All battles
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 378 | Adrianople | Goths under Fritigern against Eastern Rome under Valens | A Roman emperor killed; Goths settled inside the empire | EE |
| 1241 | Mohi | Mongols under Batu and Subutai against Hungary under Béla IV | Mongol envelopment at a river crossing devastated Hungary | EE |
| 1242 | Lake Peipus | Novgorod under Alexander Nevsky against Livonian Order | Stopped the crusading orders' push east into Rus | EE |
| 1380 | Kulikovo | Muscovy under Dmitry Donskoy against Golden Horde under Mamai | First major Russian victory over the Mongols | EE |
| 1410 | Grunwald | Poland and Lithuania under Jogaila and Vytautas against Teutonic Order under Ulrich von Jungingen | Broke the power of the Teutonic Knights | EE |
| 1526 | Mohács | Ottoman Empire under Suleiman I against Hungary under Louis II | Ended the independent Kingdom of Hungary | EE |
| 1683 | Vienna | Holy League under John III Sobieski against Ottoman Empire under Kara Mustafa Pasha | Largest cavalry charge in history; Ottoman advance into Europe ended | EE |
| 1709 | Poltava | Russia under Peter I against Sweden under Charles XII | Ended Sweden as a great power; Russia rose | EE |
| 1812 | Borodino | France under Napoleon against Russia under Mikhail Kutuzov | Bloodiest day of the Napoleonic Wars; led to the retreat from Moscow | EE |
| 1854 | Balaclava | Britain, France, Ottomans under Raglan against Russia under Liprandi | Charge of the Light Brigade; command failure studied since | EE |
| 1877 | Plevna | Russia and Romania against Ottoman Empire under Osman Pasha | Entrenched rifles held off far larger forces for months | EE |
| 1914 | Tannenberg | Germany under Hindenburg and Ludendorff against Russia under Alexander Samsonov | Encirclement using radio intercepts and railways | EE |
| 1916 | Brusilov Offensive | Russia under Aleksei Brusilov against Austria-Hungary and Germany | Broad-front surprise attack nearly knocked Austria out | EE |
| 1942–43 | Stalingrad | Soviet Union under Zhukov, Vasilevsky and Chuikov against Germany under Friedrich Paulus | Encirclement of a German army; turned the war in the east | EE |
| 1943 | Kursk | Soviet Union under Zhukov and Rokossovsky against Germany under Manstein and Model | Largest tank battle; last German offensive in the east | EE |
| 1956 | Budapest | Soviet Union under Ivan Konev against Hungarian revolutionaries | Crushed the Hungarian Revolution | EE |