TT YSBU GUADALCANAL ELASTIONGS UITTLE BIGHORN NORMANDY PHOLIPPI SARATOGA FRIMWOP es aAN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BATTLES: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present by David Eggenberger a badly needed addition to public and military libraries and to the shelves of every military writer . . . a definitive job.” — Army Times Megiddo, Thermopylae, Waterloo, Stalingrad, Vietnam . . . nothing has domi- nated man’s attention, challenged his energy, produced more heroes—and destruction—than war. This monumental one-volume work traces the long history of that uniquely human activity in vivid, accurate accounts of over 1,500 crucial military conflicts. Spanning more than 3,400 years, it encompasses a panorama of warfare so complete that no single volume like it exists All the essential details of every major battle in recorded history on land and at sea—from the first battle of Megiddo in 1479 8. to Grenada in 1984—are covered. For added convenience, An Encyclopedia of Battles lists the engage- ments in alphabetical order, from “Aachen,” the first entry, to “Zutphen,” the last. You'll find painstakingly researched, objectively written descriptions of the Persian-Greek conflicts of the fifth century B.C., Roman Empire wars, Napole- onic Wars, the American Civil War, World Wars I and I] and many more. Also included are penetrating analyses of the roles played by commanders of genius—Alexander, Julius Caesar, Hannibal, Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Tamer- lane, Khalid ibn al-Walid and other momentous figures. Updating this already comprehensive resource, a new Appendix deals with more recent conflicts: the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Iran-Iraq War, the Falkland Islands clash, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the U.S. invasion of Grenada. Each entry includes dates, strategic situations, military leaders, troop numbers, tactics, casualties and military political consequences of the battles. In addition, you'll find cross references at the end of each entry, 99 battle maps and a ‘comprehensive index containing titles of alliances and treaties, famous quota- tions, slogans, catch phrases . .. even battle cries. An Encyclopedia of Battles is an entire library of military history in one convenient space-saving volume. Students, historians, writers, military buffs. . anyone interested in the subject will find this inexpensive paperbound edition an indispensable reference and a fascinating study of the world’s military past. Corrected and enlarged (1985) republication of the work first published by Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York, 1967, as A Dictionary of Battles. Preface. List of Battle Maps. New Appendix covering the years 1967-1984 Suggestions for Further Reading. Index. 99 black-and-white illustrations. 544pp. 6% x 9X. Paperbound. ISBN 0-48b-2491 | 90) $14.95 INUSA 9 486°249131 | J | 01 1 | Apauuay “3 neg Aq usisap 1980AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ‘BATTLES: ACCOUNTS OF OVER 1,560 BATTLES FROM 1479 B.c. TO THE PRESENT DAVID EGGENBERGER DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC. NEW YORKTo the infantry soldier of every age who held the MOS (Military Occupation Specialty) of rifleman, or its equivalent. Maps by Donald T. Pitcher Copyright © 1967, 1985 by David Eggenberger. Alll rights reserved under Pan American and International Copyright Conventions. Published in Canada by General Publishing Company, Ltd., 30 Lesmill Road, Don Mills, Toronto, Ontario. Published in the United Kingdom by Constable and Company, Ltd., 10 Orange Street, London WC2H 7EG. This Dover edition, first published in 1985, is a corrected and enlarged republication of the work first published by the Thomas Y. Crowell Com- pany, New York, in 1967, under the title A Dictionary of Battles. A new Preface, a supplement to the bibliography, a supplement to the index and an Appendix comprising seven new articles have been specially written for this edition by the author, who has also made several corrections in the original text. The maps, originally printed in black and red, have been reproduced in black and gray. Manufactured in the United States of America Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Eggenberger, David. ‘An encyclopedia of battles. Rev. ed. of: A dictionary of battles. 1967. Bibliography: p. Includes index 1. Battles—Dictionaries. 1. Eggenberger, David. Dictionary of bat- les. IL. Title. D25.A2E37_ 1985 904.7 85-6817 ISBN 0-486-24913-1PREFACE TO THE DOVER EDITION Since the publication of the first edition of this book, seven conflicts have earned a place in the history of battles: the fourth Israeli-Arab encounter in the Mid- dle East; the continuation of the Vietnam War, which was then still in progress: the U.S.S.R. inva- sion of Afghanistan; the Iran-Iraq clash over the Shatt-al-Arab waterway; the 74-day war over the Falkland Islands; the Israeli incursion into Lebanon to root out the Palestine Liberation Organizatior and the U.S. invasion of the island nation of Gr nada. Accounts of these will be found. in chronolog- ical order, in the Appendix beginning on page 491. A new supplement to the “Suggestions for Further Reading,” listing 25 titles published since 1967, fol- lows the original list, which begins on page 495. A new supplement to the Index, covering the material in the new Appendix, appears at the very end of the volume. ae PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION This book attempts to provide the essential de- tails of all the major battles in recorded history. It covers more than 1,560 separate and distinct military engagements, from the first battle of Megiddo in 1479 B.c. to the fighting in