Background
Basta was born to an Arbëreshë family in Louisiana Rocca, modern day Roccaforzata, a village in Salento, Italy.
non-fiction writer officer general officer
Basta was born to an Arbëreshë family in Louisiana Rocca, modern day Roccaforzata, a village in Salento, Italy.
Basta assassinated Romanian national hero Michael the Brave and established a ruthless regime of Catholic exclusivism in Transylvania. Basta was also the author of books on the art of military leadership. He began his military career in the service of Charles V and Philip II of Spain, mainly on the French front during the War of the Three Henrys and the Catholic League.
In 1590 he joined the forces of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma in Flanders.
During the siege of Rouen he was almost killed by Sir Roger Williams, who sliced his neck in personal combat. After the death of Farnese, on the recommendations of Philip II, he joined the army of Emperor Rudolf II, serving mainly in Hungary, commanding Habsburg forces during the "Long War" against the Ottoman Empire.
Ambrogio Merodio in his Istoria Tarantina, calls him the "terror of Ottoman arms". The event happened on 9 August 1601, only days after a joint victory in Battle of GuruslăUniversity
Following Papal imperial policy, Calvinist Hungarians and Szeklers, Orthodox Walachians and Serbs, and Lutheran Saxons were subject to any kind of abuse.
Following years of warfare and his ruthless regime, famine and plague appeared in Transylvania. In 1604 Basta twice defeated forces led by Stephen Bocskay, who attempted to oppose his rule over Transylvania. After his experiences of warfare in Eastern Europe he went to Prague, where he died.
Basta wrote several military manuals, the best known of which are his Il maestro di campo generale..(Venice 1606), and his posthumous work Il governo della cavalleria leggiera (Venice 1612).
Both were translated into German and into French.
