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FORLORN HOPE

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 667 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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FORLORN See also:

HOPE, ANTHONY
HOPE, THOMAS (c. 1770-1831)

HOPE (through Dutch verloren hoop, from Ger. verlorene Haufe=" lost See also:

TROOP (an adaptation of Fr. troupe, O. Fr. trope; cf. Ital. troppa, troppa; Med. Lat. truppus; the origin is doubtful; suggestions have been made that it represents a German conception of Latin turba, crowd, or is an adaptation of Norw. tarp, flock)

troop "; Haufe, " heap," being See also:

EQUIVALENT

equivalent in the 17th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century to " See also:

BODY

body of troops "; the See also:

French equivalent is enfants perdus) , a military See also:

TERM

term (sometimes shortened to " forlorn "), used in the 16th and 17th centuries for a body of troops thrown out in front of the See also:

LINE

line of See also:

BATTLE

battle to engage the hostile line, somewhat after the See also:

FASHION (adapted from Fr. facon, agon, Lat. factio, making, facere, to do or make)

fashion of skirmishers, though they were always solid closed bodies. These troops ran See also:

GREAT

great risks, because they were often trapped between the two lines of battle as the latter closed upon one another, and fired upon or ridden down by their See also:

friends; further, their See also:

MISSION

mission was to facilitate the attacks of their own See also:

main body by striking the first See also:

BLOW, JOHN (1648-1708)

blow against or See also:

MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assemble, 0. Eng. metals ; cf. Du. moeten, Swed. mota, Goth. gamotjan, &c., derivatives of the Teut. word for a meeting, seen in O. Eng. Wit, moot, an assembly of the people; cf. witanagemot)

meeting the first See also:

SHOCK, or COLLAPSE

shock of the fresh and unshaken enemy. In the following century (18th), when lines of masses were no longer employed, a thin line of skirmishers alone preceded the three-deep line of battle, but the term " forlorn hope " continued to be used for picked bodies of men entrusted with dangerous tasks, and in particular for the storming party at the See also:

ASSAULT (from Lat. ad, to or on, and saltare, to leap)

assault of a fortress. In this last sense " forlorn hope " is often used at the See also:

PRESENT

present See also:

time. The misunderstanding of the word " hope " has led to various applications of " forlorn hope," such as to an enterprise offering little See also:

CHANCE (through the O. Fr. cheance, from the Late Lat. cadentia, things happening, from cadere, to fall out, happen; cf. " case ")

chance of success, or, further still from the See also:

ORIGINAL

original meaning, to the faint or desperate hope of such success.

End of Article: FORLORN HOPE

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