Chapter 27
In This Chapter
● Discovering the most important battles fought by the British army
● Working out the battle’s effect on history
Throughout this book, you can read about many battles in British military history. This chapter lists the battles that I believe to be the most important, and tells you in which chapter you can find out more about that period.
Hastings, 1066 (Chapter 4)
The Norman Conquest provided England with a strong central government for the first time. In addition, the combination of Saxon stolidity and the Norman genius for organisation produced stability combined with progress. At this period, of course, England was only the central portion of the British Isles, but the Anglo-Norman influence spread steadily to Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.
Fought between: Anglo-Saxons versus Normans
Outcome: Norman victory
Bannockburn, 1314 (Chapter 4)
To every Scot, Bannockburn is the most important battle in the country’s history, as it won Scottish independence from England. On the death of Queen Elizabeth I, King James VI of Scotland (the son of Mary Queen of Scots) ascended the English throne, from which he reigned over both countries.
Fought between: English versus Scots
Outcome: Scottish victory
Blenheim, 1704 (Chapter 8)
Blenheim was the first of Marlborough’s great victories. It established the reputation of British troops in general, and the infantry in particular, to a level not achieved since the English archer dominated the medieval battlefield.
Fought between: British and allies versus French
Outcome: British victory
Saratoga, 1777 (Chapter 9)
The British defeat at the hands of American colonists during the fighting at Saratoga resulted in France, Spain, and Holland declaring war on Great Britain. In the circumstances, American independence was assured. The two branches of the English-speaking peoples - Great Britain and America - developed along similar but separate lines. Working together, they became a powerful factor in world politics. Two battles took place at Saratoga: Freeman’s Farm on 19 September and Bemis Heights on 7 October.
Fought between: British versus American colonists
Outcome: American victory
Waterloo, 1815 (Chapter 11)
Wellington’s victory at Waterloo ended 22 years of warfare with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Great Britain was already well on the way to becoming an industrialised nation. For most of the nineteenth century its undisputed command of the ocean trade routes enabled the country to amass vast profits as well as expand its empire. With the exception of the Crimean War, the British army was not involved in another continental war until the next century.
Fought between: British and Allies versus French
Outcome: British and Allied victory
Amiens, 1918 (Chapter 18)
The great British tank attack at Amiens finally broke the will of the German army to continue fighting in the First World War. General Erich Ludendorff, shocked by the sheer numbers of German officers and men willing to surrender, described 8 August as ‘the Black Day of the German Army’. After Amiens, the British armies continued a slow but steady advance until the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918.
Fought between: British versus Germans
Outcome: British victory
Operation Compass and its Sequels, 1940-1941 (Chapter 21)
The destruction of the Italian Tenth Army by Generals Wavell and O’Connor produced results far beyond the battlefield. Hitler had to send German troops to North Africa to prop up his Italian ally, Benito Mussolini. General Franco, the Spanish dictator, had maintained a stance of hostile neutrality towards Great Britain, but now declared himself to be a ‘non-belligerent’. If Franco had thrown in his lot with his fellow dictators, predicting the outcome of the war in the Mediterranean would have been difficult.
Fought between: British and Commonwealth troops versus Italians
Outcome: British victory
The Second Battle of Alamein, 1942 (Chapter 21)
1942 marked the turning point in the Second World War. To the British, the Second Battle of Alamein was the first occasion during the war in which they defeated a predominantly German army beyond hope of recovery. After that, the British saw victory as a probability. The Second Battle of Alamein is known as the British Empire’s last battle. That is not entirely accurate, as Imperial and Commonwealth troops continued to fight until the war’s end, but not necessarily in battle side by side.
Fought between: British and Commonwealth troops versus Germans and Italians
Outcome: British victory
Normandy, 1944 (Chapter 23)
The Normandy campaign was the beginning of the end for the German army in Western Europe. Professionals like Field Marshal von Rundstedt knew that the Wehrmacht could not support the demands of the Eastern Front, Italy, and Normandy at the same time and advised the German High Command to open peace negotiations. The High Command ignored his professional advice and the Allies completely destroyed the German armies in Normandy. During the Normandy campaign the United States, which contributed the greatest number of troops and material, became the leader of the western Allies.
Fought between: British, Commonwealth troops, and Americans versus Germans
Outcome: Allied victory
Meiktila, 1945 (Chapter 24)
The capture of Meiktila, leading directly to the disintegration of the Japanese Burma Area Army, was a brilliant demonstration of the blitzkrieg technique. It was the last major action to be fought by the old Indian army.
Fought between: British and Indians versus Japanese
Outcome: British victory