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Ethelred
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quote:
I cannot think of a greater victory. |
How about this one, with Caesar. He took all of Egypt with two legions.
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Capt Dizle
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Uh, I think when Connan stormed Rip Torn's fortress.
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Mihai
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Bucharest, Romania
Jan 2000
time: 07:22
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Cannae of course.
There was no tehnological gap (as it was in some mesure at Agincourt), no good defensive position to hold on (Termopyle, Alesia, Masada). Just briliant tactics of Hannibal won that battle so decisive (90,000 legionars dead).
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MosesPresley
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American carpet bombings in the last few wars have yielded a 600-1 kill ratio, but I digress.
Napoleon at Austerlitz anyone?
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Dr Strangelove
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quote:
Originally posted by Ethelred
They won and the Brits lost almost every single man. Yet at Roarks Drift with about the same ratio of attackers to defenders the Brits won.
They pretty much didn't have time for tactics of any kind. They were overrun before they could do much. The whole thing was a botch but the Brits still had the same guns there as at Roarks Drift and Zulus had the same weapons.
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At Islandwanha the British troops were each issued only 10 rounds each and had not brought up their "machine guns". At Roark's drift the rear echilon troops were sitting on an ammo dump, and had plenty of time to set up their machine guns.
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Ethelred
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There weren't any machine guns at Roarks Drift. Not even a gatling gun which is what the Brits had at and wasted at Isandlawana.
I was wrong on the number of men at Roark's Drift. It was 145 or there abouts. The Zulu had about 4500 Impi. The Brits did have a quite a bit of ammunition. 20,000 rounds at the start. They had 900 at the end. But no machine guns of any kind.
Great site on Roark's Drift. Including coverage of myths like the Zulu's using rifles capture at Isandhlwana. They had them before that. Not very good ones apparently.
http://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/battle...nce_account.htm
As for a shortage of ammunition at Isandlwana that appears to be at least partly myth. One unit did run out and had to retreat but men were firing heavily till killed all over the battlefield.
http://www.kwazulu.co.uk/Secrets.html
http://www.kwazulu.co.uk/myths.htm
That is a very good site on the Zulu war.
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David Floyd
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The bottom of a large bottle of beer
Jan 1970
time: 05:22
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Say what you like about the quality of Iraqi troops, but the Coalition victory vs. Iraq was fairly spectacular.
Let's see...Midway, of course, Israel in the 6 Day War...those are just a few that haven't been mentioned yet.
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Ned
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of Aptos, CA
Oct 1999
time: 21:22
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quote:
Originally posted by David Floyd
Say what you like about the quality of Iraqi troops, but the Coalition victory vs. Iraq was fairly spectacular.
Let's see...Midway, of course, Israel in the 6 Day War...those are just a few that haven't been mentioned yet. |
It was. But it was a forgone conclusion given the Coalition's air supremacy.
The greater glory goes to commanders who prevail against an equal general that has vetern troops and there is a level playing field in terms of technology. How many times has this occured in history? Very few. Caesar beat Pompey, thereby cementing his reputation in my book. Scipio beat Hannibal. Grant beat Lee. Wellington beat Napoleon.
I am sure there must be some similar victories by equaly matched opponents in Chinese and Japanese history.
Even Sharon's victory in the Sanai in '73 is worthy of mention. Until he arrived and took command, the Israeli's were losing.
Last edited by Ned on 05-10-2002 at 21:34
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Zkribbler
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Los Angeles, CA, USA
Feb 1999
time: 21:22
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It isn't so much the fact that the UN won against Iraq in Desert Storm as much as it is the fact they took out the world's 4th largest army (battle hardened) while losing only 100 killed.
Thanks to David Floyd for reminding us of Midway and the 6-Day War. Both are excellent nominations. 
For consideration, I'd like to add Nelson's victories at Tafalgar and the Battle of the Nile, Wellington's many victories--especially in India, the WWII German victory over the French & British when they flanked the Maginot Line, and Washington's surprise attack on Trenton in which rebel forces had zero casualties.
But my vote goes to the Battle of Marathon. The grossly outnumbered Athenians destroyed the invading Persian Army and lost, IIRC, a mere 86 men. No advanced weapons, no great position, no clever tactics, just your standard frontal assault followed by some determined hack and slash.
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Traianvs
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Belgium, land of plenty (corruption)
Jan 2000
time: 06:22
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de gulden sporenslag was indeed a remarkable voctory, although many belgians (flemish to be more precise) exaggerate this... once again, the french lost due to bad tactics, while the flemish had good leadership... the french knights just stormed ahead, not even knowing what terrain they are facing and what kind of troops they have to kill... it was a nice win, but in 1304 the French finished it, not by winning a battle, but by luck.. they lost once again, but the Flemish assuming they had lost (but in fact they had won), fled from the battlefield... and that was the end of the short military superiority of Flanders 
No it was more remarkable because it started a period where armies consisting primarily of knights wasn't invincible anymore (before that, no army consisting of foot soldiers had beaten a knight army)
I'd say Cannae was pretty impressive, i don't think they had lost 90k troops, which would be nearly 23 legions (if that would have happened half the roman army from that time was killed in 1 battle!), and their opponents weren't light troops or so.. except for the numidian cavalry that didn't serve as shock troops but for skirmishes and quick raids, attacks in the flank and the back etc...
Hannibal primarily won because the roman cavalry on the right wing was defeated by the superior carthaginian cav (roman cavalry never was that good, they relied primarily on allies and Gauls)
Alesia was nice, but if you look at his fortifications...storming Caesar was comitting suicide...
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David Floyd
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The bottom of a large bottle of beer
Jan 1970
time: 05:22
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What about the U-Boat under Lt. Prien that infiltrated Scapa Flow and sunk the (IIRC) Royal Oak? Pretty amazing stuff, that.
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05-10-2002 03:41
Hellloooooo!
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