All battles

31 battles on the list. Linked battles have a full record; the rest are proposed and will be written in turn.

All Western & Central Europe Eastern Europe & Russia Mediterranean & Middle East South & Central Asia East Asia & Pacific Sub-Saharan Africa Americas

Date	Battle	Sides	Why it mattered	Region
1457 BCE	Megiddo	Egypt under Thutmose III against Canaanite coalition under the King of Kadesh	First battle recorded in detail; opened Egypt's empire in the Levant	ME
1274 BCE	Kadesh	Egypt under Ramesses II against Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II	Largest chariot battle known; led to the first surviving peace treaty	ME
547 BCE	Thymbra	Persia under Cyrus II against Lydia under Croesus	Opened Anatolia to Persia and helped create the Achaemenid Empire	ME
490 BCE	Marathon	Athens and Plataea under Miltiades against Persia under Datis and Artaphernes	Stopped the first Persian invasion of Greece	ME
480 BCE	Thermopylae	Greek allies under Leonidas I against Persia under Xerxes I	Famous delaying stand at a narrow pass	ME
480 BCE	Salamis	Greek fleet under Themistocles against Persian fleet under Xerxes I	Naval victory that turned back the Persian invasion	ME
371 BCE	Leuctra	Thebes under Epaminondas against Sparta under Cleombrotus I	Deep oblique attack broke Spartan military supremacy	ME
331 BCE	Gaugamela	Macedon under Alexander the Great against Persia under Darius III	Decided the fall of the Persian Empire	ME
216 BCE	Cannae	Carthage under Hannibal against Rome under Varro and Paullus	The model double envelopment, studied ever since	ME
202 BCE	Zama	Rome under Scipio Africanus against Carthage under Hannibal	Ended the Second Punic War; Rome became master of the western Mediterranean	ME
168 BCE	Pydna	Rome under Aemilius Paullus against Macedon under Perseus	Roman legion beat the Macedonian phalanx on rough ground	ME
53 BCE	Carrhae	Parthia under Surena against Rome under Crassus	Horse archers destroyed a Roman army; set Rome's eastern limit	ME
31 BCE	Actium	Octavian's fleet under Agrippa against Mark Antony and Cleopatra	Made Octavian sole ruler and ended the Roman Republic	ME
636	Yarmouk	Rashidun Caliphate under Khalid ibn al-Walid against Byzantium under Vahan	Byzantium lost Syria; opened the early Islamic conquests	ME
636	al-Qadisiyyah	Rashidun Caliphate under Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas against Sasanian Persia under Rostam Farrokhzad	Began the Muslim conquest of Persia	ME
1071	Manzikert	Seljuk Turks under Alp Arslan against Byzantium under Romanos IV	Opened Anatolia to Turkish settlement and led to the Crusades	ME
1187	Hattin	Ayyubids under Saladin against Kingdom of Jerusalem under Guy of Lusignan	Destroyed the Crusader field army; Jerusalem fell	ME
1260	Ain Jalut	Mamluks under Qutuz and Baibars against Mongols under Kitbuqa	First major defeat of the Mongols; saved Egypt	ME
1453	Fall of Constantinople	Ottoman Empire under Mehmed II against Byzantium under Constantine XI	Ended the Byzantine Empire; siege guns beat ancient walls	ME
1514	Chaldiran	Ottoman Empire under Selim I against Safavid Persia under Ismail I	Guns and Janissaries beat cavalry; fixed the Ottoman-Persian border	ME
1571	Lepanto	Holy League under Don John of Austria against Ottoman fleet under Ali Pasha	Last great galley battle; checked Ottoman naval power	ME
1578	Alcácer Quibir	Saadi Morocco under Abd al-Malik against Portugal under Sebastian I	Portuguese king killed; led to Spain taking Portugal's crown	ME
1798	Battle of the Pyramids	France under Napoleon Bonaparte against Mamluks under Murad Bey	Divisional squares beat Mamluk cavalry	ME
1798	The Nile	Britain under Horatio Nelson against France under François-Paul Brueys	Stranded Napoleon's army in Egypt	ME
1827	Navarino	Britain, France, Russia under Codrington against Ottoman and Egyptian fleet	Last battle of sailing ships; secured Greek independence	ME
1915	Gallipoli	Ottoman Empire under Liman von Sanders and Mustafa Kemal against Britain, France, ANZAC under Ian Hamilton	Failed amphibious landing; made Atatürk's name	ME
1918	Megiddo	Britain under Edmund Allenby against Ottoman Empire under Liman von Sanders	Breakthrough and cavalry pursuit; ended Ottoman rule in the Levant	ME
1942	Second El Alamein	Britain under Bernard Montgomery against Germany and Italy under Erwin Rommel	Ended the Axis threat to Egypt and Suez	ME
1956	Suez	Britain, France, Israel against Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser	Military success, political failure; end of British imperial power	ME
1967	Six-Day War (Sinai)	Israel under Moshe Dayan and Yitzhak Rabin against Egypt, Jordan, Syria	Surprise air strike then rapid armored advance	ME
1973	Chinese Farm	Israel under Ariel Sharon and Avraham Adan against Egypt under Saad el-Shazly	Crossing of the Suez Canal reversed the Yom Kippur War	ME