November 15 in Military History — On This Day

The Capture of Cuzco

Pizarro entered Cuzco, the sacred capital at the centre of the Inca world, and installed Manco Inca as a puppet Sapa Inca. The city's temples were stripped — the Coricancha's sheets of gold prised from the walls — and its treasures divided among the conquistadors. Quizquiz withdrew north to fight on; the empire's capital had changed hands in fourteen years from Cortés's landing at Veracruz.

With Cuzco taken, Spain held the two greatest empires of the Americas. But this was a beginning as much as an end: Manco Inca rebelled in 1536 and besieged Cuzco, a neo-Inca state held out at Vilcabamba until 1572, and the conquistadors turned on each other in civil wars that killed Pizarro and Almagro both. Conquest was quick; control was not.

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⚔️📍 York, Pennsylvania1777

Articles of Confederation Adopted by Continental Congress

The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation — America's first national constitution — while the Revolutionary War was still ongoing. The Articles created a weak federal government intentionally, fearing centralized power.

The Articles' weakness in funding and coordinating the war effort eventually led to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the modern U.S. Constitution.

Outcome

America's first constitution; too weak; replaced by Constitution 1789

Battle of Arcola

The three-day Battle of Arcola was one of the most dramatic and personal engagements of Napoleon's Italian campaign. Attempting to relieve the besieged garrison of Mantua, the Austrian army under Alvintzy repeatedly crossed the Adige River seeking a passage around the French position. At the critical moment on the first day, the French assault on the Arcola bridge faltered under Austrian fire — and Napoleon himself seized a flag, rushed forward, and led the attack onto the bridge. He was knocked into the marshy riverbank. His staff dragged him out; two officers died covering his escape. Eventually French forces found an alternate crossing and flanked the Austrian position, winning the battle by maneuver rather than frontal assault.

Arcola crystallized Napoleon's personal military legend. The image of the young general seizing a standard and charging onto a contested bridge became one of the defining images of the Revolutionary Wars — painted by Gros and reproduced across Europe. Militarily, the battle demonstrated Napoleon's tactical flexibility: when a direct assault failed, he found a different solution rather than repeating the same failure.

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Sherman's March to the Sea

Sherman led 60,000 Union soldiers from Atlanta to Savannah, cutting a 60-mile wide swath of destruction through Georgia. Targeting Confederate infrastructure and civilian morale, his army destroyed railroads, supplies, and industrial capacity.

Modern 'total war' in practice. Destroyed the Confederacy's ability to supply its armies. Savannah was captured as a 'Christmas gift' for Lincoln.

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