Sunday, February 9, 2025

5 of the Most Impressive Underdog Stories from History – Don’t Bet Against These Guys!

You may not have found history class exciting in grade school but that is likely because no one pointed out the underdog stories. There are several impressive and amazing underdog stories that everyone needs to know about.

most-impressive-battle-of-muret The Battle of Muret

Surely you learned about the Crusades in school but did anyone tell you about the underdogs who managed to win this battle? Aragonese and heretical Christians gathered together, with their troops numbering over 30,000, to fight against the French. The French had 900 knights and 700 infantry. Led by Simon Montfort, the French waited for the opposition to come through the main gate. When the Aragonese troops came to town the French left, signaling a sign of defeat. However, with the cover of the terrain the French used the advantage that they had and charged the Aragonese. The French were able to kill the opposing force’s king. After that, the Aragonese fell into chaos and the French won the Battle of Muret in 1213.

Australians vs. Vietnamese at Long Tan

In 1966 a total of 108 Australian solders found themselves surrounded by over 2,000 Vietcong. The Vietcong attached the Australian solders in waves, making it challenging for them to determine what to do next. However, the Australian solders were able to keep the Vietcong at bay until Australian backup arrived. In the end, 17 of the Australian solders died and 19 more solders were wounded. On the other hand, hundreds of Vietcong died right on the battlefield.

Swedes vs. Russians at Narvamost-impressive-underdog-stories-swedes

Peter the Great, the Czar of Russia, was intent upon gaining access to the Baltic Sea. At the time the Swedes controlled the Baltic Sea and had no interest in giving the highly profitable sea ports to Russia. As a result, in the year 1700, Peter the Great took his army of 35,000 troops and attacked the Swedes, who only had about 8,000 troops. Peter the Great ordered his troops to surround Narva, the Swedish fortress on the cost. Swedish Emperor Charles found himself with the upper hand when the weather became cold and white. The Swedes were used to such conditions but the Russians weren’t. The Russians tried their best but they were quickly overcome. In the end, the Swedes captured, killed, or wounded the entire Russian army at Narva.

Germans vs. Tennenbergmost-impressive-underdog-stories-germany

In 1914 the Germans attacked France, leaving less than 80,000 troops in Berlin. Everything was fine until Russia attacked Germany with 200,000 soldiers. The Russians approached in two separate units, each of them divided by hundreds of miles. The Germans were able to isolate one of the Russian units and kill or wound the entire unit. Once the first unit had surrendered the odds were much better for the Germans. At that point the Germans were able to attack the second Russian unit. They did well enough that many of the Russians were killed or wounded and the others surrendered.

Klushino

The Polish Commonwealth attacked Russia in the year 1610. Even though Russia had lots of land, the nation was never agreeable to sharing some of its property. Russia had 30,000 troops whereas the Polish Commonwealth had only 5,500. Once Russia realized that they needed to get ready for battle, each army rested, sharpened their swords, and got a good night’s sleep in preparation for battle in the morning. The Russians walked up the battle line and fired their pistols at the Polish. The Polish, however, were much more brutal and didn’t follow the rules. They charged the Russian and used all of the weapons to their disposal. In the end, the Russians surrendered in their own camp.

Bridget Rogers
Bridget Rogers
Bridget Rogers is an independent freelance writer based out of Madison, Wisconsin. Bridget's work can be found on a variety of sources in both online and print media.
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