What are the most important battles in history?

Historians point to a handful of decisive battles that redirected the course of nations, among them Marathon (490 BC), Cannae (216 BC), Tours (732), Lepanto (1571), Waterloo (1815), Stalingrad (1942) and Normandy (1944). This guide covers 32 such turning points from antiquity to the Second World War.

What was the most decisive battle ever fought?

There is no single answer, but battles frequently named as the most decisive include Salamis (480 BC), which saved Greece from Persia, Tours (732), Stalingrad (1942), the turning point of the war in the East, and Normandy (1944). Each is told in full in this guide.

Which was the largest galley battle in history?

The Battle of Lepanto in 1571, where more than 400 galleys of the Holy League and the Ottoman Empire met in the Gulf of Patras, is regarded as the largest galley battle ever fought.

What is the earliest battle covered in this guide?

The earliest is the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, where Athens turned back the first Persian invasion of Greece. The guide runs from Marathon to the Normandy landings of 1944.

Is Echoes of Battle free to read and play?

Yes. Every battle article on the site is free to read, and the Echoes of Battle mobile app is free, currently in testing on Google Play, with English and Polish fully supported.

Battles That Changed the World: 32 decisive days

At a glance
	Battle	Date	Forces	Casualties
1	Marathon	490 BC	~35,000	~6,600
2	Thermopylae	480 BC	~127,000	~24,000
3	Salamis	480 BC	-	-
4	Gaugamela	331 BC	~167,000	~54,000
5	Cannae	216 BC	~136,000	~87,000
6	Zama	202 BC	~93,000	~32,500
7	Actium	31 BC	-	-
8	Tours	732	~45,000	~13,500
9	Hastings	1066	~18,000	~6,000
10	Crécy	1346	~44,000	~12,300
11	Grunwald	1410	~60,000	~19,000
12	Agincourt	1415	~32,000	~10,600
13	Lepanto	1571	~172,000	~53,000
14	Sekigahara	1600	~171,000	~36,000
15	Vienna	1683	~214,000	~34,500
16	Austerlitz	1805	~158,000	~45,000
17	Trafalgar	1805	~47,000	~15,500
18	Jena-Auerstedt	1806	~149,000	~30,000
19	Borodino	1812	~250,000	~80,000
20	Leipzig	1813	~560,000	~92,000
21	Waterloo	1815	~191,000	~65,000
22	Gettysburg	1863	~164,000	~51,000
23	The Marne	1914	~2,000,000	~513,000
24	First Ypres	1914	~1,020,000	~295,000
25	Verdun	1916	~1,000,000	~714,000
26	The Somme	1916	~1,250,000	~1,085,000
27	Battle of Britain	1940	~7,960	~5,847
28	Moscow	1941	~2,250,000	~950,000
29	Midway	1942	~50,000	~3,460
30	El Alamein	1942	~311,000	~50,500
31	Stalingrad	1942	~1,940,000	~1,930,000
32	Normandy (D-Day)	6 Jun 1944	~156,000	~10,000

Quick answer

What battles changed the world?

Battles that changed the world include Marathon, Gaugamela, Cannae, Hastings, Grunwald, Vienna, Waterloo, Gettysburg, Stalingrad and Normandy. Each redirected the course of history, deciding which language a region would speak, which faith it would follow, or which empire would rise or fall. This guide follows 32 such battles across 2,500 years.

History turns on days like these. From the phalanx at Marathon to the beaches of Normandy, these are 32 battles that decided the fate of empires, faiths and nations. Each one is told in full in our Field Dispatch; follow the thread across more than two thousand years.

Antiquity

Marathon, 490 BC. A citizen army wins, and Greek self rule gets its future.

Thermopylae, 480 BC. A lost fight whose legend of the 300 outlived the war.

Salamis, 480 BC. Persia loses its fleet in the strait and its hope of conquering Greece.

Map of the strait of Salamis with Greek and Persian ship positions and movements marked — The Battle of Salamis, 480 BC: Greek and Persian fleets at their starting (A, C) and fighting (B, D) positions in the strait. An 1876 map with ship movements after the US Military Academy history atlas. Public domain

Gaugamela, 331 BC. One afternoon ends two centuries of Persian rule, and Alexander takes Asia.

Cannae, 216 BC. Hannibal's double envelopment, still studied as the model of encirclement.

Zama, 202 BC. Carthage's last army falls to Scipio, and Rome rules the western sea.

Actium, 31 BC. A naval clash that turned the Republic into Augustus's empire.

Baroque painting of ornate galleys with red pennants locked in battle on a choppy sea — The Battle of Actium, 31 BC, painted by Laureys a Castro in 1672: the war galleys of Octavian and of Antony and Cleopatra grapple at close quarters. Public domain

The Middle Ages

Tours, 732. Charles Martel halts the Umayyad advance.

Hastings, 1066. The day England changed hands.

Crécy, 1346. English archers show that mounted knights no longer rule the field.

Grunwald, 1410. Poland and Lithuania break the Teutonic Order's power in a single afternoon.

Late medieval chronicle illustration of armoured knights fighting under banners, one with a black cross — The Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg), 1410, in a Swiss chronicle illustrated by Diebold Schilling the Elder in the late 15th century: Polish and Lithuanian knights clash with the Teutonic Knights under the black cross. Public domain

Agincourt, 1415. Henry V's archers in the mud.

The Early Modern age

Lepanto, 1571. The last great galley battle.

Sekigahara, 1600. The battle that made a shogun.

Vienna, 1683. The charge that turned back the Ottomans.

The Napoleonic Wars

Austerlitz, 1805. Napoleon's tactical masterpiece.

Trafalgar, 1805. Nelson breaks two fleets at sea.

Jena-Auerstedt, 1806. Two battles on one day knock Prussia out and force it to reform.

Borodino, 1812. A slaughter on the road to Moscow that bled Napoleon's army white.

Leipzig, 1813. Europe's allied armies meet in the Battle of the Nations and free Germany.

Waterloo, 1815. Napoleon's final defeat closes his empire and opens a long peace between the powers.

The Industrial age

Gettysburg, 1863. The Confederacy's high-water mark.

The First World War

The Marne, 1914. The miracle that saved Paris.

First Ypres, 1914. The trenches reach the sea.

Verdun, 1916. They shall not pass.

The Somme, 1916. A million casualties, the symbol of the war.

The Second World War

Battle of Britain, 1940. The few hold the sky.

Moscow, 1941. The Wehrmacht's first great defeat.

Midway, 1942. Five minutes that turned the Pacific.

El Alamein, 1942. The end of the beginning.

Stalingrad, 1942. The tide of the war turns.

Normandy, 1944. The longest day on the beaches.

What it means to change the world

Some battles are remembered for their drama; these are remembered for what they left behind. Each one redirected the course of history, deciding which language a region would speak, which faith it would follow, or which empire would rise or fall. Together they trace the turning points of civilisation itself.

Black and white photograph from a landing craft as soldiers wade through surf toward a smoky beach — Into the Jaws of Death: troops of the US 1st Infantry Division wade ashore at Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944. Photograph by Robert F. Sargent, US Coast Guard. Public domain

Every battle below links to its full story. For a broader ranking of history's decisive clashes, see the greatest battles of all time.