Swiss American Historical Society Review
Keywords
Swiss abroad
Abstract
This volume, available also in French, is part of the de Penthes series Schweizer in der Welt-Suisses dans le monde-Svizzeri nel mondoThe Swiss Abroad. It offers 26 brief biographical sketches that begin with an entry about the knight, commander, imperial bailiff and minnesinger Werner von Homburg (1284-1320) and conclude with Basil Eugster (1914-1984), Lieutenant-General in the British Army and Commander of the Irish Guard. The reader gains an impressive chronologically arranged glimpse of Swiss men serving in armies abroad, among them people such as Fran~ois Le Fort (1655-1699) in the service of Russia as Admiral, Vice Roy of Novgorod, and friend of Czar Peter I. the Great. As his educator Le Fort was influential in promoting the Czar's intent of modernizing Russia in the image of Western European nations, especially by the Czar's westward journey of 1697-1698. Premature death prevented Le Fort from witnessing the creation of St. Petersburg, one of his important projects, that became home to many West Europeans, among them the family of Dorothea Maria Merlan, the daughter of the famous Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) of Basel origin, the founder of German entomology, that is, the scientific study of insects.
Recommended Citation
Schelbert, Leo
(2013)
"Benedict von Tscharner, Soldaten. Vielf alt der Schicksale in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Preface by Anselm Zufluh,"
Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 49:
No.
1, Article 11.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol49/iss1/11