We’re so used to pop culture providing stories of ragtag bands of brothers with lowest-bidder equipment overcoming vast legions with sophisticated weaponry that we can lose sight of just how rare those situations are. Plenty of articles have been devoted to that subject, and way too many give the ending away in the title that the outnumbered army will win. Not this time. Only the biggest war buffs won’t be unfamiliar with at least a few battles featured here, so the suspense will be there again whether the underdogs pulled it off or whether the numbers, weapons, and equipment carried the day. 

10. Battle of Leipzig

This battle has been largely overlooked by historical summaries of the Napoleonic Wars even though it was one of the most momentous battles of the era and in many ways the largest battle on the continent of that century. In 1813, Napoleon Bonaparte’s Le Grand Armee invaded Prussia (modern Germany) to reassert his dominance of the continent despite the disasters of 1812 in Russia and Spain. However Allied armies converged to cut off his supply and communication lines with France, and Napoleon was forced to concentrate his forces at Leipzig. October 16 when the battle commenced Napoleon had 198,000 troops and 700 cannons, the largest force he ever commanded in a single battle. However, he was facing the combined armies of Prussia, Austria, and Russia, which totaled nearly 400,000 and 1,500 artillery pieces. 

Napoleon’s only hope was his classic “divide and conquer” technique, and on the first day the French used this with counterattacks against the Austrian and Prussian armies, but the approach of other troops divided Napoleon’s attention and he was unable to neutralize either army. From there, it was only a matter of time as the allies ground down Le Grand Armee from all directions, neutralizing all the French cavalry counterattacks with their mounted troops. On October 18, the French began to retreat across a bridge on the Elster River, and unfortunately, the bridge was destroyed well before the last troops had crossed, leaving tens of thousands to either be cut to pieces or drowned. The French suffered 73,000 casualties to the enemy’s 54,000 and lost half their artillery pieces. The battle ruined Napoleon’s ability to wage war, and even before the Battle of Waterloo, the French would strategically be so hopelessly outnumbered that Napoleon’s days as Emperor of France would inevitably end with his ouster rather than death or retirement. 

9. Outpost Harry

By 1953, the Korean War had ground down into a permanent stalemate, including at the UN coalition Outpost Harry in the heart of the Koreas, sixty miles to the north of Seoul. On June 10, the 74th Division of the People’s Volunteer Army began a bombardment that launched 88,000 shells on the person defenders, then with howitzer support began an attack on K Company, one of five companies that would defend Outpost Harry (four were America, one was Greek). While Outpost Harry at 1,280 feet enjoyed a significant advantage of elevation, it also was a drawback in that it made it harder to keep it supplied and also forced the UN forces to only deploy one company at a time. 

The battle would rage for eight days, with the defenders forced to risk dropping flaming 55-gallon drums of napalm on the attackers. Despite heavy losses, the Chinese troops displayed considerable courage, and many times the defenders had to resort to hand-to-hand combat. Sergeant Ola Mizes alone was credited with killing 65 attackers. On June 18, 1953, the 74th Division ceased attacks, having suffered 4,000 casualties and being designated a no longer functioning unit. The defenders had suffered 200 killed or missing. Arguably, it was all for nothing as a ceasefire that was generally regarded as the end of the Korean War was signed only fifteen days later.   

8. Battle of Fraustadt

In 1706, a Swedish army of about 9,400 was confronted by a Polish-Russian army of roughly 20,000 in what’s now western Poland. Beyond the numerical superiority, the Allied army under Johann Schulenberg had 32 artillery pieces while the Swedish didn’t have any. Nevertheless, the Swedish commander Carl Rehnskiöld decided fortune would favor the bold and positioned his troops to make a pincer attack. 

Rehnskiöld was in an unusual position where his distrust of new technology worked to his advantage. While conventional wisdom held that guns and cannons would be the key to victory, in 1706 had not been fully developed to the extent that they would chew up enemy armies as they did in the 19th Century. So firearms were often so inaccurate that nervous ranks of troops could fire a volley and barely hit anyone. At Fraustadt, the Swedish troops were instructed to aggressively charge the enemy instead of stopping to reload, many not even having an opportunity to fire a shot. This gave the Poles and Russians only time to fire a volley before the enemy was upon them with the bayonet and in many cases with pikes. In the end, the battle was ended in a very short time with the Swedes suffering only about 1,500 to their enemy’s 15,000. And yet, by 1721, the Russian Coalition still won the war, signaling the decline of the Swedish Empire in the Baltic Region and the rise of the Russian Empire. 

7. Battle of Dybbol

We don’t need to travel far from the site of the previous entry to visit the scene of this battle between the newly united German Empire and its neighbor to the north, Denmark. In March 1864 the Prussian Army marched into the Jutland peninsula and broke through the Danewerk fortifications that the Danes had been heavily banking on to defend the nation. 40,000 Prussians then marched on the fortresses defending Dyobbol with 11,000 Danish troops. The Danes had the ironclad ship Rolf Krake in support of their fortification, which in that era when ironclads were new was legitimately intimidating. 

Unfortunately for the Danes, the Prussians also brought state-of-the-art artillery. They spent weeks battering the Danish defenses and even inflicted casualties on the Rolf Krake, and this was only two years after the famous Merrimac and Monitor had endured dozens of artillery rounds with scarcely a dent during the American Civil War. On April 18, the Prussians launched their attack and broke through the Danish trenches in only 13 minutes, and did not take much longer to shatter the counterattack by the enemy reserves. In total the Danish suffered approximately 3,600 casualties to the Prussian’s roughly 1,300. 

The Battle of Dybbol is especially noteworthy because it was the first time that the Red Cross was present for a battle to monitor for war crimes since the famous Geneva Convention from the year before. They were therefore present to witness the victory that won Prussia the war and signaled the ascension of a German Empire which would cause a lot of trouble for Europe in the next century. 

6. Battle of Iquique

Speaking of ironclads, on May 21, 1879, the Peruvian ironclad Huacar faced the Chilean corvette Esmeralda off the coast of Iquique, Peru. While commander Miguel Seminaro’s vessel was a modern ship equipped with artillery that fired 300-pound rounds, Captain Arturo Prat’s Esmeralda was one of the oldest ships in the Chilean navy, only pressed into service because Chile needed to blockade the Peruvian-Bolivian alliance. 

Almost immediately the Huacar’s crew fired rounds that tore right through the Esmeralda while the corvette’s shells just harmlessly bounced off the iron armor. Prat then essentially used the town of Iquique hostage in a sense by sailing the Esmeralda between the Huacar and the town to dissuade the Peruvians from firing out of fear they might miss and shell the town. This use of the town as a human shield backfired when artillery crews in Iquique fired on the wood ship. Seminaro started ramming the Esmeralda before firing point blank. The Esmeralda’s crew was boldly unwilling to surrender, so the Huacar had to ram it repeatedly until the ship sank, Captain Prat’s dead body being left on the ironclad during an attempted boarding.   

While Esmeralda‘s defeat was hopelessly one-sided, Prat’s courage became highly inspirational for the people of Chile and the date became a national holiday. Furthermore, Chile’s navy was overall larger than the Peru-Bolivian navy and quite capable of getting revenge. On October 9, 1879, the Huacar was shot to pieces by a fleet of six Chilean warships of which two were ironclads and then it was captured. But at least Seminaro had one easy victory to put on his record. 

5. Battle of Rome

While the time when Rome fell to the Visigoths in 410 and 476 to end the Western Roman Empire is covered in the most general overviews of human history, the Italian Wars of the 16th Century are much less taught, such as on May 6, 1527, when the Holy Roman Imperial army under King Charles III attacked. They numbered 34,000. Rome had 5,000 defenders, but only 2,000 were professionals, members of the elite Swiss Guard. The defenders at least had the advantage of artillery, as Charles V’s troops were underfed and he abandoned his cannons to reach the city faster. 

As if the Imperial Army didn’t have enough advantages, a fog bank rolled in which allowed them to reach the city walls in the face of inaccurate artillery and small arms fire. By sheer luck, one of the shots happened to hit and kill Charles III. Bad luck, that is. Without Charles V to offer a moderating force, his hungry, anti-papal troops became unruly mobs of German, Italian, and Spanish troops who showed little mercy to defenders or civilians. Only 42 Swiss Guards survived. Pope Clement VII barely escaped the sack, troops shooting at him as he fled. Rome was so devastated that its population dropped from roughly 55,000 to less than 10,000. They had to content themselves with vengeance with the fact Rome had little food and considerable disease from all the bodies left in the street, which killed many of the invaders. Even today, the Swiss Guard pays tribute to guards who gave their lives for the papacy that day. 

4. Siege of Szigetvar

Imagine being one of the defenders under Count Nikola Zrinski of the Hungarian stronghold on August 2, 1566. There are 2,300 Croatians and Hungarians defending Szigetvar. An Ottoman army of 100,000 has begun to arrive under the command of Sultan Suleiman. Additionally, the Ottomans had 300 cannons. About the only thing the defenders have in their favor is a solidly built wall and moat. Would you feel brave enough to stand up to those odds for even a day?

Over the next month, the Ottomans launched three major attacks in between heavy bombardments. Stuck in place with large numbers as they were, the Ottomans suffered more losses from disease than from combat, most significantly Sultan Suleiman himself. The Sultan’s death was kept secret and the next day the Ottomans stormed the Szigetvár defenses once and for all. Even that cost them greatly since Zrinski had set up explosives to effectively destroy the town and kill many more Ottomans. As a result of the extremely pyrrhic victory, the Ottomans retreated. 

Putting the heroic in a more tragic light, Zrinski and his army’s ultimate sacrifice might not have been necessary. While the Ottoman Army was vast, more than 80,000 Habsburg troops under Emperor Maximilian were spread within striking distance of Szigetvar and had a month to lift the siege. It therefore seems unlikely as some have claimed that if the Suleiman had survived or the stronghold had fallen a little sooner the fate of Eastern Europe hung in the balance when there was such a substantial army ready to face the Ottomans anyway.  

3. Battle of Gate Pa

During the Age of Colonization, there were numerous battles where firepower allowed relatively small European armies to best overwhelming numbers of indigenous soldiers with obsolete weapons, from the Battle of Blood River to Rorke’s Drift. So the situation on April 29, 1864, when the British forces under Lieutenant General David Cameron attacked the fort of Gate Pa in New Zealand was unusual. In addition to possessing heavy artillery, they had 1,700 soldiers to the 250 that the Maori under Rawiri Puhirake had manning their defenses. They had been rebelling against a British land grab. To heighten the disparity, the British had spent days bombarding the defenses and inflicted 15 casualties. 

However, to the surprise of many, the attackers found themselves funneled into tight approaches to Gate Pa, which led to the attack stalling and becoming confused. Then the Maori began picking off the officers until a general rout broke out. They left more than 110 attackers killed or wounded while suffering roughly half that many casualties. Despite their victory, the defenders slipped away that night under cover of darkness. On the way out, one H?ni Te Kiri Karam? provided water to the British wounded. 

The British were desperate for revenge, and defeated the Maori on June 20, 1864, at the follow-up battle of Te Ranga, even though this time the Maori were reinforced to more than 500 troops. While a peace treaty was signed shortly after, it was extremely generous by the standards of the day, including providing food and water for the indigenous people. It seemed that Gate Pa had shaken the confidence of the colonizers more than they were willing to admit. 

2. Battle of Vukovar

The Croatian War of Independence was overshadowed in the eyes of the World by the first Gulf War, the Kosovo War, etc. Yet within it occurred one of the most dramatic conflicts in the past few decades. Vukovar was an eastern village in newly emergent Croatia that in 1991 stood in the path of the Yugoslavian People’s Army, a military body composed of Yugoslavians and Serbians determined to put down the independence movement. Vukovar had roughly 2,000 defenders, of which only 300 were National Guard members, 300 were police, and the rest were civilian volunteers, and only half the civilians had so much as a hunting rifle. Fortunately for them, they had a decent arsenal of rocket launchers. Against that, the invaders had more than 35,000 troops, 400 tanks, and air support. After a prolonged artillery bombardment, the clash began on August 25.

Despite the overwhelming strength of the enemy, the Croatians dragged the battle out for 87 days, despite days when as many as 11,000 explosives were fired into the town. Not only did the Croatians inflict many casualties on the invaders while suffering 1,600 of their own, but they also destroyed more than 110 tanks. In strategic terms, the prolonged stand was invaluable for the rest of Croatia in terms of rallying military forces and inspiring the population while heavily demoralizing the Yugoslavian military. Despite claiming victory, the People’s Army withdrew from Croatia in January 1992, quite a bit like the Ottomans before them. 

