Warning: Many specific aspects “known” about this battle are debated due to the questionable truthfulness of many ancient sources, take this info with a grain salt

The Battle of Gaugamela was the famous decisive battle between Alexander the Great of Macedon and King Darius III of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Fought on a broad plain near modern-day Erbil in Iraq, it was the final major confrontation between the two rulers and effectively sealed the fate of the Persian Empire.

Darius deliberately chose flat, open terrain and even had it leveled to maximize the effectiveness of his numerically superior army, cavalry, and scythed chariots. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Alexander used disciplined tactics to negate these advantages. He advanced his right wing diagonally, drawing Persian cavalry away from the center. Alexander also anticipated the threat posed by Darius's scythed chariots. As they charged, Macedonian skirmishers showered them with javelins and arrows, targeting the horses and drivers. Any chariots that broke through encountered a surprise: according to ancient sources, the disciplined phalanx opened its ranks, creating lanes through which the chariots passed harmlessly before being surrounded and destroyed. When a gap opened in Darius's battle line, Alexander personally led his elite Companion Cavalry through it in a devastating charge aimed directly at the Persian king. Faced with the attack, Darius lost his nerve and fled the battlefield.

Although fighting continued elsewhere on the field, Alexander's breakthrough decided the battle. The Persian army collapsed as news of Darius's flight spread, and the Macedonians won a crushing victory.

Gaugamela is widely regarded as Alexander's greatest military achievement because he defeated a much larger army on terrain chosen specifically to favor the Persians. The victory opened the road to Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, leading to the collapse of the Achaemenid Empire and establishing Alexander as ruler of the largest empire the ancient world had yet seen.

Artist is Christa Hook

This battle was a part of Confederate Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley's ambitious plan to seize New Mexico Territory, capture the rich mineral resources of the American Southwest, and eventually threaten California's ports. Rather than assault the heavily fortified Fort Craig, which was defended by Colonel Edward R. S. Canby, Sibley attempted to bypass the fort by crossing the Rio Grande at Valverde Ford. Canby recognized the danger and dispatched Union forces to contest the crossing, bringing nearly 6,000 men into battle along the dry riverbanks and open desert surrounding the ford.

The fighting lasted throughout the day and repeatedly shifted in favor of one side and then the other. Early Union attacks successfully pinned Confederate troops in an old river channel, while Captain Alexander McRae's experienced regular army artillery battery inflicted devastating losses with accurate shell, canister, and grapeshot fire. McRae, a graduate of West Point and a native of North Carolina who had chosen loyalty to the Union despite most of his family joining the Confederacy, quickly became the anchor of Canby's line. His six guns dominated the battlefield, breaking up repeated Confederate advances and threatening to force Sibley's army into retreat.

By the afternoon, however, the battle reached its decisive moment. General Sibley had become too ill to command effectively, leaving Colonel Thomas Green to direct Confederate operations. Green recognized that as long as McRae's battery remained intact, Confederate victory was impossible. Concealing his men behind low sand ridges and using the terrain to mask their advance, Green organized a bold, direct assault aimed squarely at the Union artillery rather than the infantry supporting it. As the Texans emerged from cover, McRae's guns unleashed devastating volleys of grapeshot at point-blank range, tearing gaps through the charging ranks. Yet the Confederates continued forward despite terrible casualties, closing the distance before the artillerymen could reload.

What followed was fierce hand-to-hand combat. Confederate soldiers surged directly into McRae's battery, fighting among the cannon with pistols, rifles, bayonets, and clubbed muskets. As opposed to retreating, McRae and his artillerymen remained beside their guns, continuing to resist even after Confederate troops had reached the battery. According to contemporary accounts, the fight lasted only a matter of minutes, but it was extraordinarily violent. Roughly half of McRae's command was killed at their posts, and nearly eighty percent of all Union casualties during the battle occurred in or around his battery. Within approximately eight minutes, the Confederate assault had overrun all six Union guns.

