Open battle
An open battle , also called field battle , is a skirmish in which both sides decide to fight in a certain place and at a certain time. Each party is free to withdraw from the fight before the start of the battle or after the first armed conflict.
Unlike a skirmish , an open battle is not a chance encounter. It is also to be differentiated from confrontations - such as a siege - in which one side is forced to fight at a time that does not correspond to its own choice. For example, the first battle of the English Civil War became an open battle when the royalists decided to leave an embankment and take a less advantageous position, so that the parliamentarians willingly entered the Battle of Edgehill . In contrast, the Battle of Gettysburg began with a skirmish. However, when both generals decided not to move and strengthen their positions, the original skirmish turned into an open field battle.
Quotes and footnotes
- ↑ p. 649 ( Memento of the original dated September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Blackwood's
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary , Second edition 1989. battle, n . 1.b " With various qualifying attributes: ... pitched battle , a battle which has been planned, and of which the ground has been chosen beforehand, by both sides ... "
- Policy of the Protectionists . In: Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine . 71, No. 440, June 1852, pp. 645-68.