The five most important battles of all times.

[Archbob]

Which battles(not wars) do you think effected the outcome of human civilization the most?

My 5 are:

1. Greek victory at Salamas
2. Greek Victory at marathon
3. Roman Victory at Zama
4. American victory at saratoga
5. Soviet(or allied) victory at stalingrad

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[Simon Darkshade]

Interesting. No real order here, but:
1.) I would have to agree on Salamis, but the whole Greek victory in that campaign: Thermopylae and Platae as well were important components
2.) Wolfes victory at Quebec in 1759
3.) Charles Martel's Franks defeating the Moors at Tours
4.) Stalingrad of course; probably the pivotal moment of the war
5.)1453 Constantinople: Fall of Byzantines led to flow of knowledge westwards, thus being one factor in the "Renaissance"
6.) Turkish siege of Vienna in mid 1600s(?). Signified the high water mark of Ottoman expansion into Europe. It was a touch and go thing until the relief forces of Polish cavalry under King John Sobieski arrived.
Likewise, the naval victory over the Ottomans at Lepanto in 1632 was important.
Honourable Mentions: Midway 1942 and the battles over the Kokoda Trail in New Guinea - both were arguably representative of the halting of Japanese offensive action.

I know that is 6 or more, but one could not split these.

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[FearlessLeader2]

Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo?

Ever since, the French have been absolutely worthless in war. They have mastered the art of 'showing belly' to any aggressor.

The English stand against the Zulus?

Admittedly, it didn't have much impact off the Dark Continent, but it sure as hell ruined the lives of millions of Africans for generations to follow.

Pearl Harbor-admittedly more of a raid than a battle.

It got America directly involved in WWII. 'Nuff said?

So I guess you skipped a couple. I even considered Charlemaign's victory in 1066, but that wasn't a specific battle.

 

[Loaf Warden]

1066? You mean William the Conqueror's victory at the Battle of Hastings? That was a specific battle, and it certainly was an important one. It created England as we know it and screwed up the English language forever.

Charlemagne was two hundred fifty years dead by then.

 

[FearlessLeader2]

whoops.

 

[GenghisK]

1. Midway.
2. Marathon, indeed.
3. Austerlitz.
4. Dien Bien Phu

5. If I said 1515, nobody excepted ALL French people and Az would know. That's the most famous date that all the French know (and I do say everyone, no exception, surprisingly. Never understood why). So I'll just say Valmy Victory. This unexpected French Rebels victory over the rest of Tory Europe lead to the birth or Democracy. This Democracy then slowly spread over the other Europe countries. If this is not a great battle for mankind...

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Genghis K.

 

[Voldemort]

i think 1st the battle of waterloo
2nd Stalingrad
3rd battle of britain
4th D-day (maybe)
5th battle of the river plate (ok i dont know many and it was first to come to mind and it was newzealand biggest navel battle maybe it needs about 700th)

also the battle of sterling and galipole (cant spell) were big

 

[shadowdale]

No GenghisK I have to disagree with you Austerlitz wasn't all that important a victory. The most important battle of the Napoleon wars was the defeat of the French navy at Trafalga. Had he not been defeated there then he would have invaded England and there was no way in hell they could have beaten him.

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[Simon Darkshade]

Whilst Dien Bien Phu, Gallipoli, and even Isandlwhana in 1879 were important battles where many thousands of brave soldiers lost their lives, did they, in the words of the topic "effect the outcome of human civilization".
IMHO, no. Dien Bien Phu signified the end of the French interest and deployment in Indochina, but this was followed by US and allied engagement, which in the end only resulted in more deaths and a unified Vietnam. Significant, yes. Big tragedy, yes.
But not of destiny shaping impact. (Yet..)
Gallipoli was in the end, an Allied defeat that was a strategic mistake that probably wouldn't of been of that much impact anyway.( Aimed at knocking out Turkey to get supplies to Russia, whic was on verge of revolution anyway) What it did do was turn into an ANZAC legend that helped shape a nation's perception of its fighting men and women.
Isandlwhana marked the last hurrah of the Zulus. British dominance was a foregone conclusion, and although it put the frighteners up 'em, it only made them retreat the other two columns, get reinforcements, and kick butt at Ulundi.
Well, I though I'd add a few cents worth.