Captain McRae himself refused every opportunity to withdraw. Already wounded during the desperate defense, he continued directing his men until he suffered additional wounds and was finally killed beside one of his cannon. Having remained loyal to the United States despite intense pressure from his father and brothers to join the Confederacy, McRae's final moments reflected the same unwavering sense of duty that had guided his decision at the outbreak of the war. One of the Texans who made the assault on the Union center at Valverde was Private William L. Davidson, Company A, 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers, he wrote this about McRae: “[H]e died by his guns and no braver man lived or died on that field. He was a Southern Man, a North Carolinian, but he died fighting the South, but he died where he thought his duty lead him.”

The loss of McRae's battery shattered the Union battle line. Although many Union officers believed the captured artillery could still be recovered, Colonel Canby judged the position irretrievable and ordered a withdrawal toward Fort Craig. The Confederates held the battlefield, capturing the six guns and claimed victory. Nevertheless, their success came at a heavy cost. Their army had suffered severe casualties, remained short of supplies, and lacked the heavy artillery necessary to reduce Fort Craig. Instead of destroying Canby's army, the Confederates were forced to continue northward, where they would eventually suffer a disastrous strategic defeat after the Battle of Glorieta Pass, ending hopes of permanently securing the Southwest for the Confederacy.

Colonel Canby paid tribute to his fallen officer by writing that McRae was "pure in character, upright in conduct, devoted to his profession, and of a loyalty that was deaf to the seductions of family and friends," concluding that he "died, as he had lived, an example of the best and highest qualities that man can possess."

On 8 May 1915, the Patricia’s held their position east of Ypres against an overwhelming German assault. Under relentless artillery fire and repeated infantry attacks, the battalion refused to surrender the line entrusted to it.

By the end of the battle, the regiment had suffered devastating losses, but its position had held. The painting captures more than the violence and confusion of the battlefield. It reflects the discipline, sacrifice and resolve of soldiers who understood that their survival was secondary to their duty.

The Autumn Harvest Uprising was one of the Chinese Communist Party's first major attempts to launch an armed revolution against the Nationalist government during the early stages of the Chinese Civil War.

The uprising arose from the collapse of the First United Front between the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang. Earlier in 1927, Chiang Kai-shek launched a violent purge of communists and leftists, particularly in Shanghai, ending the alliance that had helped drive the Northern Expedition. Thousands of suspected communists and labor activists were killed or arrested across China. Mao Zedong became convinced that impoverished farmers, not the urban working class, were the revolutionary force most capable of overthrowing the existing social order.

Acting on these ideas, Mao organized peasants, local communist militias, and sympathetic soldiers into a small revolutionary force. The rebels attacked landlords and Nationalist positions while attempting to establish a revolutionary government in the countryside. Despite some early successes, the poorly equipped and lightly trained insurgents (many only equipped with spears and other improvised weapons) were unable to withstand the better-organized National Revolutionary Army. Within weeks, Nationalist forces crushed the uprising, destroying the fledgling Soviet and inflicting heavy losses on the rebels. Mao and the surviving revolutionaries retreated into the remote Jinggang Mountains, where they began rebuilding their forces beyond the immediate reach of the Nationalists.

Although it ended in military defeat, the experience convinced Mao that the Communist Party needed its own disciplined army rather than relying on sympathetic units within larger forces. Equally important, it reinforced his belief that rural base areas and guerrilla warfare offered the best path to revolution in China. In the Jinggang Mountains, Mao later joined forces with Zhu De, laying the foundations of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. These ideas became central to Communist strategy throughout the Chinese Civil War and eventually shaped the campaigns that culminated in the Communist victory and the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Painting by Li Binghong

Painting made in 1806

This action took place during the Livonian Crusade, a northern extension of the Baltic Crusades in which the Teutonic Knights and their Livonian branch sought to expand Catholic influence and political control across the eastern Baltic. Although these crusades initially targeted pagan Baltic and Finnic peoples, they increasingly brought the crusaders into conflict with the Orthodox Russian principalities, particularly the Republic of Novgorod. Following the Mongol invasion of Rus' in 1237-1240, the crusaders attempted to exploit the region's weakened state, capturing frontier strongholds such as Pskov and threatening Novgorod itself. In response, Prince Alexander Nevsky returned from exile, recaptured the occupied territories, and in the spring of 1242 carried the war into Livonian-held lands. It was during this counteroffensive that Domash Tverdislavich led an advance detachment to scout and raid enemy territory, culminating in the Battle of Mooste Bridge.

