The Untold Battles

A medieval depiction of the battle of the Catalaunian Plains from the 15th-century Chronica Hungarorum (artistic illustration, not a contemporary image). Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Châlons AD 451: When Rome and the Visigoths Stood Together Against Attila On a June day in AD 451, two of the largest armies ever assembled in western Europe crashed into each other on a plain in what is now north-eastern France. On one side stood Attila the Hun, the most feared commander of the ancient world, at the head of a coalition of Huns and subject Germanic peoples. On the other stood an extraordinary alliance: the armies of a dying Roman Empire fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Visigoths, their old enemies. It was the last great battle of the Western Roman Empire, and historians have argued over it ever since. Key facts Battle: The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (also called Châlons, Troyes or Maurica) Date: Around 20 June AD 451 (the most widely accepted date) Loc...

A gold solidus of Emperor Valens, who was killed at Adrianople on 9 August 378. Image via Wikimedia Commons. On a sweltering August afternoon, on a plain in what is now European Turkey, one of the most powerful armies on earth was destroyed in a matter of hours. The Eastern Roman army marched out of Adrianople in the morning. By evening it had ceased to exist, and the emperor who commanded it was dead. The Battle of Adrianople, fought on 9 August AD 378, was the worst Roman defeat in more than five centuries. The contemporary historian Ammianus Marcellinus wrote that the annals recorded no such massacre of a battle except the one at Cannae. How Rome created its own enemy Driven west by the Huns, the Gothic Thervingi reached the Danube in 376 and begged admission to the empire. Valens, eastern emperor since 364, settled them in the Balkans as foederati , allies expected to farm and fight for Rome. What followed was a masterclass in how to turn allies into enemies. The Roman comman...

The Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for gallantry. Imperial War Museum collection (HU69722), public domain via Wikimedia Commons. Few military honours carry the weight of the Victoria Cross. It is the highest award in the British honours system, reserved for "most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy." Since Queen Victoria created it during the Crimean War it has been awarded just 1,358 times. This is how it came to exist, what it is made of, and the recipients who stand apart in such rare company. Key facts The Victoria Cross was instituted by Royal Warrant on 29 January 1856 and backdated to 1854 to cover the Crimean War. The first awards were presented by Queen Victoria at Hyde Park on 26 June 1857, 62 of the 111 Crimean recipients invested on the day. It has been awarded 1,358 times to 1,355 individuals, and can be won by a person of any rank in an...

Map of Agricola's campaigns in northern Britain, AD 78-84. By Andjam, CC BY-SA 3.0 and GFDL via Wikimedia Commons. Nearly 1,940 years ago, a Roman army fought further north in Britain than any force had gone before. On a hillside somewhere in the north east of Scotland, it met the last great army of free Britons and broke it. In AD 83, the governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola led his army against a Caledonian confederacy led, at least in name, by a chief called Calgacus. The Romans won a crushing victory. Then, within a few short years, they walked away from almost everything they had gained. The Battle of Mons Graupius stands as Rome's northernmost battle and as a case study in winning the fight and losing the peace. Key facts Date: AD 83 (a minority of scholars argue for AD 84; the exact year is disputed). Location: north east Scotland. The precise site is unknown; the leading modern candidate is the foot of Bennachie in Aberdeenshire. Roman commander: Gnaeus Julius A...

William Sharp's 1795 engraving after John Opie's painting "Boadicea Haranguing the Britons" - an 18th-century imagining of the queen rallying her people. No contemporary portrait of Boudica survives. Battle of Watling Street: How Rome Crushed Boudica's Revolt Around nineteen hundred years ago, a Roman army of perhaps 10,000 men stood its ground in a narrow valley somewhere in the English Midlands and destroyed one of the largest rebellions Britain has ever seen. The Battle of Watling Street, fought in AD 61 (or possibly AD 60; historians disagree on the year), ended Boudica's revolt in a single afternoon. Three Roman cities lay in ashes behind the rebels. None lay ahead of them. Yet for all its decisiveness, this is a battle wrapped in uncertainty: nobody knows exactly where it was fought, the year itself is disputed, and the casualty figures in the ancient accounts are almost certainly exaggerated. What follows is what we can say with confidence, and wher...

Battle of the Medway, AD 43: How Rome Forced Its Way Into Britain J. M. W. Turner, "Rochester, on the River Medway" (1822). The Roman invasion force crossed this river, probably near Aylesford, in AD 43. (Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) In the summer of AD 43, the largest amphibious force the Roman Empire had ever launched crossed the Channel and landed in Kent. It met no one. The British tribes had simply melted away. What happened next, on the banks of a river in what is now Kent, was the first great set-piece battle fought for the island of Britain. It lasted two days. It was decided by a detachment of swimming soldiers. And it opened the door to nearly four centuries of Roman rule. This is the first article in our battles series, which works through military history in chronological order, starting roughly 2,000 years ago. The Battle of the Medway is the natural place to begin: the earliest major battle on British soil for which we have a detailed account, and th...