"Their very names--Gettysburg, Waterloo, Stalingrad--evoke images of great triumph and equally great suffering, moments when history seemed to hang in the balance. Considered in relation to each other, such battles--and others of less immediate renown--offer insight into the changing nature of armed combat, advances in technology, shifts in strategy and thought, as well as altered geopolitical landscapes. The most significant military engagements in history define the very nature of war ... Rather than focusing on the question of victory or defeat, Overy examines what an engagement can tell us on a larger level about the history of warfare itself. New weapons and tactics can have a sudden impact on the outcome of a battle--but so too can leadership, or the effects of a clever deception, or raw courage. Overy offers a deft and visually captivating look at the engagements that have shaped the course of human history" --Amazon.com.

Includes maps of: [Locations of Battles].

The truth of battle -- Leadership. Battle of Gaugamela ; Battle of Cannae ; Battle of Actium ; Battle of the Milvian Bridge ; Battle of Hastings ; Battle of Zhongdu ; Battle of Bannockburn ; Battle of Mohács ; Siege of Vienna ; Battle of Valmy ; Battle of Trafalgar ; Battle of Austerlitz ; Battle of Maipú ; Battle of Volturno ; Battle for Warsaw ; Third battle of Kharkov -- Against the odds. Thermopylae and Salamis ; Battle of Zela ; Battle of Edington ; Battle of Clontarf ; Battle of Legnano ; Battle of the River Salado ; Battle of Agincourt ; Siege of Belgrade ; Battle of Plassey ; Battle of Leuthen ; Rorke's Drift ; Battle of Adwa ; Battle of Omdurman ; Fall of Singapore ; Battle of Santa Clara -- Innovation. ; Battle of Leuctra; Battle of Carrhae ; Battle of Ain Jalut ; Battle Crécy ; Battle of Lepanto ; The Spanish Armada ; Battle of Breitenfeld ; Battle of Naseby ; Battle of Poltava ; Battle of Solferino-San Martino ; Battle of Königgrätz (Sadowa) ; Battle of Shangani ; Battle of Tsushima ; Third battle of Edirne ; Third battle of Cambrai ; Battle of France ; Battle of Britain ; Pearl Harbor ; Battle of the Atlantic ; Hiroshima and Nagasaki ; Operation Desert Storm -- Deception. The fall of Troy ; Battle of Mount Vesuvius ; Battle of Roncesvalles ; Battle of Kleidion-Strumitsa ; Battle of Manzikert ; Battle of Lake Peipus ; Fall of Tenochtitlán ; Battle of Blenheim ; Battle of Hohenfriedberg ; Battle of the Plains of Abraham ; Siege of Yorktown ; Battle of the Little Big Horn ; Battle of Alam Halfa ; The Normandy Invasion ; Operation Bagration ; The Six Day War ; Tet Offensive -- Courage in the face of fire. Battle of Marathon ; Battle of the Catalaunian Fields (Châlons) ; Battle of Poitiers-Tours ; Battle of Lechfeld ; Battle of Arsuf ; Battle of Borodino ; Battle of Leipzig ; Battle of Navarino Bay ; First battle of Manassas (Bull Run) ; Battle of Gettysburg ; Battle of Tacna ; The Battle of Verdun ; First day of the Somme ; Guadalcanal ; Stalingrad ; Fourth battle of Monte Cassino -- In the nick of time. Battle of Kadesh ; Battle of Zama ; Battle of Adrianople ; Fall of Constantinople ; Battle of Sekigahara ; Battle of Marengo ; Battle of Waterloo ; Battle of Tannenberg ; The first battle of the Marne ; Defence of Tsaritsyn ; Sink the Bismarck ; Battle of Midway ; Battle of Kursk ; Battle of Dien Bien Phu ; Battle for the Falklands.