Daily Kennebec journal., 1904-05-11
The Decisive Battles.

| LtSCht idbu VI ehS
over the Russians will rank as one OF
the worlds great and decisive battles
and change forever the destinies OF ASIA
and Europe. Time alone can ten
whether or not this is SO. Many Dat
ties, which have been fought In the
past, have seemed to contemporary
Judgments to be great and decisive
struggles, yet when other generations
had come and gone these battles were
made little of by. the historians. Greasy,
the historical authority WHO wrote half
century ago. places the really decisive
battles of the worlds history at Is in
number, and his enumeration has been
pretty generally acceped.8 But since
his day there have been other battles
which the historian of the future may
rank as among the really great and de-
cisive battles of history
For instance, there was Gettysburg,
the point at which the tide of re-
bcllion turned; a battle which made it
certain that only one great republic
should exist on the Western hemis-
phcrc and that slavery was to be abol-
ished. Perhaps the historian of the fu-
ture may rank the battle of Manila
bay or Santiago as one worthy a place
Spanish system of colonization came to
an end and our own country took so
great stride forward in it's eXpan-
sion and power. The future will have
to decide these matters as it will have
to answer in the case of the recent bat
tie of the Yalu.
BY the way, how many of our readers
could name offhand the Is decisive bat
ties which Greasy enumerated? Many
of which most of our readers have
never heard, and yet all historians
agree that these battles above all 9TH
ers have shaped the course of nations
and made it possible for the world to be
what it is and for us to be what we are
today. The first was the battle of
Marathon, 400 B. c., when the Greeks
beat back the hosts of Persia and Sc
cured for mankind the intellectual
the free institutions and the great
principles of European civilization. The
second was the defeat of the Athenians
at Syracuse, i13 B. c., which resulted
in western Europe being left for Rome
and Carthage to dispute, two centuries
later. Had Syracuse been taken
Athens would have subdued Carthage
ana Italy and would have held uni
vcrsal domination over the known
world. The third decisive battle was
that Of Arbela, 331 3. c., where Alexan-
der, having crossed into Asia, crushed
forever the Persian empire. The fourth
was the battle of the Metaurus, 207 Il.
c., where the Roman army freed their
capital from danger from Hannibal, al
though that matchless general retained
his hold on southern Italy for severs1
years. The fifth was the victory of
A-minius over Varius, 9, A. D., when
the independence of the Teutonic races
was forever secured and their perma-
nent conquest was abandoned by Au-
gustus and his successors at Rome.
The sixth decisive battle was that of
| Challons in northeast France, 451 A. D..
| when Attila was defeated by the Ro-
mans and their Gothic allies, so that
the Western world was never again i'll
the peril from Hun that it had been be-
fore. The seventh was the battle OF
| Tours, 1872, A. D., where Charles Martell
: checked the Arabian connuests in
| Western Europe, saved Christcndom
| from Islam, and paved the way for the
establishment by CharlemaGne of the
new Christian empire of the West. The
eighth was the battle of Hastings, 1860,
A. D., by which William the Con-
uucror shattered the Saxons and found
ed England. The ninth was the VIC
tory of Joan of Arc over the English at
Orleans. i'll 1929. This victory doubtless
saved Franco from becoming a second
Scotland or ireland under the yoke of
| England The tenth was the defeat of
the Spanish armada, 15SS, when the
English ships swept the Spanish fleet
from off the sea and saved the English
race from domination of the worst
political and religious bigot in history.
The eleventh decisive battle was that
of Bl"nheim, 174O. which saved the
colonial empire Of England and pre-
vented the despotism of Rome from be
ing re-established in Europe. The
twelfth was the battle of Pultowa, 1909.
when Peter the Great drove back the
invading Swcdes under Charles Mi.
and made Russia the great northern
power of Europe. The thirteenth was
the battle of Saratoga, 1777, when Gage
and Benedict Arnold compelled the
surrender of Burgoyne. This was the