Battle Digest (2026)

09/08/2026

Battle of the Month: Cannae (3 August, 216 B.C.)

During the third century B.C.E., Rome’s growing power and influence around the Mediterranean created clashes with older, more established powers. One of these powerful city-states was Carthage. Rome and Carthage fought in three Punic Wars. The first (264-241 B.C.E.) involved influence over Sicily, the second (218-201) involved influence in Spain, and the third (149-146) focused on Tunisia and ended Carthage’s independent existence.
It was during the Second Punic War, after Hannibal had been handing Rome defeats and losses for nearly two years, when the Roman Senate had finally had enough. After raising the largest army they had ever fielded, they sent it against Hannibal, who had just seized an important grain supply depot at Cannae. But Hannibal was more than ready. On that fateful day, he handed Rome one of the most crushing defeats in history. Through superior tactics and leadership, Hannibal completely enveloped and destroyed the larger Roman army arrayed against him. And yet, despite his tactical brilliance and generalship, Hannibal would win the battle and still lose the war.
Nevertheless, Hannibal’s classic double-envelopment would become one of history’s great tactical masterpieces, inspiring military leaders for over 2,000 years. German Gen. Field Marshal Count Alfred von Schlieffen famously tried to expand Hannibal’s tactics to the strategic level, in a plan that failed to capture Paris in World War I. More recently, U.S. Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf claimed to have modeled Desert Storm on Cannae.

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11/07/2026

Battle of the Month: Gettysburg (1-3 July, 1863)
The Battle of Gettysburg was one of the largest battles ever fought on North American soil, with over 160,000 soldiers fighting for three days in and around this small Pennsylvania town. The toll was high on both sides including 23,055 Union casualties (3,155 killed) and 28,063 Confederate casualties (3,903 killed).

Although Antietam holds the dubious honor of the deadliest single day of fighting, more men fell on the fields of Gettysburg in three days than on any other North American battlefield before or since. More importantly, this battle represented a strategic turning point in the American Civil War, and has thus been referred to as the “high-water mark” of the Confederacy. Although, tactically a draw, strategically it was a major victory for the Union. After the battle, the Army of Northern Virginia limped home, never to regain their former strength and confidence. And although the fighting would continue for another two years, Gettysburg instilled new confidence in the Union army. They had proven to themselves, and to the world, that they could fight and win against the remarkable Robert E. Lee.

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09/06/2026

Get ready for America's 250th Birthday with this Battle of the Month!
Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775)
In the weeks following the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, Colonial militia and volunteers rallied around Boston to besiege Lt. Gen. Thomas Gage’s British garrison. But when reinforcements arrived from England, Gage devised a plan to regain the initiative by occupying Dorchester Heights south of town. When the Colonials heard of Gage’s plan, however, they preempted him by occupying different high ground ‒ the heights of Bunker Hill near Charlestown. When Gage awoke on 17 June to the sight of rebel positions on Breed’s Hill, he quickly attacked in what would be the first pitched battle of the American Revolution. The misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill would prove a costly and shocking victory for the British, while giving the Colonials faith in their militias and an important boost of confidence for the long struggle ahead.

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18/05/2026

Battle of the Month: Chancellorsville (1-5 May 1863)
The Confederate victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville is considered the crowning military achievement of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Against the numerically superior Union Army of the Potomac, Lee took a calculated risk by dividing his Army of Northern Virginia in what would become the largest flanking maneuver of the Civil War. The risk paid off with a stunning victory.

Chancellorsville remains a classic example of battlefield audacity and innovation and offers a study in contrasting commands. While Lee was bold and offensive, trusting key subordinates like Lt. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson to carry out his plan, Maj. Gen. Joseph Ho**er was timid, forcing his subordinates into defensive postures. Yet, the Confederate victory was costly. Lee suffered losses that were becoming harder to replace. He also lost Jackson, his most capable commander, who was fatally wounded by friendly fire. Nevertheless, with his victory, Lee gained sufficient confidence to plan an invasion north towards Gettysburg two months later.

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14/04/2026

Battle of the Month: Lexington-Concord (19 April, 1775).
Tension between Britain and her North American colonies had been building for years. After numerous protests and acts of defiance, things took a serious turn after the December 1773 Boston Tea Party, when an irate King George III and Parliament took more drastic action to teach their rebellious citizens in Massachusetts a lesson. After shutting down Boston’s port, dissolving elected government, and placing the colony under military occupation, the dry tinder of Colonial resentment was ready to ignite. The spark came on the morning of 19 April 1775, as a British force moved west to destroy military supplies secretly stored in Concord. When the column came upon a small company of militia waiting on Lexington Green, the fateful “shot heard round the world” rang out. The American Revolution had begun.

