Decisive Battles: Medieval Era

Quote: "A generation which ignores history has no past and no future." Robert A. Heinlein

 

Originally Posted by Stratego

1. Battle of Tricamarum 533
Led to Byzantine rule over entire Mediterranean !

2. Battle of Yarmouk 636
First wave of Islamic conquest and loss of Middle East to the western world!

3. Battle of Nihawand 642
Fall of Persian Empire and Islamic conquest East !

4. Siege of Constantinople 717-718
Byzantium and Balkan saved from Muslim conquest !

5. Battle of Tours 732
Western Europe saved from Islamic advance and birth of mighty Carolingian power !

6. Battle on the Lechveld 955
Ends the advance of Magyar advance in Western Europe and birth of German identity !

7. Battle of Kleidon 1014
Ended the 500 year old power struggle between the Bulgarian Empire and Byzantium !

8. Battle of Hastings 1066
Led to the century old conflict between France and England from the 12th century on…

9. Battle of Manzikert 1071
Byzantium loses Anatolian territory and Muslims advance further west ! Beginning of the end for Byzantium…

10. Fall of Jerusalem 1099
Western world escapes from the Dark Ages !!!!

11. Battle of Hattin 1187
Holy land conquered by Muslims which would lead to another 5 “crusades”…

12. Battle of Jaffa 1192
Last attempt to regain Holy land and example of growing strife between Catholic Church and monarchs of Europe…
13. Battle of Taraori 1192
Leads to the Delhi Sultanate and first Muslim state in India…

14. Sack of Constantinople 1204
Shows weakness of Byzantium + Crusades from the non are not more than pillagery and conquest + Birth of Venetian and Genuese supremacy in Mediterranean…

15. Battle of Leignitz 1241
Near end of Western civilization !

16. Battle of Lake Peipus 1242
Led to the final split between Christianity and Orthodoxy ! Russian nation becomes estranged from the West !!!!

17. Battle of Ain Jainut 1260
First decisive defeat of Mongols, thereby ending their conquests westward !

18. Battle on the Marchfeld 1278
Habsburgs take control of Central Europe and birth of their dominant role over the continent till 1918…

19. Battle of Bannockburn 1314
Scotland remains independent kingdom…

20. Battle of Crecy 1346
Beginning of the end of Chivalry and shows importance of the longbow…

21. Battle of Sempach 1386
Swiss independence is secured and Swiss are from then on much wanted mercenaries…

22. Battle of Tannenberg 1410
Leads to Polish-Lithuanian superpower and end of Northern Crusades !!!!

23. Battle of Patay 1429
First decisive French victory over the English on the battlefield in almost a century, beginning of end of English dominated France and birth of French nationalism !

24. Battle of Chatillon 1453
First effective use of artillery on the field of battle + end of the 100 Years War + Begin of War of the Roses in England

25. Fall of Constantinople 1453.  Start of the Renaissance and Age of Exploration due to the fact that Muslims now control the “key” between East and West…

 

 

The Viking age:

Raid on Lindisfarne 793 (start of the Viking Age http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_Age)

Battle of Stiklestad 1030 (End of the Norse Vikings, birth of Christian Norwayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stiklestad)

Battle of Stamford Bridge 1066 (the real reason Harold lost to William, also end of Viking/Norwegian raids in Britain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stamford_Bridge)

Battle of Largs 1263 (end of Norwegian raids into Scotland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Largs)

Battle of Lake Poyang 1363:
Extended naval battle to break the Han seige of Nanchang that cemented the Ming faction as the main rebel group during the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, ushering in the renown Ming Dynasty

Battle of Bach Dang 1288:
Third time the Mongol forces of Kublia Khan were repelled by the Vietnamese, the only time an enemy held out three times. By carefully selecting their battleground, preparing submerged obstacles and ambush points and drawing in the Mongol supply fleet in by deception they completely destroyed it. The unsupplied Mongol army was forced to retreat and destroyed peacemeal.

Battle of Koan 1281:
Second attempt by Kublia Khan to invade Japan. Japanese successfully deny the Mongols Eastern Route force a beachhead, forcing them to retreat by infiltrating small boat loads of samuri into the invasion fleet at night in hit and run attacks.

The destruction of the combined Eastern and Southern Route forces by a kamakaze a month later marked the end of Mongol expansion.

 

 

 

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