wheels or rollers. They consisted of a beam or spar with a massive metal head, and were set in motion either by a direct application of manual force or by means of cords passing over pulleys. Some are said to have been 120 feet or more in length, and to have been worked by 100 men. One is described as being 180 feet long, and having a head weighing 1½ tons. Smaller ones, manned by three or four soldiers, were also frequently employed. They were generally covered with a roof or screen for the protection of the workers. The battering-ram is mentioned by Ezekiel (iv, 2; xxi, 22), and the Romans learnt the use of it from the Greeks.
Bat´tersea, a municipal and parliamentary borough of London, in Surrey, in a low situation on the south bank of the Thames, nearly opposite Chelsea, with a fine public park extending over 185 acres. The district is associated with the names of Pope and Bolingbroke, and with the Wellington-Winchilsea duel. Battersea returns two members to Parliament. Pop. (municipal borough), (1921), 167,693.
Bat´tery, (1) any number of guns grouped for action in one place and under one control; (2) the tactical and administrative unit of the Royal Regiment of Artillery; (3) an entrenched work constructed as a position for guns in siege warfare.
The Royal Regiment of Artillery is organized in batteries of horse, field, heavy, siege, and mountain artillery. These differ in the weight and type of gun with which they have to do, but the general principles of organization are the same. (See Army.) Nominally a battery consists of six guns with their attendant ammunition wagons (12) and certain other transport. A major commands the battery, and has a captain and three subalterns to assist him. For all purposes a battery is permanently organized in three sections, each of two guns and four wagons, under subaltern officers; while in action it is divided into two parts, (a) the fighting battery of six guns and six wagons; (b) the wagon line of the remaining wagons, under command of the captain. The change from march formation to that necessary for firing is termed 'coming into action'.
Horse, field, and some heavy batteries are horse-drawn (six or eight horses to a gun), while other heavy batteries and siege-guns are drawn by mechanical transport or mounted on railway platforms. Mountain batteries are organized for pack transport only—either mules or carriers—all the material being specially constructed to this end. Among combinations with the word battery come the following: battery commander, the officer commanding a battery; battery leader, the senior subaltern, who receives and carries out the commander's orders in action; battery-fire, each gun of a battery firing in turn: as opposed to gun-fire, where each gun fires independently. See Artillery.
Battery, in criminal law, an assault by beating or wounding another. The least touching or meddling with the person of another against his will may be held to constitute a battery.
Battery, in electricity and galvanism, a combination of several jars or metallic plates. See Daniell's Cell; Electric Battery; Secondary Cell.
Batthyanyi (ba˙t-ya˙n´yē), one of the oldest and most celebrated Hungarian families, traceable as far back as the Magyar invasion of Pannonia in the ninth century. Among later bearers of the name have been—Count Casmir Batthyanyi, who was associated with Kossuth, was Minister of Foreign Affairs in Hungary during the insurrection of 1849, and died in Paris 1854; Count Louis Batthyanyi, born 1809, of another branch of the family, was leader of the opposition in the Hungarian Diet until the breaking out of the commotions of 1848, when he took an active part in promoting the national cause; but on the entry of Windischgrätz into Pesth he was arrested and shot, 1849.
Battle, a combat between two armies. In ancient times and the Middle Ages the battleground was often chosen by agreement, and the battle was a mere trial of strength, a duel en gros; and as the armies of the ancients were imperfectly organized, and the combatants fought very little at a distance, after the battle had begun manuœvres were much more difficult, and troops almost entirely beyond the control of the general. Under these circumstances the battle depended almost wholly upon the previous arrangements and the valour of the troops. In modern times, however, the finest combinations, the most ingenious manœuvres, are rendered possible by the better organization of the armies, and it is the skill of the general rather than the courage of the soldier that now
determines the event of a battle. Battles are distinguished as offensive or defensive on either side, but there is a natural and ready transition from one method to the other. The purely defensive attitude is condemned by tacticians except in cases where the only object desirable is to maintain a position of vital consequence, the weight of precedent being in favour of the dash and momentum of an attacking force even where opposed to superior forces. Where the greatest generals have acted upon the defensive, it has almost always been with the desire to develop an opportunity to pass to the offensive, and, having discovered their opponent's hand, to marshal against the enemy, exhausted with attack, the whole strength of their resources. Napoleon won more than one great victory by this method, and Wellington's reputation was largely based upon his skill in defensive-offensive operations. Tacticians have divided a battle into three periods, which are disposition, combat, and the decisive moment. In some measure they require distinct qualities in a commander, the intellect which can plot a disposition being by no means always of the prompt judgment passing to instant action which avails itself of the crucial moment to crush an enemy. Cooperation and mutual support of all arms and services is essential to success in a modern battle, which may occupy many days or even weeks and embrace a large area of country, e.g. the battle of the Marne, the battle of the Somme. This co-operation is ensured by the most careful and detailed arrangements being made beforehand, such arrangements even including the rehearsal of more important phases over ground prepared to represent the country over which the operations will eventually take place. The modern battle may be, and probably will be, a continuation of many operations—offensive and defensive—carried out by distinct and separate formations. The general scope of the operations as a whole will be planned by the supreme commander, while the choice of the methods to be used is left to the commander of the formations affected. See Strategy; Tactics.