Leo III made a plea to Tervel for help, relying on the treaty of 716 and Tervel agreed. The first clash between the Bulgarians and the Arabs ended with a Bulgarian victory. During the very first stages of the siege the Bulgarians appeared in the Muslim rear and large part of their army was destroyed and the rest were trapped. The Arabs built two trenches around their camp facing the Bulgarian army and the walls of the city. They persisted with the siege despite the severe winter with 100 days of snowfall. In the spring, the Byzantine navy destroyed the Arab fleets that had arrived with new provisions and equipment, while a Byzantine army defeated Arab reinforcements in Bithynia. Finally, in early summer the Arabs engaged the Bulgarians in battle but suffered a crushing defeat. According to Theophanes the Confessor, the Bulgarians slaughtered some 22,000 Arabs in the battle. Shortly after, the Arabs raised the siege. The Byzantine-Bulgarian victory of 718 and the victory of the Frankish king Charles Martel in the battle of Tours stopped the Muslim invasion in the interior of Europe.
In 719 he again interfered in the internal affairs of the Byzantine Empire when the deposed emperor Anastasios II asked for his assistance to regain the throne. Tervel provided him with 360,000 gold coins and sent troops. Anastasios marched to Constantinople, but its population refused to cooperate. In the meantime Leo III sent a letter to Tervel in which he conjured him to respect the treaty and to prefer peace to war. Because Anastasios was abandoned by his supporters, the Bulgarian ruler agreed to the pleas of Leo III and broke relations with the usurper. He also sent to Leo III many of the conspirators who had sought refuge in Pliska.