From naval invasions to raiding parties and gruelling sieges, the world’s coastlines have hosted some of the fiercest and most significant battlefields in military history
10 September 490 BCE
01 BAT TLE OF MARATHON
A fleet of 600 triremes brings the Persian army, numbering 26,000, into a bay near Marathon. Despite landing a giant force on Athenian soil, the Persians become trapped on the Plain of Marathon and are slaughtered in their thousands.
1218-19
02 SIEGE OF DAMIETTA
During the Fifth Crusade, a force sails into the mouth of the Nile. The shipborne Crusaders build a siege tower by lashing two ships together, allowing a defensive river tower to be captured. Meanwhile, ground troops land and begin a siege. After eight months, the Egyptian forces retreat and the Crusaders land on Damietta’s river bank without resistance.
8 June – 22 August 1281
03 BAT TLE OF KOAN
During the Mongol invasions of Japan, at the Battle of Koan, 900 Yuan dynasty ships attempt to land at Hakata Bay but are denied a beachhead. The fleet is then forced into retreat by samurai boarding parties attacking from small boats during the night.
1583
04 TERCEIRA LANDING
During the War of the Portuguese Succession (1580-83), Terceira in the Azores remains out of Spanish hands. The Spaniards launch a successful amphibious operation using 98 ships and smaller vessels converted to unload horses and artillery directly onto the beaches. Cannons fixed onto rowing boats provide covering fire.
Triumph at the Terceira landing helped Philip II of Spain gain the Portuguese crown
4-18 May 1589
05 SIEGE OF CORUÑA
During an attack on the Spanish port city Coruña, the English fleet lands 8,000 soldiers on Santa María de Oza beach. An elite unit of Spanish arquebusiers meets them, spread wide to give the impression of a large number. With mounting losses, the English troops flee back to their ships, before launching a counterattack upon realising the low number of defenders.
13 March – 20 May 1741
06 BATTLE OF CARTAGENA DE INDIAS
During the War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739-48) in the Caribbean Sea, the Royal Navy attempts to take Cartagena. The British fleet sails into the Boca Chica Channel while the Spanish withdraw into the city and its forts. Landing at night, British forces assault Fort San Lazaro but strong musket fire forces a retreat.
8 June – 26 July 1758
