Battles are what constitute wars. Still, many of us have not given much thought to what battles means in a war, or the difference between it and a war. In military theory, the battle is part of the operational mobility, which includes planning and putting the strategy and tactics. The English historian John Keegan defines a battle as, “something, which happens between two armies leading to the moral then physical disintegration of one or the other of them.”
In most cases any war could include a battle or a number of battles. The following are the major battles that happened in the history of humanity, they are not specific to a particular country, color, or religion.
10 Adrianople Battle
In 718, Islamic arms intended to invade Constantinople but were intercepted. Their plan was to cross Constantinople to the Balkans in Central Europe. However, Ottomans were not an easy prey. The Islamic armies could not overcome them for a long period until they succeeded in 1453 to do it.
9 Salamis Battle
A battle in the sea is difficult by itself, in 480 BC the Salamis was much harder due to the number of ships that were fighting each other. The Greek and the Persian have used thousands of ships in this battle. In the Salamis Straits the Greeks fooled the Persians to move their ships there. Despite of the abundance of the Persian soldiers they could not make use of it because of the Greek trick.
8 Yorktown Battle
In 1781, one of the important battles in the history of the world happened. What Yorktown did was allowing one of the world’s super powers, which is the United States of America. to come to the light. Fighting Great Britain was hard at first for the Americans, because they were not experienced like the British. However, the Americans were able to acquire the needed experience with time and along with the French help, they did it.
7 Vienna Battle
In 1683, the Ottoman under the leadership of Mustapha Pasha intended to invade the whole Europe. The Polish stopped their surge under King Sobrieski. In Vienna, Mustapha Pasha gave his enemies a chance to escape the blockade when he preferred to take a rest after arriving to the city.
6 Tours Battle
In 732, another battle that included a Muslim party took place. The battle was between the Franks under Charles Martel and the Muslim troops under Abul Rahman Al Ghafiqi. Martel was able to defeat the Muslim troops and make them go back to Spain.
5 Gettysburg Battle
George Meade started to fight in favor of the Union for three consecutive days in the summer of 1863 against the North and treated them badly.
4 Waterloo Battle
In the well-known battle of Waterloo, Napoleon tried in 1815 to regain his power, which he could not. Duke of Wellington intercepted Napoleon’s will in the small town after which the battle was named.
3 Actium Battle
In 31 BC, Cleopatra and Mark Antony could not stand the Octavian forces. After a while, Antony and Cleopatra lost most of their vessels. The Octavian won and the couple escaped to Egypt to commit suicide.
2 Midway Island Battle
In 1942, America raided an air battle with the Japanese as part of World War II. Yamamoto, the admiral who led the battle, wanted to control Midway Island, some miles away from Hawaii.
1 Stalingrad
Between 1942 and 1943, one battle of World War II known as Stalingrad was the reason behind Germany’s defeat. Thousands of Germans were imprisoned and a million and a half were killed and wounded. In the battle, the German losses were so big that they could not attack and started to defend against enemies.
Studying history and the reasons behind discords and specifically battles and wars used to be useful in understanding the world. I intrigue you ,thus, to read and tell us about some of the important battles you know
