To engage in battle with one's back to the river
Describes a make-or-break situation where retreat is not possible
Neutral
Fight to the death
Fight to the end
None
韩信 was the general of the warlord 刘邦 (Liú Bāng), would later go on to found the Hàn Dynasty (汉, 206 BC - 220 AD)
《史记》(Shǐ Jì), or the famous work "Records of the Grand Historian" by 司马迁 (Sī Mǎ Qiān).
In the year 204 BC, the general 韩信 (Hán Xìn) took troops across the Yellow River in order to attack the kingdom of Zhào (赵). In order to reach their destination, however, 韩信 and his troops needed to pass through an extremely narrow mountain pass. The king of 赵 and his general, 陈余 (Chén Yú), realized this, and so they positioned their 200,000 troops to meet 韩信's forces at that pass head-on.
After 韩信 learned of this, he was delighted, and it wasn't long before he came up with a two-pronged plan: part of his army would hide by the 赵 camp, while the rest of the army would engage with 赵 troops. After fighting for a while, 韩信's troops would pretend to lose and retreat to a nearby river, then turn around and fight with their backs to that river. When the 赵 saw that 韩信's troops were "trapped" by the river and "about to lose", the 赵 soldiers that had remained in their camp would almost certainly emerge to finish them off. At that point, the 韩信 troops that had been lying in wait were to take advantage of the newfound desolation of the camp and replace their enemy's banners with their own.
When the day of battle came, 韩信's army executed his plan flawlessly. The warriors that had been backed up to the river fought ferociously, and the 赵 were so overwhelmed that they attempted to flee back to their camp. However, when they arrived, they were greeted by the sight of enemy flags atop their walls. The apparent loss of their camp made them panic, and they immediately fled in all directions. 韩信 thus managed a resounding victory, and the king of 赵 was captured and his general killed in battle.
Later, officers asked 韩信 how he had emerged victorious even though he'd gone against the military advice laid out in the "Art of War," which explicitly said to never engage in battle with your backs to the river. 韩信 replied, "My strategy was in the 'Art of War' as well! If you deliberately place troops in situations where they face death, they'll have no choice to fight as hard as possible in order to survive."