The Decisive Battles of World History

Lecture 1: What Makes a Battle Decisive?

x Although this course is by no means a comprehensive history of

warfare, it will inevitably trace or, perhaps more accurately, mirror

the development of weapons, strategy, and tactics over time.

x A recurring theme of the lectures is technological change.

The mighty steel dreadnaughts of the First World War—direct

descendants of the Affondatore²ERDVWHGFDQQRQVWKDWFRXOGÀLQJ

tons of explosive shells 20 miles in one broadside. These ships

were so expensive that the naval arms race between Great Britain

and Germany nearly bankrupted both countries. When we examine

the Battle of Midway, we will encounter aircraft carriers, which

represented another key technological shift. Each of these types

of vessel represented the most cutting-edge technology and was

among the most expensive mobile manmade objects of its day.

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decisive battles can be a useful analytical tool because it encourages

us to view history not as a boring and immutable timeline but,

instead, as a series of constantly branching pathways whose

From the invention of the wheel through the development of the jet engine,

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