I found over 22 lists of the best/most important military battles of all time and combined them into one meta-list. The list below contains the 77 battles or military engagements that were on three or more of the original source lists, organized chronologically. Each listing contains the name(s) of the battle, the date, the location, the war or conflict in which the battle took place, the major combatants, and the result of the battle. I have also begun to write extended descriptions of each battle, but this project is unfinished – I’ll continue to add descriptions as I am able. For the same list of battles organized by rank (that is, with the battles on the most original source lists at the top), go HERE.
1. Battle of Megiddo (on 3 lists)
Date: April 15, 1457 BCE (or possibly 1479 or 1482 BCE)
Location: Megiddo, Canaan (now Israel, near the city of Haifa)
War/Conflict: Canaanite Rebellion
Combatants: Egyptian Empire (led by Thutmose III) vs. Canaanites, Kadesh, Megiddo, et al. (led by the King of Kadesh and the Prince of Megiddo)
Result: Egyptian victory led to territorial expansion of the Egyptian Empire and reestablished Egyptian dominance in the Levant.
Description: Egyptian forces under Pharaoh Thutmose III defeat a coalition of rebellious Canaanite tribes, led by the king of Kadesh. The defeat forced the Canaanites back into the city of Megiddo, leading to a seven-month successful Egyptian siege. Canaan had been a conquered province of the Egyptian Empire, but the rebellion threatened to remove the area from Egyptian control. The victory at Megiddo allowed the Egyptians to reestablish dominance in the province and expand on its empire. Although all information about the battle is from Egyptian sources, it is considered to be relatively accurate. The battle is the first recorded use of the composite bow, which was made from horn, wood, and sinew laminated together and permitted the use of shorter bows to achieve the same energy as a much larger wooden bow.
2. Battle of Kadesh (on 4 lists)
Date: probably May 1274 (some sources date it approximately 20 years earlier)
Location: Orontes River, near Kadesh (along current Lebanon-Syria border)
War/Conflict: Egyptian-Hittite War
Combatants: Egyptian Empire (led by Ramesses II) vs. Hittite Empire (led by Muwatalli II)
Result: Inconclusive result. Ramesses II managed to avoid capture and survive, despite being outmaneuvered by the Hittites.
Description: The Egyptian army under the leadership of New Kingdom Pharaoh Ramesses II takes on the Hittites, led by Muwatalli II. The result is mixed: the Hittites retreat, but the Egyptians fail to capture the walled city of Kadesh. The Hittite Empire dominated Anatolia (modern day Turkey) and much of what is now Syria and was encroaching on Egyptian-controlled territory in the Levant, pushing back the border of the Egyptian Empire. Ramesses II was the third pharaoh (like Ramesses I and Seti I before him) to undertake to gain back some of the lost territory. When Ramesees II recaptured the Amurru Kingdom (in present-day Syria and northern Lebanon), Muwatalli II marched south in an attempt to halt the Egyptian advance. The result was a huge chariot battle, possible the largest in history, with an estimated 5,000-6,000 chariots engaged, but no clear outcome. The war continued for a number of years until the parties in c. 1259 BCE signed the earliest known international treaty.
3. Battle of Marathon (on 15 lists)
Date: 490 BCE
Location: Marathon, Greece
War/Conflict: Greco-Persian Wars (First Persian Invasion of Greece)
Combatants: Greek States (Athens & Plataea) (led by Militiades, et al.) vs. Persian Empire (led by Datis, et al.)
Result: Greek victory. Ended first Persian invasion of Greece.
Description: The city-state of Athens, with a little help from its neighbor Plataea, turns back the first Persian invasion of Greece on the Marathon plain. The Persian Empire under Darius the Great, sought to punish Athens for its assistance in the unsuccessful rebellion of the Ionians by invading Greece. A large Persian force led by Datis arrived by ship at Marathon but through skillful leadership (by Militiades and others), the Greeks drew the Persians onto the battlefield and then blocked all the exit routes, allowing the Greeks to defeat a Persian force more than twice its size. The defeat at Marathon kept the Persian Empire away from Greece for 10 years.
4. Battle of Thermopylae (on 11 lists)
Date: July, August or September, 480 BCE
Location: Thermopylae, near Lamia, Greece
War/Conflict: Greco-Persian Wars (Second Persian Invasion of Greece)
Combatants: Greeks (Sparta, Thespiae, Thebes, etc.) under Leonidas I of Sparta v. Persian Achaemenid Empire under Xerxes I
Result: Persian victory; Persia gained control over Phocis, Boeotia, and Attica.
Description: The Greek defeat at Thermopylae is one of the greatest “last stand” battles in history. The Persians under Xerxes I had launched a second invasion of Greece. This time, an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, mounted a united opposition. Athenian general Themistocles devised a two-part defense: the Greeks would stop the land invasion at the narrow pass of Thermopylae and the sea invasion at the Straits of Artemisium. An army of approximately 7,000 Greeks marched to the pass, a narrow strip of land between the coastline and the mountains, where they faced off against a much larger Persian force (modern estimates range from 100,000 to 150,000 soldiers). The Greeks withstood the onslaught for seven days, when the Persians, tipped off by a traitorous Greek, discovered a path through the mountains that would allow them to outflank the Greeks. Realizing the trap, Leonidas sent most of the Greeks away, but he and 1000 of his men remained to face certain death at the pass, while slowing down the Persian advance. As a result of the victory, Persia gained control of Phocis (including Delphi), Boeotia (including Thebes), and Attica (including Athens). But the war was not over.
5. Battle of Salamis (on 8 lists)
Date: September, 480 BCE
Location: Saronic Gulf, near Salamis Island, Greece
War/Conflict: Greco-Persian Wars; Second Persian Invasion of Greece
Combatants: Greek city-states (led by Eurybiades & Themistocles) vs. Persian Achaemenid Empire (led by Xerxes I, et al.)
Result: Greek victory; Persian army forced to withdraw from Attica
Description: Having suffered a defeat at the Straits of Artemisium at the hands of the Persian navy, Athenian general Themistocles ordered the Greek fleet to retreat to the island of Salamis in the Saronic Gulf, near Athens. He managed to draw the large Persian fleet into the narrow Straits of Salamis, where the ships found it difficult to maneuver and quickly became disorganized. This gave the Greeks the opportunity to launch a frontal assault, resulting in a victory despite being outnumbered. Although the Persian war would persist for another year until Xerxes finally retreated, Salamis was the battle that turned the tide in the Greeks’ favor.
6. Sicilian Expedition and Siege of Syracuse (on 3 lists)
Date: 415-413 BCE
Location: Syracuse, Sicily (now Italy)
War/Conflict: Peloponnesian War
Combatants: Delian League (led by Athens), Segesta & the Etruscans (led by Nicias, Demosthenes, et al.) vs. the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta), Corinth & Syracuse (led by Gylippus & Hermocrates)
Result: Spartan-Syracusan victory. Some consider the battle, in which Athens incurred severe losses of ships and soldiers, a turning point in the war in favor of Sparta. The Athenian loss encouraged Athens’s other enemies and sparked rebellions.
Description: A devastating loss for the Greek city-state of Athens in Sicily in 415 BCE was a turning point in the Peloponnesian War between Athens and its allies, on one side, and Sparta and its allies on the other. The Greek colonies on the island of Sicily had been at war for years, with the Ionic colonies looking to Athens as an ally and the Doric colonies (particularly the city of Syracuse) allying themselves with Sparta. Athens had intervened in those wars in 427 BCE at the request of Leontini, but retreated after the Congress of Gela in 424 BCE imposed a tenuous peace. The second Athenian intervention, known as the Sicilian Expedition, came in response to a cry for help from the city of Segesta in 415 BCE. After some initial success by the Athenians in Syracuse, Spartan general Gylippus arrived to shore up the defenses and mount a counter-offensive. Arrival of reinforcing ships gave the Athenians a temporary advantage, but they squandered it with a disastrous land assault and several naval defeats. In 413 BCE, the Athenians, realizing that defeat was imminent, decided to retreat, but the maneuver failed, and nearly the entire army was killed or captured. Athens never quite recovered from the loss, and the war ended its final phase, with Sparta defeating Athens in 404 BCE.
7. Battle of Gaugamela (Battle of Arbela) (on 19 lists)
Date: Oct. 1, 331 BCE
Location: Tel Gomel, near Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan
War/Conflict: Wars of Alexander the Great
Combatants: Macedonia & Hellenic League (led by Alexander the Great) vs. Persian Achaemenid Empire (led by Darius III)
Result: Alexander the Great’s forces victorious over the Persians, effectively ending the Achaemenid Empire.
Description: Macedonian King Alexander III (Alexander the Great) successfully built a huge empire through an unprecedented series of military victories. His most dangerous and powerful foe was the Persian Empire led by Achaemenid King Darius III. In 331 BCE, Alexander’s army (composed of soldiers from Macedonia and the Hellenic League of Greece) defeated Darius at the Battle of Issus, in what is now eastern Turkey, capturing Darius’s mother, wife and two daughters in the process. The defeat led to several attempts by Darius to negotiate a diplomatic solution, including an offer to be “co-rulers”, but Alexander was not willing to compromise. While negotiating, he continued to advance: turning south and taking the city of Tyre, then turning east towards Mesopotamia. He crossed the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and turned south towards the Persian camp, which had been expecting Alexander to take the more direct (but much more difficult to supply) southern route. At Gaugamela (near Erbil in what is now Iraqi Kurdistan), Alexander and the Persians faced off; the result was a resounding defeat for the Persians, although a Persian flanking action allowed Darius and a core of his army to retreat of Babylon. Soon after the loss, Darius was murdered by his own satraps, leading to internecine squabbles and the ultimate fall of the Achaemenid Empire. (Alexander gave Darius a royal funeral at Persepolis as a gesture of respect for a worthy adversary and married one of his daughters.) Soon after Gaugamela, Persia became another of Alexander’s vassal states.
