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Started By
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History Thread, Not WW2 Related: What is Britian's single greatest victory?
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:26 pm
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:26 pm
I'm not an expert on British history so I only know of the "major ones". Some candidates.
Battle of Britain: Defeated the German Luftwaffe in WW2. Prevented German forces from ever mounting an invasion of Great Britain and allowed the British to fight Hitler from beginning to end. (yeah I know WW2 again)
Defeat of the Spanish Armada: Massive Spanish fleet that sought to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I and rid England of the Protestant movement. If Spain had succeeded there is no telling how different the world would be today. If I'm not mistaken England was only an average power and certainly not the dominate sea power that it would become which make the victory that much more impressive.
Battle of Waterloo: I know this is an obvious one. It finally finished off Napoleon. However it wasn't just Britain fighting in the battle and their allied forces did outnumber Napoleon's. Plus Napoleon had already been defeated, captured, and imprisoned. This battle occurred after he escaped and was more like a 'final stand' for Napoleon rather than a battle that crushed Napoleon at his height.
Battle of the Nile: I don't know the specifics about this battle except that the British navy crushed Napoleon's navy in Egypt, trapping Napoleon in his forces. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but didn't this really establish Britain's naval superiority over France and really made it impossible for Napoleon to invade Britain? However Napoleon would escape and continue his military campaigns throughout Europe.
Also, I know there is a difference between England and Britain so some of these battles may not necessarily be Britain as we think of it today but I'd love to hear some lesser well known battles for those who are familiar with the topic.
Battle of Britain: Defeated the German Luftwaffe in WW2. Prevented German forces from ever mounting an invasion of Great Britain and allowed the British to fight Hitler from beginning to end. (yeah I know WW2 again)
Defeat of the Spanish Armada: Massive Spanish fleet that sought to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I and rid England of the Protestant movement. If Spain had succeeded there is no telling how different the world would be today. If I'm not mistaken England was only an average power and certainly not the dominate sea power that it would become which make the victory that much more impressive.
Battle of Waterloo: I know this is an obvious one. It finally finished off Napoleon. However it wasn't just Britain fighting in the battle and their allied forces did outnumber Napoleon's. Plus Napoleon had already been defeated, captured, and imprisoned. This battle occurred after he escaped and was more like a 'final stand' for Napoleon rather than a battle that crushed Napoleon at his height.
Battle of the Nile: I don't know the specifics about this battle except that the British navy crushed Napoleon's navy in Egypt, trapping Napoleon in his forces. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but didn't this really establish Britain's naval superiority over France and really made it impossible for Napoleon to invade Britain? However Napoleon would escape and continue his military campaigns throughout Europe.
Also, I know there is a difference between England and Britain so some of these battles may not necessarily be Britain as we think of it today but I'd love to hear some lesser well known battles for those who are familiar with the topic.
16
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:31 pm to theGarnetWay
quote:
Defeat of the Spanish Armada
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:31 pm to theGarnetWay
Probably doesn't compare but the Faukland Islands campaign was a pretty daring undertaking. Thousands of miles from home with no forward bases and minimal troops.
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:36 pm to theGarnetWay
Trafalgar. They used to celebrate its anniversary every year, but then they all became total pussies.
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:37 pm to theGarnetWay
quote:
Battle of Britain: Defeated the German Luftwaffe in WW2. Prevented German forces from ever mounting an invasion of Great Britain and allowed the British to fight Hitler from beginning to end. (yeah I know WW2 again)
This is important in that it showed the world that Hitler could be stopped. But to be honest, the Germans were really never going to invade the British home islands anyway.
quote:
Defeat of the Spanish Armada: Massive Spanish fleet that sought to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I and rid England of the Protestant movement. If Spain had succeeded there is no telling how different the world would be today. If I'm not mistaken England was only an average power and certainly not the dominate sea power that it would become which make the victory that much more impressive.
