10 Legendary Last Stands: From Thermopylae to the Warsaw Ghetto

Key facts

• The Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC involved 300 Spartans led by King Leonidas, along with Thespians and Thebans, holding a narrow pass against a massive Persian army for two days.
• At Gaixia in 202 BC, Xiang Yu and his last 28 loyal horsemen fought to the end rather than surrender to Han forces.
• The Siege of Masada (73-74 AD) ended with nearly 1,000 Jewish zealots choosing suicide over capture by Roman legions.
• On May 6, 1527, 189 Swiss Guards held off 20,000 mutinous troops to allow Pope Clement VII to escape during the Sack of Rome.
• The Siege of Szigetvár in 1566 saw 2,300 defenders hold off 100,000 Ottomans for a month; Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent died during the siege.
• The Alamo in 1836 had roughly 200 defenders killed after a 13-day siege, inspiring the rallying cry 'Remember the Alamo!'
• At the Battle of Camarón on April 30, 1863, 65 French Foreign Legionnaires fought 2,000 Mexican soldiers, with Captain Danjou's wooden prosthetic hand becoming a sacred relic.
• The Battle of Shiroyama on September 24, 1877, ended the samurai era as 500 samurai charged 30,000 modern Imperial troops.
• The Battle of Saragarhi on September 12, 1897, saw 21 Sikh soldiers hold a signaling post against 10,000 tribesmen.
• The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 lasted nearly a month, with Jewish residents fighting Nazi forces before the ghetto was burned down.