Vietnam during the 1960's. The battles are listed alpha- betically and identified by war, revolution, politi- cal movement, and so on. As far as possible, the entry for each battle presents the strategic situa- tion, date of combat, military commanders, num- ber of troops involved, tactics employed, casual- ties, and consequences of the action. With few exceptions each battle takes the name of its geographic location, whether it be a world-famous site such as Rome or a once-obscure hamlet in South Vietnam. This is true even for battles that may be equally well known by another name. What is called in Great Britain the Glorious First of June (June 1, 1794) is treated in this book under the title Ushant II, Lose-coat Field under Empingham, and two battles identified as Spurs under Guinegate and Courtrai, The only ex- ceptions to this placement are the English-Scots battle at Cowton Moor, which is listed under the better-known name of (The) Standard; the American-British naval battle called Chesapeake vs. Shannon: the 1942 American carrier-based bombing of Japan, which President F. D. Roose- velt reported as originating in Shangri-La; and three World War II naval engagements listed under the names of the principal ships involved —Graf Spee, Bismarck, and Prince of Wales~ Repulse. Battle names are derived from the place names in use at the time of the engagement. Thus the 1302 conflict in Belgium is called the battle of Courtrai rather than the modern name of Kor- trijk. In all such cases, however, the modern name is also given in the text. (In like manner mili- tary commanders are called by their rank at the time of the battle, without regard to the several grades of general and admiral). Roman numerals are used to show the occurrence of more than one battle at a particular site. ThusPreface the battles of 1778 and 1794 at Ushant are en- titled Ushant I and Ushant II, respectively. In addition to entries for major battles there are about 150 brief entries that identify parts of larger battles and cross-refer to them. Examples are: Kasserine Pass (to Tunisia), Jackson (to Vicksburg), and Freeman’s Farm (to Saratoga). Well-known variant names of battles are listed in the text as cross-reference entries. Also includ- ed within the alphabetical arrangement are more than eighty entries for the major wars of the world, from the Persian-Greek wars to the Viet- nam conflict. These entries contain cross refer- ences, in chronological order, to the names of bat- tles in each conflict. In addition there are dozens of entries for countries and geographical areas, with chronological cross references to the war entries and to entries for battles that are not associated with a broad-scale conflict. The cross references found at the end of almost every entry list the relevant battles that im- mediately preceded and followed. Those battles that are a part of a named war or a series of related conflicts also carry a cross reference to the appropriate parent entry. A battle is usually defined as a general fight or encounter between hostile military forces. Some of the elements of the definition include length of time of the encounter, scale (inten- sity) of fighting, size of the forces involved, in- fluence on a particular campaign, and decisive- ness of the action. A battle may be further de- fined by distinguishing it from a skirmish, a raid, or a siege. This book, however, uses the term battle in the broadest sense—that is, as a con- frontation between opposing armed forces that resulted in casualties or in a change in the mili- tary situation. Under this definition many pro- longed holding operations (such as those at Vicksburg and Plevna) are treated as battles even though a major feature may have been one of siege. Similarly, Dieppe is called a battle in this book although the action was planned and iv executed as a raid on an enemy-held town. The need to broaden the definition of a battle has been highlighted by warfare in the twentieth century in which entire countries became a sin- gle battlefield and the military action was sus- tained over a period of weeks or even months. This trend began in World War I with such battles as Serbia and Rumania, continued into the 1930's with Ethiopia and Albania, and culmi- nated in World War II with such battles as Poland, Norway, and Britain. The clearest ex- ample of a nation becoming a theater of action was the fighting in Russia resulting from the Ger- man invasion of 1941. The struggle for the Soviet Union, a contest spread over thousands of miles and lasting three years, has been rightly called history’s greatest continuous land battle. It might be argued that some of the engage- ments in South Vietnam reported in this book fail to meet even the modern definition of a battle. Yet, in terms of national effort, inter- national attention, and sheer intensity of fighting, each of these encounters seems to merit a place in history equal to (or perhaps even exceeding) that accorded such battles as those fought by Xenophon’s Ten Thousand at Cunaxa, the Crusa- ders at Jerusalem, or General J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry at Bristoe Station. As stated earlier, the battle descriptions in this book are listed under the geographic loca- tions. This arrangement indicates that Jerusalem, the site of nine separate battles, has been the most fought-over place in the world. Next in line for this unenviable distinction are Adrianople (Edirne), Constantinople (Istanbul), and Rome, each the site of seven battles; Warsaw, with six; Pavia, five; and Alexandria, Baghdad, Paris, Prague, and Ravenna, four. The present-day im- portance of most of these cities testifies to man’s inherent capability to endure and build anew. Davip EGGENBERGER