Name that Battle!

**Abdülmecid I** · October 11, 2018, 01:19 PM

Nope, although you are geographically close (it did take place in the Mediterranean), neither Austria-Hungary nor Italy participated in the battle. As far as I know, Wikipedia has a page of this battle only in one language (not English). As an extra hint, you can notice that the ships actually wave very similar, or maybe even identical flags. The reason for this was German interventionism...
EDIT: An additional tip, because the battle is admittedly quite obscure. As you can see from the flags, one of the belligerent (the victorious one actually) is the First and remarkably short-lived Spanish Republic.

**Sar1n** · October 11, 2018, 02:02 PM

This is why I like these threads. Before today, I didn't know a thing about Carlist wars. Now you had me digging through it, and I'm still not sure...

...but it looks to be Siege of Alicante.

**Abdülmecid I** · October 12, 2018, 01:09 PM

The more accurate name is the battle of Portmán, but I guess you meant the same engagement (and not the bombardment of Alicante), because the two fleets oppose each other. It's worth to be mentioned that, although the two conflicts were simultaneous, they are not directly related to each other. Carlists were almost totally absent south of Valencia, as the battle of Portmán is a relatively small engagement between the fleets of the Spanish Republic and the Canton of Cartagena. The 1st Spanish Republic was notoriously unstable and soon insurrections broke out all over the country. In Cartagena the revolutionaries triumphed and waved, in imitation of the Paris Commune, the red flag of the proletariat. Actually, there was no red flag available, so they were forced to use an Ottoman one, after having painted the white crescent and star... Luckily for the rebels, Cartagena is the greatest military port of Spain, so they also gained the majority of Spanish Navy's ships. However, they quickly lost their advantage, due to inexperience and the fact that they were treated as dangerous pirates by foreign powers. When the German ironclad Friedrich Carl captured the rebel ship Vigilante, the Cantonists cunningly decided to replace the red flag with the Spanish one, to avoid any similar unfortunate encounters in the future. This explains why both fleets in the picture are decorated with the same flag. The battle was essentially a draw, because the formation of the revolutionary navy was disrupted, as a result of lack of professionalism. When the Canton of Cartagena failed to annex any neighboring cities, after it had declared its own independence from Madrid, the rebellion collapsed as quickly as it had succeeded. Eventually, the republic was doomed and the Bourbon dynasty was restored under Alphonse XII, establishing an unprecedentedly stable government for 19th century standards.

**Sar1n** · October 12, 2018, 01:26 PM

Yeah. Trying to dig through English sources, rather than original ones, can sometimes produce weird results in case of such obscure engagement.

Note that the siege actually ended without direct engagement, although AFAIK there were some losses on both sides.

Also, the image is horizontally flipped, and some minor scrambling of clouds done to prevent reverse image search. Keep that in mind when trying to identify the castle.

**SanyuXV** · October 18, 2018, 12:20 AM

Is this the siege of Karlštejn Castle? From the looks of the central tower, the roofing for some reason stands out to me.

Where the attacking army launched dead bodies infected with some type of plague and literal poo (pardon my language) over the walls at the defenders?

**Sar1n** · October 18, 2018, 11:02 AM

Correct. Husssite siege of Karlštejn in 1422. The only time the castle was besieged.

Point of interest. The ammunition used by attackers during siege amounted to, according to some sources, 9032 stones, 1813 barrels of feces and 22 incendiary projectiles. The attackers also attempted to poison the stream that was main source of water for the castle. The siege ended after five months with a truce.

**SanyuXV** · October 18, 2018, 04:09 PM

However wants to post a picture is welcome to, I will pass my turn.

Also is that a normal amount of ammunition to be used in a siege? Sounds awfully high although I am not an expert in this.
That is an absurd amount of barrels of feces, where does one collect that much

in the first place!

**Sar1n** · October 18, 2018, 05:05 PM

Hussites did not have any heavy siege artillery, so they had to make it up with number of shots fired.

And the feces were imported from Prague, which is ~30 km away.

**paleologos** · October 18, 2018, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by SanyuXV

That is an absurd amount of barrels of feces, where does one collect that much

in the first place!

Just a thought...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**SanyuXV** · October 28, 2018, 01:57 AM

Guess I wont be skipping my turn anymore

Image has been horizontally flipped! Take this into consideration

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**Abdülmecid I** · October 28, 2018, 04:05 AM

Red bears for the win! It must be the battle of Hakodate, which led to the collapse of the Ezo Republic. In the background, you can notice some French soldiers, who had unfortunately supported the losing side.

**paleologos** · October 28, 2018, 07:28 AM

Originally Posted by Abdülmecid I

Red bears for the win! It must be the battle of Hakodate, which led to the collapse of the Edo Republic.
...

I think you mean the Ezo Republic.

**SanyuXV** · October 28, 2018, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by Abdülmecid I

Red bears for the win! It must be the battle of Hakodate, which led to the collapse of the Ezo Republic. In the background, you can notice some French soldiers, who had unfortunately supported the losing side.

Correct good sir! I believe it is now your turn

**Abdülmecid I** · November 01, 2018, 11:26 AM

Thanks Sanyu! Next one is not very difficult (the conflict is certainly much more famous than the Cantonal Revolution), but, as an extra hint, a future fruity king is depicted in the image:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

More help: The engagement was not particularly bloody or tactically decisive, but it had huge political and strategic consequences that directly affected European history. The defeated general will be eventually killed 14 years later, in what was a crushing defeat for his army. As I said, the battle is quite famous, but the painting in question is very rarely used as a reference to it. Notice the mill, in the background.

**Muizer** · November 01, 2018, 01:20 PM

Then it has to be Valmy? The mill indeed. Though it looks rather different from the reconstructed one.

**Abdülmecid I** · November 01, 2018, 01:38 PM

Valmy is the correct answer. It interrupted the Austrian-Prussian advance against Paris and led to the proclamation of the French Republic. The defeated general was the Duke of Brunswick, who lost his life during the disastrous battle of Auerstädt. The two dragoons depicted are of aristocratic blood. The one riding a horse is Antoine Philippe, Duke of Montpensier and the second son of Philippe Égalité, and the other is his first son, the future King Louis Philippe. The fruity part referred to the famous 'pear' illustration of the unpopular monarch.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: