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Battle of Grandson 1476 Swiss Burgundian War Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, engaged in 3 unsuccessful attempts against the Swiss, with the 3rd ending in his death.  The first encounter was the Battle of Grandson in 1476.    There had been great tension between Alsace and Burgundy, beginning in 1469 when Charles acquired Alsatian land through the Treaty of St. Omer. The Alsatians, feeling threatened, entered into an alliance...

The Battle of Marathon was one of the earliest recorded battles. This Greek victory over invading Persians gave Greek city-states not only the confidence in their ability to defend themselves, but in the belief of their own existence. Two years earlier an invading army of Persians, after defeating Thrace and Macedonia, had their fleet destroyed by a storm. Now, a second army crossed in an expedition bent on conquering the Aegean Islands. In fall...

In 1565, Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of Turkey and Emperor of the Ottoman Empire, launched a flotilla of 200 Turkish ships carrying 40,000 fighting men with the intention of further domination of the Mediterranean Sea. In May of that year they laid siege to the small, vitally strategic island of Malta. The Christians consisted knights, local peasant soldiers and a few thousand Maltese soldiers. Jean de Valette was in command of the defense,...