Top 15 campaigns in Military History

[rilnator]

1. Stalingrad 1942-1943; Possibly the ugliest battle ever. And the one and only turning point in WWII.

Moscow? The Battle of Britain? Kursk? Midway? The Coral Sea? El Alemein?

I don't think you can say there was one and only turing point when so many theatres of war are involved.

 

[Stapel]

Moscow? The Battle of Britain? Kursk? Midway? The Coral Sea? El Alemein?

I don't think you can say there was one and only turing point when so many theatres of war are involved.

Of course, you are right. There is no way to point out one turning point in such a massive event.

Yet, I think it was the most important one. There are dozens of subjective ways to tell why I think so, so that's a bit pointless.

Yet, compared to Stalingrad, there were only a handful of soldiers involved in North Africa or the Battle of Britain. Appearently, the number of troops is one of the subjective factors I look at the most.

 

[rilnator]

Yes but I look at the strategic value of such campaigns as well. Like the Battle of the Atlantic wouln't have had nearly as many men invovled as were on the Eastern front but it was still very important for the allies to win.

 

[wurkwurk]

Jena was important, but hats off to Davout for the even more brilliant victory at Auerstadt

Amen Privatehudson! You indeed know your history!

The warsaw ghetto and the Alamo... no one holding down the fort met a humane fate.

The Alamo was tragic, but no matter how you look at it, 300 men being slaughtered is not the same as 1.8 million at Stalingrad.

Overall, I believe this is a good synopsis of great campaigns, but it IS way to americo-centric. There are far greater campaigns than Sherman's march to the sea, I can tell you that!

I myself believe Napoleon's greatest campagin was his amazing defence of France in 1814. He won 15 battles with 60,000 men, against 300,000 allied men bearing down on his men. His defeat can be mainly attributed to his pride (he refused a peace treaty before after the battle of Hanau) and Marshal Marmont, who lost him the battle of Laon.
That definetley ranks up there with Sherman's march to the sea!!

 

[blindside]

I'm not sure about Saladin, however, insofar as his campaigns were primarily against the already weakened Crusader states.

Well looking at it that way, the Mongols conquered a divided China, a war torn Middle East and a bunch of Turkish mercenaries eager to switch to the winning side. The Romans were fighting a bunch of backward barbarians in Gaul and Germania, and the North was significantly more powerful than the South. I really don't see how any of these were even.

I'm surprised no one mentioned the Arab conquests around 700-800 AD when they produced the second fastest (after Alexander) and one of the largest empires of the time. The Scythians and other horse people led massive campaigns and conquered a great deal.