Most Important Battle in History

[quote]redleg32002000 wrote:
Let us not for get the Mongols, whos invasions helped bring the plague to Europe. That probably changed a couple things.[/quote]

Doesn’t that go down to what country?

can we really quantify one battle as being the most important as relating to the whole world?

[quote]Rah-Knee wrote:
Tours. End of discussion.[/quote]

Absolutely a prime contender.

The Battle of Tours (Battle of Poitiers) 732
The Christian Franks under Charles Martel defeated the Muslim army of the Umayyad Caliphate. The expansion of Islam into Europe, and from there likely worldwide, was stopped in central France.

The Battle of Marathon. (the FIRST Persian invasion)

It was THE pivotal point in the Greco-Persian wars. It showed the Greeks that the Persians could be beaten and, more importantly, it showed the potential of the hoplite phalanx which allowed the Greeks to dominate for the next three centuries - long enough to develop the foundations of Western Civilization.

It allowed Themistocles to develop a strategy against the Persians for the second Persian invasion, led him to build the Athenian Navy which allowed for the evacuation of the Athenian Citizens during the Battle of Thermopylae before the Persians burned Athens to the ground. These Citizens were the founders of Democracy.

Democracy = pretty important, IMHO

[quote]cakewalk wrote:
Imagine, two megalomaniacal despots, armed to the teeth and with all their enemies subdued. It wouldn’t be long before they turned on each other.[/quote]

Ah… that happened dude.

Took about three years.

[quote]pushharder wrote:

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

[quote]cakewalk wrote:
Imagine, two megalomaniacal despots, armed to the teeth and with all their enemies subdued. It wouldn’t be long before they turned on each other.[/quote]

Ah… that happened dude.

Took about three years.[/quote]

Roosevelt/Truman = Adolf Hitler? Lame. Really lame. Or in words conducive to your debating skills, “Really fucking lame.”[/quote]

?

I was talking about Hitler and Stalin.

[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:

Doesn’t that go down to what country? [/quote]

The idea is that there are pivotal moments in world history that, although they happen in a particular geographic place, have effects that spread well beyond national borders and that may continue to have an impact down through the centuries.

Let’s take, as an example, the Battle of Gettysburg. If the Union had lost the Civil War, would America have become the great industrial, political and democratic force that it is in the world? Would it have become isolationist and stayed out of both World Wars, Korea and Vietnam? What impact would such a profoundly different outcome of a national war have had on the rest of the world?

Probably not. There will be as many opinions as there are interested people. But, we can speculate.

[quote]cakewalk wrote:

[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:

Doesn’t that go down to what country? [/quote]

The idea is that there are pivotal moments in world history that, although they happen in a particular geographic place, have effects that spread well beyond national borders and that may continue to have an impact down through the centuries.

Let’s take, as an example, the Battle of Gettysburg. If the Union had lost the Civil War, would America have become the great industrial, political and democratic force that it is in the world? Would it have become isolationist and stayed out of both World Wars, Korea and Vietnam? What impact would such a profoundly different outcome of a national war have had on the rest of the world?

Probably not. There will be as many opinions as there are interested people. But, we can speculate.
[/quote]

wait… are you explaining the question to me?

[quote]pushharder wrote:
Tough to say. There are many battles that certainly have profoundly affected human civilization and had they ended differently would’ve greatly altered the course of history.

A few of my choices:

  1. Dunkirk 1940

  2. The non-Battle of Vienna in 1242 with the Mongols

  3. Battle of Hastings 1066

  4. Salamis 480 BC

  5. Spanish Armada 1588

  6. Midway 1942[/quote]

By far the most important battle in history is the Battle of Lepanto as it kept the West Christian.

x2

Not sure if this counts as “Battle” but when our ancestors, the Homo Sapiens, encountered the Neanderthals, the Neanderthals died.

There’s little evidence, but what evidence there is suggests that the Neanderthals died violently by the hand of ancient man.

The implications of this is a free for all for any who care to figure it out.

The battle of Armageddon whenever it happens.

Wolf 359.

Makkun

PS: Sorry Irish from 2368 onwards, you’ll agree with me. :wink:

Professor X versus Anyone

[quote]angry chicken wrote:
The Battle of Marathon. (the FIRST Persian invasion)

It was THE pivotal point in the Greco-Persian wars. It showed the Greeks that the Persians could be beaten and, more importantly, it showed the potential of the hoplite phalanx which allowed the Greeks to dominate for the next three centuries - long enough to develop the foundations of Western Civilization.

It allowed Themistocles to develop a strategy against the Persians for the second Persian invasion, led him to build the Athenian Navy which allowed for the evacuation of the Athenian Citizens during the Battle of Thermopylae before the Persians burned Athens to the ground. These Citizens were the founders of Democracy.

Democracy = pretty important, IMHO[/quote]

Yeah, on that note…Yorktown.

[quote]TheJonty wrote:

[quote]sardines12 wrote:
When the rebel forces defeated the Empire. Duh.[/quote]

Wrong. The Battle of Arrakeen. Without this pivotal victory Muad’Dib’s jihad would not have raged across the known universe and altered the course of history.[/quote]

^^nerd alert

Constantine the Great, and the Edict of Milan AD:313, legitimising Chrisianity in the civilised world. I asume the battle was as much internal with Constantine himself believed to be pagan.

Ogedai Khan losing his battle with alchoholism sparking a succession battle in the Mongol Empire just as the Golden Horde were in spitting distance of the Alps with no army powerful enough to stop them reaching the Atlantic and acheiving their aim of an empire from Korea to Portugal.

The battle of Britain. Had we lost air superiority to ze Bosch a land assault would have followed and the Lease Loan deal would have been too late.

The battle my underpants fight every day to keep my tackle in order.

Indiana Jones vs. Thuggee Cult.

Every battle that ever occurred would change history if the outcome was different. Every single one!