When it comes to the world of war, underdogs have a magnetic pull—think of the Celtic Iceni led by Boudicca or the legendary Spartans at Thermopylae. Whether they leveraged clever tactics, unexpected technology, or sheer grit, these smaller forces managed to carve out victories that still echo through history. Below you’ll find the ten most remarkable examples of 10 military underdogs who turned the tables on massive foes.

Why These 10 Military Underdogs Stand Out

Each story on this list showcases a blend of daring strategy, bold leadership, and a dash of luck that allowed a modest force to outwit, outmaneuver, or outright crush a far larger opponent. From colonial India to the seas of Korea, these battles prove that numbers aren’t everything.

10 British East India CompanyBattle Of Assaye

Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, once described the Battle of Assaye as “the bloodiest for the number that I ever saw.” Fought during the Second Anglo‑Maratha War, the clash pitched roughly 6,500–10,000 British troops against a staggering 40,000–50,000 Maratha warriors. Flawed intelligence had the British marching to the wrong spot, only to discover an enemy far larger than anticipated. Yet Wellesley, a battlefield genius more than a planner, swiftly reordered his men, opting for a rapid strike instead of waiting for reinforcements under Colonel Stevenson, whose forces were miles away.

The decisive factor turned out to be the Maratha commanders’ disbelief that Wellesley would attack while outnumbered. Caught off‑guard, the Maratha army collapsed, losing between 5,000 and 6,500 men, while the British suffered about 1,500 casualties. Decades later, the Duke of Wellington reflected that his triumph at Assaye remained his crowning achievement.

9 King David IV And The Georgian ArmyBattle Of Didgori

Known as David the Builder, King David IV of Georgia rose to power at just sixteen and faced the formidable Seljuq Turks, who had dominated much of his realm. Determined to end the occupation, David rallied feudal lords, mustered an army, and set his sights on reclaiming Tbilisi, a city held by Muslims for nearly five centuries. While Georgian chronicles inflate the numbers, modern scholars estimate roughly 56,000 troops marched to the foothills of Mount Didgori, confronting an enemy that may have numbered between 100,000 and 250,000.

In a move reminiscent of Stalin’s Order No. 227, David ordered his men to block any retreat, barricading the path with trees and boulders. He then dispatched 200 heavily‑armed cavalry under the guise of deserters to infiltrate the Seljuq leadership. The ruse succeeded, the Seljuq commanders were slain, and morale plummeted. The ensuing three‑hour battle saw the Turks suffer heavy losses while the Georgians emerged relatively unscathed, paving the way for the capture of Tbilisi and a revived Georgian capital.

8 Mexican ArmyBattle Of Puebla

Picture Puebla, Mexico, in 1862. President Benito Juárez grappled with a crushing foreign debt that prompted Britain, France, and Spain to demand payment. While Britain and Spain withdrew after negotiations, Napoleon III of France pressed on, aiming to install a Mexican empire. After seizing Veracruz, the French set their sights on Puebla, a fortified city standing between their forces and Mexico City.

Six thousand French soldiers marched against a ragtag Mexican garrison of roughly 2,000 men—well below the classic 3:1 ratio for successful sieges. Yet the Mexicans held firm from sunrise to dusk on May 5, inflicting casualties five times higher than the French, who lost about 500 troops. Although the French eventually captured Puebla a year later, the battle sparked a surge of national pride, later commemorated as Cinco de Mayo, a holiday more celebrated in the United States than Mexico itself.

7 Croatian National GuardBattle Of Vukovar

Following the death of Yugoslav leader Josip Tito in 1980, the federation fractured, prompting Serbian nationalists to tighten control from Belgrade. Croatia declared independence on June 25, 1991, but conflict erupted quickly. By August, Serbian forces, numbering around 36,000, advanced on the strategic border town of Vukovar. The Croatian defenders—just 1,800 soldiers bolstered by civilian volunteers—stood their ground for 86 harrowing days.

Despite exhausting their ammunition and receiving no reinforcements, the Croatians inflicted heavy casualties, nearly double those suffered by the Serbs. When the city finally fell, the aftermath was grim: 200 Croat refugees were executed in the city hospital, and widespread ethnic cleansing followed. The siege of Vukovar remains a stark reminder of the human cost behind daring underdog resistance.

