Most influential battles in World History (1 Viewer)

[Bull Dozier]

Thermopyle (sp)

I often wonder how much of it is true and what has been turned into propaganda over the generations. 300 vs legions seems like quite an exaggeration.

The Greeks were also greatly outnumbered at the concurrent naval battle of Artemisium. Numbers from those days are bound to be unreliable, but its fairly certain that there was a huge numbers disparity between the two sides.

My information is based on a History channel show, not in depth historical reading, but I thought the other important impact of Thermopyle was that it was the first recorded battle of this magnitude where a democratic people had the right to go to war or not.

Maybe I'm confusing it with another battle.

 

[NCCommish]

Wanted to give an honorable mention to Dien Bien Phu- probably the key battle of the second half of the 20th century.

Which one? The first or the second?

Not sure. Which one was the early 50s?

That was the first one; there was another in 1968 which gets lumped in with the Tet Offensive, which is where I thought you were going.

No- definitely the first one then.

Ho Chi Minh was an interesting guy, I think he actually worked as a pastry chef or something similar at the Waldorf in NYC, and other hotels.

I wonder sometimes, what if he had just gotten a promotion?

I wonder what would have happened if we would have helped when he asked us to help him with the French.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Wanted to give an honorable mention to Dien Bien Phu- probably the key battle of the second half of the 20th century.

Which one? The first or the second?

Not sure. Which one was the early 50s?

That was the first one; there was another in 1968 which gets lumped in with the Tet Offensive, which is where I thought you were going.

No- definitely the first one then.

Ho Chi Minh was an interesting guy, I think he actually worked as a pastry chef or something similar at the Waldorf in NYC, and other hotels.

I wonder sometimes, what if he had just gotten a promotion?

I wonder what would have happened if we would have helped when he asked us to help him with the French.

Yeah really, I agree. Stupid. Throw Mossadegh into that category for that matter.

 

[kentric]

I'd include Stalingrad in there. Also another French/English war in Agincourt.

Agincourt still may be the greatest British victory due to the seemingly certain defeat they faced against overwhelming French numbers. It was important for showing what the longbow was capable of. In the course of history though, it's not that significant. Many of the victories of Henry V were undone not long after his death.ETA I would rank the Siege of Orleans ahead of it. Agincourt was about conquest. If Joan of Arc isn't victorious, the French may lost all independence and been oppressed like the Irish or Scots.

Agincourt substantially changed the way wars were fought. Knights were no longer the successful battle tank it was in the past.

 

[Ilov80s]

In terms of modern American history, Guadalcanal and the Tet Offensive were very important. The U.S. finally was able push back the Japanese and go on the attack after securing Guadalcanal. The loss to the North Vietnamese seemed to a major negative impact on public support for the war and ultimately led to the US losing a war.

Not directly American, but the Battle of Britain ranks right up there. If Hitler could have broken the British will with air raids and invaded successfully, the rest of the European theater would have played out much differently. Germany might not have been penned in from both sides and America might have really struggled to put such large numbers into play in Europe.

 

[Ilov80s]

I'd include Stalingrad in there. Also another French/English war in Agincourt.

Agincourt still may be the greatest British victory due to the seemingly certain defeat they faced against overwhelming French numbers. It was important for showing what the longbow was capable of. In the course of history though, it's not that significant. Many of the victories of Henry V were undone not long after his death.ETA I would rank the Siege of Orleans ahead of it. Agincourt was about conquest. If Joan of Arc isn't victorious, the French may lost all independence and been oppressed like the Irish or Scots.

Agincourt substantially changed the way wars were fought. Knights were no longer the successful battle tank it was in the past.

True, but that would have happened anyway. The English longbow was just a superior weapon. It is a significant battle, for sure. Just in terms of longterm world impact, the result of the battle wasn't that important. In the end, the French win back more than they lost.

 

[NCCommish]

Wanted to give an honorable mention to Dien Bien Phu- probably the key battle of the second half of the 20th century.

Which one? The first or the second?

Not sure. Which one was the early 50s?

That was the first one; there was another in 1968 which gets lumped in with the Tet Offensive, which is where I thought you were going.

No- definitely the first one then.

Ho Chi Minh was an interesting guy, I think he actually worked as a pastry chef or something similar at the Waldorf in NYC, and other hotels.

I wonder sometimes, what if he had just gotten a promotion?

I wonder what would have happened if we would have helped when he asked us to help him with the French.

Yeah really, I agree. Stupid. Throw Mossadegh into that category for that matter.

True

 

[Redwes25]

In terms of modern American history, Guadalcanal and the Tet Offensive were very important. The U.S. finally was able push back the Japanese and go on the attack after securing Guadalcanal. The loss to the North Vietnamese seemed to a major negative impact on public support for the war and ultimately led to the US losing a war.

Not directly American, but the Battle of Britain ranks right up there. If Hitler could have broken the British will with air raids and invaded successfully, the rest of the European theater would have played out much differently. Germany might not have been penned in from both sides and America might have really struggled to put such large numbers into play in Europe.

We won that battle on the field. The publics perception of the battle clearly still impacts things and it is fascinating that a battle that was a tactical victory for the US ended up as a strategic victory for the VC and North Vietnam since it changed public perception of the war in the US as unwinnable.

 

[Ilov80s]

In terms of modern American history, Guadalcanal and the Tet Offensive were very important. The U.S. finally was able push back the Japanese and go on the attack after securing Guadalcanal. The loss to the North Vietnamese seemed to a major negative impact on public support for the war and ultimately led to the US losing a war.

Not directly American, but the Battle of Britain ranks right up there. If Hitler could have broken the British will with air raids and invaded successfully, the rest of the European theater would have played out much differently. Germany might not have been penned in from both sides and America might have really struggled to put such large numbers into play in Europe.

We won that battle on the field. The publics perception of the battle clearly still impacts things and it is fascinating that a battle that was a tactical victory for the US ended up as a strategic victory for the VC and North Vietnam since it changed public perception of the war in the US as unwinnable.

You are right, both sides won and lost, but in different ways.

 

[DiStefano]

I'd include Stalingrad in there. Also another French/English war in Agincourt.

Agincourt still may be the greatest British victory due to the seemingly certain defeat they faced against overwhelming French numbers. It was important for showing what the longbow was capable of. In the course of history though, it's not that significant. Many of the victories of Henry V were undone not long after his death.ETA I would rank the Siege of Orleans ahead of it. Agincourt was about conquest. If Joan of Arc isn't victorious, the French may lost all independence and been oppressed like the Irish or Scots.

Agincourt substantially changed the way wars were fought. Knights were no longer the successful battle tank it was in the past.

Well, not quite. Agincourt was merely the third in a series of battles in which the English longbow proved its superiority to chain mail (because it could penetrate it, thus rendering that defensive armament somewhat useless). The two previous battles were Crecy and Poitiers; which essentially had the same result. Although we tend to think of the knight as encased in a tube of steel, the reality is that chain mail was the armor most commonly used because it did not rob the user of flexibility and mobility. Additionally, the longbow tended to deprive the mounted knight of the support troops which followed alongside.