[BAT] GREAT BATTLES OF HISTORY Ever get the feeling that every concievable battle has been done in a wargame? Do you know people who have studied military history so long they can name every battle since the dawn of time? Then this feature is for you! In each issue we'll list 10 great (and some not so great) Pre-WWI battles. Here are the first ten: 1- Abensburg (Wagram Campaign) April 20, 1809 Between 90,000 French and Bavarians under Napoleon and 80,000 Austrians under the Archduke Charles. Lanne drove back feeble Austrian resistance on the French left while the Bavarians took a pounding as the pressed the center of the Austrian line. Napoleon eventually turned the Austrian flank left exposed by the defeat of the right flank and Charles was forced to retreat. Austrians lost 7,000 men while the French/Bavarian force suffered 3,000 killed and or wounded. 2- Badajos (The Peninsula Campaign) March 17, 1812 This garrison was held by 5,000 French, Hessians, and Spaniards under Phillipon. Wellington laid seige to the fortress on April 5th and after a bloody battle the two fell with no less than 3,500 French-allied and over 5,000 English casualties. History records that no quarter was given and Wellington's troops pillaged the town for two days before order was restored. 3- Cabala (Second Carthagian Invasion of Sicily) 379 B.C. Between Syracusans under Dionysius and Carthagians under Mago. The Carthagians were totally defeated and Mago was slain. 4- Daegastan 603 Between the Northumbrians under Ethelfrith and the Picts and Scots under Aidan (King of the Scots.) The Northumbrians were victorious and extended their dominians as far as Chester. 5- Faenza (First Gothic War) 541 Between 20,000 Roman legionaries and a huge Goth army under Totila, King of Italy. The Romans threw down their arms and fled in the face of the Goths, giving Totila an easy victory. 6- Krakovicz (Ottoman Wars) January 17, 1475 40,000 Moldavian peasants rallied by 7,000 Hungarian and Polish regulars led by Stephen of Moldavia attacked a 100,000 man Turkish army near Lake Krakovicz. The battle was a rout, any Turk that was spared death by a Slavic sword, drown after being pushed back into the waters of the lake. 7- Monongahela (Seven Year's War) July 9, 1755 900 French and Indian troops defended against an attack by 1,400 British and Virginia troops under Braddock. The Virginians and British officer corps fought well, but the British regulars paniced when they came under attack by the Indians. The British allied force lost 877 men including 86 officers, 63 of them slain, among them was Braddock. The French lost only 16 men, the brunt of their losses taken by their Indian "friends". 8- Panama (Raids of the Buccaneers) On December 16, 1670, Morgan the Buccaneer left Hispaniola with 37 ships and 2,000 men on expedition to plunder the city of Panama. He first captured the fortress of San Lorenzo, losing 170 men in the process, then crossed the Isthmus with 1,200 men to face 2,400 Panamians defending just outside the city. Morgan defeated the garrison, suffering 600 losses while totally routing the Panamanian force. Morgan spent the next few weeks sacking the city and left with 175 mule loads of plunder and 600 prisoners. 9- Peshawar (Second Mohammedan Invasion of India) In 1001, 10,000 Afghan troops under Sultan Mahmud of Ghuzni attacked 42,000 Punjabis with 300 elephants under the Rajah Jaipal of Lahore. The Rajah was defeated and captured, along with 15 of his chiefs. 10- Porto Novo (First Mysore War) On July 1, 1781, 8,500 British troops under Sir Eyre Coote faced over 65,000 heavily entrenched Mysoris men under Hyder Ali. Although woefully outnumbered, not only did the British take the camp after a long day of fighting, they suffered only 306 men lost while the Mysoris' are estimated to have lost over 10,000 men in one of the most lopsided battles of history. (Source: Dictionary of Battles, Thomas Benfield Harbottle. E.P. Dutton & Company of New York, Published 1905.)