Two Commanders, One Battle Trivia Quiz

Answer: Battle of Gaugamela

The Battle of Gaugamela was fought in 331 BC. It was part of Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia. Alexander ultimately defeated his opponents and the Achemenid Empire was vanquished. Darius himself was assassinated after the battle by one of his satraps, Bessus.

When Alexander discovered the dead body of his opponent, he covered it with his own cloak and ordered Darius to be buried with honors. When Bessus was finally caught and brought before Alexander, he was sentenced to death for betraying his king.

Answer: Battle of Zama

The Battle of Zama was fought in 202 BC. It was the decisive battle of the Second Punic War. The Romans had previously suffered devastating defeats in the hands of Hannibal, at the River Trebia, at Lake Trasimene and at Cannae, but each time they refused to yield. Finally, they managed to defeat Hannibal at Zama.

In 201 BC, one year after the Battle of Zama, the Carthaginians admitted defeat. The Romans made peace with their enemies and their terms were harsh enough to ensure that Carthage would never again challenge Rome's supremacy.

Answer: Battle of Alesia

The Battle of Alesia was fought in 52 BC. It was the decisive battle in Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars. The Gauls, under Vercingetorix, were defeated by Caesar and Vercingetorix laid down his weapons at Caesar's feet. Gaul had been fully subdued by Rome.

However, Caesar's opponents in the Roman Senate, especially Pompey, were afraid of Caesar's increasing popularity and they ordered him to disband his armies before entering Rome. Two years later, Caesar crossed the Rubicon River at the head of his legions and a bitter civil war ensued, with Caesar emerging as the victor and being appointed by the Roman Senate as "dictator perpetuus", in 44 BC.

The only way his enemies could bring him down was assassination.

Answer: Battle of Tours

The Battle of Tours was fought in 732 AD. The battle happened in the course of the Umayyad invasion of Francia (the Kingdom of the Franks). The Franks, led by Charles Martel, effectively stopped the Muslim invasion of Europe. One of the people who much later expressed disappointment with the result of the battle was Adolf Hitler, who believed that if the Arabs had won the Battle of Tours, Europe would have become Muslim. Hitler believed that Islam suited the 'Germanic way of life' better than Christianity.

Answer: Battle of Hastings

The Battleof Hastings was fought in AD 1066. It was the decisive battle of the Norman Invasion of England. William of Normandy prevailed in the battle and his opponent, Harold Godwinson, was killed by a Norman arrow in the eye, as tradition says. On the site of the battle, William later built an abbey, with the high altar of the church marking the place Harold fell.

The battle is depicted in the Bayeaux Tapestry.

Answer: Battle of Agincourt

The Battle of Agincourt was fought in AD 1415. It was part of the Hundred Years' War. It was a tremendous successor the English, since more than 7000 French soldiers were killed and more than 1000 were captured, while the English suffered just over 100 killed and some wounded. The English victory at Agincourt is the subject of the Shakespeare play "Henry V".

Answer: Siege of Yorktown

The Siege of Yorktown took place in AD 1781. It was a decisive battle during the American Revolutionary War. Having secured an alliance with France against their common enemy, Great Britain, George Washington successfully besieged Yorktown. Charles Cornwallis'surrender effectively marked the end of the war and two years later, in 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, with the United States securing their independence from Britain.

Answer: Battle of Austerlitz

The Battle of Austerlitz was fought in AD 1805. It was part of the Napoleonic Wars and, more specifically, the War of the Third Coalition. Napoleon managed to defeat a combined Austro-Russian army and inflicted the Treaty of Pressburg upon the defeated Austria.

In order to weaken Austria, Napoleon forced her to cede lands to his German allies and created the Confederation of Rhine, in order to create a buffer state between France and Prussia.

Answer: Battle of Fredericksburg

The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought in AD 1862. It was part of the American Civil War. After the Battle of Sharpsburg (which the Union called Antietam), US President Abraham Lincoln gave command of the Army of the Potomac to Major General Ambrose Burnside. Burnside, however, blundered into crossing the Rappahannock River at the city of Fredericksburg, in a place where the Confederate army of Northern Virginia could simply entrench at the strong Marye's Heights and unleash their artillery fire at the Northerners.

The battle was a disaster for the US and Burnside was relieved of his command, while Robert E. Lee's string of victories against the North continued to grow.

Answer: Battle of Verdun

The Battle of Verdun was fought in AD 1916 in World War One. The battle turned out to be a bloody stalemate, with enormous casualties being suffered by both sides. Despite the fact that the Germans withdrew, both sides had been clearly shaken. France's manpower was rapidly diminishing, forcing the French to enlist people from their African colonies into their army.

However, this does not mean that things were better for Germany. Neither side won a clear-cut victory at Verdun.