Austrian General Burns Skopje to Stop Cholera: Then Dies of It
General Piccolomini ordered Skopje burned to stop a cholera outbreak spreading through his Austrian army. Soldiers torched the city systematically, neighborhood by neighborhood. Thousands of civilians fled into the mountains. Piccolomini stayed to oversee the operation. He contracted cholera within days and died in his tent. The fire worked—the epidemic stopped at Skopje. The city rebuilt. Piccolomini was buried in Vienna. Nobody named anything after him.
October 26, 1689
337 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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