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GREAT BATTLES

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*1. 490 B. C. Marathon in Greece. Greeks under Miltiades defeated the Persians under Darius. Greeks numbered 10,000, Persians 500,000, of which 200,000 were killed in the battle. Only 192 Greeks fell.

2. 480 B. C. Thermopyla in Greece. Leonidas, king of Sparta, having marched to Thermopyla to assist the Athenians, endeavored to hold the pass of Thermopyle with 300 Spartans and 700 Thesbians against the Persian army. He withstood them for three days, when a traitor made known to the Persians a secret path over the mountains, which brought them to the rear of the Greeks, who, thus being assaulted behind and before, perished gloriously on heaps of their slaughtered foes.

3. 480 B. C. Salamis near Athens. Themistocles, the Greek commander, with 310 vessels defeated the Persian fleet, which consisted of 2,000 vessels, in the narrow strait of Salamis.

4. 479 B. C. Platea in Greece. tremendous slaughter by the Greeks. were completely defeated at Mycale. escaped with their lives.

The Persians were defeated with
On the same day the Persian fleet
Of 300,000 Persians scarcely 3,000

Gylippus defended Syracuse and The Athenian fleet and army of

*5. 413 B. C. Syracuse in Sicily. defeated the Athenians under Nicias. 40,000 men were lost in this disastrous enterprise.

*6. 331 B. C. Arbela in Assyria. Greeks under Alexander the Great conquered the Persians under Darius. In this decisive battle the Persian army numbered 1,000,000 men, while the army under Alexander consisted only of 50,000. Darius fled and was treacherously slain.

7. 218 B. C.

Trebia in Italy. Here the Carthaginians under Hannibal defeated the Romans under Sempronius.

*The fourteen battles marked (*), and the battle of Saratoga, N. Y., are described by Professor Creasy, the English historian, as the fifteen decisive battles of the world.

8. 217 B. C. Thrasimene in Italy. A most bloody engagement took place near Lake Trasimene, between the Carthaginians under Hannibai and the Romans under Flaminius. No less than 15,000 Romans were left dead on the field of battle, and 10,000 were taken prisoners. 9. 216 B. C. Cannæ in Italy. Hannibal, with 50,000 Africans, Gauls, and Spaniards, defeated the Roman army numbering 88,000, of whom 40,000 were slain. The victor sent to Carthage three bushels of rings taken from the Roman knights.

*10. 207 B. C. Metaurus in Central Italy. The Romans under Livius and Claudius Nero defeated the Carthaginians under Hasdrubal, who was marching with reinforcements to his brother Hannibal. Nero commanded the head of Hasdrubal to be thrown into his brother's camp.

11. 202 B. C. Zama near Carthage, Africa. The commanders in this battle were the most famous in the world at the time-Hannibal and Scipio Africanus. The victory was won by Scipio, and decided the fate of Carthage. The Romans lost about 2,000 killed and wounded, while the loss of the Carthaginians in killed and prisoners was 40,000.

*12. 9 A. D. Teutoburg in Germany. The Germans under Herman or Arminius defeated the Romans under Varus, with very great slaughter. *13. 451. Chalons in France. The Goths and Romans under Etius defeated Attila, king of the Huns, and compelled him to retire into Pannonia, now Hungary.

*14. 732. Tours in Central France. Charles Martel assumed command of the Franks and gained a great victory over the Saracens, or Arabs. *15. 1066. Hastings in England. William, duke of Normandy, against Harold II. of England, the latter losing his life and kingdom. *16. 1429. Orleans in France. The city, besieged by English, was bravely defended and finally relieved by the heroism of Joan of Arc.

17. 1485. Bosworth Field, England. The thirteenth and last battle between the houses of York and Lancaster, when Richard III. was defeated by the Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., and slain. Sir William Stanley, at a critical moment, changed sides, and thus caused the loss of the battle.

18. 1572. Massacre of St. Bartholomew, Paris, France. This commenced at Paris, on the night of the Festival of St. Bartholomew, August 24, 1572, when 40,000 or more Protestants were murdered by the Catholics, to whom secret orders had been issued by Charles IX., at the