8000 BC Jericho keeps out neighbours
The tower at Jericho is the world's earliest surviving fortification

2500 BC First image of soldiers
The treasures found in the royal cemetery at Ur include a depiction of soldiers in copper helmets, armed with battleaxes

1800 BC Warriors cut a dash in chariots
In Mesopotamia the new weapon is a light chariot, drawn by two horses

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

1300 BC Bronze suit of armour
The earliest known suit of armour, made of bronze, survives from a tomb in Mycenaean Greece

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

1250 BC Troy under siege
Not for the first time, the city of Troy is destroyed - on this occasion probably by Mycenaean Greeks

1150 BC Dorian Greeks crush Mycenae
Mycenae and other states of the Peloponnese are overwhelmed by invading Dorian Greeks

1100 BC Phoenicians develop war galley
The Phoenicians develop the war galley, with a sharp battering ram in the bow

1050 BC Samson hates Philistines
Samson is one of many Hebrew chieftains fighting the Philistines for possession of Canaan

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

1000 BC Nomads shoot from horseback
The nomadic fighters of the steppes, nimble on horseback and shooting arrows as they go, pioneer the techniques of cavalry warfare

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)

850 BC Battering ram in Assyria
The Assyrians develop the battering ram into a mobile and powerful siege engine

800 BC Steel weapons
The Assyrian army makes good use of the new technology by which iron can be hardened into steel suitable for weapons

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

550 BC Hoplites can do you grievous bodily harm
The hoplite - a Greek citizen, heavily armed in bronze and leather - proves a formidable fighting man

550 BC Beware the Greek phalanx
The phalanx, though not originally devised in Greece, is a devastating formation on the battlefield when composed of hoplites

550 BC Citizen armies in Greece
The Greek city states pioneer the use of citizen armies, made up of free men who bring their own fighting equipment

545 BC Persians annexe Ionia
Cyrus annexes the Greek territory of Ionia as part of his empire, giving Persia a presence on the Aegean

500 BC Immortals in Persian army
The 10,000 elite troops of the Persian empire, known as the Immortals, demonstrate the power of a professional standing army

500 BC Third bank of oars for Greek trireme
The Greeks add a third bank of oars to their war galleys, turning the bireme into a trireme

499 BC Rebellion in Ionia against Persians
The Greek cities of Ionia rebel against Persian rule, with the partial support of Athens

493 BC Persians recover Ionia
After six years the Persians recover control of Ionia, but Athens is now identified as a target for invasion

490 BC Persians send fleet against Greece
Darius sends a fleet across the Aegean, carrying a large army of infantry and cavalry for an attack on Athens

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

490 BC Pheidippides runs to Sparta
Pheidippides, given the task of running from Athens to Sparta to request help at Marathon against the Persians, completes the journey in two days

490 BC Battle of Marathon
At Marathon the Athenian hoplites, heavily outnumbered, win a spectacular victory against the Persians – of whom the survivors escape in their ships

490 BC Persians go home
The Persian fleet moves south towards Athens, but then heads home across the Aegean without attempting an assault on the city

483 BC Themistocles and the fleet
Themistocles persuades the Athenians to build up their fleet against the expected renewal of the threat from Persia

481 BC Persians return in force
Xerxes I, renewing the campaign of his father Darius against the Greeks, leads a large army round the Aegean and through Thrace

481 BC Greek city-states combine
The Greek city-states meet in Corinth to devise a joint strategy against the Persians

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 destroy Athens
Athens, abandoned to the advancing Persians, is looted and destroyed

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

479 BC Battle of Mykale
An Athenian force destroys at Mykale the remainder of the Persian fleet, ending the threat from them at sea

478 BC Byzantium liberated
In the last joint campaign by Sparta and Athens the strategically important city of Byzantium is liberated from Persian rule

478 BC Delian League led by Athens
Representatives of Athens and other Aegean city-states meet in Delos to form a coalition, later known as the Delian League

478 BC Delian League against Persia
The Delian League is formed for mutual defence, but also to liberate the Greek cities of Ionia from Persian rule

466 BC Battle of Eurymedon
The Athenian general Cimon wins a spectacular victory over the Persians at the mouth of the Eurymedon River, in southwest Turkey

461 BC Athenians build Long Walls
Pericles is given the task of constructing Athens' two famous Long Walls, stretching from the city to either side of the harbour at Piraeus

460 BC Herodotus father of history
Herodotus, the 'father of history', writes his account of the Greco-Persian Wars from a vantage point in Asia Minor