The damage to the city lingered far beyond the end of the battle. In the immediate aftermath, tens of thousands of non-Serbian civilians were expelled from the village. For those that remained, all necessities from electricity to sanitation were disrupted and numerous buildings had been leveled, including the hospital. When Croatia regained control, there was harsh treatment in store for Serbian villagers (who’d comprised about a third of the population.) Even decades later, many buildings in Serbian neighborhoods were left unrepaired.  

1. The Zanzibar Coup

On August 25, 1896, the sultan of Zanzibar (an island off the coast of Tanzania in Eastern Africa) died. As Zanzibar was a British colony and the sultan was only a figurehead, the British under Basil Cave thought they could choose Hamud ibn Mohammed as the new sultan. Prince Khalid ibn Barghash had other ideas and on August 26 occupied the royal palace in Stone Town with 1,000 soldiers and 2,000 civilian followers. He also brought in the Zanzibar ship Glasgow, which was a yacht that some cannons had been mounted on, and a four-piece battery of artillery. The British assembled 1,000 troops to oust him, but they turned out to be a formality as the fact there were five British warships were within bombarding range of the Prince’s forces. They gave the Zanzibar forces a day to surrender, although he was waiting for official authorization from London. The Prince dismissed it as a bluff.  

The next day, the warships revealed definitively that they had not been bluffing. The Glasgow demonstrated why yachts are not conventional warships by sinking quickly, and the palace burned to the ground. 500 casualties were inflicted between the Zanzibar land and fleet, with only a single British sailor being injured. Accounts vary on how long it was before the Prince surrendered, but every version put it well under an hour. Despite his brief yet bloody stand, the Prince himself was smuggled away to German East Africa, where he remained free until 1916 when the British invaded the German colony and captured him. He was sent to Saint Helena. Unlike Napoleon before him, he was allowed to return home and live out the rest of his days until 1927 as possibly the most quickly defeated national leader in world history.  

Dustin Koski co-wrote Return of the Living, the strange and hilarious story of the sighting of the first living thing after Earth has only been occupied by ghosts for centuries!

Some battles echo throughout history. But while most people have heard of Waterloo or Stalingrad, plenty of other decisive confrontations have been all but forgotten. Here are 10 such battles that changed the course of history.

10Battle Of The Delta

From 1276 to 1178 BC, the ancient Mediterranean world was terrorized by the mysterious Sea People. Although they are often referred to as pirates or raiders, many historians now believe that the Sea People represented a major population movement fleeing from the famine and turmoil that contributed to the Late Bronze Age collapse.

The Sea People overran the mighty Hittite Empire and other regions of the ancient world. After defeating the Hittites, they turned toward Egypt. Rameses III met the invaders at the Battle of the Delta.

Aware that the Sea People had the advantage on the open ocean, Rameses allowed them to enter the Nile Delta. There, the Egyptian navy attacked, using grappling hooks to snare the enemy ships while archers on the shore raked them with waves of arrows. Victory was total, and the Egyptians avoided the fate of the Hittites.

9Battle Of Caudine Forks

In 321 BC, the Battle of Caudine Forks produced almost no casualties, which is precisely why it was so decisive. The Romans were expanding into southern Italy when the Samnites lured the Roman army into a narrow valley. With both ends of the valley blocked and the Samnites on the high ground, the Romans had to surrender.

According to Livy, the Samnites sent home for instructions. The response came back to let the Romans go with no conditions. Astonished, the Samnites queried the instructions. This time, the response said to slaughter the Romans to the last man. An elder eventually cleared up the confusion, explaining that the Samnites could earn the Romans’ gratitude or kill them all. Anything else would be disastrous.

The Samnite army didn’t listen. They forced the Roman consuls to sign a humiliating peace treaty in return for safe passage home. Of course, the Romans immediately repudiated the peace treaty and sent their army back against the Samnites. They eventually won, and Rome went on to dominate the ancient world.

8Battle Of The Camel

In the years after the death of Muhammad, the Muslims were united and achieved great feats. They were led by the caliphs, Muhammad’s successors. However, in 656, the third caliph, Uthman, was assassinated and replaced with Muhammad’s son-in-law Ali.

Muhammad’s wife Aisha was on her way to Medina when she heard the news. At once, she returned to Mecca and consulted with the prophet’s companions Talhah and Zubayr. The trio decided to oppose Ali and raised an army that fought Ali’s forces in the Battle of the Camel, named because the fight raged thickest around Aisha’s camel.

Ali’s forces won, and Talhah and Zubayr were killed. Of course, nobody touched the prophet’s wife and Aisha was sent to live peacefully in Medina. However, the battle marked the beginning of serious warfare between Muslims and a major split soon occurred between Shia and Sunni Islam.

7Battle Of Talas River

While the Abbasid Caliphate was expanding east into Central Asia, the Chinese Tang dynasty was expanding west into the same region. Local rulers allied with the Chinese for protection from the Arabs and vice versa. Something had to give, and the two sides faced off in AD 751 at the Talas River.

The Tang forces, led by Korean general Gao Xianzhi, seemed to have the upper hand. But they were betrayed by their Qarluq allies, who switched sides and attacked the Chinese from behind, shattering their army.

As a direct result of the battle, the Muslims gained control of Central Asia, including the Silk Road. They also learned how to make paper from Chinese prisoners. Meanwhile, the defeat helped spark the major An Lushan Rebellion in China.

6The Battle With The Naimans

Before the Mongols conquered Asia in the early 13th century, Genghis Khan had to conquer the Mongols. His chief rival was his childhood friend Jamukha, who built a formidable coalition to oppose Genghis. The conflict between them lasted for years, with Genghis at times reduced to a handful of followers. Finally, Jamukha retreated to the territory of the Naiman tribe.

Genghis followed, but his army arrived exhausted and outnumbered by the Naimans. To disguise his numbers, Genghis ordered his men to each light multiple campfires, making it seem like a great host had camped for the night. When battle was joined, the Naimans broke and fled. Jamukha was soon captured, and Genghis became the unchallenged ruler of Mongolia.

5Battle Of Diu

When the Portuguese arrived in the Indian Ocean, they didn’t go unchallenged. In 1509, a coalition of Egyptians, Gujaratis, and Calicut assembled a formidable fleet and defeated a Portuguese force, killing its commander, Lourenco de Almeida.

Lourenco’s father was Francisco de Almeida, who had just been replaced as the Portuguese viceroy. Determined to avenge his son, Francisco imprisoned his successor and set sail with the Portuguese fleet.

He encountered the allies at Diu, where he used the superior Portuguese cannons to destroy their fleet from a distance, filling the ocean with corpses. European control of the eastern trade routes was guaranteed.

4Battle Of Lima

The greatest challenge to the Spanish conquest of the Inca came in 1536 when Spain’s puppet Inca emperor, Manco Inca, dramatically escaped and orchestrated a huge rebellion. Manco attacked Cuzco with at least 50,000 men.

While he besieged the city, he sent his general, Quiso Yupanqui, to deal with Francisco Pizarro, who was with the main body of Spanish troops in Lima. Pizarro had sent reinforcements to Cuzco, but Yupanqui trapped them in a gorge and annihilated them in a rockslide. Then he wiped out a second relief column at Parcos. In June, he overran the city of Jauja and wiped out the Spanish garrison to the last man.

But Yupanqui, growing overconfident, made a fatal mistake. He left the mountains to attack Pizarro in Lima. On the flat, coastal plains around the city, Pizarro’s cavalry could break the Inca ranks. The defeat forced Manco to abandon the siege of Cuzco, and the power of the Inca never truly recovered.

3Battle Of Orel

When the Bolsheviks took power in Russia in October 1918, it seemed unlikely that they would hang on for long as anticommunist “White” armies mustered in the north, south, and east. In an incredible feat of organization, Leon Trotsky successfully built the Red Army into an effective fighting force and pushed back Admiral Kolchak’s attack from Siberia.

However, in 1919, General Anton Denikin pushed north with the goal of taking Moscow. At the same time, General Nikolai Yudenich led 17,000 men out of Estonia, reaching the suburbs of Petrograd (St. Petersburg). Lenin wanted to abandon Petrograd, but Trotsky and Stalin talked him out of it.

Instead, the Bolsheviks made a deal with Nestor Makhno’s anarchist “Black Army,” which attacked Denikin’s rearguard and disrupted his supply lines. When Denikin’s forces reached Orel, just 400 kilometers (250 mi) from Moscow, the Bolsheviks counterattacked.

Overstretched and undersupplied, Denikin’s forces collapsed. Meanwhile, Yudenich was defeated outside Petrograd. The Whites never threatened the Russian heartland again.

2Battle Of Warsaw

The Polish-Soviet War broke out after World War I when the borders of Eastern Europe were still unclear. Starting as a Polish land grab, it soon grew into something more serious as a Soviet counterattack pushed into Poland.

Lenin believed that the moment was right to spread revolution throughout Europe. He ordered his forces to push through Poland to the German border, where they would be positioned to support the powerful German Communist Party.

Radical dockworkers in Germany and Britain blocked military supplies destined for Poland. Marshal Tukhachevsky declared that “over the dead body of Poland lies the way to world revolution. Let us bring peace and happiness to the working people by bayonet. To the West!”

The Soviets were 25 kilometers (15 mi) outside Warsaw when the Poles launched a daring counterattack, which broke through the Soviet lines. Before long, the Red Army had been completely routed. Communist expansion was checked, with significant implications for European history.

1First Battle Of Saigon

The Binh Xuyen was a Vietnamese crime syndicate that rose to power after making a deal with the French colonial authorities to betray or murder the communist agents operating in Saigon. In return, the French officially gave the gangsters control of Saigon’s police.

By the 1950s, the Binh Xuyen was the richest and most powerful criminal organization in Asia. They controlled Vietnam’s opium exports and ran the largest casino and brothel in the world. There was serious talk of their leader becoming prime minister.

But then the communists won the battle of Dien Bien Phu, forcing the French to pull out of Vietnam. They were replaced by the Americans, who supported Ngo Dinh Diem as prime minister.

However, Diem was merely a figurehead since the French still controlled the Binh Xuyen and armed sects like the Hoa Hao and Cao Dai. In 1955, the CIA bribed the sects away from the French and Diem launched a massive attack on the Binh Xuyen in Saigon.

After a pitched battle lasting one week, the gangsters were defeated. Diem and the Americans took full control of South Vietnam, setting the stage for the conflict to come.

Most battles are only one of many that help to decide the fate of kingdoms and empires. On occasion, however, there is a battle so epic that its outcome can lead to the complete destruction of civilizations, a decline from which they never recover, or their handing over to a greater force. Here are ten ancient battles that ended empires, destroyed armies, and changed history.

10 The Battle Of Muye
1046 BC

The Battle of Muye was fought between the tribes of Zhou against the Shang Dynasty for control over China. The Zhou army consisted of 50,000 skilled soldiers, while the much stronger Shang forces exceeded 530,000, with an additional 170,000 armed slaves. The Shang slaves defected to the Zhou, which greatly demoralized the remaining soldiers, many of whom also defected. The ensuing battle was fierce, and the Shang forces were easily defeated by the better-trained Zhou.

When the battle was over, the Shang Dynasty was destroyed, and the Zhou Dynasty was established. King Di Xin of the Shang Dynasty immolated himself following the defeat, leaving China open for rule by the Zhou. The Zhou Dynasty holds the distinction of being the longest-reigning dynasty in Chinese history.

9 Sicilian Expedition
415–413 BC

As the Peloponnesian War was being fought in Greece, Athens sent an expedition to Syracuse, the most powerful state on the island of Sicily. The expedition began as a light force of 20 ships before being boosted into a naval armada of more than 200 ships with over 10,000 troops. By the time the armada reached Syracuse, the city was already supported by Sparta. The entire fleet and its troops were either killed or surrendered to the Sicilians, resulting in a massive blow to Athenian manpower and morale.

The defeat was so widespread that it became the turning point in the war. It is considered to be the most devastating single loss of any similar expedition in history, and Athens never fully recovered, ensuring Sparta’s victory by the end of the conflict in 404 BC.

8 The Battle Of Changping
262–260 BC

The Battle of Changping was one of the bloodiest battles of China’s Warring States Period. It was fought between the states of Qin and Zhao. The Qin army had a numeric advantage over the Zhao, with the Qin’s force totaling 550,000 men versus Zhao’s 450,000. Nearly all of the Zhao army was killed in the aftermath of the fighting. Approximately 50,000 Zhao were killed in the battle, and an estimated 400,000 were captured and buried alive.

