Favourite Historic Battle

[Aegisthis The Infantryman]

You read the title. So... what.

For me it's probably Gaugamela. It was a great victory for Macedon.
Thermopylae comes pretty close. It was a very close and the spartans were way outnumbered. They were only slightly defeated... because of treachery.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I would say Thermopylae for the BCE period, it was a great Spartan victory and yet they were all killed. A great battle to analyze and argue over who won.

[Craterus]

To be honest, I don't know. Thermopylae and Guagamela would be near the top.

Carrhae is good also. Stupid Romans.

[RabidGibbon]

Being English its compulsary to say Agincourt, but in the ancient world some fascinating battles that haven't been mentioned are Cannae, Leuctra and the Athenian seige of Syracuse during the Peloponnesian war.

[The Scourge]

Siege of Malta.
Does that count as a battle?
Anyway read a book about it a while back ,talk about intense.

[ShadesWolf]

Agincourt, followed by Poitiers and then Crecy.

[xemitg]

Actually Agincourt, has my vote too. Whenever an army wins when its outnumbered by over 3 to 1, I think its pretty cool.

[TheSilverKnight]

Aspern-Essling or Wagram
Great battles that really tested Napoleon's skills after being the dominant figure in Europe, and Archduke Karl did a great job in those battles as well. I salute you, Austria!

[Dâriûsh]

The following three battles have earned my interest in the last few months:


The Battle of Carrhae (53 BC). Iranian Parthians crush the Romans.

The Battle of Kadisiya (or Qadisiyya, in AD 624) Where the Persians are defeated by the Islamic Arabs.

The Battle of Ain Jalut (in AD 1260). The Mamluks rout the Mongols.

[King Henry V]

Qubec in 1759 was a pretty astounding victory, with the English climbing up the cliifs and reform on the plains of Abraham before the French even woke up! Must've been quite a surprise to see an enemy army ready to attack as soon as you woke up. But of course, since I am the victor of Agincourt I must say that it was the greatest victory of all time.

[Templar Knight]

My five favourite battles would be:

Battle of Bannockburn - 1314 (1st Scottish War of Independance)
Battle of leipzig - 1813 (Napoleonic Wars)
Battle of the Alma - 1854 (Crimean War)
Battle of Inverlochy - 1645 (English Civil War, Civil War in Scotland)
Battle of Agincourt - 1415 (Hundred Years War)

[Spartakus]

Hah...there are so many to pick from, as one of my teachers used to say; "a brick wall of choices".

The various battles of the Normans rank high, especially Civitate (1053 AD), where they decimated the Papal forces despite their disadvantage in numbers. Of course, Hastings is also one of the Norman greats, though a far more close-run affair than the slaughter in Italy. In my opinion the Anglo-Saxons won a moral victory, them having already repulsed the invading Norwegians at Stamford Bridge and still being capable of troubling the Normans. All in all a wonderfully bloody year, 1066.

Fascinating also are the battles in which primitive, barbarian tribes overcome a greater, civilized foe. The Teutoborg Forest (9 AD) and Adrianople (378 AD) comes to mind.

[Orda Khan]

Kalka river......Jebe and Subedei in their finest hour

.......Orda

[ah_dut]

The Kursk in terms of pure tank numbers

[Afonso I of Portugal]

Well, beeing Portuguese i will consider some battles of the "Reconquista" of the Iberic Peninsula (Portugal and Spain) from the muslims:

711 - Battle Of Guadalete (Muslims defeat Visigothic Kingdom and founded the Emirate Of Cordova)
718 - Battle Of Covadonga (Kingdom of Asturias defeat the Emirate Of Cordova)
1086 - Battle Of Sagrajas or Zalaca (Almoravid Empire defeat Castile and Leon)
1108 - Battle Of Uclés (Almoravid Empire defeat Castile and Leon)
1120 - Battle Of Cutunda (Aragon defeat Almoravid Empire)
1139 - Battle Of Ourique (Portugal defeat Almoravid Empire)
1195 - Battle Of Alarcos (Almohad Empire defeat Castile and Leon)
1212 - Battle Of Las Navas de Tolosa (Christian Coalition Of Castile, Portugal, Navarre and Aragon defeat Almohad Empire and begining their colapse)

[The Wizard]

The following three battles have earned my interest in the last few months:


The Battle of Carrhae (53 BC). Iranian Parthians crush the Romans.

