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Questions tagged [battle]

Questions related to an historical battle, being a single engagement or combat in warfare between two or more armed forces.

3 votes
1 answer
679 views

Were trained crocodiles used as a weapon in the Battle of Saraighat?

There is a youtube video about The Ahom Kingdom. It generally sounds fairly well researched and makes only one obvious extraordinary claim. In describing the Battle of Saraighat (1671) the following ...
User65535's user avatar
  • 197
30 votes
2 answers
10k views

How was Rome able to conscript and equip 400k soldiers during 2nd Punic War in a pre-industrial society?

I have counted legions and allied legions Rome conscripted during 16 years of Punic War. It's roughly 400k and could be even more. Battle Year Result Battle of Ticinus 218 BC 2,000 Roman casualties, ...
ÖzgürP's user avatar
  • 411
5 votes
1 answer
375 views

Battle of Ulm: why did general Mack surrender to Napoleon instead of retreating to Ulm and wait for the Russian Army?

Was there something that made being besieged at these times inconceivable? I can imagine that a lack of provisions and/or logistics of keeping ~70 000 men in a city wouldn't make the situation ideal ...
psz's user avatar
  • 53
8 votes
1 answer
2k views

Was there a battle at "Wodziki" in October 1914?

A gravestone for Friedrich Adel Ferdinand Torsten Graf Posadowsky-Wehner, Freiherr v. Postelwitz, Kgl. Preuss Oberst und Kommandeur des (2 Oster.) Gren Rgt. 13 says gefallen am 7 Okt. 1914 i Wodziki ...
WGroleau's user avatar
  • 371
0 votes
1 answer
141 views

When did Athenian archers pepper Spartan hoplites with arrows for days on an island?

The heading is basically all I remember from school. The hoplites lacked mobility and were thus harassed for day by the lightly armored Athenian archers. Athenian victory.
Vorac's user avatar
  • 1,097
1 vote
0 answers
100 views

Did the Battle of Red Cliffs take place on the border between Cao Cao and Liu Bei's territories?

In the YouTube video Three Kingdoms - OverSimplified, we have this depiction of the Battle of Red Cliffs: The video suggests the Battle of Red Cliffs (赤壁之战) takes place on the border between Cao Cao ...
Rebecca J. Stones's user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
545 views

Why did armies meet on the battlefield, and how often did they? (medieval times) [closed]

A common criticism I hear of fiction set in medieval-esque worlds is that it makes no sense for the defending army to leave the fortifications in order to meet the attacking army on the battlefield. ...
user110391's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
259 views

What was the Indian nobility's reaction to the construction of Veeranam Eri (வீராணம் ஏரி)?

Background Information In the South of Medieval India, there was a wealthy and powerful empire called the Chola Empire. In between the years 907-955 AD, the king (or Raja) Parantaka the First (...
Proud Tamil Indian's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
85 views

Did any army try speed volley fire by passing pre-loaded muskets to the front line? [duplicate]

Early 16th to 18th century muskets had 2 big disadvantages. Musketeers needed minimum 20-30 seconds to reload them and they were very inaccurate, because projectile (usually small lead ball) was much ...
Crossbow10's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
849 views

What is the reasoning behind these huge numbers for participants in the Battle of Grunwald 1410?

I was reading about the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) in 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War and I found this strange excerpt from current Wikispeedia, (which is based on an old Wikipedia ...
Master's user avatar
  • 445
-1 votes
1 answer
538 views

Did a submarine ever torpedo and sink a destroyer? [closed]

The naval battle of U-405 versus USS Borie sank the Borie, but that was due to its own action of ramming U-405, which had a stronger hull to withstand depth pressures. Did a submarine ever sink a ...
Derk's user avatar
  • 21
0 votes
0 answers
48 views

How effectively did Romans rotate/relieve lines with the cohort system? [duplicate]

There is a similar question on Reddit and the original poster of the question uses a YouTube video to demonstrate the point. That video showcases a rotation of Roman infantry in a cohort. According to ...
Kav's user avatar
  • 153
10 votes
2 answers
4k views

How true is this observation concerning battle?

I came across a quote: “One who risks his life in battle has the best chance of saving it; one who flees to save it is most likely to lose it” (Anthologia Lyrica Graeca, ed. E. Diehl2 1936-42.) The ...
user7289's user avatar
  • 219
28 votes
4 answers
6k views

How difficult was to escape from a naval battle after engaging into one during the Age of Sail?

So, I am designing a board game which includes pirates/imperial battles during the age of sail. While I have found a lot of information on the internet as well as books, papers and of course other ...
Spyros's user avatar
  • 381
6 votes
1 answer
515 views

Why were the Marines so badly outnumbered at the critical point at Guadalcanal?

Prior to the battle of Guadalcanal,, the Americans had landed 11,000 men on the island in August, 1942. This compares to the 5,000 or so men that the Japanese had on the island by the first week of ...
Tom Au's user avatar
  • 104k

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