Daniel Rantzau was a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

-German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 general

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 who was known for his leadership in the Northern Seven Years' War

Northern Seven Years' War

The Northern Seven Years' War was the war between Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck and the Polish–Lithuanian union, fought between 1563 and 1570...

. A distant relative of Johan Rantzau

Johan Rantzau

Johan Rantzau was a German-Danish general and statesman known for his role in the Count's Feud.Rantzau was born at the castle of Steinburg near Itzehoe into nobility...

, Daniel Rantzau was raised in Holstein, and received a solid academic education but preferred a military career. For some years, he fought in Germany and Italy, and also took part in the Danish conquest of Dithmarschen

Dithmarschen

Dithmarschen is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Flensburg, Rendsburg-Eckernförde, and Steinburg, by the state of Lower Saxony , and by the North Sea.-Geography:The district is located on the North Sea...

 in 1559. Rantzau also seems to have been a clear pro-war spokesman before the outbreak of the Northern Seven Years' War

Northern Seven Years' War

The Northern Seven Years' War was the war between Kingdom of Sweden and a coalition of Denmark–Norway, Lübeck and the Polish–Lithuanian union, fought between 1563 and 1570...

 with Sweden in 1563.

The Northern Seven Years' War

At the start of this war, Rantzau was a sub-commander with the rank of colonel but he distinguished himself in some minor struggles during the first fruitless years. In 1565, he was promoted to commander-in-chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

, but his position was weak at the start due to a lack of results on the battlefield. In December of the same year, however, Rantzau defeated the Swedish army at Axtorna

Battle of Axtorna

The Battle of Axtorna was fought October 20, 1565 at Axtorna, a little village today in Falkenberg Municipality, Halland County in western Sweden....

, an event which strengthened his position. During the following years, he successfully ravaged Swedish areas and established himself as the most able Danish military leader in spite of the lack of a breakthrough. However, a standing conflict about the pay of the soldiers created serious friction between the Danish noble officers and Peder Oxe

Peder Oxe

Peder Oxe was a Danish finance minister and Steward of the Realm.-Background:...

, the Steward of the Realm.

From 1567 to 1568, Rantzau carried off what is still considered his main military exploit, his "Winter Campaign" through Sweden. During the campaign, he defeated some minor Swedish armies and after having given up an attack on Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, saved his whole army during a risky but successful retreat. The campaign had no real military results but shook the Swedish defense. In November 1569, during an attack on Swedish-occupied Scandinavian castle of Varberg

Varberg

Varberg is a locality and the seat of Varberg Municipality, Halland County, Sweden with 26,041 inhabitants in 2005.Varberg and all of Halland are well known for their 'typical west coast' sandy beaches. In Varberg the coast changes from wide sandy beaches to rocky terrain that continues north into...

, Rantzau was killed by a cannonball that crushed his head (or so legend holds).

Legacy

Today, although quite overshadowed by his relative Johan Rantzau in public memory, Daniel Rantzau is considered the more brilliant tactician of the two. Military historians in general regard him as one of the few first-rate military leaders of the war from 1563-70.

Literature

• Dansk Biografisk Leksikon, vol. 11, 1982.
• Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon, vol. 19, 1925.