Greatest Last Stands in Military History

Battle of Thermopylae

Leonidas and his 300 Spartans (plus several thousand allied Greeks) held a narrow coastal pass against Xerxes' Persian horde for three days, buying time for the rest of Greece to mobilize. Betrayed by Ephialtes, Leonidas sent most of his army away and stayed to die with his royal

Year: 480 BCApprox. Odds: ~1:30 (7,000 vs 200,000)Defender Survival Rate: 0 %Legendary Status: 10/10

added by IJRin 2 rankings

Battle of the Alamo

About 200 Texian defenders under Travis, Bowie, and Crockett held a crumbling mission against Santa Anna's thousands for thirteen days before the final dawn assault overran the walls. Every combatant died, but 'Remember the Alamo' became the rallying cry that won Texas independen

Year: 1836Approx. Odds: ~1:10 (200 vs 2,000)Defender Survival Rate: 0 %Legendary Status: 9/10

added by IJRBattle of the Alamo

Battle of the Little Bighorn

Lieutenant Colonel George Custer split the 7th Cavalry and rode straight into the largest concentration of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors ever assembled on the Plains. His five companies were surrounded on a bare ridge and annihilated within an hour, an American military

Year: 1876Approx. Odds: ~1:3 (210 vs 1,800+)Defender Survival Rate: 0 %Legendary Status: 9/10

added by IJRBattle of the Little Bighorn

Battle of Rorke's Drift

Just hours after the disaster at Isandlwana, roughly 150 British soldiers fortified a tiny mission station and repelled repeated assaults by 3,000-4,000 Zulu warriors through a brutal all-night fight. Unlike most entries here it ended in victory, earning eleven Victoria Crosses,

Year: 1879Approx. Odds: ~1:25 (150 vs 4,000)Defender Survival Rate: 85 %Legendary Status: —

added by IJRBattle of Rorke's Drift

Battle of Isandlwana

On the same campaign, a Zulu army of 20,000 encircled and overwhelmed a British camp of about 1,800 men in the worst defeat ever inflicted on a modern colonial force by native troops. The redcoats formed firing lines that held admirably before running out of ammunition and being

Year: 1879Approx. Odds: ~1:10 (1,800 vs 20,000)Defender Survival Rate: 5 %Legendary Status: 7/10

added by IJRBattle of Isandlwana

Siege of Masada

Nearly a thousand Jewish rebels and their families held a mountaintop fortress against a Roman legion for months, until the Romans built a massive siege ramp and breached the walls. According to Josephus, rather than face slavery or execution the defenders chose mass suicide, lea

Year: 73-74 ADApprox. Odds: ~1:15 (960 vs 15,000)Defender Survival Rate: 0 %Legendary Status: 8/10

added by IJRSiege of Masada

Battle of Camarón

Sixty-five French Foreign Legionnaires, escorting a supply convoy in Mexico, were cornered in a hacienda by roughly 2,000 Mexican troops and fought from morning until dusk despite crippling losses. When the last handful ran out of ammunition, they fixed bayonets and charged rathe

Year: 1863Approx. Odds: ~1:30 (65 vs 2,000)Defender Survival Rate: 8 %Legendary Status: 7/10

added by IJRBattle of Camarón

Battle of Roncevaux Pass

The rearguard of Charlemagne's army, led by the paladin Roland, was ambushed by Basque forces in a Pyrenees mountain pass and wiped out to the last man. The historical skirmish was modest, but it inspired 'The Song of Roland,' one of the founding epics of medieval European litera

Year: 778 ADApprox. Odds: unclear, rearguard vs larger ambush forceDefender Survival Rate: 0 %Legendary Status: 7/10

added by IJR

Battle of Shiroyama

Saigo Takamori, the 'Last Samurai,' made his final stand with roughly 500 loyal rebels against 30,000 Imperial Japanese troops equipped with modern artillery and rifles. Surrounded on a hill, the samurai launched a doomed final charge with swords against Gatling guns, and Saigo h

Year: 1877Approx. Odds: ~1:60 (500 vs 30,000)Defender Survival Rate: 0 %Legendary Status: 6/10

added by IJRBattle of Shiroyama

Siege of the Alcázar

Nationalist defenders and their families held the fortress of Toledo for over two months against Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War, enduring tunnel mines, starvation, and constant bombardment. Colonel Moscardó famously refused to surrender even when his captured son

Year: 1936Approx. Odds: ~1:6 (1,300 vs 8,000)Defender Survival Rate: 90 %Legendary Status: 6/10

added by IJRSiege of the Alcázar

Battle of Wake Island

A small garrison of U.S. Marines, sailors, and civilian contractors repelled the first Japanese invasion attempt, sinking destroyers with coastal guns before overwhelming numbers finally took the atoll on the second assault. The defenders' defiant signal, reportedly 'send us more

Year: 1941Approx. Odds: ~1:8 (500 vs 4,000)Defender Survival Rate: 70 %Legendary Status: 6/10

added by IJRBattle of Wake Island

Battle of Corregidor

The last organized American and Filipino resistance in the Philippines held out on this fortified island a full month after Bataan fell, enduring relentless bombardment from tunnels beneath Malinta Hill. General Wainwright's surrender ended organized Allied resistance in the isla

Year: 1942Approx. Odds: ~1:3Defender Survival Rate: 60 %Legendary Status: 5/10

added by IJR

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Roughly 750 poorly armed Jewish fighters, mostly teenagers with pistols and Molotov cocktails, held off SS troops with tanks and artillery for nearly a month inside the walls of the ghetto rather than go quietly to Treblinka. The Germans eventually burned the ghetto block by bloc

Year: 1943Approx. Odds: ~1:50 (750 vs thousands)Defender Survival Rate: 5 %Legendary Status: 8/10

added by IJRWarsaw Ghetto Uprising

Battle of Attu

Trapped and starving on a fog-shrouded Aleutian island, roughly 2,900 Japanese defenders launched one of the largest banzai charges of the Pacific War rather than surrender to advancing American troops. Nearly the entire garrison died, with only a couple dozen taken prisoner, mak

Year: 1943Approx. Odds: reversed: ~2,900 Japanese vs 15,000 US troopsDefender Survival Rate: 1 %Legendary Status: 5/10

added by IJRBattle of Attu

Battle of Hastings (Harold's Last Stand)

King Harold Godwinson and his elite huscarls held a shield wall atop Senlac Hill against William the Conqueror's cavalry and archers for most of a brutal day. Feigned Norman retreats eventually broke the wall, and Harold reportedly fell with an arrow to the eye as his personal gu

Year: 1066Approx. Odds: ~roughly even forcesDefender Survival Rate: 0 %Legendary Status: 7/10

added by IJR

Siege of Numantia

For nearly a decade the Celtiberian town of Numantia resisted Roman conquest, finally enduring a total blockade by Scipio Aemilianus that walled the entire town off from the outside world. When starvation made resistance impossible, the survivors reportedly burned the town and ki

Year: 133 BCApprox. Odds: ~1:8 (8,000 vs 60,000 over the siege)Defender Survival Rate: 0 %Legendary Status: 6/10

added by IJRSiege of Numantia