[Anicius Boethius]

I was recently reading The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World by Sir Edward Creasy, and it's addition, Twenty Decisive Battles of the World by Joseph B. Mitchell. I am wondering what you think the most decisive battle in world history was. I realize that Mr. Creasy is quite Anglocentric, with every listed battle involving European forces, and five of them involving the English, so I've included an "Other" category.

I would have to go with Teutonberg Forest. I was the event that completely halted Roman expansion. Had the Roman succeeded, they could have deafeated the German tribes and continued steamrollering north and west, unstoppable...

Edit: Oops...I guess you need to choose a selection from both sections. So pick your favs from ancient and medieval history from the top, and modern history from the bottom.

This post has been edited by Anicius Boethius: 03 March 2006 - 01:38 AM

[Rykster]

If you, as you stated, want to go with decisive, as opposed to say, pivitol, then I say the two bombs dropped on Japan. It was - Game Over.

[Anicius Boethius]

Yeah, I'm just using "decisive" because that is in both book's titles. I guess it should really be "decisive, pivitol, coolest, whatever."

[Rykster]

On pivitol, I would have to vote for Midway.
Thought provoking thread, thanks.

[frogfish]

I'm surprised you don't have any battles from the Punic Wars.

If Hannibal wasn't defeated at the gates of Rome, no one could guess what would happen!

[grendals_bane]

If it was there I would have picked the battle at Isandlwana, as the Zulu's inflicted one of the worst defeats on the British army.

But I chose Teutonberg forest and Waterloo because I'm interested in the Napolionic war.

[dreamhunter]

whatever happenned to the battle of Jeruselam?
Wasn't that a great battle between two huge groups of religions?

[angrycrustacean]

Quote

whatever happenned to the battle of Jeruselam?

Which one in particular?

[science101]

The Romans were responsible for their own demise by simultaneously engaging in battles on several different fronts.

[Mekorig]

Marathon. Of Grecce would fall, you wouldnt have a Rome, and the Persian army would invade all the occidental mediterranean sea. A whole diferent world today.

[OldTimeRadio]

The Battle of Tours.

Had Europe lost that one my name would be Abdul Alhazred.

[Leonardo]

Couldn't vote for any of the above as I consider the Battle of Thermopylae probably the most decisive battle (land or sea) as far as the course of known history is concerned.

Had Xerxes overwhelming forces not been significantly delayed and their morale crushed Greece would most probably have fallen. The rest of Europe could conceivably have been not far behind.

[Bella-Angelique]

Definitely Metaurus.


The course of civilization was determined on the banks of the Metaurus River in 207 BC, when brilliant Roman and Carthaginian generals fought the perfect battle.

By Lee Levin for Military History Magazine source

Battles are won or lost by the side that makes the fewest mistakes. But what if the battle was for mastery of the entire world? And what if the generals on both sides, each brilliant beyond criticism, should sink into obscurity, so that knowledge of the battle itself is known only to the most consummate scholars of military history? Just such a battle was fought on the swollen banks of Italy’s Metaurus River, on a warm, muggy day in late spring, 207 BC. It would determine whether Carthage or Rome would bring the entire ancient world under its control.

[Gatofeo]

What, no D-Day of June, 1944?
If the Allied forces had failed, it would have been a huge propaganda coup for Germany and its allies.
More countries would have sided with the Nazis, believing that Britain and America were done for. The allies would have slunk back to Britain and had to wait another year or more to begin yet another invasion.
In the meatime, this would likely have given Germany enough time to complete its atomic bomb research, to be used against Britain and the U.S.
Germany shared its technology with Japan. The Japanese might also have been given a working atomic bomb.
The result: Europe and the East dominated by facists. Sympathetic countries like Mexico (long a German sympathizer) might have taken the opportunity to recapture some lands of the Southwest, lost to the U.S. in the 1840s.
It is known that Germany was pushing Mexico to invade the U.S., to take pressure off the U.S. war effort in Europe and the Pacific. America might have found itself fighting on three fronts, one of those fronts on homeground.
If America fell, the notion of Democracy would have suffered as well. If the Commonwealth fell, the entire notion of, "One man, one vote" might have died altogether.
The U.S. would have had to sue for peace, and cede lands and resources to the Axis powers, making them even more powerful.
My vote goes to D-Day, though it's not listed.

[draconic chronicler]

Sorry guy. If D Day would have failed it would have only meant Berlin would have been the first Nuclear Parking Lot instead of Hiroshima. And it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people.