Guns
Battle Rattle
In 1532, the tiny town of Guns is all that stood between the Ottoman Empire and Vienna. A young knight, Nikola Jurisic, inspired fewer than 1,000 villagers to stand up against the brutal daily assaults of nearly 100,000 Turks. The heroism of those defenders helped halt the Muslim takeover of Europe, and that’s why the battle of Guns is a battle you might not know, but should.
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The Last Stand Of The Swiss Guard
Battle Rattle
Rome spent centuries flexing its muscle as one of the greatest military forces the world has ever known, but on May 6, 1527 Rome failed to keep out a bloodthirsty army that spent the subsequent months murdering Romans and stripping the city of its wealth. Many of the invaders had a bigger target than mere looting: The Catholic Pope Clement VII. These early supporters of Martin Luther sought to imprison or ransom Clement VII, and standing between them and the Pope were a few hundred Swiss Guards, sworn to protect the Pope with their life. Their sacrifice during this Sack of Rome bought the...
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Wabash
Battle Rattle
You've heard of US military tragedies like Pearl Harbor and Custer's Last Stand, but arguably the worst defeat on a US army force is so unknown that it doesn't even have a name. Most call it St. Clair's defeat, named after the general who lost 1/3 of the US's standing army in a single morning. We call it Battle of the Wabash, named after the river where a smaller Native American force wiped out an American encampment on November 4, 1971.
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Colenso
Battle Rattle
Britain's introduction to "modern" warfare came a few years before World War I against an unlikely foe: farmers on horseback. Except these farmers geniusly employed smokeless powder, machine guns, and trenches. The farmers were called Boers, and 3,500 of them fended off 21,000 British troops at a small river crossing in South Africa called Colenso.
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Carabobo
Battle Rattle
Simon Bolivar is known as The Liberator of South America, but on a hot summer morning in a sleepy Venezuelan village he nearly lost his entire revolution, and possibly the freedom of a continent. Moments from defeat, Bolivar was saved by an unlikely ally: British veterans of Waterloo.
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Hulao Pass
Battle Rattle
When we think of the great military minds, we think of the standards: Napoleon, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, etc. But in 621 a second son in frontier China would emerge from the desert to lead one of the most successful military campaigns in history, culminating in an against-all-odds victory that united China and ushered in China's Golden Age. His name was Li Shimin, and the place was Hulao Pass.
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Soissons
Battle Rattle
What does victory on the battlefield look like? Can you fail your objective but still change the war? The U.S. Marines at Soissons did just that. Failed by their planners, these Marines drove headfirst into a maelstrom of German firepower. The casualties were horrific, but their determination to hold the ground they gained changed the calculus of the Western Front. And that's why Soissons is a battle you might not know, but should.
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Cerro Gordo
Battle Rattle
For being the United State’s first war on foreign soil and featuring a Who’s Who of future Civil War leadership, the Mexican War gets little attention. On several occasions the US was on the brink of disaster, only to pull out a surprise victory. Arguably the most significant turn of fortune came on General Winfield Scott’s march to Mexico City at a small choke point called Cerro Gordo. There, the Americans employed grit and ingenuity to turn the battlefield around and make the war’s conclusion inev
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Kings Mountain
Battle Rattle
On October 7, 1780, American backwoodsmen slowly encircled British loyalists. The loyalists had the numbers, training, and the high ground, but the rules of war would not work out for them. Their force would disintegrate and force Lord Cornwallis to withdraw from his Southern campaign and escape to Yorktown, where he eventually surrendered to Washington, effectively ending the war. In terms of the battle’s relative importance, Kings Mountain is arguably the most pivotal battle in the American Revolution.
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Saragarhi
Battle Rattle
On a small hillock in a remote ridge on a forgotten frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan sat a small signal tower in a dusty village. In 1897, the 22 Sikh soldiers employed by the British army operating this signal tower were surrounded by at least 8,000 Pashtun warriors. They were invited to surrender, but their response would make Saragarhi one of the most impressive last stands in the annals of military history.
info_outlineIn 1532, the tiny town of Guns is all that stood between the Ottoman Empire and Vienna. A young knight, Nikola Jurisic, inspired fewer than 1,000 villagers to stand up against the brutal daily assaults of nearly 100,000 Turks. The heroism of those defenders helped halt the Muslim takeover of Europe, and that’s why the battle of Guns is a battle you might not know, but should.