May 26 in Military History — On This Day

The Siege of Tenochtitlan

Cortés returned with a coalition army of perhaps 80,000 indigenous allies and thirteen brigantines, built in Tlaxcala and carried overland in pieces to be launched on the lake. The brigantines swept away the canoe fleet and cut the causeways; the city, already gutted by smallpox, was starved and then taken street by street, with the Spanish demolishing every building as they advanced to deny cover. After 93 days Cuauhtémoc was captured trying to escape by canoe.

The end of the Aztec empire and one of the deadliest sieges in human history — perhaps 100,000 or more died of hunger, disease, and fighting. Tenochtitlan, one of the largest cities on earth, was systematically destroyed and Mexico City built on its rubble. The Spanish won the siege at the head of an indigenous army; the war that ended the Aztec empire was fought largely by other Mexicans.

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Battle of Tacna (Alto de la Alianza)

On the plateau above Tacna, Baquedano's Chilean army made a costly frontal assault on the entrenched combined Peruvian-Bolivian force and broke it decisively in the war's largest land battle to that point. The allied army was destroyed as a fighting force.

Tacna shattered the last major allied field army and effectively knocked Bolivia out of the war for good — after this defeat Bolivia never again fielded an army, and the conflict became a war between Chile and Peru alone.

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⚔️📍 Dunkirk, France1940

Operation Dynamo — Dunkirk Evacuation Begins

The British Admiralty began the mass evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk's beaches, assembling 900 vessels ranging from warships to civilian pleasure craft and fishing boats. The operation would last nine days under constant German air attack.

Dunkirk's evacuation saved Britain's professional army and enabled Britain to continue fighting, making it strategically decisive despite being a military retreat.

Outcome

338,226 men rescued; France falls June 22