Death's Head: The Career Of Francis Baron Von Trenck And The Meaning Of The Totenkopf

A deeper dive into a dire symbol

Born at the first hour of 1711, by his own telling, Franz Baron von der Trenck (above) was a son of a nobleman officer in the Hapsburg empire. Seeing his father wounded twice in battle did not deter Trenck from becoming a soldier himself. He is considered the father of guerilla warfare in the modern period, for his light infantry tactics in Silesia duri…