1469 BC First known battle
The Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III defeats his enemies at Megiddo, in history's first fully described battle and siege

1275 BC Hittites and Egyptians clash at Kadesh
An indecisve battle between the Hittites and the Egyptians, at Kadesh, stabilizes the frontier between the two empires

1000 BC Saul and sons die in battle
The Israelites are defeated by the Philistines on Mount Gilboa, with Saul and three of his sons dying during or after the battle

853 BC Gindibu and the Arabs
Gindibu brings 1000 Arab warriors on camels to do battle at Karkar (the first known reference to Arabs as a distinct group)

612 BC Egyptians defeated by Babylonians
The Babylonians defeat an Egyptian army at Carchemish, but do not press on into Egypt

490 BC Persian army lands at Marathon
The Persian fleet secures the Greek island of Euboea before making the short crossing to Marathon on the mainland – where they await the Greeks

480 BC Battle of Thermopylae
300 Spartans, led by Leonidas, die attempting to hold the pass of Thermopylae against the advancing Persian army

480 BC Persians defeated at Salamis
The Athenian fleet defeats a considerably larger Persian force in the narrow strait between Salamis and the mainland

479 BC Persians defeated at Plataea
A Spartan army, led by Pausanias, wins a victory at Plataea, completing the rout of the Persians on the Greek mainland

405 BC Athenian fleet destroyed by Spartans
The last remaining Athenian fleet is surprised and destroyed by the Spartans in the Hellespont

371 BC Epaminondas destroys Spartans
A Spartan army is overwhelmed at Leuctra by a smaller number of Thebans under Epaminondas

338 BC Macedonian victory at Chaeronaea
Philip of Macedon defeats Athens and Thebes at Chaeronaea, giving him control of Greece

333 BC Alexander defeats Persian emperor
At Issus, close to the Turkish border with Syria, Alexander defeats the Persian emperor Darius III, captures his family and treats them with courtesy

260 BC Roman raven effective at sea
The new Roman fleet wins a decisive victory over the Carthaginians at Mylae, thanks largely to the 'raven' (corvus in Latin)

241 BC End of First Punic War
A Roman naval victory at Trapani, off the northwest tip of Sicily, completes the blockade of the Carthaginians and ends the First Punic War

217 BC Hannibal wins at Lake Trasimene
Hannibal surprises and traps a Roman army on a narrow plain beside Lake Trasimene

216 BC Hannibal wins at Cannae
Hannibal destroys a Roman army at Cannae, in the most severe defeat ever suffered by Rome

202 BC Hannibal loses at Zama
Hannibal suffers his first decisive defeat by a Roman army, at an unidentified site in north Africa called Zama

102 BC Gaius Marius halts Teutones
The Roman general Gaius Marius defeats the Teutones, a German tribe which has made deep inroads into southern Gaul

101 BC Cimbri penetrate northern Italy
A German tribe, the Cimbri, press into northern Italy until they are defeated at Vercellae and driven out of the peninsula

82 BC Sulla marches on Rome again
Sulla takes Rome for the second time, after a battle at the Colline Gate, and then publishes his lethal 'proscriptions'

53 BC Parthian victory at Carrhae
Crasssus is killed at Carrhae, in Turkey, when the Parthians defeat his army, largely thanks to their brilliance as mounted archers

52 BC Vercingetorix defeats Caesar
The Celtic leader Vercingetorix inflicts an unaccustomed defeat on Julius Caesar, at Gergovia, but is captured later in the year

48 BC Caesar defeats Pompey
Julius Caesar defeats his rival Pompey at Pharsalus, in Greece, and makes himself master of the Roman world

42 BC Octavian wins at Philippi
Octavian and Mark Antony defeat the armies of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi, after which Brutus and Cassius commit suicide

31 BC Octavian wins at Actium
Octavian defeats the forces of Antony and Cleopatra (both are at sea with their fleets) in a battle off the Greek coast at Actium

9 Arminius defeats Romans
The defeat of three Roman legions in the Teutoberg Forest by Arminius, establishes the Rhine as a natural boundary of the Roman empire

378 Visigoths defeat Roman army
The Visigoths inflict a devastating defeat on a Roman army at Adrianople, and win for themselves the status of Roman federates

451 Huns invade Gaul
Attila and the Huns invade Gaul but are defeated, somewhere near Troyes, by a Roman army supported by Visigoths and Burgundians

656 Ali defeats Aisha
Othman is assassinated, and Ali wins power as the fourth Muslim caliph - defeating Muhammad's widow Aisha at the 'battle of the camel' near Basra

