THE GREATEST BATTLES IN BRITISH HISTORY
Camlann
537
King Arthur killed, perhapsmythical, by Mordred.
Naseby (FirstEnglish Civil War)
14 June 1645
Naseby, Northamptonshire, England
ThedecisivebattleoftheFirstEnglish Civil War. TheRoyalists, under King Charles I, clashedwiththeParliamentarians, led by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell. TheRoyalistswerethoroughlydefeated by thedisciplined New Model Army. More than 1,000 Royalistswerekilled and around 6,000 captured.
Blenheim (WaroftheSpanishSuccession)
13 August 1704
Blenheim, Bavaria (in modern-dayGermany)
Foughtbetween a Grand Alliance and theFrench-BavarianArmy. Blenheim has gonedown in history as oneoftheturningpointsoftheWaroftheSpanishSuccession. TheoverwhelmingAlliedvictoryensuredthesafetyofViennafromthe Franco-Bavarianarmy, thuspreventingthecollapseofthe Grand Alliance. Alliedcasualtieswere 4,500 killed and 7,500 wounded, whereastheenemysufferedlossesof 38,600 killed, woundedortakenprisoner. Itdestroyedthe myth ofFrenchinvincibility.
Culloden (JacobiteRebellionof 1745)
16 April 1746
DrumossieMoor (to thenorth-eastofInverness), Scotland
The last pitchedbattlefought on Britishsoil. Charles Edward Stuart (TheYoungPretender) led theJacobiteforcesintobattlewith a Royalistarmy, undertheDukeofCumberland. Thebattleendedany hope oftheStuartsregainingthethrone, safeguardingthesuccessionofthe Protestant House ofHanover.
Plassey (SevenYearsWar)
23 June 1757
Plassey (in present-dayWestBengal, India)
FoughtbetweentheforcesofSirajUdDaulah, the last NawabofBengal (and his French support troops) and thetroopsoftheBritish East India Company, led by Robert Clive (laterreferred to as Cliveof India). Thisbattleultimately led to the establishment ofBritish rule in India.
Quebec (SevenYearsWar)
13 September 1759
Plains ofAbraham, outsideQuebec City (in present-dayCanada)
General Wolfe’sarmywon a stunningvictoryovertheFrench. ItisoneofthegreatestvictoriesoftheSevenYearsWar (1756-63) and markedthebeginningofthe end ofFrenchpower in North America.
Lexington (AmericanWarofIndependence)
19 April 1775
Lexington, Massachusetts (in present-day USA)
Thefamous ‘shot heardroundtheworld,’ markedthe start oftheAmericanWarofIndependence. Thismomentousevent has taken on analmostmythicalquality in theAmericanconsciousness. Theepisodewas not a largeaffair, but waspoliticallydisastrousfortheBritish. Theviolenceturned a colonial revolt againstBritisheconomicpolicyinto a fightforpoliticalindependence.
Salamanca (PeninsularWar)
22 July 1812
Arapiles, Salamanca, Spain
TheBattleofSalamancasawAnglo-Portuguese and SpanisharmiesundertheDukeofWellingtondefeatMarshal Auguste Marmont 's Frenchforces. ThevictorywasoneofWellington’sfinest and proved that he was more than just a gooddefensivegeneralafter he had quicklyseized on anopportunity to attackMarshalMarmont’sdivisionswhentheybecametooextendedaftermarchingacross his front.
Waterloo (NapoleonicWars)
18 June 1815
Waterloo (in present-dayBelgium)
TheBattleof Waterloo wasthe last greatbattleoftheNapoleonicWars (1803-1815) and markedthe end ofFrance’sattempt to dominateEurope.
Aliwal (First Sikh War)
28 January 1846
Aliwal (in present-dayPunjab, India)
TheBritishwere led by Sir Harry Smith, whiletheSikhswere led by RanjodhSinghMajithia. TheBritishwon a victorywhichissometimesregarded as theturning point oftheFirstAnglo-Sikh War.
Balaklava (CrimeanWar)
25 October 1854
Balaklava, CrimeanPeninsula (in present-dayUkraine)
ThebattleisfamedfortwoBritishcavalrycharges and the 93rd Highlanders’ ‘thinredstreaktippedwith a line ofsteel’ whichrepulsed a Russiancavalryattack. TheChargeoftheLightBrigade led by Lord CardiganagainstRussianforcesduringtheBattleofBalaclavawastheresultof a miscommunicationwhichsawtheLightBrigadecharge, unsupported by infantry, intothemouthsofmassedRussiancannon. Thechargeiscommemorated in Lord Tennyson’s poem.
