Greatest Defensive battle of the 1800s

Mark 4 Morrel Barrel

Banned
Since there is a thread for the greatest defensive battle of the 20th century why not have this.

I nominate Gettysburg after this there was really no way the south could win minus racist south africans creating a time machine:D
 
9 Fanged Hummingbird

9 Fanged Hummingbird

1866, the Battle of Curupaity. Although to be fair, a lot of the credit goes to the stupidity of the attackers, you still have to congratulate Paraguay on this. With a force outnumbered 4 to 1 against 3 modern nations with modern weapons and a modern fleet that had been giving them a heavy barrage for days, while their own army was poorly armed, had no shoes and little clothes, and was starving constantly, Paraguay managed to push back 20,000 guys, and lost less than a hundred in the process. So even if you credit the stupidity of the Alliance, you must also give credit to Paraguay's General Jose Diaz and their engineer colonel George Thompson.
 

dunklerwald

Waterloo. After that the French would never rise again, and Britan was free to meddle in european politics as she wished again
 

carlton_bach

Nobody for Camerone and Rorke's Drift? And Khanpur? Not to mention the siege of Paris (fighting a revolutionary war *and* a siege at the same time, never say they weren't ambitious)
 

Kerblo

dunklerwald said:
Waterloo. After that the French would never rise again, and Britan was free to meddle in european politics as she wished again
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The French would never rise again?

The French have an uncanny ability to rebound. After Waterloo they were able to amass an even bigger empire than the one under Napoleon. After losing the Franco Prussian war they grew even bigger. And after losing so much men and wealth in World War 1 the obvious result was France gained more territory. The empire peaked around World War 2 when all the great empires began to fall apart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonial_empire

Oh, and my vote for greatest defensive battle of the 1800s goes to the Siege of Sevastopol. It was pretty crazy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sevastopol_(1854–1855)
 

brokenman

Bunker Hill, anyone?

EDIT: Oh, I didn't notice it was 1800s. After all, I will be suggesting the Siege of Baler.
 
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Monty Burns

Kerblo said:
The French would never rise again?

The French have an uncanny ability to rebound. After Waterloo they were able to amass an even bigger empire than the one under Napoleon.
Click to expand...

Whereas you're right that France did rise again, their empire did only get "bigger" in terms of territory controled. Nevertheless, Belgium alone would have been by far superior to overall French Africa.

I'd set the post-Napoleonic peak of France between the crimean war and the Franco-Prussian war.



Considering defensive battles: What about Verdun? Or the battle of Britain?
 

mattep74

The Alamo. Less than 200 men halted an army of around 2500(i thought they had more men, but wikipedia say 2500) men for 2 weeks. Sure, they got slaughtered in the end but inflicted casualities more than double their numbers
 

archaeogeek

Banned
Kerblo said:
The French would never rise again?

The French have an uncanny ability to rebound. After Waterloo they were able to amass an even bigger empire than the one under Napoleon. After losing the Franco Prussian war they grew even bigger. And after losing so much men and wealth in World War 1 the obvious result was France gained more territory. The empire peaked around World War 2 when all the great empires began to fall apart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonial_empire

Oh, and my vote for greatest defensive battle of the 1800s goes to the Siege of Sevastopol. It was pretty crazy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sevastopol_(1854–1855)
Click to expand...

Hell, Waterloo WAS a rebound. Its only major effect on the strategic picture, though, was giving Britain primacy at the negotiating table; France did rebound pretty solidly soon enough. By the 1820s it was already doing interventions on foreign soil.
And no, actually, in 1900, Belgium was not "far superior" to the french colonies. Especially Algeria and Indochina.

In terms of awesome 19th century defences involving the french with no major strategic effect, what about the 6 days from Champaubert to Vauchamps. :p
 
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Ghost 88

mattep74 said:
The Alamo. Less than 200 men halted an army of around 2500(i thought they had more men, but wikipedia say 2500) men for 2 weeks. Sure, they got slaughtered in the end but inflicted casualities more than double their numbers
Click to expand...
The Alamo lasted for 13 Days because thats how long it took Santa Anna to consolidate his position. The Mission fell in the first and only assault made by the Mexican Army in about an hours time.
 

DAv

Special mention should probably go to the Lines of Torees Vedras. Not really a battle (Although there were some leading up to it) but once you have Ney of all people not even bothering to consider an attack, you've done something right.
 

Lemont Elwood

Mark 4 Morrel Barrel said:
Since there is a thread for the greatest defensive battle of the 20th century why not have this.

I nominate Gettysburg after this there was really no way the south could win minus racist south africans creating a time machine:D
Click to expand...

It's funny how people love to make an AH turning point Gettysburg, given how bad the CSA was being beaten by that point.

I nominate New Orleans, British-American War.
 
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