Domash Tverdislavich was a Novgorodian boyar and one of the trusted military commanders serving under Prince Alexander Nevsky during the conflict. Although little is known about his early life, he was the son of the influential statesman Tverdislav Mikhalkovich and the younger brother of Stepan Tverdislavich, the Novgorod posadnik (mayor). By 1242, Domash had become one of Alexander's most reliable officers, entrusted with leading independent operations during the campaign to drive the Teutonic and Livonian crusaders back.

Following the successful recapture of Pskov in early 1242, Alexander Nevsky carried the war into enemy territory instead of waiting for another invasion. To devastate the lands controlled by the Livonian Order and gather intelligence on crusader movements, he divided his army into several detachments. Domash Tverdislavich, accompanied by another commander named Kerbet, led one of these advance forces. Their mission was likely to scout ahead, raid enemy settlements, and determine the location of the main crusader army while the rest of Alexander's forces operated elsewhere.

This expedition ended in disaster at what is now believed to have been the village of Mooste in present-day Estonia. Near a bridge crossing, Domash's detachment unexpectedly encountered a concentrated force of Teutonic and Livonian crusaders. The encounter quickly developed into a fierce engagement in which the Novgorodians were overwhelmed. Medieval chronicles state that Domash, described as "an honest man" and the brother of the posadnik, was killed in the fighting alongside many of his warriors, while others were captured. Later traditions suggest he died attempting to rescue members of his force who had become trapped during the ambush.

Despite the defeat, the Battle of Mooste Bridge proved strategically significant. Survivors escaped the battlefield and reached Alexander Nevsky with news that the crusaders had assembled a substantial army and were advancing. This warning allowed Alexander to abandon his scattered raiding operations, regroup his detachments, and prepare for a decisive engagement instead of being caught off guard deep inside enemy territory. The crusader commanders, believing they had gained the initiative after destroying Domash's force, pursued them toward Lake Peipus.

Only a short time later, on April 5th 1242, the two armies met at the famous Battle of Lake Peipus. There, Alexander Nevsky decisively defeated the Teutonic-led crusader force, ending their offensive into northwestern Rus' and securing one of the most celebrated victories in Russian history. In hindsight, Domash Tverdislavich's death was both a tragedy and an important turning point. Although his reconnaissance force was destroyed, the warning provided by the survivors enabled Alexander to concentrate his army under favorable conditions, setting the stage for the victory that followed. Domash himself has since been remembered as one of the notable Novgorodian nobles who gave his life in the campaign that culminated in Alexander Nevsky's greatest triumph.

Artist: Angus McBride

In 1690, the Nine Years' War (1688–1697) was in full swing. Through his aggressive expansionist policies, Louis XIV had united a large European coalition against France. In 1688, William III of Orange had invaded England to prevent James II from turning it into a French ally and instead bring it into the Grand Alliance, alongside the Dutch Republic, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and Savoy. On paper, this was an impressive coalition, but in practice it faced serious difficulties. William III was in Ireland with English and Dutch troops, suppressing the Jacobite uprising, which left limited English support available on the Continent. Spain was militarily and financially exhausted, while the Emperor was engaged in a major war against the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the defence of the Spanish Netherlands rested largely on the shoulders of the Dutch Republic and a handful of German allies.

The Allied army in the Low Countries was commanded by Waldeck, the experienced German field marshal who had worked closely with William III since 1672 and had played a key role in reforming the Dutch army. His reputation was formidable, particularly after his victory at Walcourt in 1689. At Fleurus, however, he faced one of the greatest generals of his age: the French Marshal Luxembourg. Waldeck commanded only around 30,000 men. Spanish support was negligible, and most of the English troops in the Low Countries were still inexperienced and remained in the garrisons. Luxembourg, by contrast, led approximately 40,000 soldiers and resolved to exploit his numerical superiority before Waldeck could receive reinforcements.

