Free Military Quiz III

Battle of Isandlwana?

 

Good guess, but not the right one.

 

Knight, I DO know about Paul von Letow-Vorbeck, but I don't know why he never crossed my mind...

And the battle you're referring to is Colenso (December 15th 1899).

 

Colenso is another interesting guess, but not the right one.

Hint: It was not one of the very great colony powers of this time that got beaten; the victorious army were not black Africans. And they won not just one battle, but in fact, the ultimate victory and freedom for their country - at least for a few years, until decuman new forces from Europe arrived.

 

Are you referring to the Rift war where the Spanish were almost kicked out of Morocco? The problem of the Riftian leader was that he also messed with France and la Légion!

 

Yes... especially to the Battle of Annual, 22th July 1921, where only 3,000 Rif warriors slaughtered much more than 10,000 Spanish soldiers.

Side note, considering your signature: Spanish General Berenguer commented "Everything is lost, including the honor."

http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/1909/

Over to you.

[ 25. November 2003, 09:39 AM: Message edited by: KnightMove ]

 

Friiiiiieeeeeedrich! It's your turn!

 

OK, OK, don't yell at me!

(Nowadays you can't even enjoy a weekend without the forum guys being jealous...)

OK, here's the question:

The naval battle of Lepanto is well known. The Emperor's fleet, under his son, Don Juan de Austria defeated the Turkish fleet under Alí-Bajá, restoring Spanish rule in the Mediterranean (although a while later, 'Blue Beard' captured Tunisia from the Spanish).

There are two curious things about this battle. The first is that a very well-known writer lost an arm there and the other is that a religious holiday is involved and later was changed because of the battle. Who was the writer and which holiday I'm talking about?

 

Miguel de Cervantes and the Feast of the Rosary.

 

Too easy, I think...

Yes, Knight! It was Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - the master author of Spanish language - who was known as 'El manco - armless - de Lepanto'. And the day of the battle, the catholics celebrated Santa María del Santísimo Rosario - Saint Mary of the Holy Rosary - holiday. Don Juan de Austria told his troops to pray a rosary before the battle. After victory followed against the infidels, the pope changed the holiday and proclaimed the holiday of Santa María de la Victoria - Saint Mary of Victory. (I remember this detail because my grandmother used to take my mother and my aunt to a special mass every year that day because they were named Rosaire and Victoire, respectively).

Over to you, Knight!

 

Ok. In the Battle of Crécy, 1346, an English army defeated the outnumbering French forces mainly because of their longbows. These proved to be far superior to the crossbows on the French side, whose mercennary archers were performing poorly.

Where were these mercennaries from?

 

The mercenaries were from Genoa. And they were not archers in the whole sense of the word, since they used crossbows, which King Philippe VI of France wrongly thought were more effective...

 

Hmmm, I thought the words 'archer' and 'bowman' to be synonyms, and a crossbow is a bow, too... oh well, subtleties of the English language!

Over to you again.

 

The English languages is too inaccurate... but that's a different matter...

Now, in the battle of Churubusco in 1848, a Mexican Army was surrounded and took cover inside a convent. After hours of siege, the Mexicans capitulated. The American commander ordered the Mexican general in command to surrender the ammunition. Who was the Mexican general and what did he respond?

 

The commander was Santa Anna, the reply... hmmm.... "Nueces!"

I keep searching.

 

VERY good one! But !

 

Ok, I have found it: "SI TUVIERA PARQUE NO ESTARÍA USTED AQUÍ". Unfortunately, I don't speak Spanish, and I didn't find any translation, I tried it on my own: "If I had had the park, you were not here!" Hmmmm, something seems to be wrong...

 

VERY GOOD, Knight! Amazing really!

Parque in Spanish means park and ammunition. He said: "If we still had ammunition, you wouldn't be here". Who was the one who said it?

 

Thanks Friedrich, applause feels good.

It was General Pedro Maria Anaya.

 

Over to you, Knight! Wortth the effort!