World Military History Flashcards
1812, Russia
Napoleon’s pyrrhic victory at this village led to his taking of (abandoned) Moscow; with no supplies, his army had to retreat
Referenced in “1812 Overture” (Tchaikovsky, 1880)
BATTLE OF BORODINO
1314, Scotland
1st War of Scottish Independence
ROBERT THE BRUCE defeats Edward II’s army
BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN
1297, Scotland
1st War of Scottish Independence
WILLIAM WALLACE defeats English
Portrayed in “Braveheart” (1995)
BATTLE OF STIRLING BRIDGE
1415, France
Battle that ended the Hundred Years’ War
England’s HENRY V defeats France’s CHARLES VI despite superior French forces, in part due to English longbows
Occurred on St. Crispin’s Day (Oct. 25)
Site of Shakespeare’s “Band of brothers” speech
BATTLE OF AGINCOURT
1485, England near Leicester
Ended the Wars of the Roses
Richard III, the last York king, is unhorsed (“My kingdom for a horse…”) & dies in a bog
Henry VII Tudor, victorious, takes the throne
BATTLE OF BOSWORTH FIELD
1862, Tennessee
Named for a church
Also called Battle of Pittsburgh Landing (for the nearby river)
Grant is taken by surprise, sustains heavy losses, but ultimately a Confedereate retreat/loss
BATTLE OF SHILOH
31 B.C.E., near a Greek promontory
Octavian (Augustus) defeats the fleets of (Mark) Antony & Cleopatra
One setting in Shakespeare’s “Antony & Cleopatra”
BATTLE OF ACTIUM
1713-15, Netherlands
Ended War of Spanish Succession
Signed by Spain, Great Britain, France, Portugal, Savoy, Dutch Republic
Great Britain gained Gibraltar from Spain, & parts of Canada from France
Named for a Dutch university city
TREATY OF UTRECHT
1494 (2 years after Columbus sailed)
Spain & Portugal divide the New World between themselves
Named for Spanish city
TREATY OF TORDESILLAS
1918, a town in what is now Belarus
USSR & Germany sign
USSR cedes the 3 Baltics (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), Ukraine, & Belarus
TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK
1973 war
Egypt & Syria attack Israel
Lasts almost 3 weeks
YOM KIPPUR WAR
or
RAMADAN WAR
Chicago, 1886
McCormick Reaper workers rally for 8 hour day
Results in a riot between unions & cops
Leads to International Workers’ Day, aka May Day
HAYMARKET SQUARE RIOT
Since 2016, Myanmar/Burma’s military has been committing genocide against and displicing this muslim population
ROHINGYA
1746 battle in Scotland
Loss for Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobites
BATTLE OF CULLODEN MOOR
May 5, 1862 battle
Mexico defeats France
Celebrated on Cinco de Mayo
BATLE OF PUEBLA
1800 battle in Piedmont, Italy
Napoleon defeats Habsburg Austria
Napoleon later named a horse for it
BATTLE OF MARENGO
1389 battle
Ottomans defeat Serbs
BATTLE OF KOSOVO
1598 edict by Henry IV of France
Gave Huguenots (French protestants) freedoms
Named for a city on the Loire
EDICT OF NANTES
1572 massacre
Thousands of Huguenots (French protestants) killed by Catholics
Named for a religious observance
ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S DAY MASSACRE
French military award given since 1915
Primarily given for serving in WWI & WWII
CROIX DE GUERRE
Series of wars between Rome & Carthage
~250-150 BCE
1st - Rome captures Sicily
2nd - Scipio defeats Hannibal at Zama
3rd - Rome sacks Carthage
Name refers to the Phoenicians, who settled Carthage
PUNIC WARS
General in the 1st Punic War
Supposedly founded Barcelona
Father of Hannibal
HAMILCAR BARCA
Carthaginian general (247-183 BCE)
Fought 2nd Punic War
Brought 37 elephants over the Alps to attack Rome
Victories at Trebia & Trasimene
Ultimately lost to Scipio at Zama & was later exiled
HANNIBAL
General of Alexander the Great, 3rd century BCE
After Alexander’s death, founded a dynasty in Egypt that built the library at Alexandria & lighthouse
PTOLEMY I
Gained his epithet for defeating Hannibal at Zama to end the 2nd Punic War
Subject of a Petrarch poem
Helmet mentioned in Italy’s anthem
SCIPIO “AFRICANUS”
Led Octavian’s fleet to victory at Actium
Honoured with a pedestal on the Acropolis
MARCUS AGRIPPA
2nd of the French & Indian Wars
Fought 1702-1713 in North America
Named for a monarch
QUEEN ANNE’S WAR
Signed at Panmunjom in 1953 in what is now DMZ
KOREAN ARMISTICE
1862 battle where U.S. Grant got his nickname “Unconditional Surrender”
Located on the Cumberland River in Tennessee
FORT DONELSON
Day & year of the Armistice of Compiegne
2 days after Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated
Known as Armistice Day in the U.S. until 1953, then Veterans Day
1918
NOVEMBER 11
Also called an “arbalest”
Fires bolts
Condemned by Lateran Council
Used by the Ancient Mariner to kill albatross
Used by Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead
CROSSBOW
“Colourful” term for Nazi “Stormtroopers” (“Sturmabteilung”, S.A.)
Formed 1921 in Munich
BROWNSHIRTS
BRAUNHEMDEN