680 Death of Husain
Husayn, the son of Ali, dies at Karbala in a battle against rival Muslims and becomes the most holy of Shi'ite martyrs

732 Charles Martel stops Muslim advance
The Muslim advance into France is halted when Charles Martel defeats the Arabs between Poitiers and Tours

1014 Brian Boru beats Vikings
Brian Boru, aged 73, achieves a major victory over the Vikings at Clontarf but is killed in his tent after the battle

1040 Macbeth slays Duncan on battlefield
In a battle near Elgin Macbeth kills his cousin Duncan, a rival claimant to the Scottish throne

1066 Harold wins at Stamford Bridge
Harold defeats at Stamford Bridge the joint army of his brother Tostig and of the Norwegian king, Harald Hardraade

1066 Harold loses at Hastings
Harold, hurrying south to confront the Normans after his victory at Stamford Bridge, is defeated and killed at Hastings

1071 Turks win at Manzikert
The Seljuk Turks and the Byzantines meet in battle at Manzikert, with victory going to the Turks

1187 Saladin wins at Horns of Hattin
Saladin destroys the Christian army of the Latin kingdom in a battle below the Horns of Hattin

1240 Alexander wins on the ice
Alexander, a Russian prince, defeats a Swedish army on the frozen river Neva, thus winning his name Alexander Nevksy

1241 Mongols ravage Cracow
Mongols of the Golden Horde defeat the Poles at Legnica and ravage the city of Cracow

1260 Baybars wins at Ayn Jalut
At Ayn Jalut, near Nazareth, the Egyptian Mamelukes defeat the Mongol army of Hulagu - the first military setback for the Mongols

1263 Norwegians driven from Hebrides
A Scottish victory over the Norwegians at Largs results in the recovery of the western isles

1264 De Montfort captures king at Lewes
Simon de Montfort, leading the barons in rebellion, captures Henry III and his son Edward at Lewes

1265 Prince kills de Montfort
Prince Edward, escaping from captivity, defeats and kills Simon de Montfort at Evesham

1297 William Wallace shows a brave heart
William Wallace's victory over the English at Stirling Bridge enables him to rule Scotland on behalf of John de Balliol

1298 Edward I defeats Wallace at Falkirk
Edward I's victory at Falkirk ends the career of William Wallace, of whom nothing more is heard until his capture and execution in 1305

1314 Victory for Bruce at Bannockburn
After years of guerilla warfare, Robert de Bruce defeats the English conclusively at Bannockburn - and becomes at last secure in his kingdom

1315 Swiss army halberds
The Swiss, defeating the Habsburgs at Morgarten, make lethal use of their halberds - designed to jab, grapple and slash

1346 Longbow outshoots crossbow at Crécy
The more mobile English force, of longbows and infantry, defeats at Crécy the unwieldy crossbows and heavy cavalry of the French

1356 Three-day battle at Poitiers
The battle of Poitiers ends, on the third day, with victory for the English and the capture of the French king, John II

1380 Dimitri defeats the Mongols
Dimitri, grand prince of Moscow, leads other Russian princes in a crushing victory over the Mongols on the Kulikovo plain

1385 Portuguese victory at Aljubarrota
The victory at Aljubarrota, securing the Portuguese throne for John I, is commemorated in the Dominican abbey called Batalha

1389 Turks win at Kosovo
Victory at Kosovo gives the Ottoman Turks control over Serbia, which becomes a vassal state

1389 Margaret rules Scandinavia
With a victory near Falköping, Margaret becomes regent of Sweden as well as Denmark and Norway

1402 Timur captures Turkish sultan
The Ottoman sultan Bayazid is defeated and captured near Ankara by Timur, who keeps the sultan in captivity until his death the following year

1410 Poles crush Teutonic knights
The Poles defeat the Teutonic knights between Tannenberg and Grunwald, bringing the coastal strip around Gdansk into the Polish kingdom

1415 Agincourt on St Crispin's day
Henry V wins a victory on St Crispin's day at Agincourt, against a much larger and more heavily armed French force

1444 Turks begin comeback at Varna
A Turkish army routs the Hungarians at Varna on the Black Sea, beginning a process which brings the Turks to the gates of Belgrade by 1456

1453 Battle of Castillon
The French win a convincing victory at Castillon, recovering the last stronghold (except Calais) held by the English in France

1455 Clash between white and red roses
An engagement at St Albans is the first battle in the 30-year struggle between the white and red roses of York and Lancaster

1476 Swiss victory over Burgundy
The Swiss win a decisive victory at Morat over the army of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy

