The Modern Military-professional Interpretation of Zrínyi's Oeuvre: Géza Perjés's Zrínyi-picture

Abstract

The study presents the changes of Géza Perjés's Zrínyi-picture, the main elements of his methods of military history, the controversial issues raised in this connection and, above all, the results that provide a permanent place for Perjés' works in the Zrínyi literature.
    Zrínyi was Géza Perjés's most beloved hero, with whom he dealt the most. For almost fifty years between 1955 and 2003, he wrote 25 writings to Zrínyi. The first and second editions of the Zrínyi Miklós and Age Monograph (1965, 2002) were the highlights of Zrínyi's interpretation. Perjés’s Zrínyi-picture was based on novel theoretical foundations (classics of 17th-20th century military science, game and decision theory, etc.), methodology (statistical methods, quantification, logical reconstruction). All these had a powerful canon-shaping effect on the Zrínyi-picture.