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Battle of Adrianople
The Battle of Adrianople on August 9, 378 CE ranks among the worst military defeats in all of Roman history. Its estimated losses of over 10,000 are comparable to Roman defeats at Cannae (216 BCE) and Carrhae (53 BCE). The battle pitted the...
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Battle of Thymbra
The Battle of Thymbra (547 BCE) was the decisive engagement between Cyrus II (the Great, r. c. 550-530 BCE) of Persia and Croesus (r. 560-546 BCE), King of Lydia. The Persian victory ended the Kingdom of Lydia, which was then absorbed into...
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Battle of Chaeronea
The Battle of Chaeronea took place in 338 BCE on an early August morning outside the town of Chaeronea. Although for centuries the cities of Athens and Sparta dominated Greece, politically, militarily and economically, the Battle of Chaeronea...
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Battle of Friedland
The Battle of Friedland (14 June 1807) was a decisive battle of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), fought by the armies of the French and Russian empires. A major French victory, Friedland caused the Russians to sue for peace, resulting in...
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Battle of Valmy
The Battle of Valmy was a stunning French victory over a Prussian-led coalition army on 20 September 1792, during the French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802). Although the battle was little more than a skirmish, it halted the coalition's invasion...
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Battle of Wagram
The Battle of Wagram (5-6 July 1809) was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). It resulted in a pyrrhic victory for French Emperor Napoleon I (r. 1804-1814; 1815) whose army crossed the Danube River...
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Battle of Leuctra
The Battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE gave Thebes a decisive victory over Sparta and established Thebes as the most powerful city-state in Greece. The victory was achieved through the daring and brilliant pre-meditated tactics of the Theban general...
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Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815) was the last major engagement of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), fought by a French army under Emperor Napoleon I (r. 1804-1814; 1815) against two armies of the Seventh Coalition. Waterloo resulted in...
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Battle of Issus
The Battle of Issus, on 5 November 333 BCE, was Alexander the Great's second battle against the Persian army and the first direct engagement with King Darius III, near the village of Issus in southern modern-day Turkey. It was a major victory...
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Battle of Gaixia
The Battle of Gaixia (202 BCE, also known as Kai-Hsia) was the decisive engagement of the Chu-Han Contention (206-202 BCE) at which Liu Bang (l. c. 256-195 BCE), from the State of Han, defeated Xiang Yu (l. 232-202 BCE) of the State of Chu...