8. Battle of Cannae (on 11 lists)
Date: August 2, 216 BCE
Location: Apulia, Roman Republic (Italy)
War/Conflict: Second Punic War
Combatants: Roman Republic (led by Gaius Terentius Varro & Lucius Aemilius Paulus) vs. Carthage (led by Hannibal)
Result: Carthaginian victory; gave Carthage control of part of southern Italy; led to defection of some Roman allies.
Description: The Battle of Cannae was the single biggest defeat ever suffered by a Roman army and the high point of Hannibal Barca’s war against Rome. Hannibal and his diverse armies from Numidia (now North Africa), Iberia (now Spain) and Gaul (now France) had made his way across the Mediterranean to Hispania, made his way across the Alps and into northern Italy, mostly winning along the way. He had bypassed Rome and travelled to southern Italy in the hopes of sparking an anti-Roman revolution among the vassal states of the Roman Republic. Fearing the tactical skills of Hannibal and the superior quality of his experienced fighters (particularly his cavalry), Rome had adopted the controversial Fabian strategy: attempting small rear guard actions against Carthage’s allies and avoiding large battles. When Hannibal’s troops captured a major Roman storage center at Cannae and blocked access to the grain fields of the south, the Romans had no choice but to fight a face-to-face battle. The Republic sent a huge army – larger than any Rome had ever put into battle – under the command of consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro. Due to an odd requirement of the constitution, Paullus and Varro were given command on alternate days. Varro, was in command on August 2, 216 BCE when the battle took place. Hannibal’s strategy was to provoke a frontal assault in the center of the line, then strategically retreat slowly at the center, while his flanks spread out to enclose the Romans. Once the Carthaginian cavalry defeated the Roman cavalry on the flanks, it returned to face the rear of the Roman army, which was now totally encircled. The result was a massacre that humiliated and frightened Rome and led to the defection of a number of local Roman vassal states to the Carthaginian cause. It also led the Romans to rethink their battle tactics. Unfortunately for Hannibal, after Cannae, there were fewer and fewer victories for Carthage in the Second Punic War.
9. Battle of the Metaurus (on 5 lists)
Date: June 23, 207 BCE
Location: Metauro River, between Fano and Fossombrone, Roman Republic (Italy)
War/Conflict: Second Punic War
Combatants: Roman Republic (led by Marcus Livius & Gaius Claudius Nero) vs. Carthage (led by Hasdrubal Barca)
Result: Roman victory. Confirmed Roman control over Italy and forced Hannibal to withdraw to Bruttium.
Description: After Hannibal’s triumph at Cannae in 216 CE, the Romans, with seemingly unlimited resources of materials and troops, mounted a comeback, highlighted by their victory at the Battle of the Metaurus River nine years later. Far from his home base in North Africa, Hannibal’s reliance on scavenging for provisions and creating alliances with disaffected Roman allies was not sufficient to make up for the losses suffered from years of war on foreign soil. He needed reinforcements, and those fresh troops and equipment were on their way under the leadership of Hannibal’s brother Hasdrubal Barca, who followed Hannibal’s path up through what is now Spain and France and across the Alps into northern Italy in 208 and 207 BCE. As he pushed south to hook up with his brother, Hasdrubal needed to confront the relatively small army of Marcus Livius, which was camped near the Metauro River in northwest Italy, blocking the route south. But when the armies lined up the next morning for battle, the Carthaginians were surprised to see a much larger Roman force than they had anticipated. During the night, Gaius Claudius Nero had marched his army, which had just fought Hannibal at Grumentum, hundreds of kilometers to the north without being noticed, to meet up with Marcus Livius. The Romans took advantage of their numerical superiority to outflank Hannibal’s troops, who suffered a major defeat. When it was clear that all was lost, Hasdrubal made a suicidal charge on his horse into the Roman front lines where he was killed, leaving his surviving troops leaderless. (Historians still debate whether Hasdrubal’s final act was heroic or foolish.) The Roman victory prevented Hannibal from getting his reinforcements and signaled the waning of the Carthaginian cause.
10. Battle of Gaixia (Last Stand at Wu River) (on 3 lists)
Date: December, 203 BCE
Location: Gaixia (present day Guzhen County, Anhui), China
Conflict: Chu-Han Contention
Combatants: Kingdom of Han (led by Han Xin & Liu Bang) vs. Kingdom of Western Chu (led by Xiang Yu)
Result: Han victory resulted in Han control of China and inauguration of the Han Dynasty, led by Liu Bang.
11. Battle of Zama (on 7 lists)
Date: 202 BCE
Location: Zama, Carthage (now Tunisia)
War/Conflict: Second Punic War
Combatants: Roman Republic & Eastern Numidia (led by Scipio Africanus) vs. Carthage & Western Numidia (led by Hannibal)
Result: Roman victory. Led to end of Second Punic War.
Description: The Roman victory against Carthage at the Battle of Zama marked the end of the Second Punic War. The waning of the threat posed by Hannibal’s weakened and unreinforced army in Italy freed the Romans and their allies to bring the war closer to Hannibal’s core territory in North Africa. A Roman invasion of Africa became a realistic possibility in 212 BCE, after the successful Roman siege of Syracuse, which led to Roman control of the entire island of Sicily – an excellent base for an African invasion. First, however, the Romans chose to drive the Carthaginians out of the Iberian Peninsula, which was accomplished by Scipio Africanus at the Battle of Ilipia in 206. Scipio’s army landed in North Africa in 204 BCE and won a series of victories against the Carthaginians and their allies the Numidians, first at the Battle of Utica and then at the Battle of the Great Plains (both in 203 BCE). These losses led Carthage to sue for peace and sign an armistice, but at the same time they called for Hannibal’s return. Once Hannibal’s forces landed, Carthage broke the truce, setting the stage for Hannibal and Scipio Africanus to confront each other at Zama, some distance inland from Carthage. An important factor in the ultimate Roman victory was the decision of Numidian leader Masinissa, perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, to switch sides and provide troops to Scipio Africanus. Hannibal first sent a wall of elephants charging at the Romans, but they were ineffective. The ultimate result was a Roman victory. Hannibal himself fled and survived, but Carthage submitted to Roman vassalship for half a century, until the Third (and final) Punic War erupted.
12. Battle of Alesia (Siege of Alesia) (on 3 lists)
Date: September, 52 BCE
Location: Alise-Sainte-Reine, France
Conflict: Gallic Wars
Combatants: Roman Republic (led by Julius Caesar) vs. Gallic confederation (led by Vercingetorix & Vercassivellaunos)
Result: Roman victory completed the Roman conquest of Gaul, which now became incorporated into the Roman Republic.
13. Battle of Pharsalus (on 3 lists)
Date: August 9, 48 BCE
Location: Palaepharsalus, Greece
War/Conflict: Caesar’s Civil War/Caesar’s Invasion of Macedonia
Combatants: Forces of Julius Caesar vs. Forces of Pompey
Result: Julius Caesar defeated Pompey in the decisive battle of Caesar’s civil war, leading Pompey to flee in disguise to be killed in Egypt. Although the victory did not end the war, it brought many of Rome’s eastern provinces into Caesar’s camp.
14. Battle of Actium (on 6 lists)
Date: 31 BCE
Location: Ionian Sea, near Actium (now Aktio), Greece
War/Conflict: Roman Civil War; Final War of the Roman Republic; War of Actium.
Combatants: Forces of Octavian vs. Forces of Mark Antony & Ptolemaic Egypt (led by Cleopatra)
Result: Victory of Octavian’s forces. Led to suicides of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Gave Octavian ability to consolidate power to become de facto emperor.
Description: The naval victory of Octavian (later Augustus) over the combined forces of Mark Antony and Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII ended more than a dozen years of civil war within the Roman Republic. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Caesar’s adopted son Octavian joined with Mark Antony, Caesar’s best general, and Marcus Lepidus as the Second Triumvirate. Together they defeated the forces of Caesar’s assassins, Brutus and Cassius. Relations between Octavian and Mark Antony became strained after the latter left his wife for Cleopatra and moved in with her in Alexandria. Even more troubling to many in Rome was the joint declaration of Cleopatra and Mark Antony in 34 BCE that Cleopatra’s son Caesarion was the son and heir of Julius Caesar. Over the next three years, Octavian took political actions to weaken Mark Antony’s power as well as undertaking a public relations campaign to smear him as a would-be dictator. Despite Octavian’s efforts, Mark Antony still had a core base of supporters in Rome. In 32 BCE, Octavian convinced the Roman Senate to declare war on Cleopatra’s Egypt, which allowed him to confront Mark Antony indirectly. The war came to a head on September 2, 31 BCE when Antony and Cleopatra were encamped on the Ionian coast of Greece (then a Roman province) at Actium. Octavian’s general Agrippa drew Antony’s ships out into the open ocean and inflicted a fatal defeat on his fleet. Instead of taking part in the battle, Cleopatra’s ships, perceiving the danger, fled. Mark Antony himself fled soon afterwards, leaving his fleet to be destroyed. When the land army learned of their leader’s flight, they quickly capitulated to Octavian. Sporadic fighting continued for another year until the war finally concluded with the suicide of Mark Antony in July and Cleopatra in August, 30 BCE. Octavian was now in position to become the first leader of the Roman Empire.
