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- We've all dreamt of beating the odds
and winning it big, and the stories on this list
make the high rollers table in Vegas
look like a high school poker night.
It's the seven most insane gambles
that actually paid off.
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In 490 BC, the Persians
were the greatest empire the world had ever seen.
It stretched from the Balkans in Eastern Europe
all the way to the Indus Valley
in modern-day Pakistan and Northern India.
They had conquered multiple kingdoms
when they turned their attention
to the Greek city states.
The Athenians were nearly alone
in resisting the Persians,
many of their allies too intimidated
by the powerful invaders.
The Athenians stood against an army
more than three times their size
at the Battle of Marathon.
King Miltiades knew they were no match
in a straight-up battle, so he threw some curveballs.
First, he attacked at dawn,
his infantry sprinting across the mile-wide divide
between the two armies.
This confused the Persians.
Why a suicide mission to begin a battle?
Miltiades' second and greatest gamble
was weakening his forces in the center
and strengthening the wings, hoping the Persians
would overextend themselves in the middle.
The gamble paid off.
The Persians were collapsed by the Athenian flanks
and forced to retreat.
The battle is immortalized by the soldier
who sprinted the 26 miles
to bring news of the victory to Athens,
originating the modern-day marathon.
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The Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE
should be called "The Thrilla in Gaugamela,"
because just like in the famous boxing rivalry
between Ali and Frazier,
this was the third time Alexander the Great
and Darius, King of the Persians,
would face each other in battle
for the heavyweight belt of ruling Asia.
The gamble was Alexander's.
He went all-in
with an inferior hand of a much smaller army
and a battlefield that favored
Darius' chariots and war elephants.
However, he had the upper hand when it came to strategy.
He personally led a risky maneuver with his cavalry.
He advanced toward the Persian flank at a wide-angle,
drawing the larger opposing cavalry
away from their infantry in the middle.
This created a large gap.
So when Alexander abruptly changed course
and charged into it,
they became a galloping wedge of destruction
that sent shocked Persians scattering
and caused Darius himself to flee the battlefield.
In short, Darius folded, and Alexander took the pot.
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Great gambles aren't exclusively for underdogs.
As we've already learned,
those who reach the mountaintop
have often taken the greatest risks.
This was the case with Julius Caesar in 52 BCE.
The previously conquered Gallic tribes
had united to revolt against Rome,
and their army gathered
at the heavily fortified town of Alesia,
in the modern-day Burgundy region of France.
Caesar knew a direct attack would fail,
so he laid siege on the town,
gambling that the much larger Gallic army
of 80,000 men plus the townspeople
would quickly starve.
He encircled the town in 11 miles of 12-foot walls,
trenches, and booby traps.
When Gallic reinforcements came,
he built 13 miles of barriers to keep them out.
They fought off several attacks for a month
until the starving Gauls realized
they couldn't break through the defenses
and surrendered.
The revolt subdued,
and Caesar's risky gamble paid off.
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A wise man once said,
"Sometimes you gotta go back to move forward."
Julius Caesar proved this theory
with the greatest gamble of his life,
crossing the Rubicon River.
In 50 BCE, Caesar was a Roman consul
and had been leading his legions
throughout Gaul, modern-day France,
for five years,
conquering huge amounts of land and people.
However, he did all of this
without the support of the Senate back in Rome.
He was ordered to disband his army and return to Rome,
where he would be put on trial for treason and war crimes
due to his unsanctioned invasions.
He had a choice to make:
follow the order, which was essentially suicide,
or return to Rome with his army,
which would set off a civil war.
He knew his legend was popular with the Roman citizens
and was confident his loyal soldiers
could defeat the opposition.
So on January 10, 49 BCE,
he crossed the Rubicon River in Northern Italy,
declaring war on the Roman Republic.
He was ultimately victorious
and became Rome's first dictator,
forever transforming Rome from a republic to an empire.
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For a coalition of European countries in 1704,
their gamble wasn't just "go big or go home."
It was "go big or get steamrolled by the French."
The French seemed invincible on the battlefield
and were threatening to capture Vienna
to control all of Europe.
England, Holland, and Prussia formed the Grand Alliance
with some smaller German states,
determined to not let this happen.
The Duke of Marlborough knew the situation was dire.
He marched his army 250 miles across Europe,
deceiving allies and enemies about his destination
in order to take the French by surprise.
He succeeded, winning the Battle of Blenheim.
The victory saved Vienna from French control
and removed Bavaria from the war.
The Duke of Marlborough's descendant,
Winston Churchill, settled the victory.
It changed the political axis of the world.
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Poker players will be the first to tell you
that gambling isn't just blind luck;
sometimes you gotta bluff.
That is how a crazy idea
like Operation Mincemeat in World War II
became a turning point in the war.
In 1943, Germany and the Axis Powers
controlled great stretches of Europe.
In a huge gamble,
two British intelligence officers
took the body of a deceased homeless man
and spent months creating an elaborate backstory for him
as an officer in the British Royal Marines.
The British Navy then dumped the body
of Major William Martin
off the Coast of Spain with a briefcase
full of fake military documents
chained to his wrist.
Spain was riddled with Nazi spies who discovered it,
and, as was communicated to Winston Churchill,
Mincemeat was swallowed rod, line, and sinker.
Hitler himself saw photos of the documents
and ordered 90,000 troops to be moved to Greece.
The plan had worked,
and the allies invaded the Italian Island of Sicily
with minimal casualties, turning the fate of the war.
If Operation Mincemeat sounds like it's out of a movie,
you're not far off.
The idea came, in part,
from British Lieutenant Commander Ian Fleming,
who would go on to write the James Bond novels.
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Margaret Thatcher's moniker, The Iron Lady,
was getting pretty rusty
only three years into her first term
as Britain's first female prime minister.
Citizens didn't like her domestic policies,
and the country was in a general decline.
She faced being voted out early.
Then, in April 1982, Argentina
invaded the British-controlled Falkland Islands,
claiming the islands as their territory.
Members of her cabinet
were against reclaiming control.
British allies refused to get involved,
and the country's navy wasn't well equipped
to enter a war 8,000 miles away
off the southern tip of South America.
But Thatcher was determined to free the island's
1,800 inhabitants from the invaders.
The Royal Military won a decisive victory
in just 74 days.
Back in England, everyone was thrilled
and felt a renewed sense of pride in the country.
Thatcher would become the longest-tenured PM
of the 20th century.
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So many heart-pounding risks,
so little time.
These stories of incredible gambles
leave us inspired and sweating through our shirts.
Think we missed any insane gambles?
Let us know in the comments below.
Until next time, good luck.
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