The pope's soldiers
Subtitle: a military history of the modern Vatican
By: David Alvarez
Series: Modern war studies
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Lawrence, Kan
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 444
ISBN-13: 9780700617708
Subjects: Vatican City. Guardia svizzera pontificia; Vatican City; History
Description: Most students of history assume that the age of the "warlord popes" ended with the Renaissance, but, long after the victory of Catholic powers at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, the Papacy continued to entangle itself in martial affairs. The Vatican participated in six major military campaigns between 1796 and 1870, flew the papal flag over a warship as late as 1878, and during the Second World War mobilized more than 2,000 of its own troops to defend the Pope. David Alvarez now opens up this little-known aspect of the Papacy in the first general history of the papal armed forces. --from publisher description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Preface; title: The worst army in Europe; title: A cause worth fighting for; title: A war too soon; title: Red Shirts and brigands; title: The last stand of the papal army; title: An army without a state; title: Armed neutrality; title: Guardian angels.