Today in Military History: battles fought on this day

The panel at the top of this page lists every battle in our archive fought on today's date, and the battles of the coming week, each linked to a full account with sources. The calendar below covers more than 160 battles.

American anniversaries are marked in the same calendar, from Lexington and Concord and Saratoga to Gettysburg, Pearl Harbor and Iwo Jima. The guide to the greatest battles in American history groups them by war.

The panel at the top of this page shows any battle in our archive whose anniversary falls on today's date in your time zone. If none appears, no major battle we cover was fought on this calendar day.

It is the calendar date, month and day, on which a battle was fought, marked each year regardless of how long ago it happened. This page collects the anniversaries of famous battles.

Use the month-by-month calendar below: for example October holds Hastings (1066) and Lepanto (1571), while June holds Midway (1942) and the start of the Normandy landings (1944).

Many ancient battles are known only to the year, not the exact day, so they cannot be placed on a calendar. We include a battle here only when its precise date is firmly established.

The 'years ago' figure is counted from the battle's year to the current year in your browser; it is a simple count and does not adjust for calendar reforms.