Historical question about battles

The Battle of Thermopylae is a classic and one of the most famous battles in history. Like Agincourt, it was fought on a fairly narrow battlefield.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae

It also inspired one of the most famous epitaphs in history:

Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by,
that here obedient to their laws we lie.

The Battle of Bannockburn - when proud Edward's army was sent home to think again.

Naturally, some believe that the Knight's Templars were involved.

I'll reserve judgement. While having a good snigger heh heh.

Regards

Whacko

You can't get any better example of being outnumbered than the battle of Thermopylae. It's the one "300" was based on. Though you should look up a little about the greek and persian sides as well, while 300 was a great action flick, the only historically correct facts in the movie can be summarized as: Greeks led by Leonidas fought Persians led by Xerxes I at Thermopylae and lost.

The Battle of Watling street is another good example, 10.000 romans vs. 50.000-230.000 (depending on estimate, 50k is probably closer) britons, and the romans not only kicked their asses, they also did that with (according to tacitus) negligible losses (~500).

The Battle of Alesia is another good example of at least 3:1 odds.

Scottish history: The Battle of Flodden, Solway Moss, etc

American Revolution, Southern Department, Battle of the Cowpens, where Loyalist forces under Tarleton ran up against an outgunned tactical genius named Daniel Morgan and got their asses kicked. Along with the Battle of Kings Mountain, it ultimately contributed to Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown.
Stan

Stanmiller said:

American Revolution, Southern Department, Battle of the Cowpens, where Loyalist forces under Tarleton ran up against an outgunned tactical genius named Daniel Morgan and got their asses kicked. Along with the Battle of Kings Mountain, it ultimately contributed to Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown.
Stan

Click to expand...

Strangely enough, we have a member here who is originally from Cowpens, and who just happens to be my pretend little sister.

I'm not sure if it had a name, as it wasn't truly a 'battle' but a few dozen Canadian boys and Indians captured several hundred American soldiers during the war of 1812 by walking circles past the American scouts. The scouts reported the enemy force had them badly outnumbered and the commander surrendered.

Duchessmary said:

Scottish history: The Battle of Flodden, Solway Moss, etc

Click to expand...

Someone I know reasonably well has a recent book out on Flodden entitled 'Flodden: A Scottish Tragedy' The book has been very favourably reviewed

Rorkes drift, 152 vs 4 thousand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rorke%27s_Drift

Battle of crécy, 9 thousand against 40 thousand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Crécy


The entire Winter war of -39. The Soviet forces had three times as many soldiers as the Finns, 30 times as many aircraft, and a hundred times as many tanks. The finns fought every single battle outnumbered, outgunned and with the enemy controlling the sky.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_war



Battle of Abu Klea, 1,4 thousand against 13 thousand.
http://www.britishbattles.com/egypt-1882/abu-klea.htm
See also "Fuzzy-Wuzzy" by Kipling:

.So 'ere's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your 'ome in the Soudan;
.You're a pore benighted 'eathen but a first-class fightin' man;
.An' 'ere's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, with your 'ayrick 'ead of 'air -
..You big black boundin' beggar - for you broke a British square!

Battle of Camarón, 65 vs. 2000
Don't know how i managed to forget to include this one in the first post.

Gettysburg. Probably the most heavily documented battle in U.S. history.

You can't do better IMO than to snag a copy of Caesar's Gallic Wars. You can learn all aspects of his battles against the Germanic and Gallic tribes on various types of terrains, with different kinds of odds and under different leaders. The eighth book wasn't written by Caesar, and the seventh book which deals with the battle against Vercingetorix is probably the most famous, but there's valuable information and strategy to be found in all of them.

Lhun said:

Battle of Camarón, 65 vs. 2000
Don't know how i managed to forget to include this one in the first post.

Click to expand...

Is it really "along the lines of Agincourt" if the weaker side is completely annihilated?

That's more along the lines of Iwo Jima imho.

Depends on what's meant by "along the lines". The result wasn't similar of course.

Battle of Muret, 1213, during the Albigensian Crusade: Simon de Montfort, with about 900 knights, completely defeats Pedro II of Aragon, who had around 30,000 troops. Among the dead was King Pedro.

The Battle of Cannae in 216 BC. Hannibals forces were 'only' outnumbered 2:1, but it was fought on an open field, no ambush! Thus it's simply astonishing how he managed to kill almost all the Romans with not even losing half his men.

The siege of Malta, not a single battle, technically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malta_(1565)

KQ800 said:

Rorkes drift, 152 vs 4 thousand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rorke's_Drift

Click to expand...

I recommend watching the film Zulu for this one. Not completely accurate, but closer than most war films, and well done overall. Donald Morris' The Washing of the Spears is the best book on the Zulu Wars I've been able to find.

we had exchange students and teachers from russia in our school one semester. they were from a city called veronezh in the ussr. the teachers were the children of people who fought the invading germans during ww2 on the banks of the don. they told some horrific war stories. i think that the odds were greatly in the german's favor but the russians managed to derail them at veronezh. --s6

Hmm, The Old Guard at Waterloo deserves a look by the thread's starter, as well as the Battle of the Alamo. If we're going to concentrate on the American continents then I'd be an idiot to omit The Battle of Camerone (that famous day in French Foreign Legion history!). I suppose the Battle of Little Big Horn would also fit the criteria, but that an ending that may not be 100% what the OP's looking for. Rorke's Drift has been mentioned, but not Isandhlwana interestingly enough. Can't forget Rorke's Drift raison d'être, can we?

Moving to a more contemporary era, the World War II defense of Wake Atoll deserves a look over. Equally, the defense of Betio Island and Tarawa Atoll merit a once-over (also, Corridor). The Americans also did a smashing job with the defense of Bastogne and the famous reply "Nuts" sparks the imagination.

Last, but certainly not least, is the defense of the Arnhem Bridge. It was made into a smashing movie "A Bridge to Far" (which I suggest everyone watch) and has become ingrained into American culture better than any other contemporary battle. It's definitely one of the best examples wanted by the topic thread.

Fokker Aeroplanbau said:

Can't forget Rorke's Drift raison d'être, can we?

Click to expand...

For that matter, the antecedent to Hastings deserves note. Stamford Bridge was a brilliant victory over the Vikings, but the loss of so many of Harold Godwinson's best troops went a long way towards costing him a win at Hastings.

How could I forget Alesia? Julius Caesar seiging and beseiged, starving Vercingetorix out while holding off 120,000 Gauls from outside his fortifications.