Random Facts about Decisive Battles WORLD'S DECISIVE BATTLES.--The fifteen decisive battles of the world from the fifth century before Christ to the beginning of the nineteenth century , are as follows: The battle of Marathon, in which the Persian hosts were defeated by the Greeks under Miltiades, B.C. 490. The defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, B.C. 413. The battle of Arhela, in which the Persians under Darius were defeated by the invading Greeks under Alexander the Great, B.C. 331. The battle of the Metanrus, in which the Carthaginian forces under Hasdrubal were overthrown by the Romans, B.C. 207. Victory of the German tribes under Arminins over the Roman legions under Varus, A.D. 9. (The battle was fought in what is now the province of Lippe, Germany, near the source of the river Ems.) Battle of Chalons, where Attila the terrible King of the Huns, was repulsed by the Romans under Aetius, A.D. 451 Battle of Tours, in which the Saracen Turks invading Western Europe were utterly overthrown by the Franks under Charles Martel, A.D. 732. Battle of Hastings, by which William the Conqueror became the ruler of England, Oct. 14, 1066. Victory of the French under Joan of Arc over the English at Orleans, April 29, 1429. Defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English naval force, July 29 and 30, 1588. Battle of Blenheim, in which the French and Bavarians were defeated by the allied armies of Great Britain and Holland under the Duke of Marlborough, Aug. 2, 1704. Battle of Pultowa, the Swedish army under Charles XII, defeated by the Russians under Peter the Great, July 8, 1709. Victory of the American army under General Gates over the British under General Burgoyne at Saratoga, Oct. 17, 1777. Battle of Valmy where the allied armies of Prussia and Austria were defeated by the French under Marshal Kellerman. Sept. 20, 1792. Battle of Waterloo, the allied forces of the British and Prussians defeated the French under Napoleon, the final overthrow of the great commander, June 18, 1815. These battles are selected as decisive, because of the important consequences that followed them. Few students of history, probably, would agree with Prof. Creasy, in restricting the list as he does. Many other conflicts might be noted, fraught with great importance to the human race, and unquestionably "decisive" in their nature; as, for instance, the victory of Sobieski over the Turkish army at Vienna, Sept. 12, 1683. Had the Poles and Austrians been defeated there, the Turkish general might readily have fulfilled his threat "to stable his horses in the Church of St. Peter's at Rome," and all Western Europe would, no doubt, have been devastated by the ruthless and bloodthirsty Ottomans. Of important and decisive battles since that of Waterloo we may mention in our own Civil War those of Gettysburg, by which the invasion of the North was checked, and at Chattanooga, Nov. 23 and 25, 1863, by which the power of the Confederates in the southwest received a deadly blow. Facts and Useful Information, written in 1889 by Barkham Burroughs
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