1485 Henry VII wins at Bosworth Field
Henry Tudor kills Richard III at Bosworth Field and takes the crown as Henry VII

1513 Scots defeated at Flodden
James IV of Scotland dies at Flodden, in the disastrous defeat of his army by the English

1515 French victory at Marignano
The king of France, Francis I, wins a dramatic victory at Marignano and captures Milan

1525 French king prisoner at Pavia
The French king, Francis I, is taken prisoner by the Spanish at the battle of Pavia

1526 Babur wins at Panipat
In a battle at Panipat Babur defeats the sultan of Delhi, launching the Mughal empire in India

1526 Turks crush Hungarians at Mohacs
The Hungarian king, Louis II, is killed in battle at Mohacs, where the Turks win a crushing victory

1527 Babur wins at Khanua
Victory at Khanua, over a Hindu confederation of Rajput rulers, brings Babur a tenuous control over most of northwest India

1531 Zwingli killed in battle
Zwingli is killed at Kappel in a battle between Protestant and Catholic cantons

1555 Humayun wins at Sirhind
Civil war within India enables Humayun to win a battle at Sirhind and recover the Mughal throne

1571 Last galleys rowed into battle
Galleys are rowed into battle for the last time at Lepanto, ending a fighting career of some 2500 years

1571 Christian galleys overwhelm Turks
Spanish and Venetian galleys defeat the Turks in the battle of Lepanto

1620 Battle at White Mountain
The battle of the White Mountain, to the west of Prague, ends the brief reign of Frederick V in Bohemia

1631 Swedes victorious at Breitenfeld
Gustavus II and the Swedish army win a conclusive victory over the imperial forces at Breitenfeld

1632 Swedish king dies in cavalry charge
The Swedish army wins another convincing victory at Lützen, but Gustavus II dies leading a cavalry charge

1642 Battle of Edgehill
Charles I leads his army into action at Edgehill - the first, but inconclusive, battle in the English Civil War

1644 Cavaliers defeated at Marston Moor
In the first decisive battle of the English Civil War the king's nephew, Rupert of the Rhine, is heavily defeated at Marston Moor

1645 Cavaliers defeated at Naseby
The royalist forces, again under the command of Rupert of the Rhine, suffer another major defeat at Naseby

1651 Charles II defeated at Worcester
Charles II is defeated by Cromwell at Worcester and escapes in disguise to France

1652 Major battle in Paris suburbs
Turenne defeats Condé in a battle in the Paris suburbs, hastening the decline of the Fronde

1690 James II defeated at river Boyne
The armies of James II and William III confront each at the river Boyne, with victory going to William

1704 Marlborough wins at Blenheim
The duke of Marlborough wins a major victory over the French at Blenheim, capturing twenty-four battalions and four regiments

1709 Setback for Swedish king at Russian hands
The Swedish king Charles XII suffers his first major defeat in a brilliant career, when he faces the Russians at Poltava

1745 Battle of Fontenoy
Maurice de Saxe, with a French army including an Irish brigade, defeats British, Austrian and Dutch forces at Fontenoy

1746 Disaster for Scots at Culloden
Charles Edward Stuart and his 5000 Scots are routed at Culloden, bringing the Forty-Five Rebellion to an abrupt end

1754 Washington draws blood at Fort Duquesne
George Washington kills ten French troops at Fort Duquesne, in the first violent clash of the French and Indian war

1755 Braddock and Washington ambushed
The army led by Edward Braddock and George Washington is ambushed at Fort Duquesne and Braddock is killed

1759 Wolfe moves up St Lawrence river
British general James Wolfe sails up the St Lawrence river with 15,000 men to besiege Quebec

1759 Frederick the Great not invincible
Frederick the Great suffers his first major defeat, by a Russian and Austrian army at Kunersdorf

1759 Heart of oak in Quiberon Bay
A British defeat of the French in Quiberon Bay prompts David Garrick to write Heart of Oak

1776 Washington wins at Trenton
George Washington defeats the British at Trenton at a psychologically important moment in the course of the war

1777 Gates captures Burgoyne
The American general Horatio Gates captures the army of General Burgoyne near Saratoga

1781 Cornwallis vulnerable at Yorktown
The British general Charles Cornwallis, isolated at Yorktown, is forced to surrender in the final engagement of the Revolutionary War

1792 Victory at Valmy saves Paris
A French revolutionary army defeats the Austrians and Prussians at Valmy, and thus saves Paris from attack

1792 French in Austrian Netherlands
After their success at Valmy, French republican armies overrun much of the Austrian Netherlands

