Nov 10: Crusaders Fall at Varna, Continental Marines Born

Host 1 Welcome to This Day in Military History, on this day November 10th we have a mission for you the listener. It is to explore the people the decisions and the consequences of military history.

Host 2 Right and we are here to honor the fallen on all sides you know without ever glorifying war.

Host 1 Exactly. So today for this deep dive we are looking at the anatomy of a military gamble. We are pulling from historical records to see how a 20 year old's impatience doomed an empire and then how well a meeting in a tavern birthed a legendary fighting force.

Host 2 Yeah it is a fascinating contrast. So we begin our deep dive in 1444 AD near the Black Sea coast in present day Bulgaria at the Battle of Varna.

Host 1 Okay setting the scene.

Host 2 Right so we are looking at the 20 year old King Wladyslaw III of Poland and Hungary he had just agreed to the Peace of Seged with the Ottoman Sultan Murad II but um a mere two days later he just broke that treaty to press on with the crusade.

Host 1 Which is I mean breaking a major peace treaty almost before the ink is dry is like a massive reckless casino gamble.

Host 2 Oh absolutely.

Host 1 Tactically it is like a modern commander just abandoning a secure fortified position to blindly chase a decoy. You completely forfeit all your strategic leverage and the crazy thing is the crusaders were actually holding their ground initially right?

Host 2 They were yeah they were holding against a much larger Ottoman force though you know we should note plainly that estimates of both army sizes vary widely in the historical record.

Host 3 Right those ancient numbers are always a bit fuzzy. But I mean was it just sheer youthful arrogance that made the king reject his commander's cautious advice?

Host 2 Pretty much. His seasoned commander, John Hunyadi, advised caution, but Wladyslaw just ignored him. Britannica actually calls what happened next a, quote, rash attempt to capture the sultan.

Host 1 Wait, really?

Host 2 Yeah, the young king personally charged the Ottoman center with his knights.

Host 1 Oh, wow. Which is just a catastrophic misunderstanding of the enemy's mechanics. You do not just charge the Ottoman center.

Host 2 No, you really don't.

Host 1 Because that is where the Sultan's elite guard was positioned. It is essentially throwing heavy cavalry into a meat grinder of disciplined entrenched defenders.

Host 2 Precisely. and you know the elite guard just absorbed the shock threw back the attack and the king was killed the whole crusader army then collapsed and retreated with just incredibly heavy losses

Host 1 it is wild to think that this single ego driven charge basically doomed Constantinople

Host 2 It really did.

Host 1 Like if Varna succeeds the Ottomans might be pushed out of Europe and 1453 AD maybe never happens. We are talking about a complete rewrite of European history based on one teenager's impatience.

Host 2 That is the ultimate consequence here yeah it was the last concerted campaign to drive the Ottomans out of Europe until the 19th century the failure paved the way directly for the fall of Constantinople

Host 1 That perfectly highlights the danger of like purely emotional gamble. But moving from a rash land charge that doomed a crusade, we pivot to a deliberate calculated maritime decision in America that birthed an enduring legacy.

Host 2 Right, which brings us to 1775 AD, meeting in Philadelphia, Congress adopted a resolution drafted by John Adams to raise two battalions of Marines to fight Great Britain.

Host 1 Looking at the text of that resolution It specifically sought, quote, quote, good seamen or those acquainted with maritime affairs. So were they essentially just looking to recruit soldiers who would not get seasick for this new amphibious startup?

Host 2 Basically yeah I mean they needed men who could fight as traditional infantry but who inherently understood how to serve at sea Tun Tavern is actually honored as the birthplace.

Host 3 Oh the famous tavern origin.

Host 2 Exactly. Samuel Nicholas led their first amphibious landing in the Bahamas the very next year in 1776 AD and though they were actually disbanded in 1783 AD they were recreated in 1798.

Host 3 And obviously why it matters today is that Marines worldwide still celebrate November 10th as their birthday.

Host 2 Right exactly.

Host 3 Which is an incredible legacy of structured discipline.

Host 2 It really is. And you know just to quickly touch on two other events on this day that show that same kind of grit in 1917 AD Canadian troops cleared Passchendaele Ridge in Belgium ending a battle where over 4,000 Canadians died and nine earned the Victoria Cross.

Host 3 Just a brutal grind.

Host 2 Yeah and then in 1942 AD Winston Churchill delivered his famous London speech declaring quote but it is perhaps the end of the beginning.

Host 3 I love that quote. It is definitely something for you to mull over as we wrap up. Consider how history really hinges on patience versus rashness. You have a 20 year old king's impatience that reshaped 15th century Europe while an older Churchill understood the grueling patience required for victory.

Host 3 Thanks for tuning in. See you back here tomorrow.