In terms of some of the bravest stands in history, I only need say two words: Thermopylae and Cameroon (Foreign Legion in Mehico)

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Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.
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[stormerne]

Two points:

Firstly, we first discussed a similar topic to this while ago, and you all may like to look what was said then. Check out...
http://forums.civfanatics.com/Forum8/HTML/000194.html

Secondly, and to repeat what I wrote then, I would like to mention the battle of Teutoberg in the year 9 CE. Three Roman legions led by Quintilius Varus were destroyed by German hosts led by Arminius (Hermann) of the Cherusci (an Old Saxon tribe) at Teutobergiensis saltus (now Teutobergenwald near Detmold). Varus was militarily inept and so the battle was not "great" by that yardstick. But it was great in the sense that it was a major turning point in history, and his defeat halted Rome's push from the Rhine to the Elbe, turning the tide against any possibile annexation by the Roman Empire of many Germanic tribal lands. Since it was from these same lands that the Angles and Saxons came to colonise England some four and half centuries later, I believe that the battle of Teutoberg was key to our modern history and I'd include it in my five. The other four I'll have to work on...



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[Kev]

1. 2nd Battle against the Death Star (finally the death of the Emperor and Darth Vader)
2. Battle of the Pelennor Fields (The stand of Minas Tirith and the timely arrival of Theoden with the Riders of Rohan and later Aragorn)
3. Battle at Domani's Well (sp? -- Rescue of the Dragon Reborn, first battle involving Ash'amen, Rand demanding fealty from Aes Sedai -- anyone else read the "Wheel of Time" series by Jordan?)
4. King Arthur's failed charge on that French-occupied castle. Had the cops not shown up I would have liked to see those taunting Frenchmen skewered.

(Who hasn't seen Monty Python?)
5. The first battle between pre-humans where that one group of pre-humans used bones as clubs and beat up the leader of the other group. (First use of weapons and a pretty cool obelisk).

Sorry... you all know so much about ACTUAL battles some of which I probably couldn't even tell you who was fighting whom. I had to go with what I knew.

I have trouble defferentiating between fantasy and reality anyway.

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[GenghisK]

BTW, what's Pelenor Fields? I don't know that... And you forgot to mention the final battle against Hades in Saint Seiya

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Genghis K.

 

[Kev]

Originally posted by GenghisK:
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BTW, what's Pelenor Fields? I don't know that... And you forgot to mention the final battle against Hades in Saint Seiya <IMG SRC="http://forums.civfanatics.com/ubb/wink.gif" border=0>

The Battle of the Pelennor Fields was from Tolkien - Return of the King.

And you'll have to forgive me as I do not know the reference to Hades and Saint Seiya.

 

[BlueMonday]

Top five battles:

1. My friend, Brian, punching Vanilla Ice right in the back during a concert. Oh man, you guys should have seen that one. Nothing is more beautiful than watching Vanilla Ice get his a** kicked.
2. "Civ 3 RPG"
3. "Affirmative Action is Racist"
4. Ron Jeremy vs. Tommy Lee Celebrity Death Match.
5. "Something to avoid in Civ 3"

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[Mongol Horde]

The battle of Adrianople (378 A.D.). This defeat of the Roman infantry by a cavalry force (using stirrups and improved saddles) resulted in a revolution in the art of war.

The battle of Crecy (1346 A.D.).The decisive factor was the destruction of the French heavy cavalry by the English longbowmen. The long-term result was the decline of the military power (and therefor the political power) of the armored knights.