Rorke’s Drift (Zulu War)
22-23 January 1879
Rorke’s Drift on the Buffalo riverbetween Natal and the Zulu kingdom (in present-daySouthAfrica)
FollowingtheoverwhelmingdefeatoftheBritishatIslandlwana, 150 British and colonialtroopssuccessfullydefendedthegarrisonagainstan intense assault by 3,000 to 4,000 Zulu warriors. 11 Victoria Crosseswereawarded.
Gallipoli (WorldWarOne)
25 April 1915 – 9 January 1916
Gallipoli peninsula (in present-dayTurkey)
A joint British, Imperial and Frenchoperationwasmounted to capture Istanbul and secure a searoute to Russia. Theattemptfailed, withheavycasualties on bothsides. ThecampaignwasconsideredoneofthegreatestvictoriesoftheTurks and wasreflected on as a major failure by theAllies.
Somme (WorldWarOne)
1 July – 18 November 1916
Somme and Pas-de-Calais, France
A joint British and FrenchoffensiveagainsttheGermanArmy in France. TheBattleoftheSommewasoneofthelargestbattlesofthewar and oneofthebloodiestmilitaryoperationseverrecordedwithover 1 millioncasualties.
Megiddo (WorldWarOne)
19 September – 31 October 1918
Present-dayIsrael, Jordan and Syria
Decisivebreakthrough. TheAlliesquicklyadvanced, takingDamascus and Aleppo, beforetheTurkssuedforpeace in October 1918. Battleinvolvedskilfulseriesofmanoeuvres and use ofaeroplanes, artillery, infantry and cavalry. In many wayscanbeconsidered a forerunneroftheGerman ‘Blitzkrieg’ tacticsof WW2.
El Alamein (WorldWarTwo)
23 October – 4 November 1942
El Alamein, Egypt
Led by Montgomery, theAlliedvictoryturnedthetide in theNorthAfricanCampaign and ended Axis hopesofoccupying Egypt, takingcontrolofthe Suez Canal, and gainingaccess to theMiddleEastern and Persianoilfields.
D-Day and theBattlefor Normandy (WorldWarTwo)
6 June – 25 August 1944
Normandy, France
Thegreatestamphibiousinvasion in history. Markedthe start oftheAlliedinvasionofHitler'sfortressEurope.
Imphal/Kohima (WorldWarTwo)
8 March – 3 July 1944
Imphal (in present-dayManipur, India) and Kohima (in present-dayNagaland, India)
Japanesearmiesattempted to destroytheAlliedforcesatImphal and invade India, but weredrivenbackinto Burma withheavylosses. Thebattlemarked a turning point ofthe BurmaCampaign
Imjin River (KoreanWar)
22-25 April 1951
Imjin River, Korea
Thebloodiestbattlefought by BritishtroopssinceWorldWarTwo. About 4,000 troopsoftheBritish 29th Brigade, includingabout 700 from 1st Battalion, TheGloucestershire Regiment, faced more than 27,000 menoftheChinese63rd Army. Around 400 "GloriousGlosters" fought a last stand on Hill 235 (laterrenamedGlosterHill) against 10,000 Chinesetroopsforthreenights, allowingtimefor UN forces to regroup and blocktheChineseadvance on thecapitalSeoul.
Goose Green (FalklandsWar)
28-29 May 1982
Goose Green and Darwin, East Falkland, Falkland Islands
Thefirst major landengagementoftheFalklandscampaignwas a hard foughtbattleinvolving 2nd BattalionParachute Regiment and ArgentinianforcesthatprovidedtheBritishGovernmentwith a much neededvictoryafteritsTaskForce had suffered a numberofsetbacks.
MusaQala (War in Afghanistan)
17 July -12 September 2006
Helmandprovince, Afghanistan
In 2006 MusaQalawasoneofthe most isolateddistrictcentres in Helmandprovinceoccupied by ISAF forces. A smallgarrisonofBritishPathfinders and Danishtroopswithstood a Talebansiegeforover 50 days. ReinforcementsincludingmenoftheRoyalIrish Regiment and 3 Para enduredfurtherweeksof intense combat in thisremoteoutpost.