Ancient:-Thermopylae
-Plataea
-Salamis
-Marathon
-Cannae
Modern: -Midway
-The Battle of Britain
-The Somme
-Stalingrad
Not really a battle, but The Fall of Saigon warrants mention too.
These aren’t in any sort of chronological order, so sue me!
1 vote for thermopylae… persians take over… “… one nation under allah…” ?
[quote]Vinnie85 wrote:
1 vote for thermopylae… persians take over… “… one nation under allah…” ?[/quote]
Really?
Islam hadn’t become the dominant religion in Persia until the 9th century (besides, I know many an Iranian who’s bemoaning the fact that Islam had taken over as the dominant religion, after all, but let’s not derail this thread).
Ya’ll are missing the biggest one. Asteroid Belt VS Dinosaurs. If asteroid belt had lost that one, well. Either no humans, or humans are tasty little meat flesh treats for dinosaurs.
V
I like Marathon best, mostly because it has that awesome story behind it.
[quote]Vinnie85 wrote:
1 vote for thermopylae… persians take over… “… one nation under allah…” ?[/quote]
I’m not sure Thermopylae was important in terms of stopping Persia’s expansion, but it was important in terms of highlighting how strategy and training could be many times as effective as vast numbers.
In terms of the battle’s legacy, I think the most important thing to come out of it was faith in the strength of the phalanx against huge numbers, and in a wider context, how huge armies could be vulnerable to well thought out strategy due to the difficulty of organising an army of hundreds of thousands in antiquity.
Later military leaders went on to exploit this idea in world changing battles, such as Alexander at the Battle of Issus and Hannibal at the Battle of Cannae.
Pancakes vs. Waffles.
The future of mankind itself may rest on the final word.
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
Pancakes vs. Waffles.
The future of mankind itself may rest on the final word.[/quote]
when to your surprise crepes come and win it all!
[quote]byukid wrote:
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
Pancakes vs. Waffles.
The future of mankind itself may rest on the final word.[/quote]
when to your surprise crepes come and win it all![/quote]
Crepes are mercenary foods that have no loyalty, honor, or valor. They are served indiscriminately with pancake or waffle meals and will be purged from edibility after ‘the final meal’.
[quote]domsGOOD wrote:
The battle of Britain. Had we lost air superiority to ze Bosch a land assault would have followed and the Lease Loan deal would have been too late.[/quote]
The Battle of Britain was certainly important in demonstrating the will of the British people, but I think even if it was lost the Luftwaffe would have been decimated to the point of ineffectiveness. Furthermore, the Nazis would still have had the British navy to contend with in crossing the English Channel, and mainland Britain doesn’t present the ideal terrain for Nazi tank-warfare tactics.
I think if it came to an invasion of Britain against an effective British army, the Nazis had no real hope of winning decisively, which is why I would also vote for Dunkirk in terms of WWII battles. If the British army is not evacuated at Dunkirk, I think a hypothetical invasion of Britain becomes a certain victory for the Nazis, and then the US is fighting Germany alone when Japan inevitably attacks. All IMHO obviously, but it’s interesting to think about these things.
I was a child of the Cold War era. While it isn’t a battle per se, I think the Cuban Missle Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear annihilation, and if JFK and Khrushchev never reached an agreement, life on Earth would be like one of the bleak, apocolyptic films like “The Road” or “The Book of Eli.”
[quote]Vinnie85 wrote:
1 vote for thermopylae… persians take over… “… one nation under allah…” ?[/quote]
Islam is only 1400 years old, the Persians were Zorostrians.
Furthermore, they did contribute to elements of acknowledging human rights, check out the Cyrus Cylinder…
Traditionally, the Persians’ policy towards their subject peoples, as described by the Cylinder, was viewed as an expression of tolerance, moderation and generosity “on a scale previously unknown.”
Sorry for side tracking!
[quote]Vinnie85 wrote:
1 vote for thermopylae… persians take over… “… one nation under allah…” ?[/quote]
There was no Islam or concept of Allah then.
Not a battle but I nominate the event… asssasination of archduke ferdinand.
Greatest Anarchist Accomplishment of all time.
[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
I just read something on this and I thought it an interesting concept, that one fight could, by a chain reaction change the course of human history. I know they all do to some degree or another, but what was the biggest, most important one in the history of humanity?
Waterloo? Gettysburg? Normandy? Or further back?
[/quote]
My opinion,the Battle of Moscow,end of 1941.
The Russian and extreme winter stopped Germans to capture Moscow and later Russians launched highly successful counteroffesive.
Strategic importance=If Moscow fell to Germans,they would seize weapon factories on Ural & Russian would be finished.
Psychological importance=after Germans for months crushed Russians,this was the first time Germans were defeated in a major ground battle.
Very,very critical battle for the future WW2 operations ;))
No love for Pearl Harbor?
Aliens v. Predators
Either way, humans are screwed
Married men trying to get blowjays on a regular basis like BEFORE they got married lol.
Seriously though you should check out the author Harry Turtledove, he’s written a few books on alternate history, i thought they were pretty entertaining, worth a look imo.
“Turtledove has been dubbed “The Master of Alternate History”.[6][7] Within that genre he is known both for creating original alternate history scenarios such as survival of the Byzantine Empire or an alien invasion in the middle of the Second World War and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by many others, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War. His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream.[8] His style of alternate history has a strong military theme with scenes of combat happening throughout many of his works”.[9]
[quote]bond james bond wrote:
Married men trying to get blowjays on a regular basis like BEFORE they got married lol.
Seriously though you should check out the author Harry Turtledove, he’s written a few books on alternate history, i thought they were pretty entertaining, worth a look imo.
“Turtledove has been dubbed “The Master of Alternate History”.[6][7] Within that genre he is known both for creating original alternate history scenarios such as survival of the Byzantine Empire or an alien invasion in the middle of the Second World War and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by many others, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War. His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream.[8] His style of alternate history has a strong military theme with scenes of combat happening throughout many of his works”.[9]
[/quote]
Alternative History is about as useful as pulp to wipe your ass.
Are you guys drunk? Or maybe it’s just not mentioned because it’s not technically a battle.
But still I can’t believe no one’s mentioned Nagasaki and Hiroshima. After seeing the power of the H-bomb, people became terrified of traditional wars. It completely ended the era of large-scale ground wars/assaults, which was how all wars in history were fought until it happened.