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I am trying to think of battles in the pre-modern era that had gone on for more than a day and the only example I can come up with is the Battle of Yarmouk which took a week to run its course if I'm not mistaken. What are some of the other multi-day battlefield engagements prior to the 19th century?
Gettysburg in the American Civil War is the obvious example - 3 days.
I take it this eliminates sieges, which often last months with two fixed armies facing each other.
Gettysburg in the American Civil War is the obvious example - 3 days.
I take it this eliminates sieges, which often last months with two fixed armies facing each other.
Yes I don't want to count sieges - only instances where both armies fight, go back to camp to sleep (or not), and then fight again for another day.
I know that battles got longer starting in the 19th century when the armies got bigger and modern transportation made resupply easier. There are also examples from the Napoleonic Wars. I am mostly interested in pre-modern engagements.
There were sieges that lasted weeks, months or even years. Examples of these include; Alexander siege of Tyre in 332 BC which lasted several months or the siege of Gibralter which lasted from July 1779 - February 1783.
Also, there were "Battles" that were really campaigns, like the Battle of the Bulge.
There are also accounts of battles involving calvary, such as the Mongols, which lasted days, as one side pursued the other, fighting and skirmishing until one side got away or was defeated.
The Battle of Carthage in the 3rd Punic War was a 2 year plus event.
A lot of the siege type battles in antiquity and the pre-gun powder age could last extended periods, as there was a limited ability to knock down city walls.
From the responses I think there is still a difficult time defining what is a battle vs. what is a siege vs. what is a campaign. Pre-modern battles were generally short affairs because of the physical nature of the combat and the lack of easy logistics support and of course the lack of the mechanisms of war. Ancient battles didn't even use the concept of reserves until I think it was the time of the Roman Empire. Even the battles quoted as taking days were really groups of skirmishes with armies ceasing combat at night, and resuming the next day.
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