15. Battle of Teutoburg Forest (Varus Disaster) (on 6 lists)
Date: September 8-9, 9 CE
Location: Kalkriese, Bramsche, Lower Saxony, Germania, Roman Empire (Germany)
War/Conflict: Roman Wars of Conquest; Imperial Germanic Campaigns
Combatants: Germanic Peoples (led by Arminius) vs. Roman Empire (led by Publius Varus)
Description: The Roman defeat at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest was a crucial event in the history of the German nation. By halting the Roman advance into German territory at the Rhine River, an alliance of Germanic tribes preserved much of Germany from Roman domination for the duration of the Roman Empire. Publius Quinctilius Varus has been appointed governor of Germania, a Roman province that included a number of conquered German territories. In the fall of 9 CE, he decided to move his three Roman legions to winter quarters. Unbeknownst to Varus, one of his own auxiliary officers, the Roman-educated German Arminius, was planning an ambush of the Romans. The Germans waited until the Roman line was stretched out and then attacked, surrounding the entire force. Later, when the Romans attempted to make a night escape, Arminius’s alliance (which included soldiers from the Cherusci, Marsi, Chatti, Bructeri, Chauci and Sicambri) blocked their retreat. After two days of fighting, the disaster was total, reportedly leading Emperor Augustus to cry out at the news, “Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!” Despite occasional forays into Germany in later years and attempts to manipulate tribes through diplomatic means and support of friendly allies, Rome did not attempt military conquests of territories east of the Rhine after the defeat at Tuetoburg Forest.
16. Battle of the Milvian Bridge (on 5 lists)
Date: October 28, 312 CE
Location: Ponte Milvio, northern Rome, Roman Empire (now Italy)
War/Conflict: Civil Wars of the Tetrarchy
Combatants: Forces of Roman Emperor Constantine vs. Forces of Roman Emperor Maxentius
Result: Victory for Constantine and death of Maxentius established Constantine as sole ruler of the Roman Empire.
Description: The victory of Constantine I over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge resolved the question of who would be emperor of the western portion of the Roman Empire and was a crucial step in the course of the eventual reunification of the Roman Empire under Constantine in the 4th Century CE. The underlying conflict arose from Emperor Diocletian’s decision in 293 BCE to divide the Empire into western and eastern halves and create a tetrarchy arrangement whereby two senior officials, each known as an Augustus, ruled with the assistance of a less senior ruler, or Caesar. In 305 CE, Diocletian and his co-emperor Maximian abdicated and their Caesars (Galerius and Constantius) were both promoted to Augustus. Maximinus and Severus were appointed as new Caesars. When Constantius died in 306 CE, Galerius promoted Severus to Augustus in the west. This displeased Maximian’s son Maxentius, who eventually intervened, forcing Severus to abdicate and later having him killed. At the same time that Severus was promoted to western Augustus, Constantius’ son Constantine also thought he was entitled to a position, and his own troops proclaimed him Augustus in 306 CE. To complicate matters further, Maximian decided to come back from retirement. By 308 CE, four people (Galerius, Constantine, Maximian and Maxentius) all claimed the title of Augustus. This led Diocletian, Galerius and Maximian to meet and attempt to settle the dispute: they confirmed Galerius as eastern Augustus, with Maximinus as his Caesar and appointed Licinius as western Augustus with Constantine as his Caesar. Maximian agreed to retire, and Maxentius was declared an illegitimate usurper. The settlement did not solve the problem, because Maxentius and his armies were now in physical control of Italy and North Africa, a fact that could not be erased by a declaration of illegitimacy. Furthermore, neither Constantine nor Maximinus liked the idea of answering to Licinius. Between 309 and 312, the playing field cleared somewhat: Constantine captured Maximian (who had renounced his retirement) in 310 CE and forced him to commit suicide, and Galerius died of natural causes in 311 CE. This left Constantine and Maxentius in the west, both claiming the title of Augustus, while in the east, Licinius was Augustus with Maximinus his Caesar. In 312 CE, Constantine began a military campaign against Maxentius in Italy. As Constantine’s troops approached Rome, Maxentius, instead of preparing for a siege (as he had in response to previous attacks by Galerius and Severus), decided to bring his troops out of Rome and across the Tiber to do battle. This decision (perhaps prompted by a superstitious belief in inevitable victory) turned out to be a mistake, as it left Maxentius’ forces with only the narrow Milvian bridge and the powerful river as escape routes. When Constantine’s army advanced, the defenders had nowhere to regroup; retreat was hampered by the narrowness of the bridge and the difficulty of crossing the river, where many drowned, including Maxentius. A victorious Constantine advanced to take control of Rome. The result of the battle was that Constantine was now sole Augustus of the western Roman Empire. The next day, Maxentius’ body was retrieved and decapitated and his severed head was paraded through Rome. Later, Constantine defeated Licinius to become emperor of east and west. NOTE: Since early Christian times, a persistent legend has it that Constantine had a dream before the battle in which he saw a Christian symbol (either a cross or a Chi Ro) with the words, “In this sign, you shall conquer”, but other evidence contradicts this theory. For example, the Arch of Constantine, which was erected soon after the battle to celebrate the victory, contains no explicit references to Christianity. Constantine and his co-emperor Licinius did agree to make Christianity legal with the Edict of Milan in 313 CE and Constantine reportedly converted on his deathbed.
17. Battle of Adrianople (Battle of Hadrianopolis) (on 7 lists)
Date: August 9, 378 CE
Location: Adrianople, Thrace (now Edirne in Turkey)
War/Conflict: Gothic War; Roman-Germanic Wars
Combatants: Goths & Alans (led by Fritigern, et al.) vs. Eastern Roman Empire (led by Emperor Valens, et al.)
Result: Victory for the Goths and Alans. Death of Roman Emperor Valens.
Description: The Goths soundly defeated the forces of the eastern Roman Empire under Emperor Valens at the Battle of Adrianople, although it is not clear that the battle was the turning point that some early historians claimed it to be. Various Gothic tribes had been pushed from their homelands by the invading Huns and by 376 CE, they found themselves at the edge of the Roman Empire, near the Danube River, seeking asylum and protection. The Romans agreed to allow the tribes to settle in Roman territory as refugees. The Roman governors treated the Goths harshly, however, leading them to take up arms in revolt. The rebel army consisted of several Gothic tribes, especially the Thervingi and the Greuthungi, as well as Alans and even some Huns, under the leadership of Fritigern, a Thervingian Goth. After a series of inconclusive battles, the Romans began to win some victories in 378 CE, including an ambush of some Gothic troops by Sebastianus while marching from Constantinople to Adrianople and a victory over the Germanic tribe the Lentienses by western Roman Emperor Gratian (Valens’ nephew) at Argentaria. Valens wanted a victory of his own, so he assembled an army at Adrianople (in the Roman province of Thrace, now Edirne, Turkey) in the summer of 378. Having learned that the rebels were in the vicinity, he marched his troops out from Adrianople into the countryside. Valens falsely believed that his troops outnumbered the Goths, based on Roman scouting reports that failed to count much of the rebel cavalry, which was out of the camp foraging for provisions. After a seven-hour march over rough ground, the Romans came unexpectedly upon the rebel camp, which was set on a hill and surrounded by a “fortress” of wagons. The Goths were well rested and provisioned, and battle tested; in addition, quite a number of Frithigern’s officers had fought in Roman armies. Fritigern, seeking time to allow his cavalry to return, send an emissary to Valens in a fruitless attempt to resolve the matter diplomatically. Valens’ own advisors urged him to wait for reinforcements from Gratian, which were on the way, but Valens wanted the glory for himself and disregarded the advice. When the Roman attack came, it was disorganized. The soldiers, already tired and thirsty, were distracted by smoke from fires lit by the Goths in the fields around their encampment. When the Gothic cavalry arrived soon after the battle began, they swooped down from the hilltop “like a thunderbolt”, according to an early historian, ensuring the Gothic victory. In the course of battle, Valens himself went missing; there are conflicting stories about the manner of his death. The Goths attempted to follow up on their victory with a siege of Adrianople soon afterwards, but failed, and the war dragged on for another four years. Although some have claimed that the battle highlighted the importance of cavalry over infantry, in fact, the bulk of the armies on both sides were foot soldiers, and the number of cavalry was about the same on each side. Others have claimed the battle was a turning point in the fall of the western Roman Empire, although that claim is also disputed. The near term result of the Gothic Wars was the peaceful settlement of the Goths within the bounds of the empire.
18. Battle of the Catalaunian Fields (Battle of Châlons; Battle of Maurica) (on 4 lists)
Date: June 20, 451 CE
Location: Near Châlons, Gaul (Châlons-en-Champagne, Grand Est Region, France)
War/Conflict: Hunnic Wars; Hunnic Invasion of Gaul; Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Combatants: Western Roman Empire, Visigoths, Franks, Burgundians, Saxons, et al. (led by Flavius Aetius & Theodoric I) v. Hunnic Empire, Amali Goths, Rugii, Sciri, et al. (led by Attila the Hun)
Result: Inconclusive. The battle stopped the Huns from further advancement into Roman territory, but the Huns looted and pillaged much of Gaul and seriously damaged Rome and the Visigoths militarily.
