Battles in History
The great battles up to 1980: what each commander intended, what happened, and why it turned out as it did.
Each battle has a full record: a summary, the leaders and forces, maps of every phase drawn in the style of a military atlas, an analysis of the tactics, and the sources. Two threads connect them: Tactic and counter pairs a battle where a tactic worked with one that exposed its weakness, and Technology follows the battles where a new weapon changed the result.
Documented battles (3)
Gaugamela draft
A smaller army beat a much larger one by drawing it out of position and striking through the gap at its commander, ending the Persian Empire.
Cannae draft
The classic double envelopment: a smaller army surrounded and destroyed a larger one on open ground, and commanders have studied it ever since.
Crécy draft
Massed longbowmen and dismounted men-at-arms in a strong position destroyed a larger army of mounted knights, showing that the knight's charge could be beaten.
Periods and regions
Documented battles in each period and region; the small number is the battles proposed there.
| Period | WE | EE | ME | SA | EA | AF | AM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P01 before 1000 BCE | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| P02 1000-501 BCE | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| P03 500-1 BCE | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||
| P04 1-500 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| P05 501-1000 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| P06 1001-1250 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| P07 1251-1500 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||
| P08 1501-1600 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| P09 1601-1700 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| P10 1701-1800 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ||
| P11 1801-1850 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| P12 1851-1900 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |
| P13 1901-1925 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||
| P14 1926-1950 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 2 |
| P15 1951-1980 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
WE Western & Central Europe · EE Eastern Europe & Russia · ME Mediterranean & Middle East · SA South & Central Asia · EA East Asia & Pacific · AF Sub-Saharan Africa · AM Americas