# The most important battles in history

The battles that appear most in history magazines' lists of 'battles that changed the world': the ones that decided empires, wars and borders. In chronological order; vote for the most decisive.

- 8 votes · 22 items
- Feb 17, 2026 · sofía álvarez
- https://even.best/en/l/183/the-most-important-battles-in-history

## Top 20

1. **Battle of Marathon (490 BC)** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — The Athenians stop Darius I's first Persian invasion and save Athens' young democracy.
2. **Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC)** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Leonidas and his 300 Spartans hold up Xerxes' army in a narrow pass.
3. **Battle of Salamis (480 BC)** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Themistocles' Greek fleet defeats the Persian navy and ends Xerxes' invasion.
4. **Battle of Lepanto (1571)** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — The Holy League defeats the Ottoman fleet; Cervantes lost the use of his left hand there.
5. **Battle of Waterloo (1815)** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Wellington and Blücher defeat Napoleon, ending his empire.
6. **Battle of Gaugamela (331 BC)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Alexander the Great defeats Darius III and takes the Persian Empire.
7. **Battle of Zama (202 BC)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Scipio defeats Hannibal and Rome wins the Second Punic War.
8. **Battle of Alesia (52 BC)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Julius Caesar defeats Vercingetorix and completes the conquest of Gaul.
9. **Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (AD 9)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Arminius destroys three Roman legions and halts Rome's expansion beyond the Rhine.
10. **Battle of Tours (732)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Charles Martel halts the Muslim advance into France.
11. **Battle of Hastings (1066)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — William the Conqueror defeats Harold II and begins the Norman conquest of England.
12. **Fall of Constantinople (1453)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Mehmed II takes the Byzantine capital, ending the Eastern Roman Empire.
13. **Battle of Vienna (1683)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Jan III Sobieski breaks the Ottoman siege of Vienna with history's largest cavalry charge.
14. **Siege of Yorktown (1781)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The British surrender to Washington and the French decides American independence.
15. **Battle of Trafalgar (1805)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Nelson's fleet defeats the Franco-Spanish fleet; Britain rules the seas for a century.
16. **Battle of Gettysburg (1863)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Lee's defeat marks the turning point of the American Civil War.
17. **First Battle of the Marne (1914)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The French and British stop Germany at the gates of Paris; trench warfare begins.
18. **Battle of Midway (1942)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The US sinks four Japanese aircraft carriers and turns the Pacific war.
19. **Normandy landings (1944)** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — On D-Day, 6 June 1944, the Allies open the Western Front against Nazi Germany.
20. **Battle of Cannae (216 BC)** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Hannibal encircles and destroys a much larger Roman army; still studied in military academies.
21. **Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212)** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — The Christian kingdoms defeat the Almohads and the Reconquista gains decisive momentum.
22. **Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943)** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — The bloodiest battle of World War II; the German defeat turns the tide on the Eastern Front.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.