The Hinges of Battle

Erik Durschmied

There is no shortage of stories when it comes to battles. Some were decided by genius but many more by a quirk of fate when that thin balance which separates success from disaster lay in a minor decision or a trivial incident that tipped the scales. The thrust of a spear the blink of an eye a single phrase or a misinterpreted command is all it takes. A moment of courage or cowardice energy or weariness resolution or indecision.

Battles have shaped the course of history and decided the fate of mankind. From a brutal Attila the Hun who went down to defeat on the Catalaunian Fields to an overbearing French artillery colonel at Dien Bien Phu; from the stout walls of Constantinople to a skimpy mealie-bag wall at Rorke's Drift; from the sun of Austerlitz to the snows of Stalingrad it was always an incident that decided the outcome of battle.

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