The Battle of Kadisiya (or Qadisiyya, in AD 624) Where the Persians are defeated by the Islamic Arabs.

The Battle of Ain Jalut (in AD 1260). The Mamluks rout the Mongols.

Why Aïn Jalut? It was a battle of a huge Mamluk army vs the Mongol vanguard... or was that rear guard? Anyways, the Mongols were hugely outnumbered, fielding a token force vs. probably all the forces of the Mamluk sultanate. It was a victory against nothing. It meant nothing. Except the defeat of a rear guard lagging behind some 300 kilometers.

Personally some of my favorite battles are:

• Yarmuq, 636, where Khalid ibn Whalid overpowers the Roman forces. Even if Khalid only won by the switching of sides of the Ghassanids, still an important and interesting battle.
• Ankara, 1402, where Timur-i-Lenk faces off against Beyazid Yıldırım. Timur could have lost it all there, stategically isolated as he was. And at the beginning of the battle it seemed he would, but then he pulled it off to win. Truly shows off Timur's tactical skill. Perhaps not so much as Kunduzcha against Toqtamish of the Golden Horde, but Ankara's importance makes it better than Kunduzcha to me.
• Shahrazoor, 238, where the kingdom of Hathra, ruled by an Arab dynasty, located in Assyria, defeated the army of the Sassanid shahanshah Shapur (what an alliteration!). An amazing feat seeing as Ardashir and his son were excellent generals who defeated a web of enemies spun around them by the Arsacids, emerging soundly victorious.
• Legnica and Mohí, 1241, two battles which show not only Mongol tactical finesse and prowess, but also Subedei's amazing strategical insight (and tactical, if you're looking at Mohí only).
• Nineveh, 627, where Heraklios defeated the Sassanid army, ending the Sassanid invasion of Asian Rome. The best part of the battle is actually before it -- the maid-o-maid (single combat; does the term still survive in modern Persian?) between the Persian commander Razatis and the East Roman basileios Heraklios!
• And finally Toulouse, 821. Eudes d'Aquitaine leads my ancestors to stop the Islamic invasion of Europe. With an inferior force he crushed the armies of the unendingly expansive world power that the Caliphate was at the time. Got to have a bit of familial pride.

~Wiz

[Big_John]

i like 'em all!

even though i've never read a particularly detailed or dramatic telling of it, i've always liked megiddo (thutmose III defeating rebellious kadesh, 15 may, 1479 b.c. iirc).

[Duke of Gloucester]

Probably out of place on a discussion board linked to land fighting, but my favourites include the famous Napoleonic naval battles: Cape St Vincent, the Nile and Trafalgar. I have immense admiration for the leadership and fighting qualities of Nelson (and his poetic ability to die at the right time).

[The Wizard]

Talking about naval battles, I highly prefer the Raid on the Medway...



~Wiz

[caesar44]

agincourt !
6,000 english "soldiers" against 20,000 french aristocrats , longbows against heavy cavalry - what a battle !!
one nobel french surviver wrote in his diary that the sky turn black when the english arrows came down

[Brenus]

Just to annoy my English Friends, battles during the 100 years war (answer to Crécy, Poitier and Azincourt):


Montargis 1427
French Commanders: Dunnis and La Hire
English commander: Warwick
Casualties:
French: Unknown, English: 1500 killed, 500 prisoners


Formigny 1450:
French Commander: Clermont and Richmont
English commander: Kyrielle
Casualties: French 200, English 3774,
1st use of Artillery: The answer to the long bows….


Castillon 1453:
French commanders: Jean Burreau and Jean de Blois Penthievre
English Commander: John Talbot
Casualties: French 100, English: 4000 (mostly captured wounded. The French didn’t slaughter them and were kept prisoners).


The Last battle of the 100 Years War
THE FRENCH WON THE WAR.

[King Henry V]

Yeah, yeah, so you won a few piddling skirmishes after my death........England won the war, but lost the peace.

