FIFE 



2167 



FIFTEEN, DECISIVE BATTLES 



of Ardres, celebrated for the meeting in 1502 

 of Henry VIII of England and Francis I of 

 France and their retinues. The conference, 

 which was planned by Cardinal Wolsey to give 

 the two monarchs an opportunity to discuss 

 an alliance against Charles V of Spain, was 

 remarkable chiefly as a magnificent historic 

 pageant, with unimportant political results. 



FIFE, a six-holed wind instrument resem- 

 bling the flute and piccolo, but differing from 

 the latter in that it has no keys. Its compass 

 is two octaves, and it is pitched in various keys. 

 Its clear, shrill sound is produced by blowing 



A FIFE 



into a hole near the closed end of the tube. 

 The fife is of ancient origin, and has always 

 held its place with the drum as an appropriate 

 instrument for military music. One of the 

 most inspiring paintings is The Spirit of '76, 

 picturing a grandfather, son and grandson, 

 playing on snare drums and a fife, leading the 

 tattered American Continentals in battle. 



FIFTEEN DECISIVE BATTLES. Of all 

 the many great battles in the history of the 

 world, there had been, down to the year 1850, 

 in the opinion of Sir Edward Creasy, fifteen 

 which actually changed the course of history. 

 In his Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World, 

 published in 1851, he described these and 

 pointed out the special significance of each. 

 They are the following: 



(1) Marathon (490 B. c.). In this battle the 

 Greeks, with Mlltiades as their chief leader, 

 defeated the hosts of Darius I, the Persian king. 

 These Asiatic hordes had been regarded as un- 

 conquerable, but this battle proved the superior 

 ability of the Western armies and turned back 

 the tide of Asiatic civilization which had been 

 creeping steadily westward. See MARATHON. 



(2) Syracuse (413 B. c.). The expedition of 

 the Athenians in Sicily ended most disastrously, 

 and the extension of Greek rule to the westward 

 was checked. Because of this Athens lost its 

 dominant position in Greece, and the way was 

 prepared for the successive dominations of 

 Sparta, Macedonia and Rome. 



(3) Arbela (331 B.C.). Alexander the Great 

 defeated Darius III of Persia, and made it clear 

 that European ' and not Asiatic civilization was 

 to control the future. See ALEXANDER THE 

 GREAT. 



(4) Metannis (207 B. c. ). Hasdrubal, brother 

 of Hannibal, the Carthaginian foe of Rome, had 

 collected a large army which he was leading to 

 the help of his brother. At the Metaurus River 

 he was defeated and his army was destroyed 

 by the Romans, and Hannibal's withdrawal and 

 the overthrow of Carthage followed. See PUNIC 

 WARS. 



(5) Teutoburgr Forest (A. D. 9). Here Ar- 

 minius, a German chieftain, defeated and practi- 

 cally destroyed a Roman army under Varus, 

 thus making impossible the subjugation of Ger- 

 many by the Romans. 



(6) Clinton* (451). The Huns under Attila 

 were sweeping over Southern Europe, blotting 

 out the civilization of centuries, but at Chalons 

 they were routed by the Romans and Visigoths, 

 and a large part of the continent was saved 

 from devastation at their hands. 



(7) Tour* (732). Here Charles Martel (the 

 "Hammer") defeated the Saracens and turned 

 back the tide of Mohammedan invasion which 

 was threatening to sweep over Europe as it had 

 swept over Western Asia and Northern Africa. 

 But for this battle Christianity in Europe might 

 have been blotted out. 



(8) Baiting* (1066). This was the battle 

 from which so much in English social, political 

 and literary life dates the battle in which Wil- 

 liam the Conqueror overthrew Harold. From 

 this time on the Normans and not the Saxons 

 were dominant in England until the two peoples 

 merged into one. 



(9) Orleans (1429). France was in a posi- 

 tion where one more defeat would have subjected 

 it entirely to England, but Joan of Arc com- 

 pelled the English to raise the siege of Orleans 

 and so made possible the coronation of the 

 French king and the gradual wresting of France 

 from the grasp of England. See JOAN OF ARC. 



(10) The Spanish Armada (1588). This huge 

 fleet had as its object the invasion of England 

 and the restoration of Catholicism there. Its 

 defeat saved England and its colonies to the 

 Protestant faith. See ARMADA. 



(11) Blenheim (1704). In his poem on the 

 Battle of Blenheim, Southey writes : 



"But what good came- of it at last?" 

 Quoth little Peterkin. 

 "Why, that I cannot tell," said he ; 

 "But 't was a famous victory." 



But Creasy gives clearly enough the significance 

 of this battle; it checked the ambitious schemes 

 of Louis XIV of France, and saved Europe from 

 the possible domination of that country. 



(12) Pul town (1709). By his defeat of 

 Charles XII of Sweden in this battle, Peter 

 the Great not only made clear the fact that 

 it was Russia and not Sweden that was to con- 

 trol the destinies of Northern Europe, but estab- 

 lished the Russian Empire more firmly and 

 opened it up to the influences of European civil- 

 ization. 



(13) Saratoga (1777). Here the American 

 colonists, under Gates, defeated the British under 

 Burgoyne. Perhaps the most important result of 

 the victory was the determination of France to 

 aid the Americans an event which proved practi- 

 cally the turning-point in the Revolutionary War. 

 See REVOLUTIONARY WAR IN AMERICA. 



(14) Valmy (1792). Had the French been 

 defeated In this battle by the allied Prussians 

 and Austrians, the French Revolution would 

 probably have died out, but this early victory 

 encouraged the revolutionists and they persisted 

 until their demands were granted. See FRENCH 

 REVOLUTION. 



