All battles

29 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
c. 1250 BCE	Tollense Valley	Unknown against Unknown	Oldest large battlefield found in Europe; known only from archaeology	WE
52 BCE	Alesia	Rome under Julius Caesar against Gauls under Vercingetorix	Siege inside double walls; completed Rome's conquest of Gaul	WE
9 CE	Teutoburg Forest	Germanic tribes under Arminius against Rome under Varus	Ambush that stopped Rome's expansion beyond the Rhine	WE
451	Catalaunian Plains	Rome and Visigoths under Aetius and Theodoric I against Huns under Attila	Turned back Attila's invasion of Gaul	WE
732	Tours	Franks under Charles Martel against Umayyad Caliphate under Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi	Ended the northward Umayyad advance into Francia	WE
1066	Hastings	Normans under William the Conqueror against Anglo-Saxon England under Harold II	Norman conquest of England	WE
1314	Bannockburn	Scotland under Robert the Bruce against England under Edward II	Secured Scottish independence; spearmen beat knights	WE
1346	Crécy	England under Edward III against France under Philip VI	Longbow defeat of French knights in the Hundred Years' War	WE
1415	Agincourt	England under Henry V against France under Charles d'Albret	Outnumbered English archers beat French men-at-arms in mud	WE
1525	Pavia	Habsburg Spain and the Empire under Lannoy and Pescara against France under Francis I	Arquebusiers beat knights; a French king captured	WE
1588	Spanish Armada	England under Howard and Drake against Spain under Medina Sidonia	Stopped Spain's invasion of England	WE
1631	Breitenfeld	Sweden and Saxony under Gustavus Adolphus against Catholic League under Tilly	Flexible Swedish formations beat the tercio	WE
1643	Rocroi	France under the Duke of Enghien against Spain under Francisco de Melo	Ended the reputation of the Spanish tercio	WE
1645	Naseby	Parliament's New Model Army under Fairfax and Cromwell against Royalists under Charles I and Prince Rupert	Decided the English Civil War	WE
1704	Blenheim	Britain and Austria under Marlborough and Prince Eugene against France and Bavaria under Tallard	First major French defeat in decades; saved Vienna	WE
1757	Leuthen	Prussia under Frederick the Great against Austria under Charles of Lorraine	Classic oblique-order flank attack	WE
1805	Trafalgar	Britain under Horatio Nelson against France and Spain under Villeneuve	Gave Britain control of the sea for a century	WE
1805	Austerlitz	France under Napoleon against Russia and Austria under Kutuzov and the two emperors	Napoleon's masterpiece; ended the Third Coalition	WE
1813	Leipzig	Russia, Prussia, Austria, Sweden against France under Napoleon	Largest battle in Europe before 1914; Napoleon driven from Germany	WE
1815	Waterloo	Britain and Prussia under Wellington and Blücher against France under Napoleon	Ended the Napoleonic Wars	WE
1866	Königgrätz	Prussia under Helmuth von Moltke against Austria under Ludwig von Benedek	Railways and breech-loaders; Prussia led Germany	WE
1870	Sedan	Prussia and German states under Moltke against France under MacMahon and Napoleon III	Captured a French emperor; led to the German Empire	WE
1914	First Marne	France and Britain under Joseph Joffre against Germany under Helmuth von Moltke the Younger	Stopped the German advance on Paris; began trench warfare	WE
1916	Verdun	France under Pétain and Nivelle against Germany under Erich von Falkenhayn	Attrition as a strategy; longest battle of WWI	WE
1916	Jutland	Britain under Jellicoe and Beatty against Germany under Scheer and Hipper	Largest battleship fight; Germany's fleet stayed in port	WE
1940	Sedan 1940	Germany under Guderian and von Rundstedt against France under Charles Huntziger	Armored breakthrough in the Ardennes; France fell in six weeks	WE
1940	Battle of Britain	RAF Fighter Command under Hugh Dowding against Luftwaffe under Hermann Göring	First battle decided in the air; stopped the invasion of Britain	WE
1944	Normandy	Allies under Eisenhower and Montgomery against Germany under Rundstedt and Rommel	Largest amphibious invasion; opened the Western Front	WE
1944–45	The Bulge	U.S. and Britain under Eisenhower and Bradley against Germany under Model and Manteuffel	Last German offensive in the west	WE