G Is For Gallipoli Trivia Quiz

The Battle at Gaugamela was fought in 331 BC. After Philippus II of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great had united Greece, Alexander tackled the Greek archenemy - the enormous Persian Empire. First he marched along the Mediterranean coasts of Asia and Egypt, to make sure the Persians could not use their fleet any more.

Then his army marched towards Babylon via the northern route (close to the shores, so the Greek merchant ships could adequately supply Alexander's army).
Near Gaugamela (probably somewhere in the north of present-day Iraq) the Greek army confronted the larger Persian army. A surprise tactic won the battle, and Darius, the Emperor of the Persians, fled the battlefield - only to be murdered a few days later by one of his satraps (governors).

In 52 BC, the Gaul tribe the Arverni (lead by Vercingetorix) fought Caesar's Roman legions near Gergovia - nowadays a small village on a hill near Clermont-Ferrand, but at that time a fortified town.

The Roman legions were exhausted from previous fights, and their auxiliaries were not entirely trustworthy. So Caesar tried to lay siege before the town of Gergovia, while cutting one of the vital supply lines for the Gauls. But then the Roman allies seemed to defect, and Caesar had first to subdue the potential mutiny. Meanwhile his principal legions were outnumbered by the Arverni.

When Caesar finally returned, he tried to lure Vercingetorix out of town, but serious failure to communicate led to a false tactic: the Romans tried to storm Gergovia, but failed miserably. Caesar would later in the same year take revenge on Vercingetorix near Alesia.

The Burgundian Wars (1474-1477) pitted Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, against the Old Swiss Confederacy - a number of Swiss cantons officially belonging to the Holy Roman Empire of Germany (but striving to achieve independence).

In 1476 the Burgundian army laid siege to the town of Grandson, and forced the garrison to surrender - after which Charles ordered the killing of all the garrison. Meanwhile the Swiss army approached, and after an initial skirmish with the Swiss scouts, the Burgundians fled for the main Swiss army that came rushing in. Although both sides had only minimal casualties, Charles lost a lot of valuable possessions and provisions.

A few months later, Charles would be defeated once again by the Swiss at Morat (Mürten), and he was finally killed in the battle of Nancy in January 1477.

Spain and France were at war between 1557 and 1559. Spanish possessions also included the Low Countries, so France was virtually all surrounded by the Spanish enemy. When a French army marched towards Dunkirk in 1558, the Spanish sent an almost equally large army to intercept the French.

The armies met at a location that was not suited for the French - they were hampered by their baggage train blocking the only way to retreat. And what was even worse for the French: the English Navy sided with the Spanish and bombed the French army from the shallow waters near Gravelines. Almost the entire French army was killed, seriously wounded or captured.

Soon after the Battle at Gravelines the French King Henry II had to end the hostilities and sign an unfavourable peace treaty.

The English Civil War spanned from 1642 to 1651 and revolved mostly about the distribution of power between the King and the parliament. In October 1642 the Royalist forces were confined in the south-western part of England (Cornwall, Wales, Oxford...). They planned an outbreak via Gloucester, where they laid siege in August 1643.

Trying to break down the city walls by cannon fire failed, for the guns were not powerful enough. Thus the Royalist forces started an attempt to undermine the city walls. But when the miners could almost start their devastating work under the city walls, reinforcements of the Parliamentary Army routed the Royalists.

The English Civil War ended with the execution of King Charles I in 1649 and a government formed by the Parliament, although for a while the parliamentary government was in fact a dictatorship by Oliver Cromwell.

In the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688, the (Roman Catholic) deposed king James II (James VII in Scotland) tried to get rid of the (Protestant and Anglican) royal couple William and Mary. James' army was defeated in Ireland near the River Boyne in 1690, and James chose to remain in exile in France.

But the unrest caused by this revolution was not over yet. The English government was willing to grant amnesty to all Scottish clansmen who took an oath of allegiance to William and Mary before January 1, 1692, whilst secretly hoping the clans of Glenco MacDonald, Keppoch MacDonald and Cameron would not obey. Indeed: some of William and Mary's senior advisors (including Secretary of State Lord Stair) wanted to set an example to underline the importance of taking the oath.