460 BC First Pelopponesian War
Simmering hostilities between the allies of Sparta and Athens develop into endemic conflict among the Greek city states of the Peloponnese

460 BC Greeks support revolt in Egypt
Forces of the Delian League assist the Egyptians in a successful revolt against their Persian rulers

454 BC Greek disaster on Nile
The Greeks suffer a major reverse when their fleet is trapped on the Nile and destroyed by the Persians

450 BC Greek successes in Cyprus
The Athenians mount successful attacks on the Persian forces occupying the Greek island of Cyprus

448 BC Peace of Kallias
In the Peace of Kallias the Persians acknowledge the independence of Greek Ionia, and agree not to bring their fleet into the Aegean

446 BC Treaty between Sparta and Athens
Pericles negotiates a treaty, scheduled to hold for thirty years, establishing spheres of influence for Sparta (the mainland) and Athens (the Aegean coast and islands)

431 BC Second Peloponnesian War
A sudden attack on Plataea (an ally of Athens) by Thebes (an ally of Sparta) begins the Second Peloponnesian War

431 BC Thucydides writes up war
The renewal of the Peloponnesian War prompts Thucydides to begin a great work of contemporary history

430 BC Plague in war-torn Athens
A plague strikes Athens in the second year of the Peloponnesian War

427 BC Dramatic reprieve for Mytilene
Athenians vote to kill all the men on the captured island of Mytilene, but the next day change their mind - almost too late

416 BC Athenians kill the men of Melos
The Athenians, capturing Melos, kill all the males of the island and sell the women and children into slavery

414 BC Persia funds Spartan fleet
The Persians, renewing their interest in the Aegean, fund the Spartans in the building of a fleet to match that of Athens

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

404 BC Defeat of Athens ends Peloponnesian Wars
The famous Long Walls of Athens, her impregnable defence, are dismantled by the Spartans in the final act of the Peloponnesian War

401 BC Xenophon writes up long journey home
Greek mercenaries, on the losing side at Cunaxa, begin a long journey home - described by Xenophon in the Anabasis

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

340 BC Alexander shows his paces
Alexander the Great, at the age of sixteen, conducts his first successful military campaign – against the Thracians

340 BC Catapult as siege engine
The Macedonians develop the catapult as a siege engine for the armies of Philip II and Alexander the Great

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

337 BC Philip II to lead Persian campaign
The League of Corinth resolves to launch a war against Persia, with Philip II in command of the confederate forces

336 BC Advance guard sets off for Persia
An advance guard of 10,000 troops sets off towards Persia in the spring, with Philip due to follow later with the main army

336 BC Alexander to lead army against Persia
The League of Corinth elects Alexander to take his father's place as leader of the campaign against Persia

334 BC Alexander leads his army east from Macedonia
The 21-year-old Alexander the Great marches east with some 5000 cavalry and 30,000 footsoldiers

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

332 BC Alexander controls ports of east Mediterranean
Alexander moves south through Syria and Palestine, excluding the Persian fleet from their familiar harbours

332 BC Seven-month siege of Tyre
Tyre, the only coastal city to offer serious resistance to Alexander, is taken and destroyed after a siege of seven months

330 BC Alexander destroys Persepolis
As a conclusive end to the long rivalry between Greece and Persia, Alexander destroys the great palace of Xerxes at Persepolis

325 BC Alexander's troops demand a change of direction
In the Indian monsoon Alexander's Greek troops have finally had enough and threaten to mutiny unless he turns for home

300 BC Roman legion improves on Greek phalanx
The flexibility of the Roman legion transforms the Greek phalanx into an even more effective fighting machine

299 BC Roman tortoise effective in war
The Roman siege technique is improved by the 'tortoise' which protects the attacking force

281 BC Pyrrhus lands in Italy
Pyrrhus lands in Italy, with 25,000 men and 20 elephants, to fight for the Greek colony of Tarentum against the Romans

264 BC First Punic War
A clash in Sicily, between Rome and Carthage, leads to the First Punic War

260 BC Rapid-response fleet for Rome
A Carthaginian quinquereme, captured by the Romans, is used as the model for the first Roman fleet - constructed in two months

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)

250 BC Chinese invent crossbow
The Chinese develop the crossbow, many centuries before its use in Europe

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

241 BC Sicily is Rome's first province
At the end of the First Punic War, Sicily becomes Rome's first overseas province

240 BC Spanish metals worth fighting for
Spain, with its mines of gold, silver and copper, is a hotly disputed region between Carthage and Rome

