Great Battles - Underdog wins...

Originally posted by Desimir The Battle for Shipka. About 5000 russians and bulgarian rebels defended the hill for 3 days against 40,000 ottoman army in 1877.When on the third day reinforcements of about 300 cossacks arrived Ottomans fled the battlefield and retreated. It is known that during the last hours when defenders were almost defeated,russian and bulgarian soldiers used rocks,stones and dead bodies as a weapons.

I had not heard about that one, thanks for that info.

Some other underdog victories:
- Battle of Agincourt 1415AD. English force ridden with dysentery and starvation of 6000 defeat French force of up to 25,000 Knights and men-at-arms.
- Battle of Watling Street 61AD. Roman force of 10,000 Legionnaires manage to defeat up to (In my opinion an exaggeration) 230,000 British warriors under Boudicca, losing only 400 men in the process.
- Battle of Assaye 1803AD. Arthur Wellesley's British army of 6-7000 men defeat the Maratha army of greater than 50,000 men, plus cannons. The British did suffer over 3,000 causalities however.
- Battle of Carrhae 53BC. Roman Army (40,000) under Marcus Licinius Crassus are defeated by the 10,000 strong force of Parthian general Surena.
- Battle of Okehazama 1560AD. Oda Nobunaga defeats the 25,000 strong army of Imagawa Yoshimito, with around 3,000 men.
- Battle of Fei River 383AD. The Eastern Jin Dynsaty under Xie Shi defeat the Former Qin army of 300,000 (some sources say 800,000 though this seems too ludicrously high), with just 80,000 men. Qin general Fu Jian lost up to 240,000 men.
There are many, many more prime example of the underdogs and 'outnumbered' coming out victorious. Here is one more to leave you with
- David and Goliath 11th cent. BC. Israelite shepherd David defeats fabled Philistine Warrior Goliath in single combat using a sling.


- Knights -