Zhao was unable to recover from the defeat, which only bolstered Qin’s standing among the remaining states, which could not mount a large enough alliance to challenge the Qin. The Warring States period continued for three decades, but the continuous expansion of Qin made the issue of their dominance a certainty. By 221 BC, Qin had successfully unified China.

7 The Battle Of Julu
207 BC

The Battle of Julu was fought between the rebel forces of the insurgent state of Chu and the Qin Dynasty. The rebels amassed a force of between 50,000 to 60,000 men to fight against a Qin army of 200,000. The Chu were commanded by Xiang Yu, who sent his men across the Yellow River with only three days of supplies and no means of procuring more without successfully defeating and pillaging the enemy. What followed were nine bloody engagements that resulted in more than 100,000 Qin deaths.

The crippling defeat forced the Qin commander, General She Jian, to throw himself into a fire rather than surrender. The Chu destroyed the remaining Qin army, leaving 200,000 men as prisoners of war. Not wanting to test their loyalty or the limits of his resources, Xiang Yu had all of the captured Qin soldiers buried alive.

6 The Battle Of Zama
202 BC

The Battle of Zama marked the end of the Second Punic War and resulted in the defeat of Hannibal. Under the command of Scipio, the Romans devised a plan to defeat Hannibal’s war elephants.

Roman skirmishers blew their horns and beat their drums, frightening several of the elephants, which turned and rampaged against the Carthaginian troops. The remaining elephants ran harmlessly through the columns and were easily dispatched. The battle intensified as each line clashed until the Roman cavalry was able to encircle the Carthaginian infantry and win the battle.

Hannibal escaped, though his losses were severe: 20,000 dead and 20,000 more captured. The loss was so devastating to Carthage that they were never able to challenge Rome again.

5 The Battle Of Mobei
119 BC

The Battle of Mobei (or the Battle of the Northern Desert) was a hard-fought military campaign led by the Han Dynasty against the Xiongnu, a nomadic tribe. The Xiongnu were barbarians to the Han, who had maintained a contentious relationship over the years due to the security of their northern borders. Xiongnu strength had increased following the fall of Qin and the Chinese Civil War, but the Han launched an offensive to challenge their strength.

A force of 300,000 men and 140,000 horses attacked a much smaller Xiongu force of 100,000 soldiers and 80,000 horses. The victory was decisive for the Han, but they suffered the loss of most of their horses, which took a toll on their economy.

The Xiongnu suffered a much greater loss and were never able to recover from their defeat. Within a few years, the Xiongnu would be nothing more than a small group of clans.

4 The Siege Of Alesia
52 BC

By September 52 BC, the forces of Julius Caesar were facing a confederation of Gallic tribes commanded by Vercingetorix. In the final engagement between Rome and Gaul, Caesar conducted one of the most tactful sieges in history. With a force of 12 legions (approximately 60,000 men) and 120,000 Gaul allied-auxiliaries, Caesar besieged a Gallic force nearly four times the size of his.

The battle itself is considered to be one of Caesar’s greatest military achievements due to his use of a circumvallation around Alesia. He ordered the construction of numerous, heavily fortified forts to encircle and blockade the city so that he could “starve out” the Gallic forces. His investment paid off, as the Gauls failed to break the Roman defenses despite numerous attempts, further weakening themselves. By the end of the battle, Vercingetorix was surrendered to Caesar. The Siege of Alesia ended Gallic independence from Rome and won a substantial victory for Caesar.

3 The Battle Of Philippi
42 BC

Caesar’s conquest of Gaul created a political crisis in Rome, which lead to civil war. He was soon assassinated by members of the Roman Senate, which sparked a second civil war declared by the Second Triumvirate of Mark Antony and Octavian. The forces of Brutus and Cassius fought their final battle against the Triumvirate at Philippi in 42 BC.

The battle was split into two fronts, which saw Antony face Cassius and Octavian against Brutus. Antony made short work of Cassius and defeated much of his army. Cassius committed suicide on the false report that Brutus’ forces were likewise destroyed, even as those men were forcing their way into Octavian’s legions’ camps. Antony joined Octavian, and the two overwhelmed Brutus, who committed suicide in defeat.

With the last remnants of the old Republic destroyed, the Triumvirate took control of Rome, which soon became a new empire under Caesar Augustus (Octavian).

2 The Battle Of Teutoburg Forest
AD 9

If the Roman Republic and Empire were known for anything, it was their rapid and continuous expansion throughout Europe and Asia. It took mighty armies of unregulated barbarian tribes to put much of this expansion to a final halt in AD 9, after the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. The battle was the result of an ambush made by an alliance of Germanic tribes, who attacked and completely destroyed three Roman legions and their auxiliaries.

The blow was devastating to Roman morale, and despite several successful incursions in the following years, Rome never again attempted to defeat the Germanic tribes north of the Rhine. The Battle of Teutoburg Forest is remembered as one of the worst defeats in Roman history as well as a turning point in their military strategy of northward expansion.

1 The Battle Of Edessa
AD 260

Roman and Persian forces clashed in a devastating defeat for the Romans at the Battle of Edessa in AD 260. Under the command of Emperor Valerian, the Roman Army of 70,000 men attacked the Sassanid forces under the command of Shapur I, king of the kings. The entirety of the Roman army was defeated and captured, including Emperor Valerian—the first time such an event had occurred in Roman history.

Rome never fully recovered from their defeat at Edessa, which had long-lasting impacts on the political climate of the empire. The defeat was one in a long series of crises that afflicted Rome during the third century, which ultimately led to the creation of the Western Roman Empire in 285. Eventually, the Western Roman Empire fell, and Rome continued weakly into the fifth century after the Eastern Roman Empire (aka theByzantine Empire) rose to power in 330.

Ever wondered whether Japanese Samurai could beat Spanish Conquistadors? Or if the Roman Legion could fight an ancient Chinese army, or if an army of War Elephants would stand a chance against modern artillery?

Some of those “who would win” battles that we love to wonder about do not have to be imagined—they have played out in real life. Scattered throughout history, there are moments when fighters and armies that no one would ever have expected to meet, stared each other down across a battlefield. And only one side walked out alive.

10Japanese Samurai vs. Spanish Conquistadors

In 1582, a group of Spanish Conquistadors found themselves face to face with a band of armored, katana-wielding Ronin Samurai.

The Spaniards had been trading in the Philippines when Japanese pirates started raiding the countryside. Determined to protect their trade partners, 40 Spanish men moved out against the Japanese pirates. They spotted an incoming ship, engaged it in battle, and boarded the ship —and there, they found a group of Samurai waiting for them.

The Samurai wielded katanas, backed by Japanese pirates carrying muskets. The Conquistadors had pikemen, backed by Spanish Musketeers. For the first time in history, European pikes clashed with Japanese steel.

Winner: Decisive Spanish Victory

The Samurai did not stand a chance. The Conquistadors had stronger armor that they could not penetrate, and the Musketeers backing them up were better shots, with more reliable weapons. Not only did they beat the Samurai, but the 40 men went on to fight off a fleet of ten Japanese ships commanding thousands of men.

When it ended, the Spanish leader, Juan Pablo de Carrion, threatened to bring over 600 more men if the Japanese did not leave the Filipinos alone. The Japanese, without firing another shot, ran for their lives and stayed as far away from the Philippines as they could.

9War Elephants vs. Artillery

In 1825, a desperate Burmese commander, struggling against the encroach of the British Empire, sent out his best hope against the British artillery: an army of war elephants.

The Burmese commander, Maha Bandula, had just managed to repel a British attack against his base in Danubyu. He had won a rare chance to turn the tide in a war against an army with superior technology, and he took it. Bandula launched a counter-attack, led by his best soldiers, his cavalry, and 17 battle-trained elephants.

In ancient times, it would have been an unstoppable force—but now they were fighting against an army with guns and artillery, in an ultimate battle of the old world against the new.

Winner: Decisive Artillery Victory

The war elephants did not even make it to the enemy lines. As soon as they came close, the Burmese forces were blown away by a hail of rockets and shells. The elephants died before they could do any damage at all, and the cavalry could not even make it into range.

After the battle, the British attacked again and, this time, Bandula and his men had to evacuate. The Burmese fought as hard and as long as they could, but war elephants were simply no match for British artillery.

8Viking Raiders vs. Native American Warriors

When the first Vikings landed in the New World, in the tenth century A.D., they came face-to-face with a native tribe. It did not go well. The two sides scuffled and argued and, in short time, the world saw all-out battles between Vikings and Native Americans.

Thorvald, the son of Erik the Red, got into fights with the locals in Newfoundland, who were likely Inuit. One argument went sour, and Thorvald ended up kidnapping and killing eight people. After that, the Vikings were clear enemies—and Native Americans became determined to chase them off.

Winner: Eventual Native American Victory

One-on-one, a Native American Warrior probably would have lost to a Viking, but they were a bit smarter about it. They chased away Thorvald by taking a hide-covered boat down a fjord, launching a volley of arrows at the Vikings, and then paddling away before they could strike back. The Vikings tried to take cover, but one of the arrows got Thorvald and killed him.

After Thorvald died, the Native Americans managed to chase away the Vikings altogether. They built a catapult and put a Viking town under siege, killing two of the Vikings within and chasing the rest away. Under the threat of constant harassment from Native Americans, the Vikings, in time, gave up and left the New World behind.

7Shaolin Monks vs. Pirates

In 1550, a motley crew of Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese pirates, using Western weapons, found themselves against an unlikely opponent. A group of Shaolin Warrior Monks had stepped down from their monastery—and they were ready to pit their Kung Fu against the pirate’s guns.

The pirates had been ravaging the Ming kingdom for years and, desperate, the Emperor called on a 1000-year-old Shaolin Monastery for help. The monks there were unparalleled masters of Kung-Fu, but they usually fought with staffs, while the pirates had advanced Portuguese guns and cannons. It was a battle of training against technology—whether sheer devotion to martial arts could overpower European weapons.

Winner: Decisive Shaolin Monk Victory

The monks fought the pirates in four battles and won three of them—but the best example is the Battle of Wengjiangag. There, 120 monks faced against 120 pirates—and the monks slaughtered their enemies. The pirates only managed to kill four monks before they were run down and massacred. Nearly every single one of the 120 pirates died, often beaten to death with iron staffs.

6Tiger vs. Lion

The ultimate battle for the King of the Jungle has been fought more than once. In nature, tigers and lions will usually leave each other alone—but pitted before an audience, that can change. Both the Romans and the Indians have had the big cats of the jungle fight before the eyes of a roaring crowd.

The Romans did it first, in the first century A.D., and the Indians copied them in the 19th century. In India, the fight was arranged by the Gaekwad of Baroda, who was so sure that the lion would win that he put down a 37,000 rupee bet.

Winner: Decisive Tiger Victory

Both times, the tiger won—and not even by a small margin. A witness to the Roman fight said, that not only did the tiger kill the lion, but she ripped it to shreds. And, in India, the Gaekwad of Baroda had to pay up his 37,000 rupee bet.

In nature, though, the animals would not have fought. The tiger “attempted nothing of the sort while she lived in the depths of the forest,” the Roman poet Martial wrote after watching the fight, “but since she had been among us, she has acquired great ferocity.”

5The Mongolian Horde vs. European Knights

After the Mongolian Horde had swept through Asia, laying every person who stood in their way into the dust, they did not stop fighting. They pressed on into Europe—and there, went head-to-head with armored European Knights.

The Mongolians fought a whole war against the Europeans, but we will focus on the Battle of Liegnitz in 1241. Here, 70,000 Mongolian warriors, under the command of the grandson of Genghis Khan, brought their army against the Kingdom of Poland and the Knights Templar. Polish knights with lances and broadswords went head-to-head with Mongolian horsemen and their bows and arrows.

Winner: Decisive Mongolian Victory

The Europeans were not ready for Mongolian tactics. The Mongolian horsemen would feign attacks and fake withdrawals, slowly draining their enemies with a barrage of arrows while keeping a safe distance from their swords. The Knights, who were used to just charging and battering whoever was closest, did not know how to deal with it.

The Mongolians had killed 25,000 people before the battle was over. They managed to fill nine sacks full of ears torn off their enemies, and they cut the Polish Duke’s head off and paraded it around on the tip of a spear.

4Warrior Monks vs. Samurai

In 1180, the Japanese Prince Mochihito, after a failed attempt to steal the throne, hid out in a Buddhist temple. An army of samurai warriors was after him, and he had only one hope to stave them off: the temple’s warrior monks.

