Rudolf Maister

Rudolf Maister (http://www.nomad-magazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=34)

Rudolf Maister is my hero. He's my hero because he fought for what he loved, and believed in.

He was born in 1874 in a small Slovenian town Kamnik and died 60 years later in Unec. As he was in the military, he resided all over the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Because of his intelligence he quickly gained high rank in Austro-Hungarian military and that was crucial for his later actions.

In 1918 the German council pronounced Maribor and Lower Styria as a part of German Austria. Maister quickly asked Slovenian politicians for a higher rank, because he needed the rank for the military action to defend Maribor and Lower Styria. The same day, all of the military objects in Maribor and Lower Styria were under his control. When he wanted to free the remaining Slovenians, and take the position at national border, the government in Ljubljana stopped him because they feared German counter-attack. It needs to be noted that he achieved many victories with less man power, and older military equipment, than his enemies.

He was not only a general and extraordinary tactic, but he was also a poet and self-taught painter.

• Signum laudis
• Order of White Eagle
• Order of Star of Karađorđe
• Order of Saint Sava

He died because of consequences of a stroke. On his last journey from Unec to Maribor, big crowd escorted him to his last resting place. He was buried with high honors.

I admire him, because of his brave actions, extraordinary thinking and patriotism. He is important to me because if it wouldn't be him, I would live in another country and I wouldn't have a hero that would be worth to write about.