Tells the dramatic stories behind the world's most calamitous con- flicts. From the French army's failure to understand the impact of new technology at Crecy to Hitler's blatant overconfidence at Stalingrad, military historian Julian Spilsbury provides thrilling accounts of each disaster, covering exactly what went wrong, how and why.

Includes index.

Mount Tabor 1125 BC -- Syracuse 415-413 BC -- Cannae 216 BC -- Teutoberger Wald AD 9 -- Bannockburn 1314 -- Crécy 1346 -- Flodden 1513 -- Pavia 1524 -- Saratoga 1777 -- Moscow 1812 -- Leipzig 1813 -- Fredericksburg 1862 -- Sedan 1870 -- Little Bighorn 1876 -- Isandhlwana 1879 -- Tannenburg 1914 -- Verdun 1916 -- The Somme 1916 -- Stalingrad 1942 -- Dien Bien Phu 1954.