All battles
25 battles on the list. Linked battles have a full record; the rest are proposed and will be written in turn.
AllWestern & Central EuropeEastern Europe & RussiaMediterranean & Middle EastSouth & Central AsiaEast Asia & PacificSub-Saharan AfricaAmericas
| Date | Battle | Sides | Why it mattered | Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 1046 BCE | Muye | Zhou under King Wu against Shang under King Di Xin | Ended the Shang dynasty and began the Zhou, source of the Mandate of Heaven idea | EA |
| 632 BCE | Chengpu | Jin under Duke Wen against Chu under Cheng Dechen | Made Jin the leading state of the Spring and Autumn period | EA |
| 506 BCE | Boju | Wu under King Helü (Sun Tzu traditionally credited) against Chu | A small state crushed a great one; linked to The Art of War | EA |
| 260 BCE | Changping | Qin under Bai Qi against Zhao under Zhao Kuo | Broke Qin's strongest rival and cleared the way to unifying China | EA |
| 202 BCE | Gaixia | Han under Han Xin and Liu Bang against Chu under Xiang Yu | Founded the Han dynasty | EA |
| 208 | Red Cliffs | Sun Quan and Liu Bei under Zhou Yu against Cao Cao | Blocked the reunification of China and led to the Three Kingdoms | EA |
| 1185 | Dan-no-ura | Minamoto clan under Minamoto no Yoshitsune against Taira clan | Naval battle that ended the Genpei War and led to the shogunate | EA |
| 1274 and 1281 | Mongol invasions of Japan | Kamakura shogunate against Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan | "Both invasions failed; source of the ""kamikaze"" storms" | EA |
| 1363 | Lake Poyang | Ming forces under Zhu Yuanzhang against Han forces under Chen Youliang | One of the largest naval battles ever; led to the Ming dynasty | EA |
| 1575 | Nagashino | Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu against Takeda Katsuyori | Massed musket volleys beat samurai cavalry | EA |
| 1597 | Myeongnyang | Joseon Korea under Yi Sun-sin against Japanese fleet under Tōdō Takatora and others | 13 ships beat a far larger fleet in a narrow strait | EA |
| 1600 | Sekigahara | Eastern army under Tokugawa Ieyasu against Western army under Ishida Mitsunari | Decided who ruled Japan for 250 years | EA |
| 1619 | Sarhū | Jurchens under Nurhaci against Ming China under Yang Hao | Defeated Ming columns one by one; start of the Qing rise | EA |
| 1894 | Yalu River | Japan under Itō Sukeyuki against Qing China under Ding Ruchang | First steam-ironclad fleet battle; Japan became Asia's naval power | EA |
| 1905 | Mukden | Japan under Ōyama Iwao against Russia under Aleksey Kuropatkin | Largest land battle before WWI | EA |
| 1905 | Tsushima | Japan under Tōgō Heihachirō against Russia under Zinovy Rozhestvensky | First modern power beaten by an Asian navy | EA |
| 1937 | Shanghai | China under Chiang Kai-shek against Japan under Iwane Matsui | First major battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War | EA |
| 1942 | Midway | U.S. under Nimitz and Spruance against Japan under Yamamoto and Nagumo | Four Japanese carriers sunk; turned the Pacific war | EA |
| 1944 | Leyte Gulf | U.S. under Halsey and Kinkaid against Japan under Kurita and Ozawa | Largest naval battle in history; end of the Japanese fleet | EA |
| 1945 | Iwo Jima | U.S. under Holland Smith against Japan under Tadamichi Kuribayashi | Defense in depth made attackers pay heavily | EA |
| 1950 | Inchon | UN under Douglas MacArthur against North Korea | Amphibious landing behind the enemy reversed the Korean War | EA |
| 1950 | Chosin Reservoir | U.S. under Oliver P. Smith against China under Song Shilun | Fighting withdrawal in extreme cold | EA |
| 1954 | Dien Bien Phu | Viet Minh under Võ Nguyên Giáp against France under Christian de Castries | Ended French rule in Indochina | EA |
| 1965 | Ia Drang | U.S. under Harold Moore against North Vietnam | First major helicopter air-mobile battle | EA |
| 1968 | Huế | U.S. and South Vietnam against North Vietnam and Viet Cong | Hardest city fight of the Tet Offensive; turned U.S. opinion | EA |