Defeat

Defeat

Appomattox Courthouse

scene of Lee’s surrender to Grant (1865). [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 22]

Armada, Spanish

defeat by English fleet marked Spain’s decline and England’s rise as a world power (1588). [Eur. Hist.: EB, 1: 521–522]

Austerlitz

defeat of Austro-Russian coalition by Napoleon (1805). [Fr. Hist.: Harbottle Battles, 23–24]

Bataan

Philippine peninsula where U.S. troops surrendered to Japanese (1942). [Am. Hist.: NCE, 245]

Battle of the Boyne

sealed Ireland’s fate as England’s vassal state (1690). [Br. Hist.: Harbottle Battles, 39]

Battle of the Bulge

final, futile German WWII offensive (1944–1945). [Eur. Hist.: Hitler, 1148–1153, 1154–1155]

Caudine Forks

mountain pass where Romans were humiliatingly defeated by the Samnites. [Rom. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 186]

Culloden

consolidated English supremacy; broke clan system (1746). [Br. Hist.: Harbottle Battles, 70]

Dien Bien Phu

Vietminh rout of French paved way for partition of Vietnam (1954). [Fr. Hist.: Van Doren, 541]

Gallipoli

poorly conceived and conducted battle ending in British disaster (1915). [Br. Hist.: Fuller, III, 240–261]

Little Bighorn

scene of General Ouster’s “last stand” (1876). [Am. Hist.: Van Doren, 274]

Pearl Harbor

Japan’s surprise attack destroys U.S. fleet (1941). [Am. Hist.: NCE, 2089]

Pyrrhic victory

a too costly victory; “Another such victory and we are lost.” [Rom. Hist.: “Asculum I” in Eggenburger, 30–31]

Salt River

up which losing political parties travel to oblivion. [Am. Slang: LLEI, I: 312]

Sedan

decisive German defeat of French (1870). [Fr. Hist.: Harbottle Battles, 225]

Stalingrad

German army succumbs to massive Soviet pincer movement (1942-1943). [Ger. Hist.: Fuller, III, 531–538]

Waterloo

British victory in Belgium signals end of Napoleon’s domination (1815). [Fr. Hist.: Harbottle Battles, 266]

white flag

a sign of surrender. [Western Folklore: Misc.]