A French fleet of 24 ships under Comte de Grasse defeat British forces under Admiral Thomas Graves and Samuel Hood at the Battle of the Chesapeake [Battle of the Virginia Capes] and trap General Lord Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, 5 September 1781. This crucial battle of the American Revolution proved decisive in the Siege of Yorktown, effectively securing independence for the Thirteen Colonies.
6 September 1522: Ferdinand Magellan's Spanish expedition, now led by Juan Sebastián Elcano, returns to Seville without their captain after a three-year epic voyage, becoming the first to circumnavigate the globe. Pictured above is Magellan's ship Victoria, the only ship in the fleet to complete the circumnavigation. Detail from a map by Abraham Ortelius, 1590.
Germanic leader Arminius attacking and destroying the Roman legions of Varus in September 9 AD at the battle of Teutoburg forest. Arminius' tribe, the Cherusci, and their allies the Marsi, Chatti, Bructeri, Chauci, and Sicambri ambushed and annihilated Varus' entire army totaling over 20,000 men, as it marched along a narrow road through a dense forest. The battle was one of the most devastating defeats Rome suffered in its history. Arminius' success in destroying three entire legions and driving the Romans out of Germany marked a high point of Germanic power for centuries.
🏴 On 11 September 1297, an English army arrived in Stirling, Scotland, to put down the Scots resistance to English rule. The Scots, led by Andrew Moray and William Wallace, allowed around half of the English forces to advance across the narrow bridge over the river Forth. Then William Wallace and the Scots swept forward to achieve a sound victory over a superior force.