1798 Battle of the Pyramids
Napoleon's campaign in Egypt begins well with the Battle of the Pyramids, a victory over an Egyptian army

1798 Battle of the Nile
Disaster strikes the French in Egypt when Nelson finds their fleet in Aboukir Bay and destroys it in the Battle of the Nile

1800 Napoleon wins at Marengo
Napoleon takes a French army through the Alps before the snows have cleared, and defeats the Austrians at Marengo

1801 Telescope to blind eye
Horatio Nelson puts his telescope to his blind eye when the signal is given to withdraw from Copenhagen harbour

1805 Nelson dies at Trafalgar
Horatio Nelson dies on the deck of the Victory after winning the battle of Trafalgar

1805 Napoleon wins at Austerlitz
Napoleon enters Vienna and then defeats an Austrian and Russian army at Austerlitz

1808 Wellesley wins at Vimeiro
A British army under Arthur Wellesley (later duke of Wellington) defeats the French at Vimeiro, near Lisbon

1809 French victory at Wagram
Napoleon enters Vienna and defeats the Austrians in a battle at nearby Wagram

1812 Battle of Borodino
The Russian army under Marshal Kutuzov confronts the advancing French at Borodino, and though defeated makes a successful withdrawal

1812 Napoleon enters Moscow
After victory at Borodino, Napoleon enters Moscow to find the city abandoned and burning

1813 Victory for Wellington at Vitoria
Wellington defeats Napoleon's brother Joseph at Vitoria, and captures his valuable baggage train

1813 US naval success on Lake Erie
American warships win a victory over the British on Lake Erie, strengthening the US presence in the Great Lakes

1813 Tecumseh killed on British side
Tecumseh is killed fighting for the British against General Harrison east of Detroit in the Battle of the Thames

1813 Napoleon defeated at Leipzig
The allies inflict a heavy defeat on Napoleon at Leipzig, in the so-called Battle of the Nations

1815 US victory over Britain near New Orleans
American volunteers under Andrew Jackson defeat British regulars near New Orleans, two weeks after peace has been agreed at Ghent

1815 Battle of Waterloo
The English and Prussian generals Wellington and Blücher defeat Napoleon in a closely fought battle at Waterloo

1827 Victory at Navarino helps Greek cause
Britain, France and Russia, supporting Greek independence, defeat the Turkish and Egyptian fleets at Navarino

1854 Battle of the Alma
British and French troops land at Sebastopol, to besiege the port, and win a limited victory over the Russians at the river Alma

1854 Charge of the Light Brigade
An inconclusive battle at Balaklava includes the Charge of the Light Brigade, with British cavalry recklessly led towards Russian guns

1854 Cold work besieging Sebastopol
An inconclusive engagement at Inkerman means that the allies in the Crimea have to dig in for the winter besieging Sebastopol

1859 Carnage at Solferino
French and Piedmontese forces defeat the Austrians decisively at Solferino, in a battle involving appalling casualties

1861 Confederates win first batle
The first battle of the American Civil War, fought near Manassas and the Bull Run Creek, is a clear Confederate victory

1862 Monitor and Merrimack
The Monitor and the Merrimack fight all morning off the Virginia coast, in history's first clash between ironclad ships

1862 Heavy casualties at Shiloh
A two-day engagement at Shiloh is the first Civil War battle to bring massive casualties, with more than 23,000 dead, wounded or missing

1862 Second battle of Bull Run
Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee defeat a Union army in the second battle of Bull Run or Manassas

1862 Massive casualties at Antietam
The Federal victory at Antietam comes at a cost of more than 22,000 casualties in a single day

1863 Heavy losses at Gettysburg
The three-day Battle of Gettysburg, inconclusive but more damaging to the Confederates, brings casualties on both sides of more than 50,000

1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn
George Custer leads a US cavalry attack on the Sioux at the Little Bighorn river, with disastrous results

1881 Boer victory at Majuba
The Boers inflict a convincing defeat on a British army at Majuba, in the Transvaal

1898 Churchill with Lancers at Omdurman
Winston Churchill gallops into battle with the Twenty-First Lancers at Omdurman

1899 Black Week for British in Boer War
Within a single 'Black Week' the British forces in South Africa suffer three defeats, at Stromberg, Magersfontein and Colenso

1905 Japanese victory at Mukden
The Japanese defeat a larger force of Russians at Mukden in the final land battle of the Russo-Japanese War

1914 August 23 British escape from Mons
The British Expeditionary Force fights a rearguard action to escape encirclement by the Germans at Mons