Lord Stair sent express orders to Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton to kill all the Glencoe MacDonalds (except those older than seventy) at precisely 5 AM on February 13, 1692. Hamilton indeed invaded the glen of Glencoe with some 400 troops, against about 50 MacDonalds. Reports vary, but probably 30 clansmen were killed.

Later a committee was formed to investigate whether this order was an illegitimate one (or that Hamilton's troops had used excessive force). Lord Stair was fired as a result of the findings of this committee.

In 1861 the American Civil War started. Southern states seceded from the Union, mostly because of the plans to emancipate all slaves. They also wanted to obtain that the individual states would hold the most political responsibility, and only a minimum of political powers would be transferred to the national level.

The Battle at Gettysburg (1863, July 1 - July 3) was the bloodiest confrontation between northern and southern armies. It is considered a turning point of the Civil War, as henceforth the Confederacy (the southern states) were turned into the defensive and had no more hope of gaining independence from the Union (northern states).

The southern army attacked the northern army near Gettysburg several times, but the number of casualties did increase by the hour. Some sources make estimations of about 23,000 casualties in the Union army, and an almost identical number in the Confederacy army.

The First World War started in 1914 when Austria declared war on Serbia. In 1914 Germany and the Ottoman Empire (and in 1915 Bulgaria) joined forces with Austria. Meanwhile Russia, France and the UK as well as Japan supported Serbia, and in 1915 Italy joined the Russo - French - English - Japanese alliance.

The British navy (at that time commanded by Winston Churchill, first Lord of the Admiralty) wanted to take on the Ottoman empire as first, before attacking the German and Austrian forces. So the first plan was to sail via the Dardanelles towards the Ottoman capital Istanbul and then bomb the city intensely. This first plan failed because of the very dense minefields in the Dardanelles and Ottoman mobile artillery on both sides.

So the Allied Forces chose to invade the Gallipoli peninsula (north of the Dardanelles). Landing commenced on April 25, with Australian and New Zealand forces landing about halfway and French and English troops at the tip of the peninsula.

Alas, the Ottoman strength was much underestimated, and the hilly terrain helped the local defence. All in all, the Gallipoli campaign was a large failure, ending with evacuation of the allied troops in December 1915 - January 1916.

During 1936-1939, a Civil War divided Spain. The Republicans (left wing, with foreign volunteers including especially British and Russians) opposed the Nationalists : a conglomeration of fascists, monarchists, conservatives and military, Italian fascists, and German Nazi units.

A part of the Spanish army, led by General Francisco Franco, launched a coup against the Republicans in 1936, thus starting the war. The Nationalists started out mainly in the northwestern part of the mainland (Galicia, Castile and Leon), but not in the Basque Country.

When in 1937 the Nationalists tried to conquer the Basque country, they prepared the ground invasion with an air raid on Guernica. 21 German and 3 Italian bomber planes set out to flatten especially the bridges and supply roads, but the Germans did also hit almost every building in the town itself - except two of the three arms factories.

Soon after the bombardment, foreign correspondents reported over 1,700 casualties - a number that was largely exaggerated. Historical research showed there were probably about 300 casualties, but most of these were indeed civilians.

The Second World War started officially in 1939 (European theatre) and 1941 (Pacific theatre), although Japan was already at war with China since 1937. In December 1941 Japan organized a synchronous raid on Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, while also bombing the American navy at Hawaii.

The American military then joined the Allied forces (mainly UK and USSR) and concentrated on the European theatre, while preparing offensives against Japan via the islands above Australia. Guadalcanal was a strategic island in the attack plan of the Americans: from there they would threaten New Guinea, and so proceed towards the Philippines.

In August 1942 American troops landed on Guadalcanal. For the next half year, several confrontations between Japanese and American forces focused on the military airfield in construction at Guadalcanal - later named Henderson Airfield.