20 most decisive battles of the world.

[AUSTERLITZ]

I made a thread on greatest tactical battles,so i meant to finish this on 20 'decisive battles'.They are judged solely on impact on world history.
On no particular order,i did this on chronological order.[from oldest to newest]

1.marathon. 490 BC

Survival of athens and its subsequent impact on greek and civilization as a whole.

2.Salamis 480 BC

Ensures survival of greek civilization.

3.Metauraus river 207 BC

The key battle of the second punic war,ensures roman victory and survival and then subsequent domination of the world.

4.Teutoborg forest 9 AD

Ensures survival of teutonic/german identity,also the seeds of the fall of rome..from the forest of germania the barbarian tribes would later arise to bring about the downfall of rome.

5.Yarmouk 636

Brings islam and its armies into the world scene as a major player.Also conquest of egypt and the middle east which till today remain muslim.

6.Tours poitiers 732

Ensures the halt of islamic expansion into europe.

7.Hastings 1066

Norman invasion of engalnd and the subsequent impact on english and world history as a consequence.

8.Ain jalut 1260

Ensures islam as the dominant religion of the middle east and north africa and prevents mongol expansion into north africa.

9.Orleans 1429

French victory under joan of arc ensures french identity independent from england.A joint french anglo state would probably conquer all of europe.

10.Vienna 1529

Ensures survival of habsburgs and defeat of suleiman's forces preventing further great expansion of ottomans in mainland europe,ottoman empire would gradually decline.


10.Spanish armada 1588

Ensures british identity and beginning of british naval supremacy.

11.Blenheim 1704

Ensures survival of habsburg empire and prevents french domination of europe under louis xiv.

12.Pultava 1709

The seeds of modern russia and russia as a great power...here in lies the downfall of napoleon and hitler...the spread of communism and russia's impact on the world as a whole.Also decline of sweden.

13.Saratoga 1777

The key battle in the amercan war of independence and america's subsequent impact on the world.

14.Valmy 1792

Survival of revolutionary france and the ideals of liberty and equality,and their great impact on european society in the next century.

15.Leipzig 1813

The destruction of napoleon's hold on europe.

16.Konnigratz 1866

The seeds of a united german state at the heart of europe.And the 2 world wars that follow.

17.Marne 1914

Survival of france in ww1 and europe saved from german hegemony.

18.Britain 1940

Survival of britain in ww2 and the ultimate cause of a german defeat on 2 fronts.

19.Moscow 1941

Survival of russia in the desperate days of 1941.

20.Stalingrad 1942.

The survival of russia in 1942 and seeds of eventual german defeat.


Discuss

 

[Dalai Lama]

Stalingrad... I remember watching that film: Enemy at the Gates. Absolutely brilliant! Have you seen it? it's not really a historically accurate one but nevertheless a great film. In my top 50.

 

[third eye]

In S Asia I would rate Battle of Plassey followed by those at Panipat to be the most decisive battles which impacted the history of the Sub Continent.

 

[Developereo]

Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Megiddo_(15th_century_BC))

Subjugation of the Canaanites by the Egyptian Pharoah Thutmose III: if this hadn't happened, the Hebrews might have perished in Egypt and the Abrahamic religions might not be present today.

 

[Water Car Engineer]

The key battle of the second punic war,ensures roman victory and survival and then subsequent domination of the world.

????

 

[pmukherjee]

Stalingrad... I remember watching that film: Enemy at the Gates. Absolutely brilliant! Have you seen it? it's not really a historically accurate one but nevertheless a great film. In my top 50.

The battle of Stalingrad is an awesome tribute to the sheer will power and spirit of survival of the Russian people against all odds. If one country is to be credited for the defeat of Germany in WWII, it was Russia or rather the USSR as it was known then. The turning point was definitely the Battle of Stalingrad. The encirclement and destruction of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad along with other setbacks in Russia really broke the back of Germany which then was in no position to contest either the Allied advance from the West or the Russian advance from the East.

In the Enemy at the Gates, only one facet of the battle at Stalingrad, that is, the extensive use of snipers by both sides, was dealt with.

 

[IndianArmy]

Battle of Imai Arasan 23rd Pulikesi is the Most decisive battle ever to have taken place.... A video of it

 

[pmukherjee]

In S Asia I would rate Battle of Plassey followed by those at Panipat to be the most decisive battles which impacted the history of the Sub Continent.

I think so, had it not been for Mir Jaffer, we would not be posting or commenting in English now.

 

[KS]

My choices in the context of impact on Indian history would be:

• Conquest of Sind by MBQ.
• Battle of Tarain between Prithviraj Chauhan and Mohammed Ghori leading to the Delhi Sultanates
• BattleS of Panipat and among them specifically the Second Battle of Panipat between Hemchandra Vikramaditya and Mughal forces
• Battle of Plassey sowing the seeds of English rule

 

[blackops]

Even battle of buldge was quite a good one it wont top the list though they realy started to push the alied forces back if they eere given good suplies the war may have gone for a longer period

 

[A1Kaid]

Battle at Constantinople, Ottoman Turks vs Byzantine Empire, 1453. Result: Ottomans capture Constantinople, end of the Byzantine (Roman-Greek) Empire, Ottoman Turkish supremacy and reign over Eastern Europe for hundreds of years. Istanbul remains in Turkish hands. Fulfillment of Muhammad SAW prophecy.


Battle of Afghanistan, Soviet Union vs Afghans, Mujahideen, Pakistan/ISI, and others, 1979-1989. Result: Collapse of the Soviet Union, Liberation of Eastern European countries, German reunification, birth of CARs Turkic Republics, destabilization in Afghanistan, Taliban movement....

Siege of Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate vs Mongols, 1258. Result: Major defeat to Abbasid caliphate, Baghdad center of science and knowledge destroyed, crucial setback to Muslim science and Arab world. Some Mongols began to convert to Islam. After clashing with Muslim armies Mongols faced defeat and Mongol empire waning...


These are some that come to mind.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Plassey only among the listed can be said to be top 20 material...but not here because by that time india was divided and technologically backward,if the brits hadn't done other europeans eventually would have.

Now constantinople is only a symbolic victory of a already dead empire reduced to its capital,the key battle sthat crushed byzantine power were manzikert and yarmouk.

This is a popular misconception that battle of afganisthan destroyed the soviet union,it did play its part in increasing dissent and affecting the economy but ussr mostly collapsed due to failure of agricultural sector,inability to keep up in the arms race creating econmic breakdown and breakdown of the artificial institutions in place to maintain its staellites against popular will.

@baghdad The muslims recovered so not decisive...more decisive is ain jalut.

Buldge is a no show by that time germany was defeated,the reason why d day is not here.By 1944 russia alone could defeat germany.

Battles of panipat and indian battles are usually of lesser decisive impact as their impact was contained within the subcontinent and was not global.The effects must be global.

 

[IND151]

following battles left great impact on history of India and world.
1. battle of salher- approximately 40,000 Marathas defeated 60,000 mughals. this battle gave confidence to Marathas that they can defeat massive mughal forces in open ground.
2. battle of kursk- in this battle red army defeated German army and initiative was passed from German forces to red army.

 

[Whiplash]

We need to include the battle of britain. In an otherwise flawless campaign this was Germany's first major defeat, laying the seeds for the eventual nazi surrender.

 

[Time Assassin]

I would have added in the 3rd Crusade, which showed the rise of Knight Templars and the Hashshasheens two of history greatest warriors. Plus that battle with the 300 Spartans fighting millions of Persians.