The samurai charged the temple and attacked, and the monks had to fight them off. These monks were not just using staffs—they had bows, swords, and daggers, but they were up against a whole army of armored samurai.

Winner: Short-Lived Warrior Monk Victory

The Warrior Monks managed to hold them off—and the stories left behind about their victory are so incredible that it is hard to separate fact from fiction. Legend has it that one of the monks stopped an incoming arrow by slicing it in half in mid-air, while another single-handedly killed 26 samurai.

Their victory, though, did not last. Even if they held off the first attack, the samurai came back—and this time they brought 10,000 soldiers with them. The monks did not stand a chance against that many people. The monastery was captured and burned to the ground, and Prince Mochihito was killed.

3Roman Legionnaires vs. The Chinese Army

In 36 B.C., a Roman legion went missing. There is some dispute about what actually happened to them, but according to one theory, they went out east and ended up finding themselves amongst the Mongolian Huns. They thought they had found refuge. Soon, though, the Chinese Han army was at their gates—and, for the first time in history, Roman soldiers were face-to-face with Chinese warriors.

The Chinese soldiers would have had an infantry and a cavalry, trained in the Chinese art of deception and war—but the Roman legion had its shields. Chinese witnesses record seeing 145 foreign soldiers holding their long, rectangular shields close in an impenetrable tortoise formation.

Winner: Technical Chinese Victory

The Han Chinese won—but it was not really a fair fight. There were only 145 Romans there, and though they were backed by the Mongolian army, the Chinese had them drastically outnumbered. The Roman fighters, though, held their own well enough to make an incredible impression on the Chinese. When the battle was over, the Han Chinese enlisted every surviving legionnaire into the Han army.

2Viking Raiders vs. The Islamic Caliphate

Viking raiders wreaked hell upon Europe—but in 844, their attacks made it far enough south to come face-to-face with another type of enemy: the Islamic Umayyad Emirate.

Islam, at this time, was spreading across the world, and a huge part of modern Portugal and Spain were ruled by an Islamic dynasty. They were led by the Syrian Abd al-Rahman, who first got word that Vikings were coming when his men spotted nearly 100 Viking ships off the coast of Lisbon. Viking raiders were coming—and, for the first time, they were against the armies of Muhammad.

Winner: Eventual Islamic Victory

The Islamic fighters won—eventually. Early on, though, it did not go particularly well. The Vikings crushed Lisbon and burned much of it to the ground. Then, for a month, they rampaged their way through Portugal, slaughtering the men and forcing the women and children into slavery.

The tide of battle turned, though, when the Islamic Army started using war engines. Once reinforcements and equipment came from their capital, Corboda, they actually stood a chance. They got vengeful. They took no prisoners. They burned the Viking ships and everything they owned, and every Viking they could get their hands on was killed.

1A Roman Emperor vs. A Killer Whale

Okay, this fight probably never occurred to anybody—but it happened. In the writings of the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder, he records seeing something incredible: “A killer whale was actually seen in the harbor of Ostia, locked in combat with the emperor Claudius.”

A ship had capsized and filled the harbor with leather hides. The leather lured in a hungry whale, who got stuck in the shallows and caused havoc by splashing about. Claudius decided that this was an opportunity for one hell of a show—so he invited the whole Roman public to watch him fight a whale.

Winner: Technical Roman Victory

Claudius did not play fair, of course. He brought out a whole crew of ships and surrounded the whale to ensure he did not end up getting killed by an animal in front of the crowd. Even then, the Romans did a lot worse than you would expect.

The cornered whale blew water out of its spout and overturned a boat, sinking it and everyone on board. After that, every Roman on every boat just started hurtling lances and spears at it. They killed the whale, but it was hardly the one-on-one fight the public was promised—and, if you are counting casualties, the whale won.

Some historical generals were untalented political appointments. Some were forgettable, or only good under the right conditions. Others were forces to be reckoned with. But some elite commanders will never be forgotten. You can debate who would get their faced chiseled into the stone of a Mount Rushmore of military geniuses. Maybe Hannibal. Maybe Alexander the Great. Maybe Julius Caesar. But there’s no debate that Napoleon Bonaparte would get a slot. This Corsican-born French emperor wasn’t just one of the most significant legal modernizers and reformers in history, but one of the greatest military masterminds of all time. It’s no wonder it took several decades, and almost as many coalitions of European rivals, to take him down. Let’s take a look at ten of the most important battles of the Napoleonic wars. 

10. The Italian Campaign 

After making a name for himself at the Siege of Toulon, a young artillery officer named Napoleon Bonaparte was promoted to Brigadier General and placed in charge of the French army in northern Italy, during the War of the First Coalition. It was an honor on paper, but this force was widely considered to be France’s weakest.

But with hard discipline, innovative tactics, and magnetic leadership, the young general quickly whipped his army into shape. His forces faced off against Austrian and Sardinian armies in a series of battles and campaigns. To everyone’s shock – the French Directory included – Napoleon dominated his foes and secured French dominance in northern Italy.

The humiliated Austrians signed the treaty of Campo Formio in October 1797, marking the end of the campaign. The political map of Europe was overhauled, and Napoleon’s successes in Italy propelled him to political prominence in France. After more victories in Egypt and a triumphant return home, he would soon find himself First Consul of France. Not long after, in 1804, he appointed himself Emperor of the French. 

9. Battle of Austerlitz 

Fought on December 2, 1805, Napoleon’s first major battle as Emperor of the French might just be his greatest. At Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, Napoleon’s Grande Armée fought against Russian and Austrian forces commanded by Tsar Alexander I and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II. 

Napoleon lured the Allies into a trap by letting them seize high ground and deliberately weakening his right flank. Overconfident, the Allies marched forward to engage the French right. It was exactly what Napoleon wanted – he attacked their center and drove them off before swinging around and nearly encircling the troops engaged on his right. 

It was a crushing victory for Napoleon that extended French influence deep into central Europe, shattered the British-financed Third Coalition, led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, which had lasted 1,000 years, and solidified his reputation as the preeminent military mind of his age. 

8. Battle of Trafalgar

Fought off the southwestern Spanish coast on October 21, 1805, the Battle of Trafalgar was one of the Napoleonic War’s only major naval clashes. That was where Napoleon’s Franco-Spanish armada under Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve was assembling for a planned invasion of Britain itself. But a British fleet, commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson, made sure they never got there.

The French and Spanish arrayed themselves into a traditional line. Nelson, on the other hand, divided his fleet into two columns, charged at the enemy line perpendicularly, and broke through at multiple points. Although outnumbered, the British chopped the Franco-Spanish fleet into three parts and engaged them in detail. 

Although Nelson himself was mortally wounded during the battle, the British fleet decisively defeated the enemy, capturing over 20 enemy ships and destroying several more for minimal losses. After Austerlitz, Napoleon was the undisputed master of continental Europe. But after Trafalgar, the British were unbeatable at sea. It was a dominating victory that established British naval dominance for nearly a century, until the First World War. 

7. Battle of Jena-Auerstedt

Trafalgar aside, the War of the Third Coalition was a decisive French victory that saw Napoleon emerge as the military master of Europe. But British money was meant that a Fourth Coalition soon arose to stop the French. On October 14, 1806, Napoleon clashed with the Prussians at the battle of Jena-Auerstedt, in the Duchies of Saxony and Saxe-Weimar. 

Despite being outnumbered, the French forces, numbering around 50,000, outflanked 80,000 Prussians on both sides. The Battle of Jena, fought primarily by the French under Napoleon, saw the Prussian forces overwhelmed and forced into a retreat. Meanwhile, at Auerstedt, Marshal Louis Davout led a smaller French corps against the main Prussian army. Despite being outnumbered, Davout’s disciplined troops fought managed to defeat the Prussians under Duke Charles William Ferdinand of Brunswick. 

The defeat shattered the Prussian military and political structure, and Napoleon’s triumph opened the way for the French to occupy Berlin. The subsequent Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 resulted in a peace agreement between France and Russia. Napoleon remained dominant – but Britain wasn’t finished with him yet. 

6. Battle of Wagram

Fought on July 5-6, 1809, near Vienna, Austria, was a pivotal engagement in the War of the Fifth Coalition that saw Napoleon’s French troops engaging an Austrian force under Archduke Charles. Notably, the battle took place on the same ground where the Battle of Austerlitz had occurred four years before. 

The Battle of Wagram was one of the largest and bloodiest engagements of the Napoleonic Wars, involving hundreds of thousands of troops on both sides. Napoleon’s skillful use of artillery and coordinated infantry attacks, managed to break the Austrian lines after several setbacks and much bloodshed. 

The consequences of the Battle of Wagram were far-reaching. The victory solidified Napoleon’s dominance in Europe and led to the Treaty of Schönbrunn in October 1809, in which Austria ceded significant territories to France. The defeat at Wagram also marked a turning point for Archduke Charles, who faced criticism for his leadership and later sought a ceasefire.

However, Napoleon struggled more here than he had in previous battles. It was an ominous sign for France: they had won numerous victories, but their enemies were learning. And they never stayed down for long. 

5. The War in Spain

Napoleon’s Continental system demanded that the nations of Europe cut off all trade with his eternal enemy, Britain. But not everyone obeyed this directive. Soon, Napoleon’s armies were marching into Spain to force them into compliance. The French dominated every open battle and overthrew the Spanish government. Napoleon soon appointed his own brother, Josef, as king of Spain. But the Peninsular War was far from over. 

Although the French found victory wherever they went, they couldn’t be everywhere at once, and were never able to pacify the Spanish countryside. French troops were regularly ambushed by irregular partisans who would soon be known by a brand new name – Guerilla (“little war”) fighters. In response, the French committed numerous atrocities and seized more ground. But they could never take it all. Eventually, the British landed an army under the Duke of Wellington to help the Spanish. Although they were eventually forced to retreat, they fought brilliantly, temporarily took back large parts of Spain, and gave Napoleon more trouble than he’d ever faced before. The French never fully subdued Spain, and the unending, unwinnable quagmire there is widely seen as the beginning of his downfall. 

4. The Invasion of Russia

In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia to punish them for ignoring his financial blockade of Britain. The Grande Armée at this time was titanic – numbering between 650,000 and 700,000 men. But those figures would dwindle rapidly. Knowing they couldn’t beat him in open battle, the Russians retreated across the endless steppe and employed scorched earth tactics to deny natural resources to the French. 

By the time they did get their long-sought after open battle, the French numbered fewer than 150,000 men. They won the Battle of Borodino at great cost and captured Moscow shortly afterwards, but found the city empty and burning. Napoleon spent weeks awaiting a Russian surrender that never materialized. With winter rapidly approaching, he realized he had no choice but to run back the way he came. French casualties during this retreat skyrocketed due to freezing temperatures, starvation, disease, and endless Cossack raids. By the time the Grande Armée limped back into the Duchy of Warsaw, well under 100,000 men – half of them stragglers with no fight left in them – lived to tell the tale. The disaster shattered the myth of Napoleon’s invincibility. 

3. Battle of Leipzig

Quagmire in Spain and a spectacular failure in Russia resulted in Napoleon’s grip on Europe weakening by 1813. Soon, with British financial backing, a Sixth Coalition arose to put France down for good. Napoleon had done expert damage control in Paris after the debacle in Russia, but was still only able to muster up 150,000 soldiers, many of which were inexperienced recruits. The Coalition, meanwhile, consisting of Austrian, Prussian, Russian, and Swedish troops, could call upon some 320,000 men. 

After Napoleon failed to seize Berlin, he retreated across the Elbe to the west and was soon met with the allied force at Leipzig. The resulting Battle of the Nations was the largest ever fought in Europe before World War I. Napoleon’s men fought desperately, but with overwhelming enemy forces closing in from north, west, and south, he was forced to retreat through Leipzig itself. It was a catastrophic blow to Napoleon that forced him to realize he was no longer up against the buffoons he’d bested at Austerlitz 8 years earlier. His enemies had studied and implemented his tactics in the years since and were now able to go toe to toe with the greatest general in history – and win. But the French emperor wasn’t finished just yet. 

2. Battle of Brienne

After Leipzig, armies of the Sixth Coalition descended on France itself. Napoleon had only 60,000 men to defend the whole country against this titanic force. But he was about to prove why he’s considered by many to be the greatest military mind in history. Since he was frequently up against alliances of enemies, one of Napoleon’s signature strategies was attacking his enemies one at a time, before they could unite against him. 

