Other Considerations
x Over the next 36 lectures, we will rummage through nearly 4,
years of history and travel all around the globe looking for key
turning points. During our search, we will examine both land battles
and naval clashes, and we will consider some battles that involved
millions of participants, while others featured just a handful of
people. Some of our battles were immediately recognized at the
time as being important transitional moments, while for others,
their true importance was acknowledged only much later.
x The list tends to favor battles that curbed or ended the growth of
various expansionist empires because without such key defeats,
those empires might well have extended their political and cultural
domination yet further. The siege of Vienna in 1683, for example,
represents the high-water mark of expansion for the Ottoman
Empire.x Another consideration in favor was for a battle whose outcome was
either unexpected or uncertain. We will look at battles in which the
sides were roughly evenly matched or for which it is easily possible
to imagine a dramatically different outcome.x Finally, some battles were selected as decisive because they
represent the introduction of a key technological advance or the
triumph of one type of military force over another. In the technology
category could be considered the Battle of Midway, which set the
pattern for future naval clashes being decided by air power rather
than big guns. Of the second type, the Battle of Cynoscephalae
revealed the superiority of the Roman military system over the
previously dominant Hellenistic one and, thus, heralded Rome’s
ascension over, and conquest of, the entire Mediterranean basin.x Many of the battles we will look at could be placed into more than
one of these categories. Also, strictly speaking, some of the battles
presented here could be considered campaigns, and occasionally,
we will lump together several closely related battles that resulted in
a collective outcome.