Presents the twenty most crucial battles of all time, explaining how each conflict represents a historical epoch that triggered profound transformations and significantly shaped the development of the modern world.

Surveys the one hundred most decisive battles in world history from the Battle of Megiddo in 1469 B.C. to Desert Storm, 1991.

"The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World" by Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy is a seminal work in military history, providing insightful historical analysis into pivotal conflicts that shaped the course of civilizations. Creasy meticulously examines each battle, highlighting their strategic significance and global impact as turning points in the trajectory of human history. Through detailed accounts of warfare, tactics, and leadership, Creasy offers readers a comprehensive understanding of conquest and conflict. From ancient empires to medieval sieges and modern warfare, each battle serves as a lens through which Creasy explores the rise and fall of civilizations. With a keen focus on decisive moments and pivotal victories, Creasy illuminates the dynamic interplay of strategy and leadership that determined the outcomes of these historic encounters. From Alexander the Great's triumph at Gaugamela to the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, each battle resonates with lessons on the complexities of warfare and the consequences of military decisions. "The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World" stands as a testament to Creasy's expertise in military history and his ability to distill complex historical events into compelling narratives of conquest, conflict, and ultimate victory.

History has tended to measure war's winners and losers in terms of its major engagements, battles in which the result was so clear-cut that they could be considered "decisive." Cannae, Konigsberg, Austerlitz, Midway, Agincourt-all resonate in the literature of war and in our imaginations as tide-turning. But these legendary battles may or may not have determined the final outcome of the wars in which they were fought. Nor has the "genius" of the so-called Great Captains - from Alexander the Great to Frederick the Great and Napoleon - play a major role. Wars are decided in other ways. Cathal J. Nolan's The Allure of Battle systematically and engrossingly examines the great battles, tracing what he calls "short-war thinking," the hope that victory might be swift and wars brief. As he proves persuasively, however, such has almost never been the case. Even the major engagements have mainly contributed to victory or defeat by accelerating the erosion of the other side's defences. Massive conflicts, the so-called "people's wars," beginning with Napoleon and continuing until 1945, have consisted of and been determined by prolonged stalemate and attrition, industrial wars in which the determining factor has been not military but matériel. Nolan's masterful book places battles squarely and mercilessly within the context of the wider conflict in which they took place. In the process it help corrects a distorted view of battle's role in war, replacing popular images of the "battles of annihilation" with somber appreciation of the commitments and human sacrifices made throughout centuries of war particularly among the Great Powers. Accessible, provocative, exhaustive, and illuminating, The Allure of Battle will spark fresh debate about the history and conduct of warfare.

A military intelligence expert examines the most formative battle of World War II. The Battle of Normandy was the greatest offensive campaign the world had ever seen. Millions of soldiers battling for control of Europe were thrust onto the front lines of a massive war unlike any experienced in history. But the greatest of clashes would prove to be the crucible in which the outcome of World War II would be decided. Author John Prados tells the story of how and why the tactics and battle plans of Normandy proved so formative, and reconstructs the climactic Allied Normandy breakout from both sides of the battle lines.