The Opelousas courier., 1886-06-05
The Worlds Decisive Battles.

The fifteen decisive battles of the world
from the fifth century before Christ to the
beginning of the nineteenth century OF
the present era, as given by the historian
Greasy, are as follows:
The battle of Marathon, in which the
Persian hosts were defeated by the Greeks
under Miltiades, B. c. 490.
The defeat of the Athenians at SYRIA,
cuse, B. G, Alb.
The battle of Arbela, in which the Per.
SLAMS under Darius were defeated by the
invading Greeks under Alexander the
Great, B. G. 331.
The battle of the Metaurus, in which
the Carthaginian forces under Hasdrubal
were overthrow by the Romans, B. G..
207.
Victory of the German tribes under
Arminius over the Roman legions under
Varus, A. D. 8. (The battle was fought
in what is now the province of Lippe,
Germany, near the source of the River
| Ems.
Battle of Chalons, where Attila, the
terrible king of the Huns, was repulsed
by the Romans under Aetius, A. D. Ash.
Battle of Tours, i'll which the Saracen
Turks invading Western Europe were
utterly overthrow by the Franks under
Charles Martel, A. D., 1872.
Battle of Hastings, by which William
the Conqueror became the ruler Of Eng
land, October IA, 1866.
Victory of the French under Joan Of
Arc over the English at Orleans, April
80, 1929.
Defeat of the Spanish Armada, by the
English naval force, July 30 and 80,
1888.
Battle of Blenheim, in which the
French and Bavarians were defeated by
the allied armies of Great Britain and
Holland under the Duke of Marlborough,
August 2, 1901.
Battle of Pultowa, the Swedish army
under Charles XII, defeated by the Rus
slams under Peter the Great, July s, 1909.
Victory of the American army under
| General Gates wei the British under
General Burgoyne at Saratoga, October
IL, 1777.
Battle of Valmy, where the allied
armies of Prussia and Austria were de-
feated by the French under Marshal
| Kellerman, September 20, 1892.
Battle of Waterloo, the allied forces of
the British and Prussians defeated the
French under Napoleon, the final over
throw of the great commander, June IS,
1915.
These battles are selected as decisive,
because of the important consequences
that followed them. Few stud nts of
history, probably, would agree with Pro-
fessor Greasy, in restricting the list to so
few. Many other conflicts might be
noted, fraught with great Importance to
the human race and unquestionably ade-
cisive'' in their nature; as, for instance,
the victory Of Sobieski over the Turkish
army at Vienna, September IL, 1858.
Had the Poles and Austrians been de-
feated there, the Turkish general might
readily have fulfilled his threat 'sto stable
his horses in the church of ST. Peters at
Rome and all Western Europe would
no doubt have been devastated by the
ruthless and blood-thirsty Ottomans. Of
important and decisive battles since that
of Waterloo we may mention in our own
| Civil wal those of Gettysburg, by which
the invasion of the North was checked,
and at Chattanooga, November % and
25, 1868, by which the power of the Con-
| federates in the Southwest received a
deadly blow; in the Franco Prussian war,
the capitulation of the French army at
Sedan, September /, 1870, aud in the
Russo-Turkish war, the surrender of Os-
man Pasha at Pleyna, December 10,
1877.-Iater- Ocean.