Description: Historians dispute whether the result of the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields was a Roman victory over Attila the Hun or not, but no one questions the bloody carnage of the day’s events. From their home base north of the Danube, the Huns had already staged a series of successful plundering raids in the eastern Roman Empire in 440-443 CE and again in 447. In 451 CE (for reasons that are debated) Attila turned toward the western Roman Empire, specifically the province of Gaul. His mounted warriors crossed the Rhine and worked their way through northern Gaul with ease until they reached Orleans, where they were forced to lay siege to the city, which was occupied by members of the Alan tribe under Sangiban. This delayed their usually rapid movements enough to allow a Roman army under Flavius Aetius to catch up with them. Unable to breach the walls of Orleans and disappointed in his inability to persuade the defenders to capitulate, Attila began a measured retreat back toward the Rhine, looking for an open place to stop and give battle. Somewhere between Troyes and Châlons, he set up camp and waited for the Romans. Aetius, who had only a small band of soldiers, few of them Romans, had to convince the local Visigothic king Theodoric, not a friend of Rome, to join forces against the Huns. Once Theodoric agreed, Aetius was able to face Attila (who had his own allies) with a substantial force, including Sangiban and his army of Alans from Orleans. The battle did not begin until mid-afternoon. Each army set up along opposing flanks of a ridge and they both moved to gain control of the high ground between them. After the Huns devastated the Alans in the center, and Aetius’ attempt at encirclement failed for lack of numbers, it looked as if Attila would win. But then the Visigoths under Theodoric rallied and struck a hard blow against the Huns. Theodoric himself was killed, but his son Thorismund took over. As darkness fell, confusion took hold – Thorismund was almost killed when he accidentally found himself in the Hunnic camp – and the parties separated. The next day, Aetius ruled out a follow-up attack and let Attila retreat back across the Rhine. Aetius reasoned that without the Huns as a common enemy, the Visigoths would certainly rebel against Rome. The very next year, Attila launched a new attack against the western Roman Empire, this time into northern Italy. A party of negotiators, including the Pope, agreed to pay off Attila to keep him away. The Hunnic threat would not last long, however: Attila died in 453 CE and his empire splintered and faded soon afterwards. While the result of the battle may have been inconclusive, it is of historical significance for at least three reasons: the high number of casualties; the message it sent that Attila was not invincible; and the fact that it was the last major battle of the western Roman Empire, which would officially die less than 25 years later.
19. Battle of Badr (Raid of Badr; The Day of the Criterion) (on 3 lists)
Date: March 13, 624 CE
Location: near Badr, Hejaz, Arabia
War/Conflict: Muslim-Quraysh War
Combatants: First Islamic State/Sahaba (led by Muhammad) vs. Quraysh Meccans (led by Amr ibn Hishām/Abu Jahl)
Result: Muslim victory. Led to alliance with Medina and other tribes outside Medina.
20. Battle of the Yarmuk (on 5 lists)
Date: August 15-20, 636 CE
Location: near the Yarmuk (also spelled Yarmouk) River, east of the Sea of Galilee, Syria (near Syria’s borders and Israel)
War/Conflict: Arab-Byzantine Wars; Wars of Muslim Conquest
Combatants: Rashidun Caliphate (Islamic), led by Khalid ibn al-Walid, et al. vs. Byzantine Empire, Ghassanid Kingdom & Tanukhids (led by Emperor Heraclius, et al.)
Result: Rashidun victory led to annexation of Byzantine Syria into the Rashidun Caliphate.
Description: The Battle of the Yarmuk was a decisive victory of the Arab Muslim armies over the forces of the Byzantine Empire. Muhammad had united many disparate Arab tribes under the new Islamic religion. Following Muhammad’s death and a civil war to determine his successor, Caliph Abu Bakr of the Rashidun Caliphate began a series of wars to conquer territory in the name of the new faith. Under the expert leadership of general Khalid ibn al-Walid, Muslim armies attacked the Persian Sassanids in Mesopotamia and conquered most of what is now Iraq. Then in 634 CE, Abu Bakr called for an invasion of Syria and the Levant, which were part of the Byzantine Empire. The Muslim armies proceeded north through Palestine, defeating the Byzantines at Ajnadayn and Fahl, and taking the city of Damascus. Abu Bakr died in 634, but his successor Umar continued the campaign. The Muslims took Tiberias, Baalbek and, in early 636, Emesa, which put them within striking distance of Byzantine strongholds at Aleppo and Antioch. Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, who had been slow to counter the Muslim advance, now felt the threat, and pulled together a large army with the intent to picking off the divided Arab forces that were spread out through the Levant. Heraclius also made a treaty with his former foes, the Persians, against the common Muslim threat, and Persian Emperor Yazdegerd III agreed to launch an offensive in the east, forcing the Muslims to fight a two-front war. But Yazdegerd never lived up to his promise, and Heraclius lost precious time waiting for the Persians to attack. The Muslims took advantage of the Byzantine hesitation to implement a comprehensive defensive strategy. Khalid ibn al-Walid had Muslim forces retreat from Emesa and Damascus, so that all the disparate armies unite near the Yarmuk River, deeper into Muslim territory. Heraclius was forced to march south, with inadequate supply lines, to the site of the battle that the Muslim commander had selected. The Byzantines arrived, led by Armenian general Vashan, but once again the Byzantines hesitated, waiting for Persia to act, while Arab reinforcements continued to arrive. Finally, the Byzantines realized they needed to seize the initiative while they still outnumbered their foes (by at least 2-1 according to most historians) and the two sides began a battle that lasted six days. The first four days, Vashan’s armies took the initiative. Every time it looked as if the Byzantines were about to break through, Al-Walid used his secret weapon, his large cavalry reserves, or his own battle-tested core troops, to reinforce the weak spot and prevent destruction. On the second day, the Arabs were pushed all the way back to their camp, but managed to push back (according to legend, due to the vociferousness of their wives). On the fifth day, the parties rearranged their forces without a major clash. Al-Walid decided on a major offensive the next day. In preparation, he sent a cavalry unit to guard the bridge that would be the probable Byzantine escape route. On the sixth day of battle, the Muslim armies attacked and eventually flanked the much larger Byzantine force, driving them towards the trap set by the bridge, where many of the fleeing soldiers died either by sword or by falling over the steep cliff at the edge of the battlefield. The Byzantine loss of its army at Yarmouk left the rest of the Levant open to the Muslims, who advanced all the way to the borders of what is now Turkey. They also eventually took over Egypt and the remains of the Persian Empire. The shrunken Byzantine Empire based at Constantinople remained alive, withstanding a number of unsuccessful Arab sieges to the capital city in the following years.
21. Siege of Constantinople (on 4 lists)
Date: July 15, 717- August 15, 718 CE
Location: Constantinople, Thrace, Bithynia & Sea of Marmara (modern day Istanbul, Turkey)
War/Conflict: Arab-Byzantine Wars; Early Muslim Conquests
Combatants: Islamic Umayyad Caliphate (led by Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik) vs. Byzantine Empire and Bulgaria (led by Leo III the Isaurian & Tervel of Bulgaria)
Result: Byzantine-Bulgarian victory. The failure of the siege ensured the survival of the Byzantine Empire, the end of 100 years of war, and a postponement (by many centuries) of Muslim advances into southeastern Europe.
22. Battle of Tours (Battle of Poitiers; Battle of the Palace of the Martyrs) (on 15 lists)
Date: Oct. 10, 732 CE
Location: Moussais-la-Bataille, France
War/Conflict: Early Muslim Conquests: Invasion of Gaul
Combatants: Christian Franks (led by Charles Martel) vs. Islamic Umayyad Caliphate (led by Abdul Rahman al Ghafiqi)
Result: Frankish victory; some claim the battle halted Muslim expansion into Europe.
Description: The Franks’ victory over the army of the Ummayad Caliphate at the Battle of Tours-Poitiers marked the farthest penetration of Muslim armies into Gaul (France). Some historians believe that a Muslim win here might have led to Muslim control of Western Europe. Muslim armies had conquered Northern Africa, then crossed the Straits of Gibraltar in 711 CE into Hispania. Over the next few years, they took most of the Iberian Peninsula from the Visigoths, where they established the kingdom of al-Andalus. Umayyad troops continued to expand to the north, taking Septimania in southern France in 719 CE and establishing a base in the city of Narbonne on the Mediterranean coast, then setting their sights on Aquitania in the west. But Aquitanian Duke Odo surprised the Muslims during the siege of Toulouse, temporarily setting them back. Muslim armies continued to strike in the north, including a raid on Autun in Burgundy in 725 CE. Odo secured an an alliance with a Berber general to prevent further attacks on Aquitania, but the general (Uthman ibn Naissa) rebelled against the Ummayad’s, leading al-Andalus governor Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi to bring an army to crush both the Berber rebellion and Odo, who lost two crushing defeats at Bordeaux and then at the Battle of the River Garonne in early 732 CE, where the Muslim cavalry was able to inflict serious damage on the Christian troops. Odo called for help to his one-time foe, Charles, leader of the Franks, whose kingdom covered most of what is today northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands and southwestern Germany. Charles was a skilled military leader with a large army of well-trained experienced infantry troops, a fact of which Abdul Rhaman, due to lack of sufficient reconnaissance, was not aware. The Muslims did not anticipate a forceful defense of Europe beyond Aquitania. Charles agreed to aid Odo in return for Aquitanian allegiance to the Franks. He then marched his army to a wooded hill between Poitiers and Tours and waited for the Ummayad troops. By hiding his army in a wooded area, Charles made it much more difficult for the Ummayad cavalry to penetrate his infantry’s formation. Charles maintained a defensive position while Abdul Rahman attacked with his cavalry. Despite some incursions, the Frankish line remained intact. Charles then sent Odo in a rearguard action to attack the unoccupied Ummayad camp far behind the enemy lines. Odo’s disruption of the camp sent many of the Ummayad attackers in retreat to save their booty. This gave Charles the opportunity to mount an offensive and the remaining Ummayads retreated in disarray as night fell. Charles set up his armies to wait for another attack, but the Muslim army had retreated in the night and fell back into al-Andalus. Charles went on to defeat the Ummayads at Agde, Béziers and Maguelonne, but he was unable to dislodge them from Narbonne, which was a base of future raids into Frankish territory – though the Muslims never again penetrated so far into Western Europe as at Tours-Poitier. For his victory, Charles earned the sobriquet Martel (“the hammer”) and his reputation soared; his son was the first of the Carolingian Dynasty and his grandson was Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor. Early historians claimed that Charles Martel’s victory at Tours-Poitiers was a turning point in history. According to this theory, the Frankish army was the last obstacle to a complete Muslim takeover of Western Europe, such that Charles Martel “saved” Christianity. More recent historians have questioned this thesis; some see the Ummayad move toward Tours as merely one of many raids seeking plunder, in this case from St. Martin’s Abbey at Tours, and not an attempt to conquer and hold territory in France.