On January 29, 1814, he did exactly that, one final time, at the battle of Brienne. Here, Napoleon’s forces faced a Russian army commanded by Prince Karl Schwarzenberg. Against huge odds, heavily outnumbered French forces prevailed. But it wasn’t enough – French defeats at the battles of La Rothière and Champaubert, among others, allowed coalition forces to continue their advance. Soon, Paris was besieged and Napoleon was forced to abdicate. Still, his ability to perform even as well as he did, while heavily outnumbered and commanding largely green troops, is nothing short of remarkable. It’s no wonder it took all of Europe multiple tries to bring him down. 

1. Battle of Waterloo

Napoleon was exiled in 1814. But he returned in 1815 and, after convincing the soldiers sent to arrest him tondefect to their beloved former emperor, soon retook control of the country. A Seventh Coalition was formed to stop him. For the first time, it would be not just financed, but led, by the British. Specifically, Napoleon’s nemesis from the Peninsular War in Spain, Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. 

Napoleon sought to seize Brussels and planned to prevent Wellington’s international, British-led force from linking up with General Blucher’s Prussians. He was able to win some impressive but indecisive victories before clashing with Wellington near Waterloo, in modern day Belgium. In one of history’s most famous battles, the French tried multiple times to route British troops on the high ground before the Prussians could arrive. But after the failure of French cavalry to overcome infantry squares, and the defeat of the elite French Imperial guard, Blucher finally arrived on Napoleon’s right flank. Exhausted and outnumbered, the French fled the field. It was Napoleon’s last battle. He was forced to abdicate a second time and exiled permanently, 1,000 miles off the coast of Africa. The Napoleonic Wars were over. Pax Britannica – a near-century of British global hegemony, had begun.

The Second World War featured some of the deadliest battles in history, with casualty figures far surpassing anything we’ve seen at any other time of conflict in history. While we still remember many of them – like the infamous urban struggle at Stalingrad, or the daring amphibious Allied landings on the Normandy beach – most of them are left out of history books today. 

10. Battle Of Crete

Fought between May 20 and June 1, 1941, the Battle of Crete was an airborne assault launched by Nazi Germany to capture the strategically-important island of Crete in Greece. After a failed British expedition to defend Greek territory against the German attacks, the remaining British, Commonwealth, and Greek troops were evacuated to Crete, making the island an important position for both sides. The Germans, along with their overwhelming superiority in the air at that time of the war, planned a large-scale assault using elite parachute and glider troops, aiming to capture key airfields for reinforcements. 

While the Allies outnumbered the Germans, they lacked coordination, communications, and heavy weaponry, and German dominance of the air soon made effective defense of the island nearly impossible. The battle resulted in a German victory and high losses for both sides, with 4,000 dead, 2,000 wounded, and 11,300 captured out of 47,500 troops involved for the Allies, and 7,000 dead on the German side.

9. Battle Of Monte Cassino

The Battle of Monte Cassino was a military confrontation between the Allied forces and Nazi Germany in Cassino, Italy. From January 17 to May 18, 1944, it was a grueling attempt by the Allies to fight their way up to the Italian peninsula due to the heavily-fortified Gustav Line,  as Monte Cassino and its historic Benedictine monastery had been turned into an important stronghold for the Germans.

The battle soon turned into a stalemate and led to the deaths of a shockingly-high number of troops. By the end of it, the Allies forces suffered about 105,000 casualties, with a total loss of around 80,000 soldiers on the German side. While Polish troops did finally gain control of the monastery, they found it unoccupied as the Germans had already retreated to a new defensive line. Till today, the indiscriminate and almost-total destruction of the monastery by Allied forces during the assault remains a matter of controversy.

8. Siege Of Budapest

The siege of Budapest was one of the most destructive chapters of the war, lasting from November 1944 to February 1945. Hitler had declared Budapest a fortress city due to its strategic importance to Nazi Germany, and the city was defended by around 90,000 German and Hungarian troops against 170,000 Soviet and Romanian attackers. The offensive saw intense hand-to-hand urban fighting that resulted in massive losses of military and civilian lives, with additional damage to the cultural and historical heritage of the city. 

Many relief attempts were made by the Germans and Romanians occupying the city by the time the battle began, though to little success. Red Army soldiers launched an assault on the city on January 14, 1945, capturing Buda by February. Many fascist soldiers were mercilessly shot throughout the episode, and by February 14, the city was entirely under Soviet control. The casualties were anywhere between 100,000 to 160,000 on the Soviet side, and about 70,000 troops on the Axis side, with an additional 40,000 civilians that died in the crossfire. 

7. Battles Of Imphal and Kohima

The battles of Imphal and Kohima were important turning points of the Second World War, though they’re often overshadowed by other major engagements ongoing in the European theater around that time. The Japanese launched an offensive codenamed U-Go in spring 1944, targeting the Allied base at Imphal in north-east India and simultaneously attacking the small village of Kohima on the Imphal-Dimapur Road. The garrison at Kohima, heavily outnumbered, held out for many days, although they relied on air-dropped supplies throughout the engagement. 

Meanwhile, the Japanese attack on Imphal began in early March but failed to defeat the Indian and British defenders by the beginning of May. The Allies launched a counter-offensive to take advantage of the retreating Japanese soldiers in Kohima, linking up with forces at Imphal around June. The Japanese offensive would ultimately fail, resulting in almost 60,000 dead and wounded, while the Allies suffered around 17,500 casualties. The victory at Imphal and Kohima allowed the Allies to plan a return to Burma and turn the war in their favor across the region. 

6. Battle Of Manila

Japan’s empire began to crumble around the beginning of 1945, as strategic cities across Southeast Asia started to surrender to advancing Allied forces without much resistance. Manila, the capital of the Philippines, however, experienced a grueling, fierce battle from February to March 1945, now remembered as the Battle of Manila. It was the only urban battle between Japanese and American forces within a city, resulting in the deaths of around 6,500 Americans, 20,000 Japanese, and 200,000 Filipinos. 

By the end of it, almost all of the Japanese and half of the local population in the city were killed in the brutal house-to-house struggle. The Imperial Japanese soldiers, tasked with defending the city to the last man, faced overwhelming firepower from the Americans, leading to desperate and retaliatory actions against the local civilian population. 

This phase is also sometimes referred to as the Manila Massacre – a period of severe Japanese brutality against civilians that included rape, massacre, and violent mutilation perpetrated by frustrated troops facing capture or certain death. Japanese General Yamashita was found responsible for these atrocities and subsequently executed for war crimes after the war.

5. Second Battle Of Kharkov

The Second Battle of Kharkov – or Operation Fredericus on the German side – was a bitterly-fought offensive that happened in two distinct phases: the Soviet offensive from May 12 to May 28, 1942, and the subsequent German counteroffensive from May 18 to May 23, 1942. 

It began when Soviet forces pushed to reclaim the strategic city of Kharkov and take control of the region. This offensive, however, faced stiff resistance, resulting in the costly encirclement of Red Army forces, with around 240,000 Soviet soldiers dead and 1,000 tanks lost.

The Germans retained control of Kharkov until January, 1943, when the tide of the war began to turn on the Eastern Front . Soviet forces had reached the outskirts of Kharkov by February, forcing the German forces under Field Marshal Erich von Manstein to withdraw. It proved to be a wise decision, as it allowed the Germans to regroup and launch a counteroffensive using SS-Panzer Corps and other Panzer divisions. They reached the city’s outskirts by March 7, 1943, bringing Kharkov back under German control.

4. Battle Of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo

The Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo was the land part of the Guadalcanal campaign, fought from August 7 to 9, 1942 on the Solomon Islands. The objective was to capture Tulagi, Gavutu, and Tanambogo, where the Japanese had established a naval and air base in the early phases of the war. The assault was executed in the face of fierce resistance from Japanese naval troops, primarily carried out by US Marines led by Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift’s 1st Marine Division.

The battle saw some of the most brutal fighting of the war in the Pacific theater until that time, resulting in the Allied capture of these islands with high losses on the Japanese side. The successful capture of Tulagi’s natural harbor later turned it into a vital naval base for Allied operations in the South Pacific. 

3. North Africa Campaign

The North African Campaign was one of the longest-running military offensives of the war, lasting from June 1940 to May 1943. It consisted of many large-scale strategic battles between Allied and Axis powers in the deserts of Libya and Egypt, along with battles in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Axis forces aimed to secure oil supplies, cut off British access to resources in Asia and Africa, and relieve pressure on the eastern front after Germany invaded the Soviet Union. 

The campaign consisted of three phases – the Western Desert campaign, Operation Torch in Algeria and Morocco, and the Tunisia campaign – and saw fierce fighting and high casualty rates on both sides. The Allies, led primarily by the British Commonwealth and later aided by the United States, eventually achieved victory by neutralizing nearly 620,000 German and Italian troops, at the cost of about 220,000 men on their own side. This success opened a second front against the Axis forces, as it directly led to the invasion of Sicily and the Italian mainland.

2. Operation Kutuzov

Officially known as the ‘Orel Strategic Offensive Operation’, Operation Kutuzov was a major Soviet offensive of the Eastern Front, launched in the immediate aftermath of the German defeat during Operation Zitadelle in 1943. The offensive aimed to exploit the weakening capabilities of the German forces and entirely eliminate the German salient centered on Orel during the larger Battle of Kursk.

It was fought by three Soviet army groups – the West Front, Bryansk Front, and Central Front – and involved a multi-pronged attack on the Orel territory held by the Germans for nearly two years. 

Operation Kutuzov began on July 12, 1943, with a heavy artillery barrage, as Soviet forces attacked with overwhelming strength and drove through the German defenses, pushing the Nazi forces back to the ‘Hagen-Stellung’ line. The losses were staggering in numbers, especially for the Soviet side that lost more than 685,000 soldiers during the battle, compared to about 185,000 total casualties for Germany.

1. Operation Bagration

Operation Bagration was a major Soviet offensive against Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front, fought from June 23 to August 19, 1944. It was launched in support of the Normandy Invasion in the West and aimed to take advantage of Germany’s declining military power during the waning phases of the war.

Named after General Pyotr Bagration, the Red Army planned the offensive carefully, deceiving the Germans into expecting an attack further south in Ukraine while amassing armor and troops opposite Army Group Center in the north. It resulted in a successful attack that took German commanders by surprise, destroying 28 out of 34 German divisions and liberating large parts of the Soviet Union. The losses on both sides were severe, however, with an estimated 350,000 to 670,000 German soldiers and over 750,000 Soviet soldiers killed or wounded during the entire offensive.

The 20th century featured some of the deadliest battles and wars in history, and we’re not even including the world wars here. Some of them – like the Nigerian Civil War – would result in the deaths of millions of people, many of them civilians that had nothing to do with the many underlying causes of these brutal conflicts. Here are 10 of the bloodiest non-World War battles of the century

10. Battle Of Warsaw

The Battle of Warsaw is also sometimes called the Miracle on the Vistula, fought between August 12 and 25, 1920, during the Russo-Polish War. It began with the Bolsheviks’ attempt to export their revolution to nearby regions and secure their borders, with Poland being one of their oldest and strongest enemies in the region. Poland, on the other hand, fought to assert its newly gained independence and expand eastward. 

As the Red Army approached Warsaw, the Poles, led by General Józef Pi?sudski, defended the city while launching a flanking maneuver from the south, encircling and overwhelming the Red Army. The Polish victory outside Warsaw is still remembered as a victory of a weak, outnumbered enemy against a vastly-superior military force, although at a heavy price. The battle resulted in the deaths of possibly 15,000 – 25,000 Soviet soldiers, with up to 5,000 dead on the Polish side. 

9. Tet Offensive

The Tet Offensive of January 1968 was a major military campaign of the Vietnam War launched by North Vietnamese forces and the Viet Cong. It involved simultaneous attacks on South Vietnamese cities, military installations, and towns, with around 85,000 participating troops. The offensive aimed to break the stalemate in the war and achieve either a collapse of the South Vietnamese government or a withdrawal of United States forces from the conflict. 

Despite advance warnings on the southern side, the attacks were larger and more intense than expected, briefly capturing parts of Saigon and 36 provincial capitals, including the ancient capital of Hue that was occupied until February.

The northern forces suffered heavy casualties by the end of it, with estimates suggesting up to 50,000 troops killed. Conversely, U.S. and South Vietnamese losses were far fewer. Although a military failure, the offensive was a propaganda victory for North Vietnam and Viet Cong, as it weakened the South Vietnamese government and adversely affected its military alliance with the United States.

