The Battle of Largs (1263)

Largs is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about 33 miles (53 km) from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" in Scottish Gaelic. A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town markets itself on its historic links with the 

Like the Japanese victories over the Mongol Invasions at roughly the same time (and for many of the same reasons) or the much later Battle of Coral Sea, Scotland achieved the end of 500-hundred years of Norse Viking depredations and invasions despite being tremendously outnumbered without a one-sided military victory in the ensuing battle. That said, the victory in detail caused the complete retreat of Norwegian forces from western Scotland and the realm entered a period of prosperity for almost 40-years.

The tactical decision at Largs thus led to a sweeping strategic victory that ended in Scotland purchasing the Hebrides Islands and the Isle of Mann in the Treaty of Perth, 1266.

Victory was achieved with a crafty three-tiered strategy on the part of the young Scottish king, Alexander III: plodding diplomacy forced the campaign to bad weather months and a ferocious storm ravaged the Norwegian fleet, stripping it of many vessels and supplies which made the forces on the Scottish coast vulnerable to a spoiling attack which forced the Norwegians into a hasty retreat that was to end their 500-years of invasion and leave Scotland to consolidate its resources into building the nation.

The conflict formed part of the Norwegian expedition against Scotland in 1263, in which Haakon Haakonsson, King of Norway attempted to reassert Norwegian sovereignty over the western seaboard of Scotland.