[Dâriûsh]

Why Aïn Jalut? It was a battle of a huge Mamluk army vs the Mongol vanguard... or was that rear guard? Anyways, the Mongols were hugely outnumbered, fielding a token force vs. probably all the forces of the Mamluk sultanate. It was a victory against nothing. It meant nothing. Except the defeat of a rear guard lagging behind some 300 kilometers.

It was an important battle in many ways. Primarily because it gave rise to future Sultan Baibars and secured the Mameluke Sultanate another two-and-a-half centuries of rule. Also, had Egypt too fallen to the Mongols, it could quite possibly have meant the death-blow to Islam, furthermore it would have provided the Mongols with the opportunity to march across Northern Africa. And I gather that a Mongol invasion of Spain could have had severe consequences for Christian Europe. Merely speculation, I know, but interesting nonetheless.

Nineveh, 627, where Heraklios defeated the Sassanid army, ending the Sassanid invasion of Asian Rome. The best part of the battle is actually before it -- the maid-o-maid (single combat; does the term still survive in modern Persian?) between the Persian commander Razatis and the East Roman basileios Heraklios!

Maid-o-Maid is in Middle Persian. In Fârsi it is Mard-o-Mard.

[The Wizard]

It was an important battle in many ways. Primarily because it gave rise to future Sultan Baibars and secured the Mameluke Sultanate another two-and-a-half centuries of rule. Also, had Egypt too fallen to the Mongols, it could quite possibly have meant the death-blow to Islam, furthermore it would have provided the Mongols with the opportunity to march across Northern Africa. And I gather that a Mongol invasion of Spain could have had severe consequences for Christian Europe. Merely speculation, I know, but interesting nonetheless.

Your first points are valid, and something I hadn't thought of before.

But do remember that by the time Aïn Jalut took place, Hulagu had already withdrawn his main forces from Syria. What Baibars faced was nothing but a token force left behind by Hulagu, perhaps in the hope that the Mamluks would be too scared of the Mongols' reputation to do anything against them. 120000 men versus only 25000, of which only 15000 were Mongols.

Hulagu had no immediate plans anymore to take on the Mamluks -- he was surrounded and very far from any support, and that with a very slow-moving Mongolian army. He, like Subedei and Batu before him, but this time out of strategical reasons rather than purely formal ones, decided to withdraw to what he had previously conquered to consolidate his ulu.

Maid-o-Maid is in Middle Persian. In Fârsi it is Mard-o-Mard.

Interesting. Just goes to show you how much of the old language is preserved in modern Fârsi. I hear that's because Firdausi's Shahnama has such an immense influence on Fârsi?



~Wiz

[Lazul]

Id say Kurska and Thermopylae


and... gha!, need help, there was this Huge battles between the Mongols and the Poles during the mongol invasion of europe. It was more or less a devastating defeat for the poles since the mongols used their hit and run over and over without hardly loosing any men.

[The Wizard]

Legnica.

It wasn't that large -- 30000 Poles facing off against 20000 Mongols.



~Wiz

[edyzmedieval]

One of my favourites is the Battle of Rovine (Mircea The Old, Voievode of Wallachia against the Turks).....The Romanians seriously outnumbered at outmatched....It was like less than 20.000 Romanians against more than 60.000-70.000 turkish Sipahis and Jannisaries....Great battle....

Also, from ancient times, Thermopylae, Salamina....

Medieval times I would select Constantinople, Agincourt, Tannenberg , Marienburg

Modern times: Kursk, El Alamein , Malta , Midway........

[Dâriûsh]

Interesting. Just goes to show you how much of the old language is preserved in modern Fârsi. I hear that's because Firdausi's Shahnama has such an immense influence on Fârsi?

The Shahnameh is very important to Fârsi. Alas, I lack the necessary insight into western literature to make a suitable comparison.



I know that this is off-topic, and for that I apologize.

[tibilicus]

Malta, Turks tried to take Malta but left for no reson at all right? Or am i wrong?

[PittBull260]

The Battle of Ain Jalut (in AD 1260). The Mamluks rout the Mongols.

somebody actually ROUTED a mongol army in the 1200s?? damn impressive :)

i'd like to learn more about this battle
the numbers, who had a larger army etc.