8. Battles Of Khalkhin Gol

Tensions between the Soviet Union and Japan started flaring up in the late 1930s, particularly along their shared border along the Khalkhin-Gol river in Mongolia. The largest clashes – now known as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol – happened between May and September, 1939, when Soviet forces crossed the river to assert control over disputed land, encountering fierce resistance from the Japanese Sixth Army. Believing that the river marked the border, the imperial Japanese forces launched a series of attacks across the front, decisively pushing back the initial Soviet advance. 

By the end of August, however, Soviet forces under General Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov outnumbered the Japanese two to one, with superior tanks and artillery. His envelopment and destruction strategy proved successful, inflicting heavy casualties on the Japanese army. Despite the Japanese commander preparing a counteroffensive to respond to it, a ceasefire was declared in Moscow due to the outbreak of war in Europe. On the other hand, the skirmishes convinced the Japanese that a protracted conflict with the Soviet Union was unfavorable, which in turn influenced their decision to attack the United States in 1941 instead of Siberia.

7. Battle Of Teruel

The Battle of Teruel took place during the Spanish Civil War, lasting from December, 1937 to February, 1938 amidst some of the most severe winter conditions of the war. It was centered around the city of Teruel that changed hands between Republican and Nationalist forces many times throughout the conflict. 

It was one of the deadliest phases of the civil war, marked by intense artillery and aerial bombardment that resulted in heavy casualties on both sides. Many died due to the effects of the winter, resulting in a total number of 110,000 deaths on both sides over the course of two months.

6. Battle Of The Marshes

The Battle of the Marshes, or Operation Kheibar, was fought during the Iran-Iraq War between February and March 1984. The main battleground was the Hawizeh Marshes towards the north-east of Basra, where Iran launched a new offensive after many earlier unsuccessful operations. They initially faced heavy losses with human wave attacks, resulting in over 15,000 casualties and slow progress. Iranian forces adapted over time, however, with more-successful amphibious assault offensives with the help of their 92nd Armored Division.

While the Iranians eventually nearly broke through the Iraqi lines, they were eventually pushed back to these marshes and Majnoon Island, where it turned into a massacre. It was a pyrrhic victory for Iran, as they succeeded in removing the Iraqis from the territory but still suffered losses of over 200,000 men in one of the most brutal military offensives of the century, at the cost of about 10,000 soldiers on the Iraqi side. It was also when Iraq deployed chemical weapons like mustard gas on a mass scale, giving the war a whole new horrifying dimension.

5. Battle Of Dien Bien Phu

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the most important battle of the First French-Indochina war, fought between the French colonial government and the Vietnamese nationalist forces under the command of Ho Chi Minh. It began on March 13, 1954 and lasted until May 7, bringing a decisive end to French rule in the region. 

By November, 1953, thousands of French forces had taken control of an airstrip in the Dien Bien Phu valley in the northwest of Vietnam. They aimed to cut off Vietnamese supply lines and  support a growing insurgency in Laos that matched with their goals, hoping to draw the Viet Minh into a conventional, open battle they believed they could win. 

However, they had greatly underestimated the capabilities of General Vo Nguyen Giap’s Viet Minh forces that soon surrounded the valley and began artillery bombardment that lasted for four months. The siege against this single French position was relentless and brutal, and despite support from the United States, the French garrison ultimately succumbed to the overwhelming assault. Around 10,000 French troops out of 15,000 lost their lives during the battle, including 2,200 that died during the battle and more than 7,000 that succumbed to the harsh conditions of Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camps. 

4. Lebanese Civil War

The Lebanese Civil War was a multi-faceted conflict that lasted for more than 15 years. From 1975 to 1990, anywhere between 150,000 to 200,000 people – mostly civilians – died in the war that left Lebanon in ruins, making it one of the deadliest conflicts of the century in the Middle East. 

It began with an attempted assassination of a Christian Phalangist leader, triggering clashes between Palestinian-Muslim forces and Phalangists. Syria intervened in 1976, aiming to meet its own goals in Lebanon, followed by the entry of various other Arab and Middle-Eastern countries. Israel invaded in 1982 to eliminate the presence of the Palestinian Liberation Authority in the country, leading to brutal civilian massacres in refugee camps and involvement of the United States and United Nations to end the conflict. 

3. Battle Of The Ebro

The Battle of the Ebro was fought between July 25 and November 16, 1938, marking the final and bloodiest chapter of the Spanish Civil War. It began when Republican forces launched a surprise attack after crossing the Ebro river at various points and breaking through the defensive lines of General Franco’s army. 

The battle lasted 115 days and resulted in about 130,000 casualties on both sides. According to some reports from the time, many soldiers that died during this time still remain buried in unmarked locations across the front. While the Republican forces saw some early successes, they were ultimately defeated by Francoist troops that countered with overwhelming bombing runs and frontal assaults.

2. Huaihai Campaign

The Huaihai Campaign was an important battle of the Chinese Civil War, fought from November 1948 to January 1949 in the valley of the River Huai. The campaign marked a decisive turning point of the entire conflict, as it was here that the Communist forces – led by Chen Yi and Liu Bocheng – gained the upper hand against Nationalist troops. 

The final and decisive battle of the offensive happened in and around Yungchung, resulting in the capture of 327,000 Nationalist prisoners, including their commander General Tu. At the same time, Liu Bocheng targeted the Nationalist stronghold of Ch’inglungchi, which ultimately fell on January 22 and opened the way for further Communist advances towards Nanjing and Shanghai. 

The Battle at Xuzhou witnessed the deaths of about half a million Nationalist troops, dealing a major blow to their positions north of the Yangtze River. The victory during this campaign played a crucial role in the ultimate Communist conquest of China.

1. Nigerian-Biafran War

The Nigerian-Biafran War, also called the Nigerian Civil War, began in 1967 when the Republic of Biafra in the southeast of Nigeria seceded from the country. It was a fierce conflict marked by widespread violence against civilians, fueled by long-standing regional tensions like ethnic competition, educational inequality, and economic disparities. 

Biafra – largely populated by displaced Igbo people – seceded after political turmoil and two failed coup attempts, leading to fighting between the secessionist state and Nigeria’s government. The war escalated quickly, and while Biafran troops made some initial advances, they were soon pushed back by the might of the heavily-armed federal Nigerian forces. International efforts to mediate and provide humanitarian aid were proven ineffective due to the scale of the war that ultimately cost the lives of anywhere between 500,000 to 3 million people.

The battlefield is one of the most hectic locations imaginable, a place where laser focus is required to keep your life. So distractions are a liability that no one can afford.

Once begun, battles are expected to continue until a victor is decided. Sometimes, though, something so weird and intriguing is introduced that the resulting spectacle stops or at least pauses the battle while the soldiers gape in awe at whatever oddity stands in front of them. These are 10 such true cases from history.

10 Fistfight In Saunders Field

Battles between governments are events with thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people all trying their best to kill. In the Battle of the Wilderness during the US Civil War, at least 200,000 men were involved in the business of trying to kill each other.

Somewhere in this chaos in a place called Saunders Field, a gully offered protection from the gunfire. A soldier from the Confederate side of the battle as well as a soldier from the Union side sought shelter from the fire of bullets in this gully. At first, they didn’t realize the other was there. But when they became aware, they did what any soldier at war would do and insulted one another.

When the insults weren’t enough, they agreed neither to shoot nor kill one another but to engage in a fistfight. The loser agreed to be taken prisoner by the victor. This was a kind of duel known as “fist and skull.” And so the two began their very personal one vs. one skirmish in the middle of a battlefield where hundreds of thousands of men were fighting.

When their fistfight became so intense that it erupted out of the gully in full view of both armies, their confrontation made such a scene that the two sides stopped fighting each other to watch the fistfight. Some even moved to get a better view.

Eventually, the “Johnny” (Confederate soldier) bested the “Yank” (Union soldier) and brought him back into the gully as a prisoner. When both men were out of sight, the two battle lines continued firing at each other. At nightfall, the “Johnny” took the beaten “Yank” back to his army’s camp as a prisoner of war.^[1]

9 A Meteor Ending A Battle Before It Begins

During the Third Mithridatic War, which was carried on by the Roman Empire against Mithridates VI, king of Pontus, a Roman legate named Lucullus sent an insult to his opponent. Lucullus said that his rival was like a hunter who was so cowardly that he would only go into an animal’s empty den and was not brave enough to actually face the animal.

After hurling that insult, Lucullus drew battle lines with his 30,000 foot soldiers and his cavalry units. Right as he was about to meet the numerically superior enemy, something odd happened.^[2]

The sky split open, and a silver hot meteorite fell between the two armies. Reportedly, it was shaped like a hog’s head. This was such a strange sight that both armies agreed not to fight, and the battle never began.

8 An Eclipse Stops A War

An astronomical phenomenon ending a battle before it began is one thing, but what if the fighting had already been ongoing for years over a very personal matter? In 585 BC, the Lydians and the Medes (aka Medians) had been fighting for six years and neither side was gaining the upper hand. At one point, a son of the king of the Medes (aka the king of Media) was killed and then served up as a meal.

To say tensions were high is an understatement. During one battle at Halys River, a total solar eclipse occurred and plunged the daylight sky into night. Both armies took this as a sign that they should end hostilities.

Ultimately, this temporary truce led to a permanent end to the entire war when a daughter of the king of Lydia married another son of the king of Media. To make matters even more impressive, this was the first eclipse known to have been predicted—by a philosopher known as Thales who had said that an eclipse would occur at some point during the war between the Lydians and the Medes.^[3]

7 A Holiday

This is perhaps the most famous pause in hostilities of all time. In the midst of World War I, a truce was proposed in honor of the Christmas holiday, but no such formal truce was adopted by any official participants of the war. Instead, the soldiers themselves in some locations made their own truce with each other.

Beginning with carols sung from the trenches to each other, the two opposing sides eventually found trust and common ground and went to meet each other unarmed. This led to handshakes, gift exchanges, and even friendly matches of football.

This spur-of-the-moment truce happened early in the war and was not repeated in later years because of threats of disciplinary action from superior officers. Still, for a brief time, a war was paused for songs and plum pudding.^[4]

6 A Picnic

At the beginning of the US Civil War, the first major battle took place near Centerville, Virginia. The expected outcome was an easy victory for the Union Army and a rapid defeat—and quick end to the war—for the Confederates.

The certainty of this was so believed that a good number of civilians turned out with sandwiches and opera glasses to watch the Civil War begin and end before their eyes. Some of their number even included Senators and Congressmen.

Instead of an easy victory for the Union, the Confederate Army ultimately broke the Union lines and forced many soldiers to flee—right into the picnic. Civilian picnickers and soldiers alike ran from the battle together. Senator Henry Wilson even passed out sandwiches to the fleeing Union soldiers.^[5]

5 Hypothetical Weather

This might be a bit of a cheat. The hypothetical weather didn’t interrupt anything (how could it, being hypothetical?), but the battle was so important that even the prediction of bad weather was enough to delay engagement.

The battle was known as Operation Neptune. After the fact, it was referred to as D-Day, when the Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy during World War II. This hypothetical weather was predicted the night before the operation.

The battle was planned for June 5. Yet meteorologists predicted the weather would be terrible, which to a layman could be doubtful because the weather on June 4 was calm and pleasant—perfect for an invasion. Not only was the next day predicted to have bad weather, but the poor conditions were supposed to persist for two weeks, a serious strain on the entire operation.

On June 5, the weather was miserable as predicted, but meteorologists anticipated a brief gap in the weather on June 6. It wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be the best possible conditions for the next two weeks.

Eisenhower decided to risk it and launched the attack on June 6. The weather held enough for the operation to be launched and to succeed, but it wasn’t perfect. The waves were six times worse than what the amphibious tanks deployed in the attack were designed for, and only two of the 29 “Donald Duck” tanks made it to shore.^[6]

4 A Miracle Or A Windstorm?

During a Roman civil war in 394, the forces of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires met on the field of battle in a particularly bloody engagement. Emperor Theodosius had prepared his own vast army as well as an army of other barbarians to assist in the battle.

But he also tried one more avenue to gain the advantage. Theodosius reportedly spent his time before the battle in a nightlong prayer, which some believed paid off.

In the middle of the next day’s conflict against the forces of the Western Roman Empire, a cold storm originating from the north defeated much of the opposing army for him.

A miracle from God or a well-timed natural phenomenon?

If it was a miracle, it wasn’t a complete one as the enemy forces still had the upper hand. By nightfall, Theodosius and his army were trapped. Victory was so sure that the Western commander began handing out awards to his men.^[7]

His overconfidence may have been his downfall because Theodosius’s men attacked and killed the enemy commander in his own camp during the night. With him dead, his men quickly joined sides with Theodosius. Perhaps not a bad move if one thought he had divine backing because of a well-timed storm.

3 A Man Returning From A Bathroom Break

In 1937, relations between China and Japan were tense. The Japanese army frequently flaunted itself in the midst of Chinese settlements during military exercises which were seemingly designed to unnerve the Chinese and show off Japanese military might.

During one such display around the Chinese city of Wanping, one soldier felt the call of nature. Private Shimura Kikujiro went on an unscheduled bathroom break. By the time he returned, his compatriots had moved on. When the Japanese army took a roll call back at camp and realized that he was missing, they returned to Wanping after dark and demanded to search for their missing soldier.^[8]

Access was denied, and this led to increasingly hostile negotiations that ended in preparation for an assault on the city. After shots were fired, who walks embarrassingly back into camp but Private Shimura Kikujiro.

Though the pretense for their attack was false, the battle had already begun. It was this justification and this battle that led directly to the Second Sino-Japanese War that lasted until the end of World War II in 1945.

2 A Volcanic Eruption

Late in 1943 during World War II, Italy had surrendered to the Allied invaders. By 1944, a number of large air bases were being used in the country by the Allies against Nazi forces to the north. One such airbase was nestled beneath the famous Mount Vesuvius, and it was home to the 340th Bombardment Group.

In March 1944 during the heart of the war, the volcano erupted in fury. The 340th Bombardment Group suffered the loss of 88 planes, more than in any recent Nazi raid.

Sergeant Hymie Setzer, a member of the 340th Bombardment group, wrote of his experiences from the eruption. He said:

The storm still raged. Small stones fell in quantity, and every 15 minutes or so, the heavens would open up with the big stuff. I say “heavens” instead of “mountain” because that is the way it seemed.

The stones were not lobbed from the mountain but dropped from the clouds, falling straight down with great force. As the clouds thinned out, the rocks fell from them as their weight became too great to be supported. Large stones fell close to the mountain till a great distance fine black dust was falling.^[9]

Despite this onslaught from nature, Sergeant Setzer also included an optimistic note in his writings:

So on April 15, 1944, 25 days after the disaster, the 340th Bomb Group is again a complete fighting unit and still the best damned group there is. Hitler, the self-styled “Great Rebuilder,” please note.

1 Bees

During World War I in German-held East Africa, British forces led by Major General Arthur Aitken attacked the harbor of Tanga. The many mishaps of the British forces included a limited number of troops reinforced by poorly trained soldiers, precious little intelligence on their enemy, ignoring the advice of locals knowledgeable in the area, and actually giving the enemy advanced warning of their assault. The attack did not go well for them.

If all these factors weren’t enough, a third party in the conflict with superior numbers was aggressive toward both German and British forces: a bee swarm. During the battle, a large bee colony was agitated and attacked both sides, even causing a pause in the fighting while the Germans and the British fled.

By the next day, Aitken’s forces were in disarray as they disembarked and retreated. Afterward, he was relieved of his command. The bees were an interruption but hardly the cause of the failed attacked.^[10]

All wars are bad and destructive, though some conflicts have etched their names in the history books as the bloodiest military encounters of all time. These deadliest battles ever have caused the deaths of tens of millions of people in total, with a majority of them being civilians and workers caught in the crossfire. 

10. Siege Of Candia

Often called one of the longest sieges in history, the siege of Candia between 1645 and 1669 was also one of the deadliest battles in history. It was a part of the Cretan War between the Ottomans and Venetians, as Candia was an overseas colony of the Republic of Venice. Candia, located on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea, held strategic importance for both the Turks and Venetians, as its fortifications were considered some of the strongest in the world. 

Throughout the siege, the Ottomans established a network of siege lines and cut off all supplies to the city. The Venetians sought help from European countries and the Pope, though these requests were declined due to other ongoing conflicts across the region. Despite numerous attempts to break it, the siege continued for about 21 years. By the end of it, close to 137,000 people had died on both sides, including about 70,000 Ottoman soldiers that died trying to climb the walls. 

9. Battle Of Tenochtitlan

On August 13, 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés – allied with other local tribes – marched into the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, marking the beginning of the end for the Aztec empire. 

The Siege of Tenochtitlan – also called the Fall of Tenochtitlan – went on for 93 days, as the Spanish and their native allies launched multiple assaults against the Aztec defenders. While the attacking side was vastly outnumbered, the defenders were no match for the superior European firepower. Combined with a smallpox epidemic that was ravaging native communities throughout the region, the Aztecs were quickly worn down and defeated.

The victory on the battlefield was followed by the sack of the city and indiscriminate killing of its inhabitants – anywhere between 200,000 to 220,000 people died during the course of the entire battle, most of them native Aztecs. 

8. Third Battle Of Nanking

The Third Battle of Nanking refers to a decisive engagement of the Taiping Rebellion, fought between March and July 1864. The rebellion was led by one Hong Xiuquan and gained some initial successes, though by 1864, the majority of rebels were trapped within their own captured capital of Nanjing. The battle involved about one million combatants – making it one of the largest military engagements in history – and resulted in a devastating defeat for the rebels. 

As the siege intensified, the defenders dug tunnels to counter the loyalist forces, though to little success. Starvation was rampant across Nanjing throughout this time, and continuous bombardment from the European-supplied artillery further weakened the city’s defenses. 

The city fell in July, and the invading force proceeded to sack the city and murder its inhabitants, resulting in the deaths of over 200,000 people according to one estimate. While their leader was captured and executed, many of the rebels chose to fight and die instead of surrendering.

7. Battle Of Okinawa

On April 1, 1945, more than 1,600 warships and 350,000 personnel belonging to the US and UK navies landed on the Okinawa beach in southern Japan. It would be the largest amphibious assault force of the Second World War, aimed at securing the island and eliminating the last military obstacle between allied forces and mainland Japan.

The Allies faced little opposition in the beginning, though that wouldn’t last, as they’d soon encounter the first line of Japanese defenses. The defenders fought fiercely, using kamikaze attacks and rocket-powered Ohka flying bombs to slow down the approaching army. The battle would soon turn into a large-scale engagement involving land, sea, and air forces, with heavy rains and rugged terrain complicating the allied advance.

While it was won in the end – as we all know how WW2 ended – the human cost of the battle was staggering. More than 250,000 people lost their lives during the invasion, which includes around 90,000 Japanese soldiers and 150,000 civilians. 

6. Easter Offensive

The Easter Offensive was one of the largest offensives of the Vietnam War, lasting from March to October 1972. Led by Le Duan and assisted by Vo Nguyen Giap, it was an attempt to break through the Demilitarized Zone and attack south-Vietnamese forces – or ARVN – while also launching secondary offensives in other regions like Saigon. 

The offensive began when the People’s Army of North Vietnam (PAVN) forces, supported by 200 tanks, crossed the DMZ and directly targetted the southern ARVN troops. Additional divisions and armored regiments attacked from Laos, while PAVN troops from Cambodia advanced south into the Binh Long Province. 

While the ARVN, supported by massive US airpower, fiercely defended certain positions and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, they failed to hold on to key locations and bases across the front line, and were ultimately forced to withdraw. The Easter Offensive resulted in heavy casualties – according to some estimates, there were around 300,000 military deaths on both sides throughout the engagement. 

5. Battle Of Verdun

Verdun in France was the site of one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the First World War, beginning in February 1916 and lasting until December of the same year. The Germans chose Verdun as their target due to its strategic location on the Western Front and its historical military significance, as the city was a symbol of French resistance during the Franco-Prussian War.

The first bombardment of the battle began on February 21, when German artillery began attacking French defenses and pushing them back. Despite initial setbacks, the French forces regrouped and launched multiple counterattacks, though the battle would ultimately turn into a stalemate with both sides suffering heavy casualties by the end of it. 

Thanks to support from other allies and parallel offensives like the Brusilov Offensive on the Eastern Front, the tide gradually turned in French favor, and by December 1916, they had successfully regained all of their lost forts and pushed the Germans back to their original positions. The battle would exact a heavy toll on both sides, however, with over 300,000 soldiers killed and about 400,000 more wounded. 

4. Battle Of Wuhan

The Battle of Wuhan was a part of the Second Sino-Japanese War, lasting from June to October, 1938. Wuhan, as the capital city of the Hubei Province in China, was a critical defensive objective for the Chinese and other allies in their fight against Imperial Japan, as it was a strategic hub for the movement of industrial and military goods. 

The battle began with aerial attacks by the Japanese, followed by a full-fledged ground invasion. Chinese defenses included around one million soldiers, 200 aircraft, and 30 naval vessels, they were ultimately no match for the Japanese war machine.

Despite some early victories for the Chinese, the Japanese forces successfully encircled Wuhan – along with Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang – by October. The Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek made the decision to withdraw and preserve his forces’ strength, though the battle would still result in heavy losses for the Chinese side. While the Japanese suffered heavily at around 140,000 casualties, the Chinese lost a staggering 400,000 people to the battle. 

3. Battle Of Passchendaele

The Third Battle Of Ypres – also called the Battle of Passchendaele – was a major military engagement of the First World War. Beginning in July 1917, it was the third battle of the war to be fought in the Belgian city of Ypres, and is still remembered for its harsh conditions and senseless slaughter. Although it was an Allied victory, it came at an immense cost, especially for a territory that would again be abandoned the following year.

The battle was marked by some of the most horrendous conditions of the war, with nearly-non-stop rain and shellfire making it difficult to even walk. After weeks of fierce fighting, the Allies succeeded in routing the German forces by mid-November. The Battle of Passchendaele resulted in massive losses for both sides, with an estimated 275,000 British and 220,000 German casualties. 

2. Battle Of Kursk

Also known as the largest tank battle ever fought, the Battle of Kursk between Nazi Germany and USSR started on July 5, 1943. It was planned by the Germans, as they aimed to attack a Soviet salient that had formed on the frontline called the Kursk salient. They wouldn’t succeed, however, as the Soviet generals had prior knowledge of the attack and withdrew much of their forces back to strategically-defensive points. 

During their attack, German forces – made up of nearly 50 divisions and 900,000 troops – immediately encountered stiff resistance, mostly in the forms of dense anti-tank batteries and minefields. Soviet forces launched a counter-attack on July 12, and shortly went on to regain control of the settlements of Orel and Kharkov.

The Battle of Kursk saw some heavy losses on both sides, with about 200,000 Soviet and 50,000 German casualties in just the first ten days of fighting. The decisive Soviet victory marked an end to the German offensive in the East, and set the stage for the Soviet offensives of 1944-45. By the end of it, Soviet forces had suffered around 800,000 casualties, compared to about 200,000 on the German side. 

1. Siege Of Leningrad

It’s difficult to underestimate the scale of destruction left in the wake of the Siege of Leningrad, lasting from September, 1941 to January 1944. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, a coalition of German and Finnish forces had quickly moved to surround and besiege the city on three sides. Leningrad’s population of over three million people, including 200,000 Red Army soldiers, mobilized to construct fortifications and defend the city.

Despite these preparations, however, the city was nearly completely encircled by early November, with most of its vital supply lines cut off. The resulting German blockade and constant bombardment caused the deaths of about 650,000 citizens in 1942 alone, mostly due to starvation, disease, or shelling.

Despite the severe scarcity of supplies, however, the city’s arms factories continued operating. The residents resorted to extreme measures, like consuming pets and even cannibalism to stay alive. The tide would turn in January 1944, when Soviet offensives breached the encirclement and drove the Nazi forces back. By one estimate, the Siege of Leningrad would cost the lives of over one million inhabitants of the city, along with about 500,000 military deaths.

In Ken Burns’ nine-part World War 2 documentary, the aptly named fifth episode, “FUBAR,” describes the powerlessness of Allied soldiers fighting Germany and Japan. “On both sides of the world,” the narrator says, “a generation of young men will learn a lesson as old as war itself — that generals make plans, plans go wrong and soldiers die.”

In World War 1, the Brits coined a more colorful phrase to describe the lethal mix of brave soldiers and poor generalship: “Lions led by donkeys.” Luckily, the vast majority of military leaders in those crucial conflicts were far more capable than the following ten examples.

10 Oddities That Interrupted Military Battles

10 Battle of Fredericksburg (American Civil War)

Spoiler alert: This list’s #2 is so ranked because it was preceded by the Battle of Fredericksburg. Why? Because Fredericksburg’s victors saw the deadly result of a large force charging an extended distance at an entrenched position… yet still attempted it just seven months later.

Before they found Ulysses Grant, the Union Army was badly outgeneraled in the Civil War. One also-ran was Ambrose Burnside – he of the bushy-eared hairstyle now known as sideburns. The Battle of Fredericksburg (Virginia) commenced December 11, with two days of the Union Army gaining a foothold on the same side of the Rappahannock River as Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, Stonewell Jackson and James Longstreet.