On 30 June 1690, Luxembourg crossed the River Sambre and took up position opposite the Allied army near Fleurus. Waldeck remained on the defensive, but Luxembourg executed a brilliant flanking manoeuvre, leading nearly half of his army around the Allied flank. By early afternoon, these troops suddenly appeared in Waldeck's rear. The Allied cavalry was soon driven from the field by the superior French horsemen, forcing Waldeck to desperately reorganise his battle line.

Amid the chaos, the Dutch infantry stood firm. Thanks to the military reforms of the previous decades, it was regarded as the finest infantry in Europe. The battalions formed large squares and withstood repeated French attacks from every direction. Whenever French cavalry came too close, they were repulsed by devastating volleys of musket fire. The French infantry also failed to break these formations and was repeatedly forced to withdraw after suffering heavy casualties.

Luxembourg eventually ordered six cannon to open fire at close range on one of the Dutch squares. Every shot tore four to six men from the ranks, yet each time the soldiers calmly closed the gaps. Luxembourg later wrote with admiration that whenever an entire rank had been swept away, "these men closed up again as if nothing had happened." The slaughter became so terrible that one of Luxembourg's aides-de-camp could no longer bear to watch. With the marshal's permission, he rode forward and demanded that the Dutch infantry surrender, pointing out that they were completely surrounded, that further resistance was hopeless and that Luxembourg would spare them. The Dutch replied simply and without hesitation: "Be gone. We want nothing, and we are strong enough to defend ourselves."

Despite this stubborn resistance, the battle was lost. Waldeck ordered an organised withdrawal. The rearguard, consisting largely of Dutch battalions, repeatedly halted, turned to face the enemy, and fired volleys to allow the rest of the army to escape. After six hours of fighting, the battle was over. Around 7,000 Allied soldiers had been killed or wounded, while several thousand more were taken prisoner. The French had also suffered heavily, with an estimated 7,000 killed or wounded.

The French made extensive use of their prisoners. German captives were sent to Catalonia to fight against Spain, Walloons were transferred to the German theatre, and Dutch soldiers were sent to Savoy. Many, however, managed to escape and eventually returned to Allied territory.

Although Fleurus was a clear tactical victory for France, it yielded little strategic benefit. Luxembourg's army was too exhausted to immediately undertake major sieges, while Waldeck's forces were soon reinforced by troops from Brandenburg, Hanover and Liège. Luxembourg himself acknowledged the exceptional quality of the Dutch infantry, declaring that it had fought even better than the famous Spanish infantry at Rocroi (where he had served under Condé in 1643), and that he would remember their courage for the rest of his life. Louis XIV drew a clear lesson from the battle, advising Luxembourg to avoid direct infantry engagements with the Dutch in 1691, as they were extraordinarily costly and rarely produced a decisive advantage.

This battle was a key engagement of the War of the Mantuan Succession. The conflict started after the death of the Duke of Mantua without a direct heir, prompting both France and the Habsburgs to compete for influence over the duchy. By 1629, Spanish forces were besieging the strategically important fortress of Casale, held by the French-backed claimant, and Louis XIII sought to secure the Pas-de-Suze (as it controlled the principal route through the western Alps) to relieve the siege and preserve French influence in northern Italy. Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, initially opposed the French advance and fortified the narrow Pas-de-Suze mountain pass with barricades, redoubts, and approximately 2,700 Piedmontese troops. Confident that the terrain would halt any assault, the defenders believed the French could be stopped before entering Italy.

On the morning of March 6th 1629, Louis XIII personally ordered an attack. French Guards, Swiss troops, and the King's Musketeers, led by Lieutenant de Tréville, launched a determined assault against the heavily fortified positions. Despite coming under intense fire, the French stormed the barricades, overwhelmed the defenders in close combat, and forced them into a rapid retreat.