6 English TroopsBattle Of Crecy

Although less famed than Agincourt, the 1346 Battle of Crecy reshaped the Hundred Years’ War. King Edward III spent fourteen years perfecting an army of longbowmen, a weapon many contemporaries dismissed as merely defensive. When the English fleet landed on the French coast, roughly 10,000 men faced a French force nearly three times larger. Overconfident, King Philip VI even drafted a list of English knights he intended to capture.

The English longbow proved a game‑changer, firing six to seven arrows per minute—far outpacing the French crossbow. The French, unprepared for such a barrage, fell into chaos. Cavalry charges met with a wall of arrows, and retreating foot soldiers were cut down ruthlessly. By nightfall, French casualties topped 10,000, while English losses were comparatively modest. Crecy demonstrated how innovative weaponry could tip the scales in favor of a numerically inferior force.

5 Irish UN TroopsSiege Of Jadotville

In 1961, newly admitted UN member Ireland sent its first peacekeeping detachment to the Katanga province of the Congo. The contingent, comprising 158 lightly‑armed Irish soldiers (alongside Swedish and Indian troops), was tasked with defending the mining town of Jadotville against a hostile force of 3,000–5,000 Katangan militia and Belgian mercenaries.

Utilizing well‑dug trenches, precise rifle fire, and timely mortar strikes, the Irish held off the attackers, inflicting roughly 1,300 casualties while sustaining only five wounded themselves. Exhausted ammunition forced commander Pat Quinlan to negotiate a cease‑fire, a move some in Ireland later branded a surrender. Decades on, the actions of the Jadotville garrison have been re‑examined, and their bravery celebrated, especially after fellow soldier John Gorman championed their legacy.

4 Swedish SoldiersBattle Of Fraustadt

While the Battle of Narva often steals the spotlight, the 1706 clash at Fraustadt remains a testament to Swedish tactical brilliance during the Great Northern War. Encircled by Russia, Denmark‑Norway, and Saxony‑Poland, Sweden’s youthful King Charles XII still managed to secure victories. At Fraustadt, roughly 9,000 Swedish troops faced an entrenched force of 18,000 Saxons, Russians, and mercenaries.

Swedish General Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld recognized a decisive cavalry advantage—nearly three to one—and executed a classic pincer movement. Swedish horsemen swept around the enemy flanks, striking the rear of the main line. The opposing army collapsed, suffering about 16,000 casualties, while Swedish losses numbered just over 1,000. In the aftermath, around 500 Russian prisoners were executed as retribution for prior atrocities in Courland.

3 Eastern Jin SoldiersBattle Of Fei River

The Battle of Fei River in 382 stands as one of China’s pivotal confrontations. The Eastern Jin dynasty, defending the south, faced the northern Former Qin empire, whose forces allegedly numbered 800,000 against the Jin’s modest 80,000. In reality, the Qin army consisted largely of conscripts with little loyalty, poorly equipped and trained, while the Jin troops were seasoned under General Xie Xuan.

When the Qin army approached the dried‑up Fei River, Xie Xuan requested a slight westward retreat to allow his forces to cross. The Qin emperor, Fu Jian, consented, but his troops interpreted the maneuver as a sign of defeat and panicked. Seizing the moment, the Jin launched a ferocious attack, annihilating the Qin army. Contemporary accounts speak of such carnage that the dead formed “pillows” for one another. The crushing loss precipitated a civil war that ultimately dissolved the Former Qin dynasty.

2 Polish InfantryBattle Of Wizna

The Battle of Wizna, often dubbed the Polish Thermopylae, saw a tiny garrison of roughly 700 soldiers (some historians argue as few as 360) defend a fortified line against a massive German force of about 40,000. The clash began on September 7, 1939, as the Wehrmacht unleashed its blitzkrieg tactics on Poland.

Polish commander Władysław Raginis vowed to hold every defended position to the last. However, after days of fierce fighting, ammunition ran dry and no reinforcements arrived. German General Heinz Guderian threatened to execute all Polish POWs unless they surrendered. Reluctantly, Raginis ordered his men to abandon the bunker; one survivor, Seweryn Bieganski, later recalled the captain’s gentle urging before an explosion claimed his life. Though the Germans captured Wizna, the heroic stand bought valuable time for the Polish high command to regroup and continue resistance abroad.