This one could rank at the top in that without this victory, England would have never gown into the British Empire. Instead the Spanish would be the big global empire of the Colonization age.
quote:
Battle of Waterloo: I know this is an obvious one. It finally finished off Napoleon. However it wasn't just Britain fighting in the battle and their allied forces did outnumber Napoleon's. Plus Napoleon had already been defeated, captured, and imprisoned. This battle occurred after he escaped and was more like a 'final stand' for Napoleon rather than a battle that crushed Napoleon at his height.
This was the final hurrah of the Little Corporal. But really, there was no chance of him surviving. At that point all of Europe was arrayed against him. A major victory to be sure, but not the most important. I'd say from a standpoint of importance, the most significant victory over Napoleon was The Battle of Leipzig where there were no British troops present.
quote:
Battle of the Nile: I don't know the specifics about this battle except that the British navy crushed Napoleon's navy in Egypt, trapping Napoleon in his forces. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but didn't this really establish Britain's naval superiority over France and really made it impossible for Napoleon to invade Britain? However Napoleon would escape and continue his military campaigns throughout Europe.
The Battle of Trafalgar is what dashed any hopes France had of posing a realistic threat to the British from a naval standpoint.
This post was edited on 8/20/14 at 2:47 pm
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:40 pm to Darth_Vader
quote:
Darth_Vader
/thread
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:41 pm to theGarnetWay
quote:
Defeat of the Spanish Armada
my personal choice
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:43 pm to theGarnetWay
Getting Hadrian to build a wall separating them from the Roman Empire
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:51 pm to Tiger1242
Dunkirk. Frankly. The battle was lost on those beaches. But the 338-thousand troops with combat experience that were saved from those beaches provided the core of Britain's fighting forces in the future and that cannot be underestimated.
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:52 pm to Tiger1242
quote:
Getting Hadrian to build a wall separating them from the Roman Empire
The Wall didn't separate Britannia from Rome. It marked the northern border of the Roman Provence of Britannia from the Barbarian Celtic tribes north of there in what is modern day Scotland.
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:52 pm to asurob1
Dunkirk wasn't a battle so much as a free pass to retreat.
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:54 pm to Darth_Vader
Yeah, but you know they wanted the rest of that island.
Ha ha. Roman figs.
Ha ha. Roman figs.
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:55 pm to theGarnetWay
Armada. It transitioned England into the dominance they were and are known for
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:58 pm to theGarnetWay
1966 World Cup
Posted on 8/20/14 at 2:59 pm to theGarnetWay
Personally I think it's producing an OT 9 like Elizabeth Hurley
Posted on 8/20/14 at 3:01 pm to theGarnetWay
Spanish Armada
Posted on 8/20/14 at 3:01 pm to Spaceman Spiff
quote:
Dunkirk wasn't a battle so much as a free pass to retreat.
Exactly. Two things made that possible..
1. Goering being an idiot can claiming his Luftwaffe could destroy the remnants of the BEF by itself.
and
2. Hitler thinking that by showing mercy to the BEF and ordering his forces to halt, the British would be more apt to come to the table to discuss peace terms.
Both proved to be woefully incorrect. The reality of the situation though is the Germans had three full armies (6th, 18th, and 4th) along with Panzergruppe Hoth (basically a Panzer Corps) surrounding the perimeter of Dunkirk. The British had the shattered remnants of 3 corps and the disorganized and defeated remnants of the French 1st Army. Had Hitler allowed them to attack, it would have been a slaughter.
Posted on 8/20/14 at 3:02 pm to theGarnetWay
Blenheim 
Posted on 8/20/14 at 3:02 pm to theGarnetWay
Battle of Agincourt
England was outnumbered 6-1
They lost 112 men, France lost 10,000.
England was outnumbered 6-1
They lost 112 men, France lost 10,000.
This post was edited on 8/20/14 at 3:07 pm
Posted on 8/20/14 at 3:05 pm to theGarnetWay
quote:
Defeat of the Spanish Armada
As has been said, this victory turned England from a European power to a world power.
The interesting thing is whether a Habsburg would have been placed on the English throne as well as the dissolution of the Anglican church had Spain won.
Of course, even if the Spanish Armada had won a decisive victory, there is no telling that an amphibious assault on England would have been successful enough to end in anything other than status quo.
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