[2] On his orders, his ally Michael the Brave, who ruled Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia, was assassinated on 9 August 1601, a few days after the common victory at the Battle of Guruslău, for trying to turn against Rudolf II.

[9] He was the son of Demetrius Basta, an Albanian Epirote who had fled the Ottoman conquest of the region to Italy, where he served the Spanish Empire.

[12][13] He began his military career in Flanders, where the young officer impressed Don John of Austria, and gained the governorship of Nivelles.

When the Catholics, in 1589, marched to retake Paris, it was the cavalry led by Basta who rescued the back of the Spanish army from the sudden attack of Henry of Navarre.

He was tasked with ensuring communications between Rouen and the Netherlands, which was massively threatened by the French army, and then protecting the retreat of the Spaniards after the injury of Alexander Farnese in Caudebec.

Rudolph II named Basta general of his light cavalry and made him knight of the Order of the Golden Spur on February 16, 1598.

Following the murder of Michael and his victory over Báthory, Basta became military commander of Transylvania, but his cruelty led to public discontent.

Following Papal and Imperial policy, Calvinist Hungarians and Székelys, Orthodox Wallachians and Serbs, and Lutheran Saxons were subject to any kind of abuse.

At that time Rudolf II decided to recall him from command, leading to Basta's departure from Transylvania and put him in charge to fight against the Ottomans of West Hungary(1604).

After some months Rudolph called him back to defend at first the mine towns (e.g. Besztercebánya) in Upper-Hungary,[23] Moravia and Austria against Bocskai's looting armies.

However, during his early years, Basta experimented with his personal method of "mobile sculptures", which were small and numerous groups of cavalrymen who pushed in the forefront of the army, so as to create a complete "crown" in continuous movement; The method assured the army of sudden destructive capability and gave fruit in the French countryside.

Interesting remarks are made by Basta regarding the choice of cavalry officers to be performed not according to the nobility titles, but on a more meritocratic internship through the various degrees of the militia.

The Blunderbuss should be equipped with an arbutus to carry with shoulder strap and a short sword, which allows to hit the tip, more timely and more effectively, according to the dictation of the Italian school, rather than cutting.

It has to carry out topographic surveys and deal with all the logistical problems with the help of a "forier major", also providing the surveillance system for the equinox.

Finally, Basta deals with the tactical organization of light cavalry in combat, recommending the crescent moon, rather than the manipulative ones, in lines, in chessboard, in columns.