1 Korean NavyBattle Of Myeongnyang

Admiral Yi Sun‑Sin, originally an army commander, first fought the Manchu nomads before becoming the naval chief of Korea’s Cholla district. After a treacherous plot led to his demotion, Yi was recalled to defend his homeland against a renewed Japanese invasion. With only twelve turtle‑ships left, he chose the narrow Myeongnyang Strait for a decisive encounter against an overwhelming fleet of at least 133 Japanese vessels.

Exploiting the strait’s treacherous currents and his ships’ superior design, Yi’s fleet decimated the Japanese, sinking 31 ships while miraculously losing none of his own. Unlike the Roman‑Carthaginian tradition of boarding, the Japanese attempted to board the Korean vessels, a tactic that proved futile against the heavily armored turtle‑ships. The stunning victory at Myeongnyang cemented Yi Sun‑Sin’s legacy as a naval genius and a quintessential underdog champion.

When you hear the phrase “top 10 infectious” you probably think of current outbreaks, but history is littered with victories where science and determination knocked out some of the world’s nastiest bugs. From the scourge of smallpox to the relentless mosquito that spreads malaria, humanity has turned the tide on diseases that once threatened entire continents. Below is a lively rundown of the ten most remarkable infectious defeats, complete with the stories, the heroes, and the breakthroughs that made them possible.

Why the Top 10 Infectious Victories Matter

These triumphs aren’t just footnotes in a medical textbook; they are proof that coordinated global action, relentless research, and clever public‑health strategies can erase even the most terrifying pathogens. Let’s dive into each conquest, starting with the disease that claimed more lives than any other.

10 Smallpox

Smallpox was a ruthless airborne virus that claimed about one‑third of every person it infected. With no cure in sight, physicians could only watch a two‑week waiting game to see who would survive; those who did were left with the unmistakable, scar‑filled pockmarks that gave the disease its name.

In 1796, English doctor Edward Jenner observed that milkmaids who had previously caught cowpox never seemed to contract smallpox. To test his hunch, he inoculated the eight‑year‑old son of his gardener with cowpox and later exposed the boy to the deadly smallpox virus. Remarkably, the youngster remained healthy – Jenner had unintentionally created the world’s first vaccine.

Jenner’s breakthrough dramatically cut smallpox deaths. By the time the World Health Organization (WHO) launched an eradication campaign in 1959, the disease was largely confined to South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

WHO orchestrated massive vaccine drives and guided nations on proper administration. The final known case surfaced in Somalia in 1977, and in 1980 the organization proudly declared smallpox the first disease ever eradicated by human effort.

9 Rinderpest

Rinderpest, often called “cattle plague,” never infected humans, yet its impact on livestock was catastrophic. In the 1890s, the virus wiped out 80‑90 % of cattle across sub‑Saharan Africa, leaving farmers without meat, milk, or draft animals and causing a population drop of at least one‑third in the affected regions.

Any animal that survived the infection developed lifelong immunity, and the high mortality rate meant that wild hosts such as buffalo and giraffes were also decimated before they could transmit the virus to domestic herds.

In the 1960s, British scientist Walter Plowright engineered a vaccine, which the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization began purchasing in bulk during the 1990s. Veterinarians across Europe, Asia, and Africa vaccinated cattle worldwide, finally eradicating rinderpest in 2011 – the second disease ever to be wiped out.

8 Polio

Polio, short for poliomyelitis, is a virus that can cause temporary or permanent paralysis, and in severe cases it attacks the lungs, leading to death.

In 1953, Jonas Salk announced he had created a safe polio vaccine and deliberately refused to patent it, ensuring the serum could be distributed as widely as possible – a decision that cost him billions in today’s dollars.

The March of Dimes funded a massive trial, and by 1979 the United States was declared polio‑free, just 24 years after the vaccine’s introduction. The WHO’s Global Polio Eradication Initiative, launched in 1988, has driven a 99.99 % drop in cases, leaving the disease endemic only in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria.

7 Guinea Worm

When a person drinks stagnant water teeming with Guinea worm larvae, the parasites travel to the intestines, mature, and after 10‑14 months a female worm migrates to the lower limb, forming a painful blister that forces the host to dunk the foot in water, releasing new larvae back into the source.

Although the lesions are excruciating and can become infected, the disease is rarely fatal. Still, no one enjoys having worms reproducing inside their bodies.

