Battles in History

Technology and the battlefield

How new technology changed battles, and the battles where it made the difference. Each record also has a "Technology" field. "Decisive" means the technology is the main reason for the result; otherwise it mattered but did not decide it.

Technology and the battlefield

Horses, chariots and elephants

Year	Battle	Technology	How it made the difference	Decisive
1457 BCE	B001 Megiddo	Light war chariot	Egyptian chariot army scatters the Canaanite coalition	yes
1274 BCE	B002 Kadesh	Chariot mass (heavy vs light)	Largest chariot battle known; Hittite heavy chariots nearly win	partly
331 BCE	B013 Gaugamela	Scythed chariots fail; shock cavalry	Chariots neutralised by javelin men and open lanes; cavalry wedge decides	yes
326 BCE	B014 Hydaspes	War elephants	Elephants panic both armies; Alexander wins by combined arms	partly
53 BCE	B021 Carrhae	Horse archers with camel resupply	Parthian arrows never run out; legions shot down	yes
378	B026 Adrianople	Heavy cavalry against the legion	Gothic cavalry rides down the Roman infantry	yes
1071	B033 Manzikert	Horse archers	Seljuk mounted archers wear down the Byzantine army	partly
1241	B038 Mohi	Mongol horse archers and siege engines	Engines clear the bridge; the Hungarian camp is surrounded and shot down	yes

Infantry weapons

Year	Battle	Technology	How it made the difference	Decisive
490 BCE	B009 Marathon	Hoplite heavy infantry	Armoured Greek spearmen beat lighter Persian infantry	yes
1346	B043 Crécy	English longbow	Longbowmen destroy repeated French cavalry charges	yes
1415	B047 Agincourt	Longbow and ground	Arrows and mud stop the French men-at-arms	yes
1525	B051 Pavia	Arquebus	Spanish arquebusiers shoot down the French knights	yes
1532	B054 Cajamarca	Steel, horses and guns	Tiny Spanish force captures the Inca emperor (disease had already weakened the empire)	yes
1575	B056 Nagashino	Massed arquebus volleys	Oda Nobunaga's gunners behind stockades break the Takeda cavalry	yes
1631	B063 Breitenfeld	Salvo fire and light guns	Swedish combined arms beat the Imperial tercios	yes
1863	B089 Gettysburg	Rifled musket	Long-range rifles make frontal assaults (Pickett's Charge) suicidal	yes
1866	B091 Königgrätz	Breech-loading needle gun (and railways)	Prussians fire lying down, three times as fast as the Austrians	yes
1898	B097 Omdurman	Maxim machine gun	Mahdist charges destroyed at long range	yes
1973	B134 Chinese Farm	Anti-tank guided missiles	Egyptian infantry missiles destroy Israeli tank attacks	yes

Artillery and siege

Year	Battle	Technology	How it made the difference	Decisive
52 BCE	B022 Alesia	Siege engineering	Caesar's double ring of works holds off the relief army	yes
1274	B041 Mongol invasions of Japan	Gunpowder bombs	First recorded battlefield explosives in Japan; storms decide	partly
1453	B048 Constantinople	Great bombards	Giant cannon breach the Theodosian walls	yes
1514	B049 Chaldiran	Field artillery and muskets	Ottoman guns behind wagons break the Safavid cavalry	yes
1526	B052 First Panipat	Field guns and matchlocks	Babur's guns and wagon line defeat a far larger army and its elephants	yes
1870	B092 Sedan	Steel breech-loading artillery	Krupp guns ring and shell the trapped French army	yes
1916	B104 Verdun	Industrial artillery	Artillery causes most of the losses; no breakthrough	partly

Warships

Year	Battle	Technology	How it made the difference	Decisive
480 BCE	B011 Salamis	Trireme ram	Greek triremes ram the crowded Persian fleet in the narrows	yes
1571	B055 Lepanto	Galleasses with cannon	Venetian gun-galleys shatter the Ottoman line	yes
1588	B058 Spanish Armada	Broadside gunnery and fireships	English stand-off gunnery and fireships break the Armada's formation	yes
1905	B099 Tsushima	Battleships, wireless and fire control	Japanese gunnery sinks the Russian fleet	yes
1916	B105 Jutland	Dreadnoughts	Largest battleship clash; British fleet keeps control of the sea	partly
1942	B114 Midway	Aircraft carriers and codebreaking	Carrier aircraft sink four Japanese carriers; codebreakers set the ambush	yes

Armour and mobility

Year	Battle	Technology	How it made the difference	Decisive
1940	B111 Sedan 1940	Tanks, dive bombers and radio	Panzers break the French line in days	yes
1943	B117 Kursk	Tanks and anti-tank defences in depth	Soviet defence in depth wears down the German armour	yes
1965	B130 Ia Drang	Helicopter air-mobility	First large battle of helicopter-borne infantry	partly
1967	B131 Six-Day War (Sinai)	Pre-emptive air strike	Israeli air force destroys the Egyptian air force on the ground	yes

Radio, radar and codes

Year	Battle	Technology	How it made the difference	Decisive
1914	B100 Tannenberg	Radio (intercepted)	Uncoded Russian radio orders reveal the plan	yes
1940	B112 Battle of Britain	Radar and ground control	Radar lets few fighters meet each raid	yes

Gaps (no battle on the list yet)

Stirrup and the armoured knight (the Tours debate is disputed).
Crossbow; pike squares (Swiss); early tanks (1916-18); nuclear age (outside battles up to 1980).