Three battles fell on or around 19 October. By the traditional date, 19 October 202 BC, Scipio broke Hannibal's army at Zama, in a battle decided by panicking elephants and returning cavalry, and Carthage lost the Second Punic War. In October 1595 Jan Zamoyski's small Polish army held a fortified camp at Cecora against the Crimean khan and won Moldavia for its own candidate at the negotiating table. On 19 October 1914 the First Battle of Ypres began: five weeks of fighting that nearly broke the British line at Gheluvelt, buried the war of movement in Flanders and left Ypres in Allied hands.
The Battle of Zama, 202 BC: Hannibal's downfall
19 October 202 BC (traditional date) · 2227 years ago
Rome under Scipio, later called Africanus, won a decisive victory at Zama in 202 BC, defeating Hannibal himself in North Africa and ending the Second Punic War. Carthage had to accept a harsh peace and a heavy war indemnity.
Read the full story of The Battle of Zama, 202 BC: Hannibal's downfall ›Battle of Cecora, 1595: Zamoyski's camp on the Prut
19 October 1595 · 431 years ago
In Moldavia, Jan Zamoyski's Polish army defended a fortified camp on the Prut at Cecora against Tatar and Ottoman forces. The fighting ended in an agreement that accepted Ieremia Movilă, backed by Poland, as hospodar of Moldavia.
Read the full story of Battle of Cecora, 1595: Zamoyski's camp on the Prut ›First Ypres, 1914: the trenches reach the sea
19 October to 22 November 1914 · 112 years ago
After their retreat from the Marne, the Germans and the Allies each tried to work around the other's open northern flank, reaching ever closer to the Channel. The two sides finally collided in Flanders, and the last gap in the line was at Ypres.
Read the full story of First Ypres, 1914: the trenches reach the sea ›Also on this day
In 1781 the British garrison of Yorktown marched out between the American and French armies and laid down its arms, which effectively decided the American War of Independence. The siege is told on our 28 September page.1
In 1813 the French retreat from Leipzig ended in disaster when the bridge over the Elster was blown up too early, with thousands of French troops still in the city, and Marshal Józef Poniatowski drowned trying to cross the river. The Battle of the Nations is told on our 16 October page.2
