Battles That Have Two Names | Vintage American Ways

Summary

Newspaper readers are confused by the fact that the same World War I battle may have different names—one given by the French and the other by the Germans, for example.

The author explains that this occurred in previous European wars as well as the American Civil War.

“Whose battle is it?”

Here’s a bit of information you might not know. Did you ever wonder why some of the Civil War battles have two different names? The Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Manassas are the same, and so are Antietam and the Battle of Sharpsburg. The Youth’s Companion offers a good explanation, in the context of the battles of World War I, which had just started in 1914.

“Battles That Have Two Names” The Youth’s Companion October 1, 1914, p. 516

Newspaper readers have noticed that in the dispatches different names are sometimes given to the same battle. For example, the dispatches from France spoke of the Battle of Haelen, whereas the German dispatches called that same engagement the Battle of Diest. That is not unusual; many of the world’s most famous battles have two names.

Thus, the Battle of Waterloo is known by that name only among English-speaking peoples. The French call it the Battle of La Belle alliance. The battle that decided the war between Prussia and Austria in 1866 is known among the Germans as the Battle of Sadowa; but the Austrians call it the Battle of Königgrätz. In the war of 1870, between Germany and France, the great engagement that the Germans call the Battle of Gravelotte is spoken of by the French as the Battle of St. Privat.

The same thing was common in our Civil War. The battle that is known in the North as the Battle of Bull Run would not be recognized by most Southerners under that name. In the South it is invariably called the Battle of Manassas. So the battle that the Federal generals called the Battle of Pittsburg Landing was by the Confederates called the Battle of Shiloh. Antietam is called in the South the Battle of Sharpsburg. The writer, a Southerner, whose father was a Confederate officer, was twenty years old before he ever heard of the Battle of Antietam, although he was familiar with all the details of the Battle of Sharpsburg.

The reason for this is that the opposing armies always name the battle from some prominent geographical landmark, and as they look at the field from different points of view, they naturally settle on different names. Thus, at Waterloo, the battle took its English name from the little village where Wellington made his final headquarters, and whence he sent to England the first dispatch that announced his victory. So in 2866 the headquarters of the Prussian army was near the village of Königgrätz. At Gravelotte, the little village of that name was an important point in the German lines; on the side of the French, the hamlet of St. Privat was the key to their battle formation. As long as they held that, they were invincible; but when the Germans assailed it in the rear and drove them out, the day was lost.

“Battles That Have Two Names” The Youth’s Companion October 1, 1914, p. 516