military history for the lexicographer
Jul. 14th, 2014 06:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
twoelevenwhile composing my previous entry, i checked my iOED for the spelling of "battle royal" to verify that it didn't have an "e" on the end. that's near the definition of "battle", and the dictionary had a list of 46 historical battles as headwords as well.
which battles they decided made the cut are kinda interesting. 13 are battles within the current UK (civil wars, mostly, and some fighting with the scots). most of the rest are from wars england fought in. the napoleonic wars and world wars dominate (18, almost evenly split between them), but there are also some oddballs like the battle of balaclava, which inspired "the charge of the light brigade", and the battle of saratoga, where a bunch of provincials gave them what for.
i've heard of many of these battles, and i imagine students of british history would recognize the ones i don't. so, i think most of them are reasonably well known.
what caught my eye, though, were the seven that have nothing to do with england. two are from classical antiquity: plataea, the battle that ended the greco-persian wars (-479) and actium, where octavian defeated mark antony in -31 during the roman civil wars. one is from the dark ages, ronceavaux (778), where the basques beat up on the franks. lepanto was a naval battle fought in the renaissance (1571 to be specific) between the turks and christians.
this list is a bit obscure: i recognize lepanto, but only because i've studied the period. plataea is well-known to people who've studied the greco-persian wars, but the better known battles from the era (marathon, thermopylae, and salamis) get mentions only under those places. the entry for marathon incidentally points out that pheidippides supposedly ran the 150 miles from athens to sparta, not the sissy 22 miles legendarily attributed to the first athlete to endorse running shoes.
and the last three? those are american battles and the choice seems quixotic: gettysburg, little big horn, and wounded knee. gettysburg makes sense, but the other two? it seems a lot of more famous battles are listed only under place names (pearl harbor, iwo jima). strange. i wonder how they put the list together.
which battles they decided made the cut are kinda interesting. 13 are battles within the current UK (civil wars, mostly, and some fighting with the scots). most of the rest are from wars england fought in. the napoleonic wars and world wars dominate (18, almost evenly split between them), but there are also some oddballs like the battle of balaclava, which inspired "the charge of the light brigade", and the battle of saratoga, where a bunch of provincials gave them what for.
i've heard of many of these battles, and i imagine students of british history would recognize the ones i don't. so, i think most of them are reasonably well known.
what caught my eye, though, were the seven that have nothing to do with england. two are from classical antiquity: plataea, the battle that ended the greco-persian wars (-479) and actium, where octavian defeated mark antony in -31 during the roman civil wars. one is from the dark ages, ronceavaux (778), where the basques beat up on the franks. lepanto was a naval battle fought in the renaissance (1571 to be specific) between the turks and christians.
this list is a bit obscure: i recognize lepanto, but only because i've studied the period. plataea is well-known to people who've studied the greco-persian wars, but the better known battles from the era (marathon, thermopylae, and salamis) get mentions only under those places. the entry for marathon incidentally points out that pheidippides supposedly ran the 150 miles from athens to sparta, not the sissy 22 miles legendarily attributed to the first athlete to endorse running shoes.
and the last three? those are american battles and the choice seems quixotic: gettysburg, little big horn, and wounded knee. gettysburg makes sense, but the other two? it seems a lot of more famous battles are listed only under place names (pearl harbor, iwo jima). strange. i wonder how they put the list together.