Historical Battles
Historical Battles List – “War does not determine who is right – only who is left”
A pearl of wisdom from Bertrand Russell, but it doesn’t look like wars are going to disappear anytime soon. More the opposite sadly. This chronological list of historical battles covers just about all the major important military engagements in recorded history.
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| Historical Battles | Where | When | Attackers | Outcome | Defenders |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marathon | Greece | 490 BC | Athenians and Plataeans | Victory | Persian invaders |
| Issus | Turkey | 333 BC | Macedonians under Alexander the Great | Victory | Persian / minions under the command of Darius III. |
| Cannae | Apulia | 216 BC | 40,000 Carthaginians (†8000) under Hannibal | Victory | 80,000 Romans († 70,000) under Lucius Paullus |
| Teutoburg Forest | Germany | 9 AD | Germans under Arminius | Victory | 3 Roman legions under Varus (Varus Battle) |
| Lechfeld | Germany | 955 | Hungarian troops under Bulcsú | Defeat | Saxony / Franconia / Bavaria under Otto I. / Red Konrad |
| Hastings | England | 1066 | 9000 Normans under Duke William II | Victory | 10,000 Anglo-Saxons under King Harold II |
| Field of Blackbirds | Kosovo | 1389 | Ca. 20,000 Christian Serbs/Bosnians led by Prince Lazar and Vuk Brankovic | Defeat | 35,000 Turks (Ottoman Empire) under Sultan Murad I, Sultan Bayezid I and Yakub. |
| Tannenberg | Poland | 1410 | 27,000 German troops under Grand Master Jungingen | Defeat | 39,000 Poles / Lithuanians under Władysław II Jagiello. |
| Orléans | France | 1428/29 | French under Joan of Arc | Victory | English / Burgundians under the Earl of Salisbury |
| Constantinople (Istanbul) | Turkey | 1453 | Byzantines under Emperor Constantine XI | Defeat | 50,000 Turks under Sultan Mehmed II |
| Towton (War of the Roses) | England | 1461 | 40,000 House of York under Edward IV | Victory | 60,000 of the House of Lancaster under Henry Beaufort |
| Hohenlinden | Germany | 1800 | 100,000 French under Moreau and Ney | Victory | 120,000 Austrians under John of Austria |
| Austerlitz | Czech Republic | 1805 | 73,000 French (139 guns) under Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte | Victory | 85,000 Russians and Austrians (278 guns) under Tsar Alexander I and Emperor Francis II |
| Trafalgar | England | 1805 | 27 British ships under Nelson | Victory | 33 Spanish and French ships under Villeneuve |
| Battle of Leipzig | Germany | 1813 | 210,000 Frenchmen and 700 guns under Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte | Defeat | 310,000 Prussians, Austrians and Russians under Prince Schwarzenberg and Alexander I. |
| Hanau | Germany | 1813 | 60,000 French under Napoleon I. | Victory | 45,000 Bavarians / Austrians under Carl von Wrede |
| Waterloo | Belgium | 1815 | 72,000 Frenchmen with 246 guns under Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte | Defeat | 68,000 English / Dutch (156 guns) and 31,000 Prussians under Wellington and Blücher. |
| Fredericksburg | USA | 1862 | 72,000 Confederates under General Lee | Victory | 100,000 Union army soldiers under General Burnside |
| Gettysburg | USA | 1863 | 75,000 Confederates under General Lee | Defeat | Union Army (88,000) under General Meade |
| The Battle of Königgrätz / Hradec Kralove | Czech Republic | 1866 | 278,000 Prussians under Chief of Staff Moltke | Victory | 271,000 Austrians under Benedek |
| Sedan | France | 1870 | 120,000 Frenchmen with 564 guns | Defeat | 200,000 Germans with 744 guns under Moltke |
| Little Big Horn River | USA | 1876 | Cheyenne, Dakota, and Arapaho under the chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse | Victory | Cavalry Regiment under General Custer |
| Tannenberg | Poland | 1914 | 300,000 Germans under General Hindenburg | Victory | 2nd Russian Army (300,000) under Samsonov |
| Verdun | France | 1916 | 75 French divisions (†167,000) under Joffre, Pétain and Nivelle | Draw | 50 German divisions (†150,000) under Falkenhayn |
| Skagerrak (at sea) | 1916 | 149 English ships under Jellicoe and Beatty | Draw | 99 German ships under Admiral Scheer and Hipper | |
| Battle of Britain | England | 1940 | 2,300 aircraft of the German Luftwaffe | Defeat | 800 aircraft of the Royal Air Force |
| Pearl Harbor | Hawaii | 1941 | 4,000 American soldiers (on 10 ships and 261 aircraft) | Died | Surprise attack by 360 Japanese aircraft under Nagumo |
| Midway (at sea) | 1942 | 3 US aircraft carriers / 50 ships | Victory | Four Japanese aircraft carriers and 150 ships | |
| Stalingrad | Russia | 1942 | 850,000 German / Italian / Romanian soldiers under Paul and von Manstein | Defeat | 1,700,000 Soviet soldiers under Zhukov, Timoshenko and Vasilevsky |
| Ardennes | Belgium | 1944 | 250,000 German soldiers under Rundstedt | Defeat | 1st and 3rd US Army (400,000) under Eisenhower |
| Battle of Hue | Vietnam | 1968 | 10,000 US Americans / South Vietnamese | Victory | 10,000 North Vietnamese |
| Kuwait and Iraq | 1991 | 490,000 UNO-soldiers under General Schwarzkopf | Victory | 550,000 Iraqi soldiers during the Gulf War | |
| Around Baghdad | Iraq | 2003 | 45,000 Iraqis under Saddam Hussein | Defeat | 300,000 Americans under Commander Franks |
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- Spotted a mistake or perhaps a suggestion to improve our list of historical battles? Please add your comments below…
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