Moment of battle: the twenty clashes that changed the world

Marathon : Athens saves Western civilization (490 B.C.) --

Gaugamela : Alexander creates a new world (311 B.C.) -- Zama : an empire in the balance (202 B.C.) --

Teutoburger Wald : the division of Europe (A.D. 9) --

Adrianople : the end of Roman supremacy (A.D. 378) --

Yarmuk : the Islamic conquest begins (636) --

Hastings : the remaking of Europe (1066) --

The Spanish Armada : miracle at sea (1588) --

Breitenfeld : the creation of modern war (1631) --

Annus mirabilis : the rise of British supremacy (1759) --

Saratoga : the victory of Amateurs (1777) --

Trafalgar : Napoleon's plans thwarted (1805) --

Vicksburg : breaking the Confederacy (1863) --

The Marne : the end of old Europe (1914) --

The Battle of Britain : the Nazis stopped (1940) -- Midway : Imperial Japan stopped (1942) --

Kursk : the end of the Drang Nach Osten (1943) --

Normandy : the death knell for Nazi Germany (1944) --

Dien Bien Phu : imperialism defeated (1954) --

Objective peach : the drive for Baghdad (2003).