The battles of the world

by J. Douglas Borthwick

ARMED NEUTRALITY.—A confederacy of the Northern powers against England, commenced by the Empress of Russia, in 1780. It resulted in the destruction of the Danish fleet before Copenhagen, April, 1801. This gave England the acknowledged claim to the empire of the sea. The neutrality was soon after dissolved.

ARMAGH.—This battle was fought A.D. 1318, against Edward Bruce, who was defeated, taken, and beheaded at Dundalk, and with him 6200 Scots lost their lives.

ARMISTICES, CELEBRATED.—The most celebrated armistices recorded in Modern History are the following:—That of Leobon, in 1797, was signed a few days after the victory of Tagliamento, gained by Napoleon I over Prince Charles. It was Bonaparte himself who proposed it. This armistice was followed by the preliminaries of Leobon and the treaty of Campo-Formio. The armistice of Stayer, concluded on the 25th December, 1800, took place after the battle of Hohenlinden. It was signed by Moreau, on the 16th January, 1801. Brune signed the armistice of Treviso, which delivered into the hands of the French the fortified places of Ferrara, Peschiera and Porto-Legnano. He was reproached with not having demanded Mantua. In 1805, Murat concluded an armistice at Hollebrun, which saved the Russian army, and was the cause of a severe letter written to him by the Emperor. On the very evening of the battle of Austerlitz, the Emperor of Austria demanded and obtained an armistice, which was preliminary to the peace of Presburg. Another armistice, also celebrated, was signed after the battle of Friedland, and led to the peace of Tilsit. At Wagram took place the armistice of Zoaim, which was the prelude to the peace of Vienna, 1809. Lastly, on the 4th of June, 1813, after Bautzen, was signed the armistice of Pleiswitz, which the Emperor Napoleon I himself considered a fault.

ARTILLERY.—The first piece was invented by Schwartz, a German Cordelier monk, soon after the invention of gunpowder, in 1330. First used by the English by Edward III at the battle of Crecy, in 1346, when that king had 4 pieces of cannon, which greatly aided in his gaining the battle. Brass cannon, first used 1635—improvements made by Browne in 1728, and have continued ever since.

ASCALON.—This battle was fought A.D. 1192. Richard I of England, commanding the Christian army, met and defeated the Sultan Saladin’s army of 300,000 Saracens and other infidels. No less than 40,000 of the enemy were left dead on the field of battle, and the victorious Richard marched to Jerusalem.

ASPERNE.—This battle was fought between the Austrian army under the archduke Charles, and the French, on the 21st of May, 1809, and two following days. In this most sanguinary fight the loss of the former army exceeded 20,000 men, and the loss of the French was more than 30,000; it ended in the defeat of Bonaparte, who commanded in person, and was the severest check he had yet received. The bridge of the Danube was destroyed and his retreat endangered; but the success of the Austrians had no beneficial effect on the subsequent prosecution of the war.

ASSAYE.—Fought September 23rd, 1803, between the Duke of Wellington (then General Arthur Wellesley) and Scindiah and the Rajah of Berar. This was Wellington’s first great battle in which he opposed a force fully ten times greater than his own. In Stocqueler’s Life of the “Iron Duke” we have the following account of this battle: “Scindiah’s army having changed its position, occupied the whole space between the Kaitna and Assaye, with a great number of guns in front, and commenced a murderous cannonade. The small number of British guns was quite incapable of coping with this vast battery. General Wellesley, therefore, directed his infantry to advance with the bayonet.

With the determined courage which had given them victory at Seringapatam, in the actions with Dhoondia Waugh, and on the walls of Ahmednuggur, the line dashed forward, carried the guns on the right, and approached Assaye. At this moment a cloud of Mahratta horse had stolen round the village, and fell upon them—sabre to bayonet—with characteristic fury. The 74th regiment wavered—the charge was too much for them.

Colonel Maxwell of the 19th Light Dragoons saw that the critical moment had arrived, Forward! was the word. Falling upon the Mahratta cavalry, the Dragoons gave the British infantry time to rally, cut up the Mahratta horse, pushed through the Scindiah’s left, and threw the whole of that part of the army into confusion. In the meantime the enemy’s centre, which had remained untouched, closed in upon the ground before occupied by their left wing, and uniting with such of their infantry and artillery as had been passed over unhurt by the British cavalry, formed itself into a kind of crescent, with its right horn resting on the river Jouah, and its left on the village of Assaye; thus presenting themselves in a fresh position on the flank of our infantry, on which, having collected a considerable number of guns, they recommenced a heavy fire. The battle was now to be fought over again, with this difference, that the contending forces had changed sides, and had the enemy’s horse behaved with the least spirit, while our cavalry was absent in pursuit of their broken battalions, there is no guessing what the consequences might have been; but, happily for General Wellesley, they kept aloof. To oppose the enemy in their new position, the Sepoy battalion on the right was immediately advanced against them, but without effect, being obliged to retire. Another was brought forward and equally repulsed. The cavalry, having by this time returned from the pursuit, and formed on the left, and the enemy’s horse having disappeared before them, the General ordered the 78th regiment and the 7th cavalry up, to head a fresh attack against the enemy’s infantry and guns, which still defended their position with obstinacy. No sooner, however, had he formed the 78th regiment in line, in directing which his horse’s leg was carried off by a cannon shot, than the enemy without waiting an attack, commenced their retreat across the Jouah, which they passed in tolerable order before our troops could come up with them. Previously to this last attack Colonel Maxwell had requested and obtained permission to charge a considerable body of infantry and guns, which having formed part of the reserve, were seen retiring in good order, along the right bank of the Jouah.

The 19th Dragoons were not long in coming up with the enemy, who having formed with their left to the Jouah, steadily waited their approach. The charge was sounded. The Dragoons advanced with rapidity, amidst a shower of musketry and grape, and had already got almost within reach of the bayonets of the enemy, who still gallantly stood their ground.