23. Battle of Lechfeld (Second Battle of Augsburg) (on 5 lists)
Date: Aug. 10-12, 955 CE
Location: Lechfeld plain, near Augsburg, Bavaria, East Francia (now Germany)
War/Conflict:Hunnic Wars
Combatants: Kingdom of Germany, et al. (led by King Otto I, Conrad, Duke of Lorraine, et al.) vs. Principality of Hungary (led by harka Bulcsú, et al.)
Result: German victory. Preserved the Kingdom of Germany and ended further invasions by the Huns into Latin Europe.
Description: The victory of East Francian King Otto I over Hungarian invaders at the Battle of Lechfield had important consequences for the future of Otto as well as the Hungarian people. The Hungarians (also known as the Maygars) had begun to conquer the Carpathian Basin in Eastern Europe in the 9th Century CE. By 900, they had established a home base in Pannonia and Moravia and began conducting plundering raids against the Byzantine Empire to the South and to the north and west into East and West Francia (and in one case as far as the Iberian Peninsula). The death of East Francian king Henry I (“the fowler”) in 936 CE led to internecine warfare among second son and chosen heir Otto and his three brothers, with various nobles within and around East Francia siding with one or the other of the brothers. The Hungarians chose the instability of this civil war to send a plundering force into East Francia in 936-938 CE, after which they withdrew to their home base. Then, when Otto’s son rose up against him in the 950s, bringing a number of princes with him, the Hungarians invaded again (possibly at the request of one of the rebelling princes) under Bulcsú and his chieftains Lél (Lehel) and Súr. This invasion eventually united the East Francians against their common enemy. Otto marched his troops, which included groups of Franconians, Saxons, Bavarians and Swabians, along a narrow Roman road in Bavaria to engage the Hungarians, who were in the process of besieging the walled city of Augsburg. The stretched-out line gave the Hungarian cavalry an opportunity to attack and capture the baggage train at the rear of the army. But Otto sent back Duke Conrad of Lotharingia (who had allied himself with the Hungarians but recently switched sides to back Otto) to recapture the baggage train – Conrad’s forces surprised the Hungarians in the process of plundering, and he succeeded at driving them off. Meanwhile, Otto marched the rest of his army to a plain between two rivers, where he attacked the Hungarians, who had come from the Augsburg siege to face Otto. Otto formed his troops in a single line. The Hungarians charged – a small force in the front and a larger group flanked the line to attack the camp in the rear. Despite the two-pronged attack, and a later feigned Hungarian retreat, Otto’s line held. The cramped nature of the field of battle made it impossible for the Hungarians to employ their successful “shoot and run” tactics, and once Conrad’s troops returned from their rearguard action, the combined forces under Otto eventually prevailed, capturing or killing most of the Hungarians (but not before Conrad was killed by an arrow in the neck). The retreat became a bloodbath when Hungarian horses were slowed by the pebbly bed of the river they had to cross. Otto’s success at the Battle of Lechfeld united the disparate princes and dukes of his kingdom behind him, setting the stage for the consolidation of his power, the expansion of his territories (particularly south into Italy) and his later crowning as Holy Roman Emperor – the first of the Ottonian Dynasty. On the Hungarian side, the Battle of Lechfeld marked the last foray of these nomads into western Europe. By the end of the 10th Century, the Hungarians exchanged their nomadic lifestyle for agricultural settlement and declared the new nation of Hungary in their home base in the Carpathians.
24. Battle of Hastings (on 22 lists)
Date: Oct. 14, 1066
Location: Hastings, East Sussex, England
War/Conflict: Norman Conquest of England
Combatants: Normans (led by William, Duke of Normandy) vs. Anglo-Saxon England (led by King Harold Godwinson)
Result: Norman victory; brought much of England under Norman rule.
Description: The Battle of Hastings was a decisive victory by the Normans, led by William, Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror) over the English King Harold Godwinson and was the turning point in the Norman conquest of England. But the differences between the English and the Normans were not as distinct as the term “Norman conquest” implies. The Normans were former Vikings, who had been permitted to settle in the French coastal region of Normandy in 911 CE. In 1002, the Anglo-Saxon king of England married the sister of the Duke of Normandy. Their son, Edward the Confessor, spent many years in exile in Normandy before he became king of England in 1042. Edward surrounded himself with Normans in his court, his army and the English church. During his reign, Edward’s chief rival was Godwin, Earl of Wessex. When Edward died without an heir in January 1066, there were four contenders who claimed the kingship: Godwin’s sons Harold and Tostig Godwinson, Norwegian king Harald III (Harald Hardrada) and William, Duke of Normandy. The English council of nobles known as the Witenaġemot, or Witan, elected Harold Godwinson king, but that did not deter his three rivals. Tostig struck first with some raids, but was pushed back to Scotland; later in the year, he joined forces with Harald Hardrada’s invading Norwegians and the combined forces defeated the English at the Battle of Fulford on September 20. When he learned of the Norwegian invasion, King Harold marched north and defeated the invaders at the Battle of Stamford Bridge on September 25. Both Tostig Godwinson and Harald Hardrada were killed in the battle, leaving only William to challenge Harold, whose armies were depleted and weakened after Stamford Bridge. William’s forces landed at Peavensey in Sussex on September 28 and quickly built a wooden fort at Hastings, which served as a base of operations. Harold marched much of his army south to meet William. He lost the element of surprise when William’s scouts discovered him. Harold arrived, deployed his troops on high ground (probably Senlac Hill, near the current town of Battle), and waited for William to march out from the castle to meet him. The battle began at 9 a.m. on October 14 and lasted until dusk. Harold’s troops were mostly infantry, while William’s troops were much more diverse, with significant numbers of cavalry, archers, and spearmen. In the initial phase, the Normans attacked, first with archers, then spearmen backed by cavalry, but could not break the English line and retreated in some disarray. The English broke their line and pursued the Normans, but William rallied his troops and mounted a counterattack, which forced the English back to their original position. After a lull, the Normans charged again, this time deliberately feigning flight in an attempt to tempt the English to break their line and pursue them. But the decisive event was the death of Harold himself, which led many of his troops to abandon the effort. A core group stayed and fought to the end but they were eventually overwhelmed by the Normans. William’s victory was not complete, however, because it did not convince the Witan, which instead proclaimed Edgar the Ætheling their new king. William pressed on to London, where he defeated some remaining pockets of resistance. He was crowned king on December 25, 1066 in Westminster Abbey. He also needed to put down rebellions in 1068, 1069 and 1070. Later, William built Battle Abbey on the site of the Battle of Hastings. The ruins of the abbey may still be seen and a reenactment of the battle is performed regularly.
25. Battle of Manzikert (on 7 lists)
Date: August 26, 1071
Location: near Manzikert, Armenia, Byzantine Empire (now Malazgirt, Muş Province, Turkey)
War/Conflict: Byzantine-Seljuk Wars
Combatants: Byzantine Empire (led by Romanos IV, et al.) vs. Seljuk Empire (led by Alp Arslan)
Result: Seljuk victory. Beginning of Turkic rule and settlement in Anatolia.
Description: The defeat of the Byzantine Empire’s army and the capture of Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes by the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 was a significant turning point in the relations between the two empires. The Seljuks swept in from Central Asia in the 10th Century and conquered Persia and Iraq, converting to Islam and adopting much of Persian culture. From their base in Baghdad, the Seljuks began to expand west, including conquests in Byzantine territory, particularly in the far eastern border territory of Armenia. There, the Seljuks under their leader Alp Arslan captured several key fortresses, including Ani, in the 1060s. Despite a winning record against the Byzantines, Alp Arslan readily agreed to a peace treaty with new Emperor Romanos in 1069, which allowed the Seljuks to focus on their plan to conquer the Fatimid Caliphate, which controlled Egypt and much of the Levant. In 1071, Alp Arslan agreed to renew the treaty. But Romanos violated the treaty soon thereafter by marching east from Constantinople with a large army (mostly consisting of mercenaries) in an effort to recapture the lost fortresses in Armenia. Although Romanos hoped to make a surprise attack, Alp Arslan learned of the approaching army well in advance from his scouts. As Romanos approached Manzikert, north of Lake Van, he sent half of his army under Joseph Tarchaniotes to Khliat to guard the southeastern approach to Manzikert. Romanos led the remainder of his army to Manzikert itself, where he quickly recaptured the fortress. What happened to the southern portion of the Byzantine army is not clear: Alp Arslan may have defeated them or they may have simply returned to Constantinople. What is clear is that they never returned to reinforce Romanos. Instead of taking the southwest approach, Arp Arslan led his army around the east coast of Lake Van to meet the Byzantines outside Manzikert on August 25, 1071. The actual battle began the next morning. Using the hit and run style common among steppe nomads, the Seljuk horse archers refused to meet the Byzantines head on, so the Byzantines marched forward to capture the Seljuk camp. This advance led to a separation in the line, which the Seljuks exploited, isolating and surrounding the Byzantine right flank. At this point, the reserve cavalry was to have come forward to counterattack, but the force, led by Romanos’ political rival Doukas, refused to join battle, and the right wing was destroyed. The left wing also soon collapsed, leaving Romanos and his core, including the Varangian Guard, in the center, where they were eventually surrounded and Romanos captured. While in captivity, Romanos agreed to cede some Byzantine territory to the Seljuk Empire and pay reparations. He was released after about a week and escorted to Constantinople, where he was blinded and imprisoned by his political rivals. Alp Arlsan died in 1072, but over the next two decades, Seljuk forces penetrated far into Anatolia (Asia Minor), significantly reducing the eastern portion of the Byzantine Empire. The near term result of this 11th Century Seljuk expansion was the Byzantine emperor’s call to Western Europe for mercenary soldiers to recapture the lost territory, a call that turned into the First Crusade.