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12/03/2026

Battle of the Month: The Alamo (Feb. 23- Mar. 6, 1836)
During the Texas Revolution, the Mexican Army clashed with Texan forces on several battlefields ‒ the most famous of which was the Alamo. During this 13-day siege, a small group of defenders held out against overwhelming odds only to die in the final Mexican assault on the Alamo mission. Although it was clearly a tactical defeat for the Texans, this legendary “last stand” was a sentinel event during the Texas Revolution. The battle, more than any other event, galvanized Texans’ popular support against Gen. Santa Anna, President of Mexico. Not only did the brave defenders buy time for Sam Houston to build his Texan army, but they also created the symbol that would rally the support and manpower to defeat Santa Anna just weeks later at the Battle of San Jacinto. Today, the Alamo still evokes sentiments of patriotism, courage, and determination against great odds.

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11/02/2026

Battle of the Month: Verdun (Feb. 21- Dec. 18, 1916)
By early 1916, World War I was in its second year. Germany was fighting on two fronts – France and Great Britain in the West and Imperial Russia in the East. With the prospect of prolonged fighting in the East, Gen. Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of the German General Staff, believed the war would be decided in the West. To break the western stalemate, Falkenhayn planned a battle of attrition. He believed the French would defend Verdun, with its significant military and historical importance, to the last man. He would, therefore, bleed them “white” and force France to sue for peace.

But a competent Gen. Pétain leading determined French defenders thwarted German plans. Over 10 months, in the largest and longest battle of World War I, it became clear that Falkenhayn’s attrition strategy had utterly failed. For the French, the costly victory would become a symbol of national pride and an enduring reminder of the carnage of war.

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14/01/2026

Battle of the Month: New Orleans (January 8th, 1815)
The War of 1812 had not gone particularly well for the United States. The British were blockading America’s coasts, damaging commerce, and thwarting any hopes for U.S. territorial gains in Canada. After two years of fighting, Americans were further humiliated when, in August of 1814, the British burned the U.S. Capitol. The people in the young republic yearned for respect. Brevet Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson would finally give them that respect with his lopsided victory at New Orleans. Although the War of 1812 officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent two weeks prior to the battle, the commanders on the ground were unaware of it at the time. Ironically, because news of Jackson’s victory reached Washington so closely timed with word of the peace treaty, New Orleans would long be etched in the American conscience as the “victory” that ended the war. More accurately, the war was a draw. Nevertheless, the victory at New Orleans was significant enough for the U.S. to earn the respect of Britain, which never again treated America as anything less than an independent power. It would also launch the political career of a future president.

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11/12/2025

Battle of the Month: Trenton (Dec. 26th, 1776).
'Tis the season...In the fall of 1776, after losing New York, Gen. George Washington’s demoralized army moved south to regroup and prepare to defend New Jersey and Philadelphia. Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis, meanwhile, pursued the rebel force, hoping to defeat them before winter. Fortunately for Washington, during his retreat, he managed to delay Cornwallis long enough for Washington’s army to escape across the Delaware River. Then, he did something extraordinary. As Cornwallis’s army went into winter quarters, Washington launched a surprise attack on the Hessian garrison at Trenton. This bold stroke caught the British and Hessians off guard, resulting in the first significant American victory of the war. The timing was as desperate as it was brilliant. Just when American morale was at its lowest ebb, Washington motivated the new American nation to carry on. (Mailing this one out to our subscribers in a few weeks!)

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14/11/2025

Battle of the Month! Vicksburg (4 Nov., 1862- 4 July, 1863)
1863 was a pivotal year in the American Civil War. In both theaters, eastern and western, Confederate forces had recently seized the initiative. Northern support for the war ebbed to an all-time low, threatening President Abraham Lincoln’s dream of a unified nation. But everything changed in the summer of 1863 when Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant captured the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg. With his victory, Grant had cut the Confederacy in two and assured Union control of the Mississippi River. This, combined with Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s defeat at Gettysburg, restored Union confidence in the war and helped reelect Lincoln. For the South, however, the loss of Vicksburg was devastating ‒ representing the beginning of the end.

Learn how the tenacious Gen. Grant adapted during the campaign.
Learn how Confederate general Pemberton was deceived and outfoxed by the wily Grant until it was too late to save his situation.

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Battle Digest

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