1914 August 25-28 Germans destroy large Russian army
A German army encircles and almost annihilates a larger Russian force at Tannenberg

1914 September 3 Germans threaten Paris
A Germany army crosses the river Marne in an advance towards Paris

1914 September 5 French push Germans back
A French army halts the German advance, just 30 miles from Paris

1914 September 8 French victory at the Marne
After a four-day battle, the French drive the German forces back over the river Marne

1914 First battle of Ypres
from October - there are heavy casualties on both sides, and a small advantage to the Allies, in the fighting round Ypres during the 'race to the sea'

1915  April 22 Second battle of Ypres
The Germans attempt an advance on the western front, launching the second battle of Ypres

1915  April 22-3 Germans use gas at Ypres
The Germans gain ground at Ypres after the first significant use of chlorine gas

1915 July 30 Flame thrower used in action
The Germans make their first effective use of a new weapon, the flame thrower, in an attack on the British in the second batte of Ypres

1915 September 25 British use gas at Loos
The British use chlorine gas for the first time in an attack on Loos, but in places it is blown back over the British lines when the wind changes

1915 November 22 British defeat at Ctesiphon
A British and Indian force is defeated by the Turks at Ctesiphon, on the bank of the Tigris

1916  February 21 Battle of Verdun
A German thrust against the French begins the year-long battle of Verdun

1916  May 31 Rival fleets clash off Jutland
The German and British fleets clash off Jutland, in a hard-fought but inconclusive encounter

1916 June 24 Battle of the Somme
An Allied advance in the valley of the Somme launches a four-month battle with very heavy casualties

1917  April 12 Canadian troops take Vimy Ridge
Canadian troops take Vimy Ridge, subsequently the site of Canada's most important war memorial

1917 July 6 Arabs win Aqaba
T.E. Lawrence and an Arab force surprise the Turkish garrison at Aqaba and win an overwhelming victory

1917 July 31 Third battle of Ypres
Haig sends British troops over the top in the third battle of Ypres

1917 Austrians press far into Italy
Ocxtober 24 - a victory at Caporetto enables the Austrian army to penetrate far into northeast Italy

1917 November 6 Muddy Passchendaele
British and Canadian infantry, slithering through a morass of mud, capture the village of Passchendaele

1918 July 18 Allies hold Germans on the Marne
The Allies hold the Germans on the Marne and begin a successful counterattack with tanks

1918 October 1 British take Damascus
After a victory at the historic battle site of Megiddo, Allenby captures the city of Damascus

1939 December 13 Battle of the River Plate
The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled after a battle with Allied ships near the river Plate

1940 August 13 Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain reaches its most intense phase, with 1500 German planes involved in a single day's assault

1941 July 16 Germans 200 miles from Moscow
Less than four weeks after crossing the Russian border, a German army is within 200 miles of Moscow

1941 December 5 Winter saves Moscow
The German advance is held just short of Moscow as winter arrives

1942 June 7 Battle of Midway
US planes sink four Japanese aircraft carriers in the battle of Midway, halting for the first time Japan's aggressive expansion

1942 July 4 First battle of El Alamein
Auchinleck finally stops Rommel's advance, in the first battle of El Alamein

1942 August 7 Battle for Guadalcanal
US and Japanese forces begin a violent six-month struggle for Guadalcanal, one of the Solomon Islands

1942 September 13 Battle of Stalingrad
A desperate battle begins for the city of Stalingrad, with house-to-house fighting between Germans and Russians

1942 October 23 Second battle of El Alamein
Montgomery launches the second battle of El Alamein against Rommel

1942 November 25 Germans encircled at Stalingrad
Soviet tanks complete the encirclement of 20 German divisions at Stalingrad

1943  January 31 Germans surrender at Stalingrad
With much of the German Sixth Army destroyed, the survivors led by Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrender at Stalingrad

1943  February 9 US troops take Guadalcanal
After a six-month battle, US troops win the Pacific base of Guadalcanal from the Japanese

1944  March-June First Allied victories in Burma
William Slim secures the first Allied victories in the Burma campaign, at Imphal and Kohima in northeast India

1944 October 25 US victory at Leyte Gulf
Victory over Japan in a massive 2-day battle at Leyte Gulf assures US recovery of Philippines

1945  April 5 US troops land on Okinawa
US troops land on the island of Okinawa, only 300 miles from the main islands of Japan

1945 June 22 Okinawa falls to US troops
After a ferocious three-month battle, Okinawa is in US hands

1954 French defeat at Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends with the surrender to the Vietminh of 12,000 French troops