26. Siege of Jerusalem (on 3 lists)
Date: July 7-15, 1099
Location: Jerusalem, Fatimid Caliphate (now Israel/Palestine)
War/Conflict: First Crusade
Combatants: Crusaders (led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Raymond IV of Toulouse, et al.) vs. Fatimid Caliphate (led by Iftikhar ad-Dawla)
Result: Crusader victory. Led to the founding of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Description: With the conquest of Jerusalem, holy city of three monotheistic religions, in July 1099, the participants in the First Crusade achieved their stated goal. The First Crusade was the brainchild of Roman Catholic Pope Urban II. When Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus requested a band of mercenary knights to assist him in pushing back the Seljuk Turks from Anatolia (Asia Minor) and the Levant, Pope Urban decided to launch a Holy War against Islam in the Middle East. He believed the Crusade would increase the power of the Church and reduce squabbling among western European nobles by uniting them in a common goal. The Pope promised that everyone who “took up the cross” and joined the Crusade for spiritual reasons, would be forgiven all his sins and guaranteed eternal life in heaven. When a huge army arrived at Constantinople, the Emperor was skeptical, but he promised to support the Crusaders in return for their promise that they would not conquer the lands for themselves but would return them to the Byzantine Empire. Despite internal conflicts, and a double-crossing by the Byzantine Emperor at Nicea, the Crusaders eventually made it to Antioch in 1098, which they took after a long siege (and a bribe to a Turk to open the gates). After a long period of power struggles (and the defection of two knights, who set up small fiefdoms in Antioch and nearby Edessa), the remaining Crusaders marched on to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they found the city well defended. In 1098, the Fatimid Caliphate (based in Egypt) had taken Jerusalem from the Seljuk Empire (based in Baghdad). In anticipation of the Crusaders, the Fatimids had stripped the land of trees, poisoned a number of wells and expelled Christians (who might aid the attackers). Despite the lack of supplies to build siege weapons and the difficulty of obtaining food and water, the Christians set up camp outside the walls and prepared to lay siege to the city. First, they performed a penitential rite: encircling the city in a prayer procession and then listening to the sermons of the accompanying priests. The first assault was a failure, but then several Genoese ships arrived at Jaffa with supplies. Fatimid ships prevented a sea escape, so the Genoans dismantled their ships and brought the wood and supplies to the Crusaders, who were now able to build two siege towers. In the second attack, the Crusaders brought the siege towers to the north and south walls; the north side, led by Godfrey, successfully breached the walls. There followed a massacre of the Muslims and Jews inside the city. Historians debate whether the carnage was typical for medieval warfare or more brutal than usual. After taking Jerusalem, many Crusaders returned home, but some needed to stay to fight the Fatimids, who sent an army to retake the city. The Crusaders defeated that army at the Battle of Ascalon on August 12, 1099.
27. Battle of Hattin (on 6 lists)
Date: July 3-4, 1187
Location: Horns of Hattin, Galilee, Palestine (now Israel)
War/Conflict: Wars of the Crusader States
Combatants: Kingdom of Jerusalem, County of Tripoli, Principality of Antioch, Knights Templar, Knights Hospitaller, et al. (led by Guy of Lusingna, et al.) v. Islamic Ayyubid Sultanate (led by Saladin, et al.)
Result: Ayyubid victory made the Muslims the dominant military power in the area, prompting the Third Crusade.
28. Battle of Ain Jalut (on 4 lists)
Date: September 3, 1260
Location: near Ayn Jalut (Ma’ayan Harod), Jezreel Valley, Galilee, Mamluk Sultanate (now Israel)
War/Conflict: Mongol Wars of Conquest
Combatants: Mamluk Sultanate (led by Qutuz, Baybars & Al-Mansur of Hamah) vs. Ilkhanate, Cilician Armenia & Georgia (led by Kitbuqa Noyan & Al-Ashraf Musa)
Result: Mamluk victory. As a result, the Mongols withdrew from the Levant and ceded occupied territories to the Mamluks.
29. Battle of Crécy (on 4 lists)
Date: Aug. 26, 1346
Location: near Crécy-en-Ponthieu, Picardy, France
War/Conflict: Hundred Years’ War (Edwardian Phase)
Combatants: England (led by King Edward III) vs. France, Bohemia & Duchy of Lorraine (led by King Philip VI)
Result: English victory. The battle reduced the French army’s ability to relieve the subsequent siege of Calais, which fell to the English in 1347.
30. Battle of Grunwald (First Battle of Tannenberg) (on 3 lists)
Date: July 15, 1410
Location: between Grünfelde and Tannenberg, State of the Teutonic Order (now Grunwald and Stębark, western Masuria, Poland)
War/Conflict: Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War.
Combatants: Kingdom of Poland, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, et al. (led by King Władysław II Jagiełło & Grand Duke Vytautas) vs. Teutonic Order, et al. (led by Ulrich von Jungingen)
Result: Polish-Lithuanian victory. Led to the eventual decline of the Teutonic Order; shifted the balance of power in Central and Eastern Europe, and marked the rise of the Polish-Lithuanian union as the dominant regional force.
31. Battle of Agincourt (on 7 lists)
Date: Oct. 25, 1415
Location: Azincourt, County of Saint-Pol, France (now Paz-de-Calais,France)
War/Conflict: Hundred Years’ War
Combatants: England (under Henry V, et al.) vs. France (under Charles D’Albret, et al.)
Result: English victory. Began period of English dominance that lasted until 1429.
32. Siege of Orléans (on 9 lists)
Date: October 12, 1428-May 8, 1429
Location: Orléans, France
War/Conflict: Hundred Years’ War
Combatants: England and Burgundy (led by Thomas Montagu, William de la Pole, et al) vs. France and Scotland (led by Jean de Dunois, Joan of Arc & La Hire)
Result: French victory. England’s failure to capture Orleans was a turning point in the war in favor of the French.
33. Fall of Constantinople (Siege of Constantinople) (on 7 lists)
Date: April 6-May 29, 1453
Location: Constantinople, Byzantine Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey)
War/Conflict: Byzantine-Ottoman Wars
Combatants: Ottoman Empire & Serbia (led by Mehmed II) vs. Byzantine Empire, Papal States, Kingdom of Sicily & Crown of Aragon (led by Constantine XI)
Result: Ottoman victory. End of the Byzantine Empire.
34. Siege of Tenochtitlán (on 6 lists)
Date: May-August, 1521
Location: Tenochtitlán, Mexico (present day Mexico City)
War/Conflict: Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire
Combatants: Spanish Empire, Tlaxcalan, Chalco & Huexotzinco (led by Hernán Cortés, et al.) vs. Aztec Empire (led by Cuauhtémoc & Coanacoch)
Result: Spanish and Tlaxcalan victory. Fall of the Aztec Empire. Creation of the Kingdom of New Spain.
35. First Battle of Panipat (on 3 lists)
Date: April 21, 1526
Location: near Panipat, Sultanate of Delhi (now Haryana, India)
War/Conflict: Mughal Wars of Conquest
Combatants: Mughals (led by Babur) vs. Delhi Sultanate (led by Ibrahim Khan Lodi)
Result: A Mughal victory marked the beginning of Mughal rule in India. The Mughal Empire lasted 200 years.
36. Battle of Mohács (on 3 lists)
Date: August 29, 1526
Location: Mohács, Kingdom of Hungary (now Hungary)
War/Conflict: Ottoman Wars in Europe; Hungarian-Ottoman Wars
Combatants: Ottoman Empire (led by Suleiman the Magnificent & Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha) vs. Kingdom of Hungary, et al. (led by King Louis II, et al.)
Result: Ottoman victory. The battle marked the beginning of the Ottoman-Hapsburg wars, which lasted until 1791, and the decline of Hungary as an independent power.
37. Siege of Vienna (on 5 lists)
Date: Sept. 27-Oct. 15, 1529
Location: Vienna, Holy Roman Empire (Vienna, Austria)
War/Conflict: Ottoman wars in Europe; Ottoman–Habsburg wars
Combatants: Holy Roman Empire & Spanish Hapsburg Empire (led by Niklas Graf Salm) vs. Ottoman Empire & Moldavia (led by Suleiman the Magnificent & Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha)
Result: The Ottomans failed to conquer Vienna. The Hapsburg-Ottoman Wars would continue for 150 years.
