Battle of Long Island

(noun)

The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn or the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, fought on August 27, 1776, was the first major battle in the American Revolutionary War following the United States Declaration of Independence. It was the largest battle of the entire conflict and the first battle in which an army of the United States engaged, having declared itself a nation only the month before.

Related Terms

Examples of Battle of Long Island in the following topics:

  • Washington's Escape from New York

    • This battle was called the Battle of Trenton.
    • In late August, the British transported about 22,000 men, including 9,000 Hessians, to Long Island.
    • In the Battle of Long Island on August 27, 1776, the British outflanked the American positions, driving the Americans back to the Brooklyn Heights fortifications.
    • The British lost more than one quarter of their force in the battle, and American morale rose with the victory.
    • The British gained control of New York harbor and the surrounding agricultural areas, and held New York City and Long Island until the war ended in 1783.

  • Quebec, New York, and New Jersey

    • In the early stages of the American Revolution, battles over Quebec, New York, and New Jersey played an important role in the war.
    • In December 1775, Montgomery and Arnold's combined forces were defeated at the Battle of Quebec.
    • In the summer of 1776, General William Howe and 30,000 British troops attacked and defeated General George Washington's Continental forces in the Battle of Long Island.
    • Washington skillfully managed a narrow escape, retreating across the East River to Manhattan Island.
    • General George Washington rallying his troops at the Battle of Princeton, by William Ranney, 1848

  • The Guadalcanal Campaign

    • The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and code-named Operation Watchtower, was a military campaign fought between August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theater of World War II.
    • The Allies chose the Solomon Islands (a protectorate of the United Kingdom), specifically the southern Solomon Islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Florida Island, as the first target.
    • Allied concern grew when, in early July 1942, the IJN began constructing a large airfield at Lunga Point on nearby Guadalcanal—from such a base Japanese long-range bombers would threaten the sea lines of communication from the West Coast of the Americas to the populous East Coast of Australia.
    • On August 7, 1942, Allied forces, predominantly American, landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands, with the objective of denying their use by the Japanese to threaten the supply and communication routes between the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand.
    • Three major land battles, seven large naval battles, and continual, almost daily aerial battles culminated in the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November 1942.

  • The Battle of Leyte Gulf

    • The Battle of Leyte Gulf is generally considered the largest naval battle of World War II and possibly the largest naval battle in history.
    • The Battle of Leyte Gulf, also called the Battles for Leyte Gulf, and formerly known as the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea, is generally considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II and, by some criteria, possibly the largest naval battle in history.
    • It was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte, Samar from October 23 - 26, 1944, between combined US and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
    • On October 20, United States troops invaded the island of Leyte as part of a strategy aimed at isolating Japan from the countries it had occupied in South East Asia.
    • The Battle of Leyte Gulf consisted of four separate major engagements between the opposing forces: the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Battle of Cape Engaño, and the Battle of Samar; there were also other lesser actions.

  • Crafts in the Cook Islands

    • The weaving of rito is a specialty of the northern island of Penrhyn.
    • The Islands form one of the five administrative divisions of French Polynesia.
    • These islands share similar artistic traditions of other Pacific Islands, including the art of tattooing.
    • The Marquesas have a long history of complex geometric tattooing, covering the whole bodies of both men and women.
    • Outline the art and history of the peoples of the Cook and Marquesas Islands

  • Rhode Island

    • Williams named the other islands in the Narragansett Bay after virtues: Patience Island, Prudence Island, and Hope Island.
    • The patent covered much of the territory that would eventually make up the state of Rhode Island.
    • The war's largest battle occurred in Rhode Island, when a force of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Plymouth militia invaded and destroyed the fortified Narragansett Indian village in the Great Swamp in southern Rhode Island in 1675.
    • A map of the colony of Rhode Island, with the adjacent parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts Bay.
    • Discuss the founding of the Rhode Island Colony and Providence Plantations

  • Coral Sea and Midway

    • The Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway were strategic triumphs for the Allies and marked the critical point in halting Japanese expansion during World War II.
    • The Battle of the Coral Sea, May 4-8, 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia.
    • The Battle of Midway was a decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
    • The Battle of Midway has often been called "the turning point of the Pacific." 
    • Examine the importance of the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway Island as turning points for the Allies.

  • Nimitz in the Central Pacific

    • As rapidly as ships, men, and material became available, Nimitz shifted to the offensive and defeated the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea (May 4-8, 1942), the pivotal Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942), and in the Solomon Islands Campaign.
    • In the final phases in the war in the Pacific, Nimitz attacked the Mariana Islands, inflicting a decisive defeat on the Japanese fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944; a decisive naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions), and capturing Saipan, Guam, and Tinian.
    • His fleet forces isolated enemy-held bastions of the Central and Eastern Caroline Islands and secured, in quick succession Peleliu, Angaur, and Ulithi.
    • In the Philippines, his ships turned back powerful task forces of the Japanese fleet, a historic victory in the multi-phased Battle for Leyte Gulffrom (October 24-26, 1944, the largest naval battle of World War II).
    • Fleet Admiral Nimitz culminated his long-range strategy by successful amphibious assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

  • The Battle of the Atlantic

    • The name "Battle of the Atlantic" was coined by Winston Churchill in February 1941.
    • As an island nation, the United Kingdom was highly dependent on imported goods.
    • The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the war.
    • For example, the mid-Atlantic gap that had previously been unreachable by aircraft was closed by long-range Consolidated B-24 Liberators.
    • The Battle of the Atlantic was won by the Allies in two months.

  • The Persian Wars

    • After being delayed by Leonidas I, the Spartan king of the Agiad Dynasty, at the Battle of Thermopylae (a battle made famous due to the sheer imbalance of forces, with 300 Spartans facing the entire Persian Army), Xerxes advanced into Attica, where he captured and burned Athens.
    • But the Athenians had evacuated the city by sea, and under the command of Themistocles defeated the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis.
    • Following the Battle of Plataea and the Battle of Mycale, the Persians began withdrawing from Greece and never attempted an invasion again.
    • In the course of doing so, Athens enrolled all the island states and some mainland ones into an alliance called the Delian League, so named because its treasury was kept on the sacred island of Delos, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire, prepare for future invasions, and organize a means of dividing the spoils of war.
    • Historians also speculate that Sparta was unconvinced of the ability of the Delian League to secure long-term security for Asian Greeks.