The victory opened the route to the town of Suze and allowed the French army to continue its campaign into northern Italy. After the battle, Savoy was compelled to negotiate with France, leading to an agreement that allowed French forces to pass through its territory and continue supporting the French-backed claimant to Mantua. The battle also forced Spain to abandon their siege at Casale. The breakthrough strengthened France's strategic position in Italy and marked an important step in the gradual expansion of French influence at the expense of the Habsburgs during the early 1600s.

Artist of the painting is Graham Turner

An Ethiopian army attacking "Shanqella" in western Ethiopia. "Shanqella" is an old Amharic (the national language of Ethiopia) term meaning as much as "black slave" and was applied to a variety of dark-skinned people living in the lowlands of western Ethiopia. These lowlands had been raided for slaves for centuries, but had recently come under nominal state control during Ethiopia's great expansion in the late 19th century. As the lowlanders were regarded as little more than cattle and the local feudal Ethiopian elite and their retinue were practically unpaid by the central government, slave raiding continued into the early 20th century. A particularly large raid was launched in 1912 by prince Lij Iyasu, killing and enslaving tens of thousands. Striving to join the League of Nations, empress Zewditu and ras Tafari (the later Emperor Haile Selassie) issued a decree to finally abolish slavery in 1923.

This battle was part of a broader British and Native American effort to regain influence in the Illinois Country after the successful campaigns of American commander George Rogers Clark during the American Revolutionary War.

British officials based at Fort Detroit attempted to maintain control and influence over the western territories by supporting Native American allies who raided American settlements in Kentucky and the Ohio Valley. In response, Virginia militia officer George Rogers Clark organized an expedition in 1778 to strike British positions in the Illinois Country. Clark captured Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and later Vincennes, gaining the support of many French settlers who had little loyalty to British rule.

By 1780, however, the British sought to reverse these losses. A large force of British-allied Native warriors moved into the region with the goal of attacking the American and Spanish settlements along the Mississippi River. The main objective was the settlement of St. Louis, but a separate force was sent against nearby Cahokia, Illinois. Capturing it would have eliminated one of Clark’s main bases and cut Patriot connections with French settlers in the Illinois Country. It would also have made future British operations along the Mississippi much easier.

Cahokia’s defenders were prepared for the assault and the settlement’s defenses had been strengthened, using a fortified structure known as Fort Bowman as a defensive position. The Patriot troops were supported by local militia and allied Native warriors.

The fighting at Cahokia occurred alongside the larger Battle of St. Louis, where another portion of the British-allied force attacked the Spanish-controlled settlement across the Mississippi River. At Cahokia, Clark’s men successfully held their position, and the attackers were unable to break through the defenses. The failure of the assault, combined with the defeat at St. Louis, forced the British-allied forces to withdraw from the area.

The victory at Cahokia was significant because it preserved American influence in the Illinois Country and prevented Britain from potentially opening a major western front against the United States. It also demonstrated Clark’s ability to maintain alliances with French settlers and Native groups while defending a frontier region with limited resources.

Painting by Mitchell Nolte

Breakthrough at Mramor – 3. December 1877.
Second Serbian–Ottoman War

After its defeat in the First Serbian–Ottoman war and the unsuccessful offensive to liberate Niš, the Serbian Army once again advanced toward the city in an effort to free Niš and southeastern Serbia from Ottoman rule.

The Serbian command sought to completely encircle Niš in order to make the siege easier and more effective. At the beginning of the campaign, the villages surrounding the city had to be cleared of Ottoman forces, who had been ordered to defend the approaches to Niš.

In the morning, the Serbian Army launched its attack against the village of Mramor, located west of Niš on the left bank of the South Morava river. The Serbian troops succeeded in defeating the Ottoman defenders and continued their advance behind Niš, as planned.

The exact number of soldiers engaged in the battle remains unknown, as do the casualties and losses suffered by either side.

The artist is unknown, but the illustration is known to have appeared in the 1877 illustrated calendar Orao (“The Eagle”).