38. Battle of Cajamarca (on 11 lists)
Date: Nov. 6, 1532
Location: Cajamarca, Peru [South America]
War/Conflict: Spanish Conquest of Peru
Combatants: Spanish Empire (led by Francisco Pizarro) vs. Inca Empire (led by Atahualpa)
Result: Spanish victory resulted in capture of Atahualpa, massacre of his supporters, and fall of the Inca Empire.
39. Battle of Lepanto (on 7 lists)
Date: Oct. 7, 1571
Location: Gulf of Patras, Ionian Sea, Greece
War/Conflict: Fourth Ottoman-Venetian War; Ottoman-Habsburg wars
Combatants: Holy League (Spanish Empire, Italian city-states), led by John of Austria vs. Ottoman Empire (led by Ali Pasha)
Result: Holy League victory.
40. The Spanish Armada (including the Battle of Gravelines) (on 10 lists)
Dates: July-August 1588
Location: English Channel and North Sea
War/Conflict: Anglo Spanish War; Eighty Years’ War
Combatants: England & Dutch Republic (led by Lord Howard of Effingham) vs. Habsburg Spain (led by Duke of Medina Sidonia, Juan Martinez de Recalde, et al.)
Result: English/Dutch victory; thwarted Spanish invasion of England.
41. Battle of Sekigahara (on 5 lists)
Date: Oct. 21, 1600
Location: Sekigahara/Aonogahara, Mino Province (now Gifu Prefecture), Japan
War/Conflict: Sekigahara Campaign (Sengoku Period)
Combatants: Western Army (Toyotomi clan, led by Ishida Mitsunari) vs. Eastern Army (Tokugawa clan, led by Tokugawa Ieyasu & Ii Naomasa)
Result: Eastern Army victory. Beginning of Tokugawa shogunate.
42. Battle of Breitenfeld (on 4 lists)
Date: September 1631
Location: near Breitenfeld, Saxony (now Leipzig, Saxony, Germany)
War/Conflict: Thirty Years’ War
Combatants: Sweden & Saxony (led by Gustavus Adolphus & Johann George I) vs. Holy Roman Empire/Catholic League (led by Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly)
Result: Swedish-Saxon victory, which allowed Gustavus Adolphus to launch an invasion of southern Germany.
43. Battle of Naseby (on 4 lists)
Date: June 14, 1645
Location: Naseby, England (now United Kingdom)
War/Conflict: English Civil War
Combatants: Parliamentarians (led by Sir. Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell) vs. Royalists (led by Charles I and Prince Rupert)
Result: Parliamentarian victory. The battle destroyed the main Royalist army, including veteran infantry, artillery, and many arms and ended any real hope of Royalist victory.
44. Battle of Vienna (on 6 lists)
Date: Sept. 12, 1683
Location: Kahlenberg Mountain, near Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire (now Vienna, Austria)
War/Conflict: Great Turkish War; Ottoman–Habsburg wars; Polish–Ottoman War
Combatants: Ottoman Empire & vassal states (led by Kara Mustafa Pasha, et al.) vs. Holy Roman Empire, Hapsburg Monarchy & Poland-Lithuania (led by John III Sobieski, Charles of Lorraine, et al.)
Result: Victory of the Christian Coalition, following which the Ottomans gained no further ground in Europe.
45. Battle of Blenheim (on 8 lists)
Date: Aug. 13, 1704
Location: Blindheim, Höchstädt, Bavaria
War/Conflict: War of the Spanish Succession
Combatants: Grand Alliance (England, Holy Roman Empire, Dutch Republic & Scotland), led by Duke of Marlborough, et al. vs. France & Bavaria (led by Duke of Tallard, et al.)
Result: Grand Alliance victory. Ensured safety of Vienna and prevented collapse of the Grand Alliance.
46. Battle of Poltava (on 10 lists)
Date: July 8, 1709
Location: Poltava, Cossack Hetmanate, Tsardom of Russia (now Ukraine)
War/Conflict: Great Northern War
Combatants: Swedish Empire and Cossack Hetmanate (led by Charles XII, Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld & Carl Gustaf Creutz) vs. Russian Empire, Cossack Hetmanate, and Kalmyk Khanate (led by Peter I, Boris Sheremetev, et al.)
Result: Russian coalition victory. Loss of status for Swedish Empire; beginning of Russian supremacy in eastern Europe.
47. Battle of Plassey (on 5 lists)
Date: June 23, 1757
Location: Plassey (Palashi), on the banks of the Hooghly River in Bengal, India (now Nadia District, West Bengal, India)
War/Conflict: Seven Years’ War
Combatants: Great Britain/British East India Company (led by Robert Clive) vs. Bengal State & France (led by Siraj ud-Daulah, Nawab of Bengal)
Result: British victory. De facto beginning of British East India Company rule in India; creation of Bengal puppet state under Mir Jafar.
48. Battle of the Plains of Abraham (First Battle of Quebec) (on 7 lists)
Date: September 13, 1759
Location: Plains of Abraham, Quebec, New France (now Quebec City, Canada)
War/Conflict: Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War)
Combatants: Great Britain (led by James Wolfe, et al) vs. France and Indigenous Nations (led by Montcalm, et al.)
Result: British victory.
49. Battles of Saratoga (on 6 lists)
Date: September 19 & October 7, 1777
Location: near Saratoga, New York, U.S.
War/Conflict: American Revolutionary War
Combatants: United States (led by Horatio Gates, Benedict Arnold, etc.) vs. Great Britain (led by John Burgoyne, et al.)
Result: American victory. Surrender of Burgoyne. Considered a turning point in the war in favor of the US and led to French intervention on the side of the revolutionaries.
50. Siege of Yorktown (Battle of Yorktown) (on 17 lists)
Date: September-October, 1781
Location: Gloucester and Yorktown, Virginia, U.S.
War/Conflict: American Revolutionary War
Combatants: United States (led by George Washington) vs. Great Britain (led by Charles, Lord Cornwallis)
Result: American victory. Led Britain to eventual peace treaty recognizing U.S. independence.
51. Battle of Valmy (on 7 lists)
Date: Sept. 20, 1792
Location: Between Sainte-Menehould and Valmy in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France.
War/Conflict: War of the First Coalition; French Revolutionary Wars.
Combatants: France (led by Charles François Dumouriez & François Christophe de Kellermann) vs. Prussia, Holy Roman Empire, and Army of Condé (led by Duke of Brunswick, et al)
Result: French victory. Important psychological victory that led the National Convention to end the monarchy and establish a French Republic.
52. Battle of Trafalgar (on 8 lists)
Date: 1805
Location: Atlantic Ocean off the southwest coast of Spain, just west of Cape Trafalgar, near the town of Los Caños de Meca.
War/Conflict: Napoleonic Wars; War of the Third Coalition.
Combatants: United Kingdom (led by Horatio Nelson) vs. France & Spain (led by Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, et al.)
Result: British victory removed the immediate threat of a French invasion of the UK.
53. Battle of Borodino (on 4 lists)
Date: Sept. 7, 1812
Location: Borodino, Russian Empire (now Russia)
War/Conflict: Napoleonic Wars; French Invasion of Russia
Combatants: France, Poland, Italy, Naples, Bavaria, et al. vs. Russia
Result: Disputed/inconclusive. The French pushed back the Russian line, but failed to meet their objectives of destroying the Russian army (which retreated in formation to fight again) or ending the war.
54. Battle of Leipzig (Battle of the Nations) (on 6 lists)
Date: Oct. 16-19, 1813
Location: Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony (now Germany)
War/Conflict: War of the Sixth Coalition; Napoleonic Wars
Combatants: Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, UK, et al. (led by Tsar Alexander I, Karl von Schwarzenberg, Gebhard von Blücher and Swedish Crown Prince Charles John) vs. France & the Rhine Confederation (led by Napoleon Bonaparte)
Result: French defeat. Considered by some the deciding battle of the Napoleonic Wars; led to Napoleon’s forced abdication and exile in April-May 1814.
55. Battle of Waterloo (on 21 lists)
Date: June 18, 1815
Location: Waterloo, Belgium (then Netherlands)
War/Conflict: Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815)
Combatants: Seventh Coalition (UK, Netherlands, Prussia, Hanover, Nassau, Brunswick) (led by Duke of Wellington & Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher) vs. France (led by Napoleon Bonaparte)
Result: Seventh Coalition victory. End of Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon exiled to St. Helena.
56. Battle of Ayacucho (Battle of La Quinua) (on 3 lists)
Date: December 9, 1824
Location: Pampa de Ayacuchon, near Quinua, Spanish Empire (now Peru)
War/Conflict: Peruvian War of Independence
Combatants: Patriots (Peru & Gran Colombia), led by Antonio de Sucre & Agustin Gamarra vs. Royalists/Spanish Empire (led by José de la Serna & José de Canterac)
Result: Victory for the Patriots led to the capitulation of the Royalists and the consolidation of the independence of the Peruvian Republic.
57. Battle of San Jacinto (on 3 lists)
Date: April 21, 1836
Location: Buffalo Bayou & banks of San Jacinto River, Texas (now La Porte & Deer Park, Harris County, Texas)
War/Conflict: Texas Revolution
Combatants: Centralist Republic of Mexico (led by Antonio López de Santa Anna, et al). vs. Republic of Texas (led by Sam Huston, et al.)
Result: Texan victory. The capture of Santa Anna several days later led to the Treaties of Velasco, which de facto recognized the independence of the Texas Republic, although no official armistice was signed until 1843.