228 BC Hamilcar Barca in Spain
Hamilcar Barca dies fighting in Spain, after establishing a strong Carthaginian presence in the peninusula

227 BC Sardinia and Corsica form a province
Sardinia and Corsica are annexed by Rome, becoming the second Roman overseas province

225 BC Ebro as boundary
A treaty defines the Ebro river as the Spanish boundary between Carthage and Rome

221 BC Hannibal commands in Spain
Hannibal succeeds to the command of the Carthaginian forces in Spain, on the death of his brother-in-law Hasdrubal

218 BC Hannibal crosses Alps
Hannibal crosses the Alps with his elephants, beginning the Second 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

201 BC Spain ceded to Rome
Carthaginian Spain is handed over to Rome to become two new provinces, at the end of the Second Punic War

200 BC Stirrups for big toes
Indian cavalrymen ride with their big toes in loops of leather or fabric - a first step towards the stirrup

183 BC Hannibal commits suicide
Hannibal, to avoid falling into Roman hands, commits suicide in the Bithynian town of Libyssa

149 BC Third Punic War
Rome picks a quarrel with Carthage to begin the Third Punic War

146 BC Destruction of Carthage ends Punic Wars
Carthage is destroyed by the Romans at the end of the Third Punic War

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

90 BC Social War in Italy
A three-year war, known as the Social War, breaks out between Rome and her Italian allies

88 BC Sulla marches on Rome
The Roman general Sulla takes the unprecedented step of marching upon Rome with a Roman army, to restore his own faction to power

86 BC Athens looted by Romans
Sulla, campaigning to the east, besieges Athens and then allows his army to loot the city

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

49 BC Caesar crosses Rubicon
Julius Caesar crosses the river Rubicon (the southern boundary of Gaul) with his army – and in doing so launches a civil war

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

66 Josephus and the Jewish War
Josephus is in Jerusalem at the start of the rebellion against the Romans, and will later describe its suppression in his Jewish War

300 Heavy cavalry
Horses strong enough to carry men wearing armour are put to good use by northern barbarians, and by Romans in border regions such as Dacia

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

407 Roman city of Nîmes is sacked
The Roman city of Nîmes is sacked by the Vandals, in an early indication of the gradual loss of Gaul to the Germanic tribes

410 Visigoths plunder Rome
Alaric and the Visigoths enter Rome and plunder the city - the first foreign intruders for eight centuries

439 Vandals capture Carthage
Gaiseric captures Carthage and makes it his base for Vandal raids across the Mediterranean

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

452 Huns ravage northern Italy
Attila invades and ravages northern Italy, but turns back before reaching Rome - possibly influenced by the diplomacy of Leo I

455 Vandals sack Rome
Gaiseric and the Vandals enter Rome and sack the city, but their violence is perhaps restrained by Leo I

487 Theodoric invades Italy
Theodoric the Ostrogoth, threatening Constantinople, is cunningly diverted by the emperor into invading Italy

493 Theodoric captures Ravenna
Theodoric wins Ravenna from Odoacer - by inviting Odoacer to a banquet and murdering him during the meal

535 World's first castles
Belisarius, conquering the Vandals in north Africa, pioneers the strategic concept of the castle

615 Persians remove True Cross
When the Persians sack Jerusalem, they carry off to Ctesiphon Christianity's most sacred relic - the True Cross

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

674 Byzantine ships deploy secret weapon
A Muslim fleet attacking Constantinople is deterred by the first known use of the Byzantine secret recipe for 'Greek fire'

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

714 Civil war among Franks
The death of the Frankish 'mayor of the palace' Pepin II is followed by civil war between members of his family

724 Charles Martel wins control
The civil war among the Franks ends with complete victory for Charles Martel, an illegitimate grandson of Pepin II

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

850 Mamelukes employed in Baghdad
The caliphs in Baghdad begin to employ Turkish slaves, or Mamelukes, in their armies

1000 Feudal knights ride into battle
The feudal knight of northern Europe, wearing armour of chain mail on a sturdy horse, becomes the fighting machine of the Middle Ages

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 Gunpowder described
A Chinese manual on warfare includes the earliest known description of gunpowder

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

1040 Seljuk victory at Dandanqan
The Seljuk Turks win a victory at Dandanqan, which gives them a base in the north of Iran and Afghanistan

1054 Polovtsy pester Russians
A Russian chronicle makes the first mention of the marauding Polovtsy, who persistently raid Russian cities from the steppes

1057 Duncan's son slays Macbeth
Duncan's son, Malcolm, kills Macbeth in battle at Lumphanan - and in the following year is himself crowned at Scone

