Fifteen decisive Battles
(The), according to Sir E.S. Creasy, were: 1. The battle
of MARATHON (Sept., 490 B.C.), when Miltiades, with 10,000 Greeks,
defeated 100,000 Persians under Datis and Artaphernes.
2. The naval battle at SYRACUSE (Sep., 413 B.C.), when the Athenians
under Nicias and Demosthenes were defeated with a loss of 40,000 killed
and wounded, and their entire fleet.
3. The battle of ARBE'LA (Oct., 331 B.C.), when Alexander the Great
overthrew Darius Codomanus for the third time.
4. The battle of METAURUS (207 B.C.), when the consuls Livius and
Nero cut to pieces Hasdrubal's army, sent to reinforce Hannibal.
5. In A.D. 9 Arminius and the Gauls utterly overthrew the Romans
under Varus, and thus established the independence of Gaul.
6. The battle of CHALONS (A.D. 451), when Aetius and Theodoric
utterly defeated Attila, and saved Europe from devastation.
7. The battle of TOURS (Oct., 732 A.D.), when Charles Martel
overthrew the Saracens under Abderahmen, and thus broke the Moslem yoke
from Europe.
8. The battle of HASTINGS (Oct., 1066), when William of Normandy
slew Harold II., and obtained the crown of England.
9. The battle of ORLEANS in 1429, when Joan of Arc secured the
independence of France.
10. The defeat of the Spanish ARMADA in 1588, which destroyed the
hopes of the Pope respecting England. 11. The battle of BLENHEIM (13
Aug., 1704), when Marlborough and Prince Eugene defeated Tallard, and
thus prevented Louis XIV. from carrying out his schemes. 12. The
battle of PULTOWA (July, 1709), when Czar Peter utterly defeated
Charles XII, of Sweden, and thus established the Muscovite power.
13. The battle of SARATOGA (Oct., 1777), when General Gates defeated
the British under General Burgoyne, and thus secured for the United
States the alliance of France.
14. The battle of VALMY (Sep., 1792), when the French Marshal
Kellerman defeated the Duke of Brunswick, and thus established for a
time the French republic.
15. The battle of WATERLOO (18 June, 1815), when Napoleon the Great
was defeated by the Duke of Wellington, and Europe was restored to its
normal condition.
The battle of GETTYSBURG, in Pennsylvania (3 July, 1863), when the
Confederates, under the command of General Lee, were defeated by the
Northern army, was certainly one of the most important, if not the most
important, of the American Civil War.
The battle of SEDAN (Sep., 1870). when Napoleon gave up his sword to
William, King of Prussia, which put an end to the empire of France.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Fifteen decisive Battles from Infoplease:
- Fifteen decisive Battles - Fifteen decisive Battles (The), according to Sir E.S. Creasy, were: 1. The battle of MARATHON ...
- Up - Up The House is up. The business of the day is ended, and the members may rise up from their seats ...
- Battle - Battle Professor Creasy says there are fifteen decisive battles; that is, battles which have ...
- Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: F - Definitions, origins, and illustrative excerpts for words, phases, and literary allusions starting with "F"
See a map of "" in the Visual Thesaurus 
|
