Greatest Tactical Victory?

[King Nud]

I am new to this little forum,

Is this the greatest tactics ever used?

You guessed it....Cannae

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...man_attack.gif

Possibly the sneakiest/slyest tactics ever? Or was it?

Have you got a better tactic that has won somehow?

[Salem1]

The Battle of Narva is one of the most successful battles ever fought and Sweden's greatest tactical victory of all time. It had little effect on the war for strategic reasons, but it's still an awesome feat. Here is a complete description: http://www.stormaktstiden.com/handel...e_of_narva.htm

[Erebus Pasha]

My choice:

Austerlitz 1805 - Napoleon at his best.

[Player44]

Strange to see that coming from an Englishman...

[Erebus Pasha]

Strange to see that coming from an Englishman...

Napoleon was a genius and in my opinion that was his finest battle.

[Mangalore]

Napoleon was a genius and in my opinion that was his finest battle.

On top of it you Englishmen defeated Napoleon so praising an enemy you defeated actually praises you!

[King Edward III]

On top of it you Englishmen defeated Napoleon so praising an enemy you defeated actually praises you!

Exactly.

[Axeman]

I have to agree with Austerlitz.

[Farnan]

I know I'm an American, but can I nominate the Battle of Trenton?

An entire Hessian force captured with no American Casualties to hostile fire?

[husker9.2]

I know I'm an American, but can I nominate the Battle of Trenton?

An entire Hessian force captured with no American Casualties to hostile fire?

I would agree as an American as well. Trenton was one of our best tactical victories.

[communist]

Here are a few that I can think of, I won't go into detail on the tactics involved in the battle. All 3 battles in the BC are lead by the same General, he was famous for fighting a war of attrition, which resulted in the total annihilation of the enemy's army.

Battle of Yique 293 BC. 100,000 > 300,000 who are not only superior in numbers but also superior in quality of men and equipment. The battle was tactically significant because the side with 300,000 men lost more than 250,000 men in the battle. Qin forces siezed 5 cities, whilst both Han and Wei were forced to trade even more land for peace. Unlike Romans who always seems to recover, the 2 kingdoms Han and Wei never recovered.

Conquest of Chu around 270BC. 30,000 > 250,000. Bai Qi(a general from Qin) took some left over men from a siege, around 30,000 and went deep into Chu territory without a supply line. The kingdom of Chu was 2-3 times the size of Qin, and had 2-3 times more men. The 30,000 Qin soldiers proceeded to defeat the Chu forces in open field. Then went and laid siege to a garrison city which had 4-5 times more men. Dam-ed up a river, flooded the garrison and proceeded to conquer the city. It opened up a path way to the heart of Chu and forced them to trade land for peace.

Battle of Changping 260BC. 500,000 > 650,000. It is significant due to the ammount of casulties. Qin side took 250,000 casulties and Zhao took over half a million. Zhao never recovered fully from the defeat.


Battle of Yongqiu 756AD. 2,000 > 40,000 in a siege. losses are 500 / 20,000 respectively. And no, i didn't miss a zero, its two thousand.

Battle of Suiyang 757AD. 10,000 defenders almost won a siege against an army of 150,000. Just about all of the 10,000 defenders fought to the death, and could've won the battle if they received reinforcements which was denied due to political reasons. The tactical significance is that, the defenders held a choke point long enough for the mobolization of the army and prolonging of the empire by around 200 years. It is technically a defeat however.

Battle of Yamen 1279AD. 50 warships + 20,000 men > 1000 advanced warships+transport ships and 200,000 men. It involved the Song's military, go figure. The most advanced military by far during its time that lost way more battles than it won.

[Tiberius Tosi]

Surprised no one has said Guagamela.

Chancellorsville was pretty good.

[King Nud]

Scotland's most memorable victories over the English.

Battle of Bannockburn (1314) -- 6,500 Scots beat 20,000 of England's best equipped men
Battle of Loudoun Hill (1307) -- 600 Scots beat 3,000 English soldiers

Not so much tactical but nevertheless.

[Ivan the Inquisitor]

Temudjin used the climate and speed of his armies too outmaneuver superior forces.

Yay of Mongols!

[Pious Agnost]

Scotland's most memorable victories over the English.

Battle of Bannockburn (1314) -- 6,500 Scots beat 20,000 of England's best equipped men
Battle of Loudoun Hill (1307) -- 600 Scots beat 3,000 English soldiers

Not so much tactical but nevertheless.

Where is Stirling Bridge?

Clontarf, kicked the Vikings out of Ireland (So they switched to England and Scotland instead )

[Yoda Twin]

I would have to say Leipzig (1812?) Forged the beginning of the end for Napoleon. If napoleon had managed to win Europe would have been his for many years to come and perhaps no one would wish to attempt tio end his Tyranny.

[Romanos IV]

In Balkan news,

the Greco-Italian War (1940)

[Tiberios]

In Balkan news,

the Greco-Italian War (1940)

Right on.

[ShockBlast]

No battle of Călugăreni?
16 000 Walalchians vs a Ottoman force that could be anywhere from 70 000 to 180 000.
Losses: around 1 000 for us and around 10 000 to 15 000 for the Ottomans.The entire Ottoman army was routed,if this was inside the M2 engine Michel could conquer the Ottoman empire with victories like this one.

Michel the Brave 1 - Sinan Pasha 0

[Erebus Pasha]

No battle of Călugăreni?
16 000 Walalchians vs a Ottoman force that could be anywhere from 70 000 to 180 000.
Losses: around 1 000 for us and around 10 000 to 15 000 for the Ottomans.The entire Ottoman army was routed,if this was inside the M2 engine Michel could conquer the Ottoman empire with victories like this one.

Michel the Brave 1 - Sinan Pasha 0

I do wonder how much of the Ottoman force was actually engaged in the battle itself. I'm not stating that the Wallachian victory wasn't impressive or anything but I do wonder if the Ottomans had anywhere near the numbers estimated on the battlefield.