50 Battles That Changed the World

by William Weir, Rick Turner (Read by)

Overview

50 Battles That Changed the World looks at the clashes the author believes have had the most profound impact on world history. Listed in order of their relevance to the modern world, they range from the ancient past to the present day and span the globe many times over. This book is not so much about military strategy as the implications of the battles that were vital in shaping civilization as we know it. Some of the battles in this book are familiar to us all -- Bunker Hill, which prevented the American Revolution from being stillborn, and Marathon, which kept the world's first democracy alive. Others may be less familiar -- the naval battle at Diu (on the Indian Coast), which led to the ascendancy of Western Civilization and the discovery of America, and Yarmuk, which made possible the spread of Islam from Morocco to the Philippines.

All battles are human dramas, and those discussed here include some of history's most fascinating characters -- from Narses, the eunuch ex-slave who reconquered the Roman Empire, to Don Juan of Austria, the swashbuckling bastard who stopped the Turks at Lepanto; from George Dewey, the elderly fire-eater who sank the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay and defied the German Kaiser, to Enrico Dandolo, the blind ancient who led the misguided crusade that conquered "impregnable" Constantinople. Battles have been fought, lives have been lost, causes have been advanced, and stories of great warriors have been told over and over again. Here are the stories of the 50 greatest and most significant battles and those who fought, won, and lost them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608127528
Publisher:	Findaway World
Publication date:	04/28/2009
Series:	Playaway Adult Nonfiction
Product dimensions:	4.60(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

William Weir was an army MP, and later served as an army combat correspondent in the 25th Infantry Division during the Korean War. He was a newspaper reporter in Missouri and Kansas, which included being military editor at the Topeka State Journal. While a public relations specialist for a large telephone company, he wrote some 50 magazine articles, many of them on military history and weaponry. Since retiring from his public relations job, he has written four books, Written With Lead: Legendary American Gunfights and Gunfighters, Fatal Victories, In the Shadow of the Dope Fiend and A Well Regulated Militia: The Battle Over Gun Control. He now lives in Connecticut where he and his wife, Anne, watch with pride the activities of their three children, Alison, an Air Force officer, Joan, a special education teacher, and Bill, a newspaper reporter.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Marathon, 490 BC 7

The Nika Rebellion, 532 AD 15

Bunker Hill, 1775 AD 23

Arbela, 331 BC 32

Hattin, 1187 AD 41

Diu, 1509 AD 50

The Battle of Britain, 1940 AD 61

Constantinople, Part 1, 1203 AD 68

Tsushima, 1905 AD 77

Saratoga, 1777 AD 84

Valmy, 1792 AD 93

Adrianople, 378 AD 98

Midway, 1942 AD 105

Hastings, 1066 AD 115

Tenochtitlan, 1520-21 AD 124

Stalingrad, 1942 AD 145

Busta Gallorum, 552 AD 157

Lechfeld, 955 AD 167

Dublin, 1916 AD 173

Emmaus, 166 BC 190

The Yarmuk Valley, 636 AD 197

Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-45 AD 204

Cannae, 216 BC 216

Malplaque, 1709 AD 232

Carrhae, 53 BC 242

Constantinople, Part II, 1453 AD 251

The Armada, 1588 AD 260

The Marne, 1914 AD 271

Rhodes and Malta, 1522 and 1565 AD 280

Tours, 732 AD 298

Tanga, 1914 AD 306

Chalons, 451 AD 317

Las Navas de Toloso, 1212 AD 326

Gupta, 1180 AD 337

Chickamauga, 1863 AD 346

Lepanto, l571 AD 363

New Orleans, 1814 AD 373

Petrograd, 1917 390

France, 1918 AD 396

The Alamo and San Jacinto, 1836 AD 408

Wu-sung, 1862 AD 419

Waterloo, 1815 AD 431

Kadisiyah, 637 AD 439

Kazan, 1552 AD 447

Lutzen, 1632 AD 458

Mamla Bay, 1898 AD 474

The Tet Offensive, 1968 AD 486

Rome, 390 BO 495

Sedan, 1870 AD 501

Poltava, 1709 AD 516

Honorable Mentions: Other Battles, Other Lists 525

Biographical Glossary 533

Glossary of Military Terms 545

Timelines 557

Bibliography 563

About the Author 579