58. Battle of Antietam (Battle of Sharpsburg) (on 6 lists)
Date: Sept. 17, 1862
Location: Washington County, near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek
War/Conflict: American Civil War
Combatants: United States (Union/North), led by George B. McClellan vs. Confederacy (South), led by Robert E. Lee
Result: Strategic Union victory but tactically inconclusive. Provided President Lincoln with political capital to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
59. Battle of Gettysburg (on 14 lists)
Date: July 1-3, 1863
Location: Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania
War/Conflict: American Civil War
Combatants: Union/North/USA (led by George Meade) vs. Confederacy/South (led by Robert E. Lee)
Result: Union victory; considered the turning point of the war in favor of the North.
60. Battle of Königgrätz (Battle of Sadowa) (on 4 lists)
Date: July 3, 1866
Location: Sadowa, near Königgrätz on the upper Elbe River, Bohemia, Austrian Empire (now Hradec Králové, Czech Republic)
War/Conflict: Austro-Prussian War
Combatants: Prussia (led by Wilhelm I & Helmuth von Moltke) vs. Austrian Empire & Saxony (led by Ludwig Benedek & Prince Albert)
Result: Prussian victory. The decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War, it led to the Peace of Prague the same year, cleared the path to German unification, and put Prussia in a good position when war with France came in 1870.
61. Battle of Sedan (on 5 lists)
Date: Sept. 1-2, 1870
Location: Sedan, France
War/Conflict: Franco-Prussian War
Combatants: North German Confederation (Prussia & Saxony) & Bavaria (led by Wilhelm I, Otto von Bismarck & Helmuth von Moltke) vs. France (led by Emperor Napoleon III, Patrice de MacMahon & Augusts-Alexandre Ducrot)
Result: German victory, with Napoleon III taken prisoner. Although France continued to fight, the battle effectively decided the war.
62. Battle of Manila Bay (Battle of Cavite) (on 3 lists)
Date: May 1, 1898
Location: Manila Bay,Captaincy General of the Philippines, Spanish Empire (now the Philippines)
War/Conflict: Spanish–American War
Combatants: United States (led by George Dewey) vs. Spain (led by Patricio Montojo)
Result: American victory. Marked the end of the Spanish colonial period in Philippine history.
63. Battle of Tsushima (Naval Battle of the Sea of Japan) (on 9 lists)
Date: May 27-28, 1905
Location: Straits of Tsushima, Korea Strait (between Korea and Japan)
War/Conflict: Russo-Japanese War
Combatants: Japan (led by Tōgō Heihachirō) vs. Russia (led by Zinovy Rozhestvensky)
Result: Japanese victory ended the Russo-Japanese War.
64. First Battle of the Marne (Miracle on the Marne) (on 7 lists)
Date: Sept. 6-10, 1914
Location: Marne River near Brasles, east of Paris, France
War/Conflict: World War I
Combatants: Entente (France & UK), led by Joseph Joffre, et al. vs. Germany (led by Helmuth von Moltke, et al.)
Result: Entente victory. Stopped German advance toward Paris, frustrating Schlieffen Plan. Followed by four years of trench warfare.
65. Battle of Verdun (on 4 lists)
Date: February-December, 1916
Location: on the hills north of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France.
War/Conflict: World War I
Combatants: German Empire (led by Erich von Falkenhayn, et al.) vs. France (led by Joseph Joffre, et al.)
Result: French victory; successfully repulsed a German offensive. The combatants suffered over 700,000 casualties and the fighting destroyed nine French villages. It is estimated that over 10 million unexploded shells (both explosive and chemical) remain in the soil around Verdun.
66. Battle of Warsaw (Miracle on the Vistula) (on 4 lists)
Date: August 15-25, 1920
Location: Warsaw, Poland
War/Conflict: Polish–Soviet War
Combatants: Poland (led by Józef Piłsudski) vs. Soviet Union (led by Mikhail Tukhachevsky)
Result: Polish victory. The loss seriously crippled the Red Army. Poland went on to secure its independence and sign a peace treaty with Russia and Ukraine the same year, securing its borders until 1939.
67. Battle of the Atlantic (on 3 lists)
Dates: September 1939-May 1945; peak activity June 1940-December 1943
Locations: Atlantic Ocean, Rio de la Plata, North Sea, Irish Sea, Labrador Sea, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Outer Banks, Arctic Ocean
War/Conflict: World War II
Combatants: UK, US, USSR, Canada, Brazil, et al. (led by Dudley Pound, Royal E. Ingersoll, et al.) vs. Germany & Italy (led by Erich Raeder, Angelo Parona, et al.)
Result: Allied victory. Although Axis surface-raiders and U-boats caused significant damage to Allied merchant and military ships, the Axis never interrupted supply lines to Britain, failed to mount a comprehensive blockade of Britain, and failed to prevent the build-up of Allied invasion forces.
68. Battle of Britain and the Blitz (on 8 lists)
Date: July 1940-May 1941
Location: Airspace over Britain and English Channel
War/Conflict: World War II
Combatants: UK & Canada (led by Hugh Dowding, et al.) vs. Germany & Italy (led by Hermann Göring, et al.)
Result: British victory. Axis strategic failure.
69. Attack on Pearl Harbor (Hawaii Operation) (on 3 lists)
Date: Dec. 7, 1941
Location: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, U.S.
War/Conflict: World War II
Combatants: United States (led by Husband E. Kimmel & Walter Short) vs. Japan (led by Isoroku Yamamoto & Chūichi Nagumo)
Result: Japanese victory. The Japanese attack destroyed much of the American naval fleet (but not the three aircraft carriers, which were out to sea that day, or the repair yards and fuel depots). The attack was followed by mutual declarations of war by the US and Japan, and shortly thereafter by the US, Germany, and Italy.
70. Battle of Midway (on 8 lists)
Date: June 4-7, 1942
Location: Midway Atoll, North Pacific Ocean
War/Conflict: World War II; Pacific War
Combatants: U.S. (led by Chester Nimitz, et al.) vs. Japan (led by Isoruku Yamamoto, et al.)
Result: American victory. Considered one of the turning points of the Pacific War in favor of the Allies.
71. Battle of Stalingrad (on 19 lists)
Date: July 1942- February 1943
Location: Stalingrad, Russia
War/Conflict: World War II (Eastern Front)
Combatants: USSR (Soviet Union) (led by Georgy Zhukov, etc.) vs. Germany (led by Friedrich Paulus)
Result: Soviet victory. Considered turning point of World War II in favor of the Allies.
72. Battle of Guadalcanal (on 3 lists)
Date: August 7, 1942-February 9, 1943
Location: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
War/Conflict: World War II
Combatants: US, UK, Australia & New Zealand (led by Robert L. Ghormley, Alexander A. Vandegrift, Alexander M. Patch, et al.) vs. Japan (led by Isoruku Yamamoto, Hitoshi Imamura, et al.)
Result: Allied victory. Japan abandoned Guadalcanal to focus on the other Solomon Islands. The campaign marked the Allies’ transition from defensive to offensive operations.
73. Allied Strategic Bombing of Japan (including atomic bombs) (on 4 lists)
Date: April 1942-August 9, 1945, with strategic raids beginning in June 1944
Location: Japanese cities and industrial sites, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
War/Conflict: World War II
Combatants: US, UK, and Republic of China (led by Henry H. Arnold, Kenneth Wolfe, Curtis LeMay, et al.) vs. Japan (led by Hideki Tojo, et al.)
Result: Japan surrendered following the dropping of the second atomic bomb. The air raids destroyed much of Japan’s industrial capacity, killed many civilians, and destroyed large urban areas, rendering many people homeless. The air raids were a factor in the surrender, although experts debate the magnitude of this factor. There is also some evidence that the air raids may have reduced civilian morale. The morality of the bombings has been debated for decades.
74. Normandy Landings & Battle of Normandy (on 11 lists)
Date: June 6, 1944-August 30, 1944
Location: Normandy, France
War/Conflict: World War II
Combatants: US, UK, Canada, Free France, et al. (led by Dwight D. Eisenhower) vs. Germany (led by Gerd von Rundstedt, Erwin Rommel, et al)
Result: Allied victory; led to successful Allied invasion of France.
75. Huaihai Campaign (Battle of Hsupeng) (on 6 lists)
Date: November 6, 1948 – January 10, 1949
Location: Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, China
War/Conflict: Chinese Civil War
Combatants: Republic of China (led by Liu Zhi, et al.) vs. Chinese Communist Party (led by Sun Yu, Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping, et al.)
Result: Communist victory. Allowed Communist to occupy areas north of the Yangtze River. Gave momentum to Communists. Led to Chiang Kai-Shek stepping down as Nationalist president.
76. Battle of Dien Bien Phu (on 5 lists)
Date: March 13-May 7, 1954
Location: Điện Biên Phủ, French Indochina (now Vietnam)
War/Conflict: First Indochina War
Combatants: France & State of Vietnam (led by Christian de Castries) vs. Democratic Republic of Vietnam, including Viet Minh (led by Võ Nguyên Giáp)
Result: Decisive defeat of the French led quickly to the end of the war and signing of the 1954 Geneva Accords, which required French withdrawal and the division of Vietnam into North and South
77. Tet Offensive (including Battle of Saigon and Battle of Huế) (on 9 lists)
Dates: January 30-March 20, 1968
Location: South Vietnam
War/Conflict: Vietnam War
Combatants: South Vietnam & US (led by Cao Văn Viên & William Westmoreland, et al.) vs. Viet Cong & North Vietnam (led by Nguyễn Chí Thanh & Võ Nguyên Giáp, et al.)
Result: Tactical victory for South Vietnam; strategic victory for North Vietnam.