The Carter Center has spearheaded a water‑purification campaign that has been wildly successful. In 1986, an estimated 3.5 million cases plagued South Asia, Yemen, and sub‑Saharan Africa; by 2018, only 28 cases were reported worldwide.

6 Yaws

Yaws, also known as frambesia, spreads through skin‑to‑skin contact with the bacterium Treponema pallidum pertenue. Within three months of infection, patients develop raspberry‑like lesions, especially on the face, which fade after six months but may recur later, often leaving disfiguring scars that can lead to bullying.

In the 1950s, yaws affected over 70 countries. Because a single dose of the antibiotic azithromycin can cure it, WHO targeted the disease early on for eradication. Efforts in the 1960s nearly eliminated it, but attention shifted to smallpox, and yaws lingered.

As of 2019, the disease still persisted in 15 nations, reminding us that vigilance is essential even after major successes.

5 Hookworm

Hookworms thrive in soil contaminated by sewage and penetrate the skin, usually through bare feet. Once inside, they travel to the small intestine where they feed on the host’s blood, causing fatigue, anemia, bloating, and stunted growth.

Because they live where sanitation is poor, infected individuals often excrete the worms, contaminating the ground again and perpetuating the cycle of infection.

In 1910, philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Sr. donated $1 million to a campaign aimed at eradicating hookworms in the American South. The five‑year effort dramatically lowered infection rates and boosted school attendance, as children were no longer drained of energy by the parasites.

Although near‑elimination has been achieved, reinfection remains common. The Human Hookworm Vaccine Initiative is now developing a drug that blocks the worm’s ability to feed, promising a future where hookworms could finally disappear.

4 Measles

Measles has made a modest comeback in recent years as vaccination rates slipped, yet the global burden has plummeted over the past half‑century.

Before 1963, virtually every American child contracted measles by age 15, with major epidemics every two to three years and an average of 2.6 million deaths annually worldwide. The virus spreads through coughing and sneezing.

In 1954, Harvard’s Dr. Thomas C. Peebles asked 11‑year‑old patient David Edmonston if he wanted “to be of service to mankind.” Edmonston consented, allowing Dr. John F. Enders to isolate the virus and develop the Edmonston‑Enders vaccine, which remains in use today.

From 2000 to 2018, measles deaths fell 73 %, saving an estimated 23.2 million lives. The United States declared measles eliminated in 2000, yet 1,282 cases were still reported in 2019, underscoring the need for continued immunization.

3 Tetanus

Tetanus is caused by the bacterium Clostridium tetani, which resides in soils worldwide. When it enters an open wound, the microbe releases a toxin that induces painful muscle spasms and can cause paralysis.

Because the bacterium is heat‑ and chemical‑resistant, eradication is unlikely, but widespread vaccination has effectively eliminated new cases in many regions.

In 1990, roughly 314,000 people died from tetanus globally. By 2017, deaths had dropped to 38,000 – an 88 % reduction – with the highest burden still found in South Sudan and Somalia.

2 Elephantiasis

Elephantiasis stems from three species of threadlike worms that lodge in the lymphatic system, impairing fluid regulation and causing limbs or genitals to swell to elephant‑like proportions.

The infected worms release larvae into the bloodstream; when a mosquito bites an afflicted person, it can transmit the disease to subsequent victims.

Medications can treat the infection, and combined with mosquito‑prevention measures, the spread can be halted.

Since 2000, more than 7.7 billion treatments have reached over 910 million people. Sixteen countries have eliminated the disease, with seven additional nations under surveillance for possible eradication.

1 Malaria

Malaria is driven by a tiny blood parasite transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes. Symptoms range from fever and chills to severe headache, nausea, and body aches.

The disease has plagued Europe, Africa, and Asia for centuries. When Europeans colonized the Americas, malaria rode along, exposing an estimated 53 % of the world’s landmass to infection at its peak.

In the early 1900s, understanding of mosquito‑borne transmission led to massive public‑health actions: draining wetlands, widespread insecticide spraying, and the creation of the Office of Malaria Control in War Areas, which later evolved into the Centers for Disease Control.

The 21st century has seen remarkable progress. Between 2000 and 2015, malaria deaths fell from 840,000 to 440,000 annually, with most fatalities occurring among African children.

Continued innovation, from rapid‑diagnostic tests to novel antimalarial drugs, keeps the momentum going as the global community strives to push the disease toward eventual eradication.