Lost cause
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lost causes are causes that cannot forseeably be won, but are pursued nonetheless. Though defeat is certain, those fighting for their cause will do so out of a sense of duty or compunction. Ethics and religion often play a role in self-sacrifice.
[edit] Historical lost causes
- The Lost Cause of the Confederacy (and the Confederate cause itself during the American Civil War) is a movement that attempted to reconcile the Confederate States of America's loss of the Civil War. The Southern United States was devastated both physically and psychologically by its defeat in 1865.
- The Battle of the Alamo is a 19th Century battle between the Republic of Mexico and the rebel Texan forces during the Texas Revolution. It took place at the Alamo mission in San Antonio, Texas (then known as "San Antonio de Béxar") in February and March of 1836. The 13-day siege ended on March 6 with the capture of the mission and the death of nearly all the Texan defenders, except for a few slaves, women and children. The siege allowed the Texans to build a new government and to draft a constitution.
- Missionaries have risked their lives, often unsuccessfully, in which case they became martyrs, in efforts to convert those of other faiths, ignoring the great personal risk to themselves and a low success rate, for their cause.
- The siege of Masada took place in 73 CE, one of the last battles in the Great Jewish Revolt, between the site's Jewish defenders and besieging Roman troops, during which almost all surviving defenders committed mass suicide, rather than submit to Roman rule, when defeat was certain.
