Were battles scheduled? Well, the short answer is, ' they can be, but it depends'. The longer answer is much the same, but hopefully offers more clarity.

There have always been unscheduled battles in warfare; the Battle of Ticinus in the Second Punic War developed from scouting units into a reconnaissance in force, then a pitched battle for instance, but nevertheless, there have always been elements that have served to dictate when a battle may take place, largely via a commander seeking advantage on the field. 'To offer battle', is in effect, to schedule a pitched fight between forces, often on terms of your own choosing, although as I have highlighted, this may be taken out of the commanders' hands as to when battle actually occurs. In the case of the battle of Grunwald, it may be that the Polish commander offered battle, and then when the armies drew up at first light (as was often the case), they sought to force the Teutons, in their heavier armour, to wait out the day, and thus fatigue them, a common tactic for some commanders.

In a broad time frame, battles could be considered 'scheduled' within a certain time frame, dictated by when campaigning was possible and the needs of the army. Large set piece battles required considerable organisation on the part of many commanders throughout history, thus constraining them as to when and where they could be fought.. Warfare in Outremer during the crusading period offers some insight into this - both Muslim and Frankish armies were usually supplemented by levies drafted (or pressed) into service, but these forces could not be retained for long, so there was distinct pressure to conclude a decisive battle or action within the amount of time they could maintain their army in the field; the Battle of Hattin occurred because Guy de Lusignan sought to confront Saladin in the field before his army, the largest Jerusalemite force under arms, had to be disbanded (Saladin similarly was looking for a battle, as he was under the same pressure).

In the shorter term, the precise timing of battles beginning often coincided, either with meeting engagements between sides, or prevailing weather conditions; Operation Overlord was delayed for several days in order to let the tides calm for example, while sometimes generals may seek to exploit deliberately poor weather conditions to effect surprise, the Battle of Narva seeing Carolean troops attacking through a blizzard for example.

In effect, conflicts often see their far share of both scheduled and impromptu battles, as commanders may set in stone their plans for a pitched battle (placing an O-hour or setting an artillery schedule for instance in a modern context), sometimes with the mutual assent of their enemy, or they may seek to exploit changes in prevailing conditions for immediate, and spontaneous actions. As Sun Tzu put it, in 'as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions' - within certain parameters, you could consider a battle 'scheduled', but this can always shift; General Eisenhower was to say on this topic 'plans are worthless, but planning is everything'.

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Ehrenkreutz, Andrew S., Saladin (New York: University of New York Press, 1972)

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Smail, R.C, ‘The Predicaments of Guy of Lusignan, 1183-87’, in Outremer: Studies in the history of the Crusading Kingdom of Jerusalem, ed. by B.Z Kedar, H.E. Mayer and R.C. Smail (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Institute, 1982), pp. 159-176

Ellis, Major L.F. et al, Official History of the Second World War: Victory in the West, vol. 1, (London: HMSO, 1962)

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