ORIGIN
A Brief History of Burn The Boats
209 B.C.
Dating back to 207 B.C., during the Battle of Julu against the Qin Dynasty, Xiang Yu, a fierce warrior from Chu State, who grew tired of his army commander, General Song Yi, waiting for a safe moment to attack. Xiang Yu killed General Song and took over the commanding post. He brought the army across the Yellow River, and ordered his men, just before the big battle, to break all cooking pots and burn all the boats and camp gear.
On January 10, 49 B.C.E., General Julius Caesar entered Roman territory by crossing the Rubicon, a stream in what is now Northern Italy. In crossing the Rubicon, Caesar began a civil war that signaled the end of the Roman Republic.
49 B.C.
711 A.D.
In 711 A.D., Tariq ibn Ziyad, (for whom Gibraltar is named) crossed the Strait from northern Africa, with his army of about 7,000 and embarked on the conquest of Spain. Facing an army of 100,000 upon landing, he saw that his men were nervous about the massive size of the enemy’s troops. Tariq ordered his ships burned, so his troops could not lose heart and flee.
711 A.D.
In 711 A.D., Tariq ibn Ziyad, (for whom Gibraltar is named) crossed the Strait from northern Africa, with his army of about 7,000 and embarked on the conquest of Spain. Facing an army of 100,000 upon landing, he saw that his men were nervous about the massive size of the enemy’s troops. Tariq ordered his ships burned, so his troops could not lose heart and flee.
According to legend, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés issued a rather interesting order to his men as they began their conquest of the Aztec empire in 1519. The order was simple: Burn the boats.
He wanted his men to realize that they had no opportunity to retreat, so they had to give this fight everything they had. Failure was no longer an option and winning this battle just became that much more important.
1519 A.D.
In 711 A.D., Tariq ibn Ziyad, (for whom Gibraltar is named) crossed the Strait from northern Africa, with his army of about 7,000 and embarked on the conquest of Spain. Facing an army of 100,000 upon landing, he saw that his men were nervous about the massive size of the enemy’s troops. Tariq ordered his ships burned, so his troops could not lose heart and flee.
500 B.C.
“When your army has crossed the border, you should burn your boats and bridges, in order to make it clear to everybody that you have no hankering after home.”
