Mercenary
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A mercenary, merc, or soldier of fortune is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official mi
c. 1525 engraving of two Swiss mercenaries
Belarusian volunteers of Ukraine's International Legion, 2022
Ugandan Triple Canopy contractors undergoing training in Iraq, 2011
A private military contractor in Badakhshan Province, 2006
Swiss mercenaries
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The Swiss mercenaries were a powerful infantry force of professional soldiers originating from the cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy. They were notable for their service in foreign armies, especial
Mercenary
…Hundred Years' War, before being assassinated by a Scot named Jon Lamb, under the orders of the English Crown, during the siege of Mortagne in 1378. Swiss mercenaries were sought during the late 15th and early 16th centuries as being an effective fighting force, until their somewhat rigid battle formations became…
Swiss mercenaries crossing the Alps. Illustration from an illuminated manuscript of the Luzerner Schilling, 1513.
Swiss mercenaries and Landsknechts engaged in a push of pike. Engraving by Hans Holbein the Younger, early 16th century
Right hand section of preceding drawing
The Battle of Novara marked the pinnacle of Swiss military supremacy (illustration from Johann Stumpf's chronicle, 1548)