Toussaint Louverture led an army of slaves to secure Haiti’s independence from Napoleonic France. (He himself died after being captured and imprisoned by Napoleon, but his followers went on to finish the job.)
Whichever Norman soldier shot the arrow that killed Harold the Saxon at Hastings in 1066 turned a losing battle into a winning one and determined English history for all time.
Then there’s single combat–whole Wiki page on it. If you trust ancient sources, some battles and wars were indeed decided by single combat; I don’t know enough to judge whether, say, Livy’s account of the defeat of Alba Longa is considered accurate.
Deaf Smith and a few men destroyed Vince’s Bridge just before the battle of San Jacinto. This kept the Mexican army from being reinforced, and more importantly, it also prevented the Mexicans on the battlefield from escaping. This enabled the Texans to kick major butt and win the battle, and thereby win the war for Texas independence.
The battle of San Jacinto lasted only 20 minutes and is probably the second most important battle in US history. In the long run, the USA eventually wound up gaining the western states that we know today as a result of that battle.
that would seem to be a top contender for the thread. 41 men to take an entire city which is the key to unifying an entire country.
Common misconception.
The carrier Saratoga was on its way with 100+ more planes (51 fighters and the rest dive bombers and torpedo planes)
The 3 remaining carriers would still have their dive bombers and one torpedo squadron left that missed finding the carriers.
The Americans would likely back off and go after the Japanese again once Saratoga joined them.
If that resupply still did not work, the Americans have a much shorter supply line than Japan does in the long term.
Then as mentioned many other times, the US has 24 Essex Fleet carriers under construction or planned and Japan has just 2 in construction.
Then what if Japan tried to use its surface ship advantage ? The US still had quite a few older battleships that it could deploy (but left behind because of their slow speed and being fuel hogs)
How are we defining “war”? Within the context of 800 years of Reconquista, any individual campaign is just a campaign, but if we take each campaign by itself, most of them involved groups that the OP would likely find tiny.
If one believes the story about the first conquest of Valencia, then not only was it conquered by a relatively small group, but the man who led that group (a Rodrígo Díaz de Vivar, called El Cid, “the Lord” in Spanish Arabic) so terrified his enemies that these, having heard he’d died of wounds received in the battle, came back to try and retake the town and fled back as quick as they could when they saw him at the head of his troops. His armored corpse, tied to the saddle by his wife’s orders, but the fleeing army wasn’t waiting for a forensic report. Spain jokingly boasts of having the only king who was king before birth (Alfonso XIII) and the only warrior who won a battle by himself after death.
Pizarro. Were you hungry?
Eh, I don’t know. Riyadh was a dusty little town of 8,000 in 1902 and the Rashidi garrison they surprised and overcame was all of 80 men. It wasn’t a particularly decisive moment or anything. It was just a first step sort of deal.
It was immediately followed by a war on a more conventional scale from 1903-1907. Ibn Saud’s conquest state was assembled piecemeal and not really complete until ~1929.
Probably never happened, and definitely didn’t decide matters.
On the other hand the Saxon archer who took down Harald Hardrada.
Or Jenkins. From the War of Jenkin’s Ear. Without him, no victory.
Rorke’s Drift, maybe. Not one man, but a very small group.
Saragarhi, maybe. They all died, but they saved the nearby forts.
I’ve heard an argument that if Santa Anna hadn’t wasted so many men attacking the Alamo he might have won against Houston later. So that’s a group of about 400 men that may have changed the course of history.
Finnish sniper Simo Hayha caused around .3% of Soviet casulaties in the Winter War by himself, and up to 10% of the casualties in the – quite large – Battle of Kollaa. It is not inconceivable that if he had not existed that the Soviets might have gained slightly more territory than they did.
It’s even better than that – one pilot, Richard Best, is credited with personally scoring the decisive hits on two of the four Japanese carriers sunk during the battle (Akagi and Hiryu). Thus proving that one man, plus a couple of enormous bombs, can change the world!
George Pickett would have probably preferred to be remembered for the Pig War rather than the fateful charge at Gettysburg that carries his name. Yes, it is the same Pickett.
Speaking of a couple of enormous bombs, can we count the crews of Enola Gay and Bockscar? I’m inclined to say no, because if those individuals hadn’t been there, some other crews would have been, on the exact same missions with the same results.
Not sure if this quite fits the spirit of the OP, but here goes:
Battle of Gettysburg: On July 1st, 1863, Union Brigadier General John Buford, vanguard of the Union Army set on intercepting General R. E. Lee’s Confederate Army in Pennsylvania, arrived at the small town of Gettysburg just ahead of the advancing Confederate Army.
General Buford, surveying the land, immediately grasped the valuable tactical significance of the high ground just south of the town, and moved his lead Brigade up on it to take defensive positions, prepared to hold and repulse the Confederates until relieved by Union reinforcements.
Gettysburg may have ended quite differently without General Buford’s keen eye, tactical instincts, decisive action, calm leadership, and his and his men’s resolve in the face of steadily mounting pressure from the Confederate forces pressing his forward position.
Now you may say (with good reason) that a Cavalry Brigade (later the entire 1st Cavalry Division) is not a small group, or force; compared to the entirety of the military forces involved at Gettysburg, a single Division is pretty insignificant.
Little Round Top, Battle of Gettysburg: on July 2nd, 1863, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, commanding officer, 20th Maine, in defense of Little Round Top. With dwindling ammunition and mounting casualties, he ordered a bayonet charge against advancing Confederate Infantry, and broke up the Confederate attempts to flank the Union Army’s defenses.
Battle off Samar: on October 25th, 1944, Commander Ernest Evans, U.S. Navy, commanding officer of the Fletcher-class destroyer U.S.S. Johnston, took his ship against an I.J.N. Task Force comprised of 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers; he was soon followed by two more destroyers and four destroyer escorts.
CDR Evans and the U.S.S. Johnston led such a furious defense of Taffy 3 that it (and subsequent attacks from Taffy 3’s air component, ill-equipped with anti-submarine and ground support munitions, instead of anti-ship) broke up the I.J.N. formation, and the I.J.N. TF commander Admiral Takeo Kurita, convinced he was facing a superior force, gave the order to break off and withdraw.
CDR Evans was KIA, and the U.S.S. Johnston sunk; as well, the U.S.N. lost the destroyer U.S.S. Hoel, and the destroyer escort U.S.S. Samuel B. Roberts.
So: three destroyers and four destroyer escorts vs. 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers. While the aircraft of Taffy 3 did most of the damage to their Japanese adversaries, it was the “tin cans” that broke up the cohesion of the I.J.N. TF, sowing confusion, and opening gaps in the AAA fire for the U.S. airplanes to exploit.
Not sure what counts as “small group” for this purpose. But ISIS attacked Mosul with 1,500 men, versus about 60,000 defenders, and captured the city.
In the same day, no less. :eek:
However, they were also his last flights as he developed tuberculosis the and had to retire from flying.