"What Famous Battles have you no idea about? " Topic

Ok, Winston has a good idea and as yet no one has proposed this new poll.

So based on this preceding Poll discussion (and any other battles you want to add to stump the panel) what Famous battles have you never heard of?

TMP link

Oh gosh. Lots and lots I only know the vaguest of things about. I couldn't stop listing them. I wish I were smarter but there's only so much time to read so many books!

I know a whole lot about a certain limited number, a general amount (far in excess of the normal population, I submit) about a much larger number, and very little about hundreds of important battles or wars.

But seriously…
How can I name what I never heard of?
But I'll bite. I never heard of Crooked Billet, but epturner tells me it's great!

Now, here's the thing also.

I had never heard of the Battle of Springfield. It's AWI in New Jersey. Google it!
Then when it was mentioned here on TMP, I had to look it up and it was so interesting, I had to get a guy run it with Age of Reason.

So, right off the bat, one wants to put conditions on this Poll. Then, I think NAAAAAAH. It means what you want it to mean.

The Battle of… well… er… I forget…

Though, to be serious, an better way of looking at it may be 'We know about the battles that affect our own country. Other countries have had major wars that include major battles. In their own areas, these wars have had battles that were famous – but we have never heard of them. '

So, I know noything about battles in, for example the wars involving the Scandinavian countries or Russia in the 15th to 18th centuries – but they must have included major/famous battles in those areas.

Closer to home, Wellington fought in India before he visited Spain and Portugal – yet I know nothing about those battles either.

There were a good number on the 'all wargamers should know' list. But then I didn't think they should have been there…

I'm with John on this. How can you name something you've never heard of? Not only that, but this thing you've never heard of has to be famous too. Ridiculous.

Having thought about this vital(!) issue, perhaps Bill should just run this poll immediately after the current one expires, with no additional nominees.

Basically, "Which of these Important Battles have you never heard of?"

This came about because I was joking that there were quite a few on the ballot of which I was totally ignorant, including its name.

I recently bought a copy of the new wargamer's guide to the Anglo-Zulu War and read about several obscure battles that I'd never heard of before. Great to learn new things!

Mostly WW2 battles such as Kursk or Guadalcanal.

In the Ancient realm, Manzikert and any of Alexander's battles – Granicus is the only one that I've heard of. Or Liegnitz ( the Mongol Battle not the SYW).

In the late Renaissance, the Siege of Vienna or Breitenfeld in the TYW, to name a few

And who is the judge of whether or not a battle is important enough to be put on the list? Perhaps we should be polled to see which ones go in the poll? Ah, but then we would hear about them and they would automatically be excluded.

Indeed.

It's like NFL players voting on who is " Most Underrated".
If you win, are you no longer underrated and are really good, or did you win because you're deservedly underrated because you stink?

Maybe the question should be what well known battles do you know very little about? For example, I know the names of very many battles of the Napoleonic wars, but as I'm not that interested in the period, I know very little about what happened in these battles. However, I know a great deal about Hastings, Stirling Bridge, Arsuf, and a number of other medieval battles about which a fan of other periods might know very little. And if you ask me about battles from Middle-Earth, I can go along at great length about the details of things which never actually occurred!

Waterloo…

I understand that there were a few battles fought in North America in the 1860s. Haven't got much of a clue about any of them. Are any of them "well known", do you think?

Hmmm. The thread title seemed fairly clear to me. I feel some are not taking things as the fun and thought-provoking topic this was supposed to be.

Anyhoo, Seven Years War springs to mind for me. I think I know who the belligerents were in the main battles, and who won, but beyond that, don't know any details.

Sedan.
(In fact, the whole FPW… I'm saying "Sedan" because it's the only FPW battle that springs to mind!)

Mudken

Plevna

If I go by Parzival's take, I can say fairly certainly that in 50% of Napoleonic battles, I might correctly guess the winner. Hey. Tell me who fought, and the rest is a coin toss.
As for how the battle went, and what lead up to it, I will give you a blank stare. I'm even a little vague about Waterloo. Wellington beat ….. what's his name. The short guy.
Austerlitz? That came before Waterloo, right?

The Second Battle of Moosylvania

Yes, I "Know" about hundreds of battles by name, and usually who was engaged and who won, but very little detail beyond that. And then there are the battles/wars about which I haven't even heard of, esp. Asian military history, as my knowledge is almost exclusively Euro-centric.

I am with piper909 on this. Those who have rushed to mock the topic have mis-read the title, I think: it does not say 'never heard of', but rather 'have no idea about' – a subtle difference. Though in the opening post, he does say 'never heard of', so that doesn't help to clarify matters!

Anyway, there are loads of battles I have heard of, and have a general idea which war they took place in and maybe who won, but beyond that, I have no idea about them.

For example: someone mentioned Sedan earlier; without resorting to Google, I know that was in the Franco-Prussian War and I am 99% sure the Prussians won. Beyond that… well – I have no idea about it: no idea who was in command, what was the terrain, how long did it last, how many men were involved, or where exactly it was fought.

The thread title seemed fairly clear to me. I feel some are not taking things as the fun and thought-provoking topic this was supposed to be.

I tend to agree … but like many topics on TMP … It becomes the Battle of TMP Post _____. Just fill in the blank !

But for me many probably may not know much about the 1941 Invasion of Lebanon and Syria.

The Battles in East Africa '40-'41.

The '48 Arab-Israel battles in and around the Jerusalem area.

Off the top of my head …

So based on this preceding Poll discussion (and any other battles you want to add to stump the panel) what Famous battles have you never heard of?

I don't know.