The past three centuries of human technological progress have, unfortunately, seen no apparent end to the human zeal for killing countless people in order to change the color of a territory on a map, hog resources, or enact generalized revenge. Every victory is someone else's defeat, and the names of battles that make one country's citizens puff up with pride also make their old enemies' cheeks burn with shame.

Some of the worst defeats and most crushing surrenders in military history have become shorthand for failure, with their names standing etched into the great ledger of human shortfalls. Others are known mostly only to the people of the beaten country, a sore spot in the national psyche that twinges in response to a name that other people may not even be able to pronounce. But one t

See Full Page