The first battle of the Marne (1914). A German victory in this battle would probably have spared Europe the catastrophe of World War I and its aftermath. Unfortunately, however, the "good guys" won this battle!

The battle of Britain (1940). The crucial battle of World War II.

The nuclear attack on Hiroshima (1945). We are still living under that mushroom cloud.

 

[Archbob]

I don't get why no one else except me mentioned the Roman Victory at Zama. That was the decisive victory during the punic wars. Had Carthage won, our heritage now would have been more distincitly carthaginian.

Yes, tours was important. Now the fall of the Byzatine empire was going to happen sooner or later so one certain battle wasn't important.



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[SunTzu]

Battle of Yorktown(revolutionary war)---i think this was the battle that the british surrendered and american gained its independence
Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Verdun(the battle that saved Paris?) I do know some 1million british/french died in the battle
Battle of Ghettysburg(turning poitn in civil war for Union)
Battle of StalinGrad
Battle of El Alamein
Battle of Midway---destroyed 4 japanese carriers
Hiroshima and Nagasaki---introduction of Nuclear Weapons
Battle of Jutland---biggest naval battle with some 130 british ships and 90+ german ships
Battle of the Atlantic----allowed US supplies to Britain and Soviet Union HELPING TO WIN THE WAR

Battle of Coral Sea----stopped japanese advance on Australia
Battle of Berlin----guess!

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[PinkyGen]

I'm going to mention the ones I find important, and yes, I will miss some.

1. Battle of Salmis: Saved Greek Civ.

2. Battle of Hastings. Completely changed England, a new line of kings.

3. The Defeat of the Spanish Armada (circa 1500's): If not for this, we'd all be speaking spanish now, because England's army was in no shape to fight what was then the dominant power.

4. Lexington and Concord: The war started with a rebel win. If the British units had wone, the whole affair would be referred to as the disturbance of 1775. P.S. Any battle in the revolutionary war where Washington escaped with the army intact is key.

5. Battle of Trafalgar: Stopped Napolean from invading England, once again the land army couldn't stop him.

6. Battle of Moscow: Not so much that the Russian's won, but that Napoleon lost his entire army to the weather in his Russian adventure. It proved he was not invincible, and his vassal states rose up against him. Hitler studied Napolean, knew the Russian winter was bad, but proceeded anyway.

7. Gettysburg: Lee's greatest mistake, ordering that charge.

8. First Battle of the Marne: The Germans were executing the Schlieffan plan very well until they detatched a corps to go fight the Russians. The plan called for a hook through the low countries and then to hook around and take Paris. But the hook was too short, and thus France was saved from an initial knockout blow.

9. Battle of Britain: Never was so many owed to so few. If Britain had fallen, Hitler would have had enough time to finish off the Soviets (He would not have needed to invade Yugoslavia and Greece, and thus Barbarossa would have started on time, and they would have reached Moscow before the snow fell.)

10. Battle of Moscow: Advanced German troops saw the spires of the Kremlin. Had they taken Moscow in 1941, Russia would have been kaput. This is of equal importance with Stalingrad, and also to a lesser known battle, Kursk. Kursk is important because it stopped a German offensive before it could get started. The Germans never regained the momentum after that.

 

[GenghisK]

Uh, thought FAL did say 5 (five)only

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Genghis K.

 

[Håkan Eriksson]

The most important SWEDISH battels is this ones, aranged in chronological order:

• The battle of Breitenfeld 1631 - King Gustav II Adolf
• The battle of Lützen 1632 - King Gustav II Adolf
• The battle of Narva 1700 - King Karl XII
• The battle of Poltava 1709 - King Karl XII
• The battle of Fraustadt 1706 - King Karl XII
• The battle of Helsingborg 1710 - General Stenbock

Btw, this is a link to a intersesting site about the military ranks in Sweden, UK and USA: http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/regementen_military%20ranks.htm


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