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That's a great question. And your choice of battles is a good one.I might say the Persian Wars between the Greeks and Persian Empire was the most significant. Because it happened ~500 to ~460 B.C., it preceeded a number of Greek marvels in philosophy, such as Plato and Aristotle (who later influenced Aquinas and however many others); had the Persians won, Greek culture could very well have been diluted or wiped clean. Of course, it was the Roman Empire that later consumed Greek culture and made it its own; the Romans even used Archimedes' inventions to add to their army or engineering wealth. Without Greece, could Rome have achieved the greatness it did?To give a more narrow answer, within the Persian Wars, it looks like the Battle of Salamis was the most significant of all.
The Battle of Milvian Bridge is my choice. Constantine's victory made Christianity the official religion of the Roman World.
Donnie, another great choice of significant battles. I do question, however, that the Edict of Milan “made Christianity official religion of the Roman World.” Rather, I think that it gave all religions neutral status. From Wikipedia:
The "Edict of Milan" (313) declared that the Roman Empire would be neutral with regard to religious worship, officially ending all government-sanctioned persecution, especially of Christianity.
The article goes on to say:
It gave to Christianity (and any other religion) a status of legitimacy alongside of paganism, and, in effect, disestablished paganism as the official religion of the Roman Empire and its armies.
Regardless, the outcome of the battle you mentioned surely shaped Western Civilization as we know it today.
Milvian is a good choice, and high on my list. What about Thermopylae Phid? Slowing the persian advance gave the Greeks time to regroup and prepare a larger force that ultimately defeated the Persians.
There was this battle in pre-history when the new-men who were using weapons and tools drove the old-men out of the choicer hunt-and-gathering areas. This allowed the less numerous but more sapient men to flourish and eventually outnumber the old men. The outcome was the gradual elimination of the older, less successful lines of Early man.Similar to the end of Rome, it had little to do with warfare, but with intermarriage. In the era of Rome, the far-flung legions intermarried with locals and brought the same level of civilization to the outer competing cultures. Rome didn't fall because of invasion, but because of homogenization.
What about Thermopylae Phid? Slowing the persian advance gave the Greeks time to regroup and prepare a larger force that ultimately defeated the Persians.
Yes, that is a good choice of significant battles, and a dramatic one at that - and it enabled the Salamis Battle, and is remembered with this:
Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here, obedient to their laws, we lie
There was this battle in pre-history when the new-men who were using weapons and tools drove the old-men out of the choicer hunt-and-gathering areas. This allowed the less numerous but more sapient men to flourish and eventually outnumber the old men. The outcome was the gradual elimination of the older, less successful lines of Early man.
Wmlambert, if you are saying that the most significant battle was one done by cave men, you could very well be correct. The earlier the battle occurred in human history, the more "significant" it would have been, as it would have more chance at changing the future course of world events.Another battle worth mentioning as being significant, even if not as significant as some others, is the defeat of the Spanish Armada. My understanding is that we'd all be writing in Spanish if the English had lost that battle. Also, the way the New World was developed would be radically different had the Spanish won.
alright, I know this is slightly more than just one battle, but I really want to say the First Crusade.It was the most successful crusade, and made the other crusades seem like a good idea. There are very few events that have had as much of an impact of specifically Western Civ than the Crusades, primarily because they signal the beginning of the Renaissance.Maybe, if you can find it, look at the Battle of Ascalon, where early Crusaders take Jerusalem in 1099. (check wikipedia)?also, possibly the fall of Granada to Ferdinand of spain in early 1492, because it allows him the time to invest a few ships in the mad fancies of one Cristobal Colon, who accidentaly discovers the Americas.
Most historically significant battle: Stalingrad. It involved more troops than any other battle in history, had more casualties than any other battle in history, and it turned the tide of the Russo-German war. World War II was the dawn of the nuclear age. It's hard to argue that had it ended differently the world as we know it might not be the world as we know it.
Like Phid said, the earlier the greater the influence. Check out the book What If? it mentions if the Greeks would have lost to the Persians. If we realize what the Greeks gave us, including the foundation of Rome. What would have happend without a Roman Empire? Who would have crucified Jesus? Would Alexander have risen to power? Check out the book, it offers some ideas as to what effect we would have felt.http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Foremost-Military-Historians/dp/0425176428/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210885226&sr=8-1
The Battle of Adrianople in 378 AD. Perhaps if the Romans had won, the descent of Europe would have been delayed or avoided and Rome could have exerted a civilising effect on the Goths. Imagine if the Romans had gotten over their internal troubles and still existed today. This is not as far-fetched as it sounds, the Egyptian empire lasted what, something like 5,000 years. If Rome had persisted their empire would only be about 2,500 years old today. Also, imagine how many ancient texts would have survived, what remains today would be a pittance compared to what was lost during the Dark Ages.
How different would the world be today had there been no American Revolution or we had lost? Most significant? Maybe not, but it ranks up there in the top ten at least.
Had we lost the Revolution, we would have tried again and again and again until we won. It was inevitable.
Though what a shame it would have been when the founding fathers would all have been hung by the British. I believe it would have taken a while for the next attempt.
I'm going to have to throw Midway in there. The US got a bit of luck in that one. Had we lost Midway I'm not sure we could have recovered quickly enough to stop the Japanese from pushing all the way to Hawaii. While I don't know if they would have attempted an actual invasion of California (they could have Los Angeles now) but Alaska would have been extremely vulnerable and they would basically control all of the Pacific. He it gone to that point, I don't think we could have engaged the Japanese again until victory in Europe.