The action’s epicenter was Marye’s Heights, a hilly slope rising 50 feet above the plain. At the peak, rebels dug in behind a stone wall. Even now, surveying the ground leaves visitors wondering what the hell Burnside was thinking when he sent wave after fruitless, bloody wave up the slope. By mid-afternoon subordinates, including the audacious “Fighting Joe” Hooker, pleaded with Burnside to relent.

Instead, Burnside doubled down. The result was a turkey shoot: Confederate artillery had the landscape completely covered by artillery. No one got closer than 40 yards from the wall. Nearly 1,300 dead and 10,000 wounded later, Union casualties doubled their counterparts. Despite claims he was poorly served by his generals, Burnside was in charge and the buck – and the suicidal charges – stops with him.

9 Battle of Agincourt (Hundred Years War)

For a commanding officer, few mistakes are less forgivable than letting an easy, even bloodless victory slip away – in this case, literally.

In late October 1415, after failed negotiations ended a lull in the protracted Hundred Years War, an English army under King Henry V was marching across northern France. Things weren’t going well, with supplies running short and an atypically high number of deaths due to disease. Leaders decided to retreat to English-held Calais on France’s west coast; unfortunately, they soon encountered an army of 15,000 Frenchmen – roughly double the English total – blocking their escape.

French commander Constable Charles d’Albret had a layup: all he had to do was stop, camp and either siege the English into surrender or force them to charge a line double their strength. But when the English began aggressively advancing with flags flying and soldiers taunting, d’Albret decided this perceived disrespect could not go unpunished.

So he sent thousands of men across a narrow field of sticky clay mud, turned to a mucky quagmire by heavy rain. The soldiers slipped, slid, got up, fell again. English archers had a field day; the French were softened up for wholesale hand-to-hand slaughter. Around 6,000 Frenchmen, including d’Albret, were killed, with about 2,000 more taken prisoner. The English lost approximately 400 men for a casualty ratio of an astounding 20 to 1.

8 Battle of Tora Bora (NATO-Afghan War)

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the US and its NATO allies invaded Afghanistan with two goals. The first, routing the ruling Taliban regime, was quickly accomplished via overwhelming force. The second, capturing or killing al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, would require more stealth. With sympathizers dotting the desolate landscape, catching bin Laden by surprise would be no small feat.

On December 3, 2001, a group of 20 U.S. CIA National Clandestine Service forces landed in the mountainous Tora Bora region. Afghan’s US-friendly Northern Alliance had alerted NATO of an al-Qaeda base there – and of bin Laden’s rumored presence. Together with another 70 US special forces and backed by airstrikes, they made steady advancements, clearing caves and capturing enemies as they went.

Then they inexplicably negotiated a truce. Officially, al-Qaeda fighters were organizing their surrender; unofficially, bin Laden was escaping. A key factor was that the US, having failed to swiftly deploy more troops, had delegated the task of guarding escape routes to untrained, disincentivized allies with inferior equipment – akin to a narcoleptic security guard protecting a vault.

Several days passed, the fighting resumed and the battle was eventually won – but the one-man prize had fled to Pakistan, and would elude justice for another decade. The failure to fully commit more troops sooner – and the farcical, time-buying truce – turned a quick victory into what became the longest war in American history.

7 Battle of Lake Trasimene (Second Punic War)

Hey Romans: Scout much? Assessing the strength of one’s enemy has been Military 101 for millennia. Without reconnaissance, an army is groping blindly.

At the outset of the Second Punic War, in 217 BC the Carthaginian commander Hannibal led an army of 50,000 through northern Italy. For a time, he eluded the pursuit of Roman commander Gaius Flaminius Nepos. But on June 24, an advanced band of Roman troops caught up with Hannibal’s rear guard near Lake Trasimene.

It was a trap. The Carthaginians were waiting to ambush the Romans, who they knew had far fewer soldiers. But instead of dispatching a few mounted men to survey the landscape and the enemy’s strength, Flaminius ordered his entire army to race blindly into battle.

Forgoing recon was inexcusable. Flaminius knew where the enemy was, so pausing to understand their configuration ran no risk or them escaping his reach. And even if they were somewhat scattered – for example, in a convoy formation – did Flaminius really think Hannibal had traversed all this way only to divide his large army on foreign soil? He had to know he’d be dealing with the full Carthaginian army, likely far more than the 30,000 men Rome had on the scene.

The result was a massacre. Flaminius was killed and, of his 30,000 men, half were either killed in battle or drowned attempting to swim to safety. Another 10,000 were captured. Carthage lost only 2,500 men.

6 Battle of Brooklyn (American Revolution)

Before the Battle of Brooklyn witnessed one of warfare’s most fortuitous coincidences, it became the stupidest decision George Washington ever made.

Let’s start with the ending: In August 1776, with his back to New York’s East River and his 9,000-strong Army facing certain ruin, Washington ordered his men “to impress every kind of watercraft… and have them all in the east harbor of the city by dark.”

The British, thinking they had ample time for what likely would have been the war’s decisive battle, delayed attack to wait out an unseasonable fog. That night, Washington’s troops silently floated to the safety of Manhattan. The British awoke to capture an army that had vanished into thick air.

All weather-related miracles aside, the obvious question: “Why did Washington need a miracle to avoid complete disaster?” Simply put, he got caught completely by surprise, which isn’t good when you’re fighting a) against a superior force and b) surrounded by water.

With Boston’s Bunker Hill as precedent, Washington expected an assault from sea; instead, British forces discretely came ashore miles away and marched overnight to reach the Continental Army’s rear. It took 400 brave Marylanders slowing the enemy with suicidal charges for the bulk of Washington’s men to escape immediate capture. Even so, they were hemmed in against a deep, wide river. Without the fog that followed, there’d be no Founding Father.

5 Battle of Hattin (Crusades)

Dignity and warfare often don’t mix. Just ask King Guy of Jerusalem.

In 1187, Muslim leader Saladin was looking for a decisive blow to settle the Ayyubid-Crusader War. Assembling the largest army he’d ever commanded, some 40,000 men, he laid siege to the Crusader fortress of Tiberias in modern-day Israel.

Meanwhile, King Guy of Jerusalem – after reconciling with a rival from Tripoli, Raymond III, who the Muslims believed could be installed as a proxy ruler – mustered a force of nearly 20,000. Given the side’s inferior numbers, many of Guy’s subordinates recommended hitting the invaders where it hurt: their supply lines. In particular, it was early July and water was precious in the arid region.

Choosing chivalry over common sense, Guy scorned the advice as cowardly and beneath his royal dignity. Instead, he marched his men across the desert directly toward Tiberias. Saladin, apparently unimpressed with Guy’s dignity, responded by using his superior numbers to block access to fresh water. He then set fire to the dry flora, adding insult to parched injury with acrid smoke.

Men need water more than dignity – especially in a desert. Guy was forced to change course, heading toward the refreshing springs at Hattin. They never made it. Raymond broke through and escaped, and others deserted. The Muslim army slaughtered most of the Crusaders on the field and captured a shard of the True Cross, reputedly wood from the cross on which Christ was crucified.

4 Battle of Monte Cassino (World War 2)

How do you win a battle yet still end up on this list? By blowing up a 1,400-year-old abbey for no reason, then suffering nearly triple the casualties as your opponent.

In early 1944 the Allies were learning the hard way that what Prime Minister Winston Churchill had called the “soft underbelly of the Axis” – Italy – was anything but tender; in fact, US General Mark Clark would soon call it “one tough gut.” Still, Brits and Americans slowly gained ground as they plodded toward Rome. They approached Monte Cassino, at the western end of the Axis’ Winter Line, defended by the Nazi’s 10th Army.

There, progress stalled in a valley below a 6th Century hilltop abbey. Repeated artillery attacks on Allied troops caused leaders to conclude the Germans had occupied the hallowed ancient complex.

They were almost certainly wrong.

On February 15, Allied bombers dropped 1,400 tons of bombs of the abbey… after which German paratroopers promptly occupied the rubble – for real this time – and established even stronger defensive positions. Shooting downward from a ready-made fort on exposed raiders, 140,000 German soldiers stood firm against twice as many men. It took four horrifically bloody assaults over the next three months for the ruins to be taken by a Polish corps operating under British command. The Allies suffered over 55,000 casualties, the Axis approximately 20,000.

3 Battle of Karánsebes (Austro-Turkish War)

The only reason this entry is a stretch is because, one would think, a battle should involve both sides of a war.

In September 1788, the 100,000-strong Austrian army was making camp near Karánsebes in modern-day Romania. Some cavalrymen crossed the Timis River at night to scout for the opposing Ottoman forces. Instead of hostile Turks, they found locals peddling booze. Infantrymen crossed to partake, but the inebriated horsemen refused. A fight followed – and then a shot.

Other infantrymen showed up, shouting “Turks!” In the confusion, BOTH sides fled believing the Ottomans had ambushed them. Making matters worse, German-speaking officers, attempting to restore order, shouted, “Halt! Halt!” which many non-German-speaking soldiers (including Italians and Croats) misheard as “Allah! Allah!”

Then bad leadership drastically escalated matters. As the cavalrymen fled back to camp, a General named Colloredo thought that, for some reason, a small band of Ottoman cavalry were charging a gigantic enemy encampment in the middle of the night. Regardless how extremely unlikely (and suicidally stupid) that prospect was, he ordered artillery to fire, waking the entire camp… which promptly scattered and fled in fear, shooting at shadows of supposed Turks as they ran. Incredibly, the entire army retreated from the imaginary enemy.

The nonsensical event was as lethal as it was dumb: TEN THOUSAND soldiers were killed or wounded. Two days later, the Ottoman army – the real one – arrived, stepped over dead and wounded Austrian soldiers and easily took Karánsebes. What’s German for “morons?”

2 Pickett’s Charge (Battle of Gettysburg – American Civil War)

Ironically, among the poorest-planned and most costly battles in American history was devised by arguably the most brilliant military genius the country has ever produced: Robert E. Lee.

1863’s Battle of Gettysburg was a multi-day conflict in which the Confederacy had, for the second time, invaded the north. By July 3, Gettyburg’s third day, ample blood had been shed without much ground gained. Both sides were dug in along a series of ridges and hilltops, with Union troops largely playing defense – an especially advantageous position given the era’s weapons and tactics.

According to historian Shelby Foote, Lee “had has blood up.” He’d tried the right and left flanks; now he commanded an all-out assault on the center, which involved hurling thousands of men across an open field against an entrenched line nearly a mile away. Several subordinates begged him to reconsider, deeming it suicidal. Eager for glory, Major General George Pickett wasn’t among them.

Led by Pickett and other generals, nearly a dozen brigades comprising 12,500 troops began marching toward the distant Union lines, fortified with cannon behind a stone wall. Only a handful made it over the wall – an indented parcel now called the Bloody Angle – and were quickly cut down or captured. Over 1,100 rebels died, over 4,000 were captured and only a quarter returned unwounded.

“Gettysburg was the price the South paid for having Robert E. Lee as commander,” said Foote, alluding to the bravado that made Lee’s legend.

1 Little Bighorn (US-Indian Wars)

Custer’s Last Stand – or, rather, the recklessness that necessitated such a futile finale – earns its namesake first place on this list of battlefield buffoonery.

Notably, 13 years earlier Custer was at Gettysburg where, a month after becoming the Union Army’s youngest general, he helped turn back Confederate cavalry in an engagement overshadowed by Pickett’s Charge. Still, evidenced by his graduating dead last in his West Point class, Custer was more bravado than brains. And on June 25, 1876, his brainless bravery would get him and his entourage – 267 other US soldiers – senselessly killed.

So complete was the disaster that details of the battle are unverifiable, because no soldier survived to report on it. What is known is that, after dividing his initial force of 600 into several groups, Custer mounted a full-scale frontal attack on more than 2,000 battle-ready Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne warriors.

Custer charged the center of an enemy at least EIGHT TIMES his strength with no escape route. Like a guppy swimming into a shark’s mouth, the Indian flanks collapsed around Custer, and the US soldiers were simply swallowed and slaughtered.

Worse, Custer did this even after noticing what he admitted was a surprisingly large Indian encampment nearby. In fact, this hastened his attack, under the ludicrous logic that, despite being severely outmanned, he had to strike before the town disbanded and escaped in smaller groups. It was the height of military hubris and a disgraceful dereliction of duty.

10 Forgotten Battles That Changed World History