8
INTRODUCTION
Conicts have been an ever-present part of
human history around the globe since the emergence
of the rst civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Warfare has played a key role in shaping our history,
with defeat in battle often precipitating the decline
of cultures, of empires, or more recently, of nation-
states—and victory leading to the acquisition of land,
people, and resources. Battles That Changed History
takes a chronological look at a selection of the world’s
most infamous and inuential wars. Its content spans
more than 3,000 years, from the Battle of Kadesh
of 1274
BCE between the Egyptians and Hittites
(see p.42), to the second multinational coalition
invasion of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq launched in 2003
(see p.247), and examines battles on every continent,
with the exception of Antarctica.
Tactics and techology
Throughout the centuries, emperors, military commanders,
generals, and admirals have faced the same objectives
and challenges: to outmaneuver their enemy, to gather
maximum resources to apply to the other side’s weak point,
to avoid becoming entrapped, and to capitalize on the eects
Introduction
of victory, as well as to mitigate the consequences of
defeat. While modes of transport and weaponry have
changed and adapted over the centuries—the spears
and chariots employed by the Egyptians and Hittites at
the Battle of Kadesh may seem very dierent to the hi-tech
tanks and cruise missiles deployed by the US during the
1991 Desert Storm oensive (see pp.244–45)—but each
has had the power to change history. Critically, too, no battle
sits in isolation. They are always the consequence of other
developments: for example, the ambition of emperors,
politicians, or peoples, of the failure of diplomacy, or of
competition for scarce resources.
Types of battle
Battles That Changed History looks at many dierent
types of campaign both on land and at sea. These include
everything from straightforward eld encounters between
two sides, as seen at the 1187 Battle of Hattin between
the crusaders and Saladin’s Muslim army (see pp.56–57),
to complex maneuvers such as the Battle of Kursk during
World War II, which featured one the world’s largest tank
battles (see pp.224–45). Marine engagements range from
the Spanish Armada Campaign of 1588 (see pp.100–103),
1
SEA BATTLE IN FEUDAL JAPAN
The Battle of Dan-no-ura (see pp.54–55) took place in the 12th century between
warring Japanese clans. Their ships' crews boarded each other and engaged in erce hand-to-hand combat.
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9
INTRODUCTION
tactical innovations, such as Hannibal’s
victory at Cannae in 216
BCE, won by
enveloping the Roman Army’s wings
(see pp.26–27)—a maneuver that
has been repeated in various forms
by dozens of generals since.
Each battle is illustrated with contemporary
or other artworks, paintings, photographs,
and artifacts, while both modern and historical
maps show how the action of certain battles
unfolded. The book explains examples of key weaponry—
from the trebuchets and the earliest cannon, to the
rst engagement of aircraft and tanks in warfare—as
well as proling military and political leaders throughout
history, from Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to
Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Khan, Símon Bolívar,
and George Washington.
With coverage of the backgrounds, events, and
aftermaths of some of the most signicant battles in
world history, this book aims to help anyone understand
the profound political, social, and economic consequences
of these military conicts, and in so doing how kingdoms
and empires have been won and lost on the battleeld.
to the 1905 Battle of Tsushima (see pp.184–87),
which saw a Japanese eet humiliate the
might of Czarist Russia’s navy. This book
also examines the sieges that formed
part of longer campaigns for example,
at the French city of Orléans 1429 during
the Hundred Years’ War (see pp.76–77),
the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman
Turks in 1453 that marked the end of
the Byzantine empire (see pp.78–81),
and the Siege of Vienna in 1683 that
signaled the beginning of the end for
the Ottomans (see pp.118–21).
Landmarks in history
Every entry in the book marks a key moment in
military history, and attempts to outline its context,
actions, and consequences. Some battles led to the fall
of an empire—for example, Hannibal’s defeat at Zama ended
his military conquests (see p.42)—or the creation of one:
Babur’s victory over the Delhi sultan at Panipat in 1526 (see
pp.90–91) resulted in the emergence of the Mughal empire.
Others are included as they mark the end of a long campaign –
for example, World War II’s Battle for Berlin in 1945—or the
beginning of one, such as the German rush for Paris at the
start of the World War I, which was halted at the Battle of
the Marne in 1914 (see p.190–91). Some potentially less
well-known battles mark the rst signicant use of a piece
of military technology—for example, the Battle of Pavia in
1525 saw the earliest outcome of a battle determined by
handheld rearms (see pp.88–89). Others highlight brilliant
War is a matter not so much of arms
as of money, for it is money alone
that makes arms serviceable.
THUCYDIDES, ATHENIAN HISTORIAN, SPEAKS ON WAR IN HIS BOOK HISTORY
OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR,
C.400 BCE
2
ZULU WEAPONS AT THE BATTLE
OF ISANDLWANA
Most Zulu warriors
(see pp.176–77) were armed with
an iklwa, the Zulu renement of the
assegai thrusting spear, and a shield
made of cowhide. The Zulus were
trained in the use and coordination
of this weapons system. They saw
rearms as the weapons of cowards.
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