The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo is a
book written by Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy and published in 1851. This book
tells the story of the fifteen military engagements which, according to the
author, had a significant impact on world history. The selection reflects
the worldview of a 19th-century European with a classical education: fourteen of
the battles took place in the arc of historically interconnected military
theatres which stretched from Persia through the Mediterranean Basin to
Europe, and one was fought by European powers and former colonies in North
America. Chapters
Each chapter of the book describes a different battle. The fifteen chapters
are: The Battle of Marathon, 490 BC
Excerpt: Two thousand three hundred and forty years ago, a council of Athenian
Officers was summoned on the slope of one of the mountains that look over the
plain of Marathon, on the eastern coast of Attica. The immediate subject of
their meeting was to consider whether they should give battle to an enemy that
lay encamped on the shore beneath them; but on the result of their deliberations
depended, not merely the fate of two armies, but the whole future progress of
human civilization. Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, 413
BC Known as the Battle of Syracuse.
Excerpt: Few cities have undergone more memorable sieges during ancient and
mediaeval times than has the city of Syracuse.
The Battle of Gaugamela, 331 BC Also called the Battle of Arbela.
Excerpt: ... the ancient Persian empire, which once subjugated all the nations of
the earth, was defeated when Alexander had won his victory at Arbela.
The Battle of the Metaurus, 207 BC Excerpt: That battle was the determining
crisis of the contest, not merely between Rome and Carthage, but between
the two great families of the world... Victory of Arminius over the Roman
Legions under Varus, AD 9 Known as the Battle of the Teutoburg
Forest. Excerpt: ..that victory secured at once
and forever the independence of the Teutonic race.
The Battle of Châlons, AD 451 Also called the Battle of the
Catalaunian Fields or the Battle of the Catalun.
Excerpt: The victory which the Roman general, Aëtius, with his Gothic allies,
had then gained over the Huns, was the last victory of imperial Rome.
The Battle of Tours, AD 732 Also called the Battle of Poitiers.
Excerpt: the great victory won by Charles Martel ... gave a decisive check
to the career of Arab conquest in Western Europe.
The Battle of Hastings, AD 1066 Excerpt: ..no one who appreciates the
influence of England and her empire upon the destinies of the world will ever
rank that victory as one of secondary importance.
Joan of Arc's Victory over the English at Orléans, AD 1429
Known as the Siege of Orléans. Excerpt: ..the struggle by which the
unconscious heroine of France, in the beginning of the fifteenth century,
rescued her country from becoming a second Ireland under the yoke of the
triumphant English. Defeat of the Spanish Armada, AD 1588
Excerpt: The England of our own days is so strong, and the Spain of our own days
is so feeble, that it is not easy, without some reflection and care, to
comprehend the full extent of the peril which England then ran from the power
and the ambition of Spain, or to appreciate the importance of that crisis
in the history of the world. The Battle of Blenheim, AD 1704
Excerpt: Had it not been for Blenheim, all Europe might at this day suffer
under the effect of French conquests resembling those of Alexander in extent
and those of the Romans in durability. The Battle of Pultowa, AD 1709
Also called the Battle of Poltava. Excerpt: The decisive triumph of Russia
over Sweden at Pultowa was therefore all-important to the world, on account
of what it overthrew as well as for what it established
Victory of the Americans over Burgoyne at Saratoga, AD 1777
Excerpt: The ancient Roman boasted, with reason, of the growth of Rome from
humble beginnings to the greatest magnitude which the world had then ever
witnessed. But the citizen of the United States is still more justly entitled to
claim this praise. The Battle of Valmy, AD 1792
Excerpt: ..the kings of Europe, after the lapse of eighteen centuries,
trembled once more before a conquering military republic.
The Battle of Waterloo, AD 1815 Excerpt: The exertions which the allied
powers made at this crisis to grapple promptly with the French emperor have
truly been termed gigantic, and never were Napoleon's genius and activity more
signally displayed than in the celerity and skill by which he brought forward
all the military resources of France... Derivative works
Since the publication of Creasy's book, other historians have attempted to
modify or add to the list. In 1899 The Colonial Press published
'Decisive Battles of the World' by Edward Shepherd Creasy with a Special
Introduction and Supplementary Chapters On the Battles of Gettysburg 1863, Sedan
1870, Santiago and Manila 1898, by John Gilmer Speed
In 1901 the firm J. B. Lippincott & Co. from Philadelphia published Great
battles of the world by Stephen Crane, with illustrations by John Sloan.
In 1908 Harper & Bros published an edition with eight battles added:
Quebec, Yorktown, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Sedan, Manila Bay, Santiago, and
Tsushima. In 1920 the Viscount D'Abernon published
The Eighteenth Decisive Battle of the World: Warsaw, 1920, in which he claimed
that the next battle on the list was the battle of Warsaw, fought in 1920 by the
Polish and Bolshevik forces during the Polish-Bolshevik War.
In 1930 Texas historian Clarence Wharton published San Jacinto: The Sixteenth
Decisive Battle, in which he made the case for adding the final battle of the
Texas Revolution to Creasy's list. In 1936 the San Jacinto Monument was given
an inscription that echoed Wharton's view: "Measured by its results, San
Jacinto was one of the decisive battles of the world. The freedom of Texas from
Mexico won here led to annexation and to the Mexican-American War, resulting in
the acquisition by the United States of the states of Texas, New Mexico,
Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and
Oklahoma. Almost one-third of the present area of the American Nation,
nearly a million square miles of territory, changed sovereignty."
In 1954-1956, British historian J.F.C. Fuller published The Decisive Battles of
the Western World and their Influence upon History.
In 1956, historian and author Fletcher Pratt published The Battles that Changed
History, stories of conflicts that forever changed the course of world
events. He listed 16 battles from Arbela to Midway.
In 1964, American historian Lt. Col. Joseph B. Mitchell published Twenty
Decisive Battles of the World, an update of Creasy's list with five additions:
The Vicksburg Campaign, 1863. By capturing the Mississippi River during
the American Civil War, the Union separated the Confederacy into two
halves. Battle of Sadowa, 1866. This Prussian
victory over the Austrians during the Seven Weeks War paved the way for a
German empire. First Battle of the Marne, 1914. The
British and French prevented a German assault of Paris and an early German
victory in World War I. Battle of Midway, 1942. The beginning of
the United States offensive in the Pacific Ocean during World War II and
the devastating loss of four Japanese aircraft carriers.
Battle of Stalingrad, 1942-43. The defeat of the German attempt to conquer
the Soviet Union and a significant loss of German resources in World War II.
In 1976, Noble Frankland and Christopher Dowling published Decisive Battles of
the Twentieth Century, which listed 23 battles, from the Battle of Tsushima to
the Tet Offensive. In 100 Decisive Battles: From Ancient
Times to the Present, Paul K. Davis listed battles from Megiddo to Desert
Storm. In popular culture
Referring to Creasy's work in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The
Pirates of Penzance, Major-General Stanley boasts that he is able to "quote
the fights historical; from Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical."
External links The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the
World at Project Gutenberg Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World
from Marathon to Waterloo according to Edward Shepherd Creasy, edited by P.
Sandboge