The Seventy Great Battles of All Time

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Twenty-five military historians from around the world describe the decisive conflicts that shaped history from the fifth century BC to the present.

Cannae and Agincourt, Waterloo and Gettysburg, Stalingrad and Midway, the Tet Offensive....The latest book in the popular Seventies series assesses the great battles and conflicts in history from the past twenty-five centuries, and discusses the effects they have had on the development of states and civilizations.

Organized chronologically into seven parts, the book encompasses the ancient and medieval worlds as well as the wars of the past hundred years, including the conflict in Iraq. The contributors analyze not just the greatest land battles of all time, but sieges such as Constantinople (1453) and Tenochtitlán (1521); naval battles such as Actium (31 BC), Trafalgar (1805), and Tsushima (1905); and the crucial conflicts in the air during the Battle of Britain (1940) and the American attack on Japan (1945).

The coverage is truly worldwide in scope, from the battle in Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, where the Germans defeated the Romans, to Hakata Bay in 1281, where the Japanese defeated the Mongols, and the first battle of Panipat in 1526, where the Mughals conquered Hindustan. The reader is presented with a masterly overview of advances in military technology, and of the changing tactics and strategy of battlefield commanders from Hannibal to Napoleon, Montgomery, and Eisenhower.

Richly illustrated in color with hundreds of photographs, contemporary paintings, and specially commissioned battle plans and maps, this will be essential reading for anyone interested in military history. 350 illustrations, 230 in color.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Contributors (p. 8)
• World map (p. 10)
• Introduction (p. 12)
• Ancient World
• Introduction (p. 16)
• 1 Marathon (490 BC) (p. 19)
• 2 Salamis (480 BC) (p. 23)
• 3 Gaugamela (331 BC) (p. 27)
• 4 Cannae (216 BC) (p. 32)
• 5 Gaixia (203 BC) (p. 36)
• 6 Actium (31 BC) (p. 38)
• 7 Teutoburg Forest (AD 9) (p. 42)
• 8 Adrianople (378) (p. 44)
• Medieval World
• Introduction (p. 46)
• 9 Poitiers (732) (p. 49)
• 10 Lechfeld (955) (p. 51)
• 11 Hastings (1066) (p. 54)
• 12 Manzikert (1071) (p. 58)
• 13 Hattin (1187) (p. 61)
• 14 Liegnitz (1241) (p. 65)
• 15 Hakata Bay (1281) (p. 69)
• 16 Bannockburn (1314) (p. 71)
• 17 Crecy (1346) (p. 74)
• 18 Ankara (1402) (p. 78)
• 19 Agincourt (1415) (p. 81)
• 20 The Fall of Constantinople (1453) (p. 85)
• 21 Bosworth (1485) (p. 89)
• Sixteenth Century
• Introduction (p. 92)
• 22 Flodden (1513) (p. 95)
• 23 Tenochtitlan (1521) (p. 98)
• 24 Pavia (1525) (p. 103)
• 25 Panipat (1526) (p. 107)
• 26 Mohacs (1526) (p. 110)
• 27 Lepanto (1571) (p. 113)
• 28 The Armada (1588) (p. 118)
• Seventeenth Century
• Introduction (p. 122)
• 29 Sekigahara (1600) (p. 125)
• 30 Breitenfeld (1631) (p. 129)
• 31 Nordlingen (1634) (p. 133)
• 32 Shanhaiguan (1644) (p. 136)
• 33 Naseby (1645) (p. 138)
• 34 Vienna (1683) (p. 142)
• Eighteenth Century
• Introduction (p. 146)
• 35 Blenheim (1704) (p. 149)
• 36 Poltave (1709) (p. 153)
• 37 Belgrade (1717) (p. 156)
• 38 Rossbach (1757) (p. 159)
• 39 Plassey (1757) (p. 163)
• 40 Quebec (1759) (p. 165)
• 41 Saratoga (1777) (p. 169)
• 42 Yorktown (1781) (p. 173)
• 43 Jemappes (1792) (p. 177)
• Nineteenth Century
• Introduction (p. 180)
• 44 Trafalgar (1805) (p. 183)
• 45 Leipzig (1813) (p. 188)
• 46 Waterloo (1815) (p. 193)
• 47 Ayacucho (1824) (p. 198)
• 48 Mexico City (1847) (p. 200)
• 49 Inkerman (1854) (p. 203)
• 50 Antietam (1862) (p. 206)
• 51 Gettysburg (1863) (p. 210)
• 52 Sadowa (1866) (p. 215)
• 53 Omdurman (1898) (p. 218)
• Modern Times
• Introduction (p. 222)
• 54 Tsushima (1905) (p. 225)
• 55 Tannenberg (1914) (p. 229)
• 56 Jutland (1916) (p. 232)
• 57 Verdun (1916) (p. 236)
• 58 The Western Front (1918) (p. 240)
• 59 Battle of Britain (1940) (p. 245)
• 60 Battle for Moscow (1941) (p. 250)
• 61 Stalingrad (1942-43) (p. 255)
• 62 Midway (1942) (p. 260)
• 63 Battle of the Atlantic (1940-43) (p. 264)
• 64 Battle for Normandy (1944) (p. 268)
• 65 Operation Bagration (1944) (p. 273)
• 66 The American Air Attack on Japan (1945) (p. 276)
• 67 Huai-Hai (1948-49) (p. 279)
• 68 Dien Bien Phu (1953-54) (p. 282)
• 69 The Tet Offensive (1968) (p. 284)
• 70 The Iraq War (2003) (p. 287)
• Further Reading (p. 291)
• Sources of Illustrations (p. 297)
• Sources of Quotations (p. 298)
• Index (p. 298)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

Black explains that two major criteria guided the selection of 70 great battles: the cultural consequence and the encapsulation of the technologies and tactics of warfare. Black's team of historians employ a uniform graphical layout consisting of a fact box of forces, a map, color paintings or photographs, and a condensed analytic narrative. The technology theme, which so fascinates many readers of military history, does not accelerate, of course, until discussion of the battles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, whereas the clash-of-cultures theme dominates analysis of battles of the ancient and medieval periods. Marathon and Salamis, having preserved the Greek cradle of Western civilization, open the volume, and supporting its midsection is the collection of conflicts that delineated Europe's Christian/Muslim cultural frontier. With firepower supplanting muscle power from the 1600s forward, Black's battle accounts increasingly weigh commanders' adroitness with new weaponry. Visually emphatic, Black's informative introduction to warfare's history represents a browsing foundation for further reading. --Gilbert Taylor Copyright 2006 Booklist