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 Normans invade England in longships
The Normans, as seen in the Bayeux tapestry, invade England in Viking longships with fortified platforms for archers

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

1098 Crusaders capture Antioch
After a siege of seven months, the city of Antioch falls to the knights of the first crusade

1139 Crossbow a weapon of mass destruction
Pope Innocent III and the second Lateran council outlaw the crossbow as a weapon causing unacceptable devastation

1144 Crusaders lose Edessa
The city of Edessa is captured by Zangi, a Mameluke general, in the first setback for the crusaders in the Middle East

1144 Pope calls for new crusade
The fall of Edessa prompts the pope, Eugenius III, to call for a second crusade to defend the Latin kingdom

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

1187 Saladin captures Acre
Saladin captures various Crusader fortresses and walled cities, including Acre

1187 Saladin takes Jerusalem
Saladin takes Jerusalem and treats the Christian inhabitants with a consideration unusual for the time

1200 Longbow in Wales
The longbow, a weapon of great use to English armies, is probably first developed in Wales

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

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

1270 Assassins destroyed by Mamelukes
The Assassins are systematically destroyed by Baybars, the Mameluke sultan of Egypt

1274 Mongols invade Japan
The Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274 seems to confirm the doom and disaster foretold by the Buddhist prophet Nichiren

1278 Habsburgs gain Austria
At Dürnkrut Rudolf I defeats and kills Otakar II, his rival for Austria - thus bringing the Austrian territories into the Habsburg domain

1279 Hangzhou falls to Kublai Khan
With the fall of Hangzhou, the Song imperial capital, Kublai Khan's new Yüan dynasty is secure

1281 Kamikaze saves Japan from Mongols
For the second time Japan is saved from Mongol invasion by powerful storms - which are given the name kamikaze, or 'divine wind'

1282 Uprising by prince of Wales
An uprising by Llewellyn ap Gruffydd, the prince of Wales, ends with his own death and the subjugation of Wales by the king of England, Edward I

1296 English remove Stone of Scone
Edward I invades Scotland, massacres the people of Berwick, captures John de Balliol and brings to Westminster the Stone of Scone

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 Longbow too much for Scots
The English longbow, in one of its early appearances, proves too much for the Scots at Falkirk

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

1307 Edward I dies campaigning
The English king Edward I dies campaigning near Carlisle, on an expedition north against his Scottish rival Robert the Bruce

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

1337 Property dispute launches Hundred Years' War
Philip VI of France confiscates Guienne, a fief belonging to Edward III of England - whose response begins the Hundred Years' War

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

1347 Six brave burghers of Calais
The English siege of Calais ends when six burghers of the town, with ropes around their necks, offer their lives to save their fellow citizens

1350 Condottieri corner war market
Armies of mercenaries, led by condottieri, conduct Italian warfare at an often extortionate rate

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

1360 Ransom of 3 million gold crowns
After four years of captivity in Bordeaux and London, the French king John II is released for a promised ransom of 3 million gold crowns

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

1380 Venice triumphs over Genoa
The Venetian blockade of Chioggia costs Genoa her fleet and ends Genoese rivalry with Venice in the eastern Mediterranean

1383 Timur destroys Herat
Timur begins twenty years of almost continuous conquest with the capture and destruction of Herat

1384 Visconti enlarges Milan
Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the signore of Milan, sets about enlarging his territory - seizing Vicenza, Verona and Padua between 1384 and 1388

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

1398 Timur sacks Delhi
Timur devastates Delhi and loots treasure to take back to Samarkand on 120 elephants

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

1404 Owain Glyn Dwr victorious
Owain Glyn Dwr captures Aberystwyth and Harlech from the English and sets up an independent Welsh administration

1406 Pisa taken by Florence
Pisa is captured by Florence, to be followed a few years later by the purchase of the seaport of Livorno

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 'Once more unto the breach' at Harfleur
Henry V captures the French stronghold of Harfleur - where, in Shakespeare, he urges his dear friends 'once more unto the breach'

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

1419 Henry V enters Rouen
After a six-month siege Henry V makes a triumphal entry into Rouen, the city of his Norman ancestors

1422 Zizka and his 'war wagon fortress'
Jan Zizka wins a series of victories against papal armies, using the mobile barricade which becomes known as his 'war wagon fortress'

1428 Peasant girl hears voices
A peasant girl, Joan of Arc, hears the voices of saints urging her to relieve the siege of Orléans

1429 Joan face to face with Charles
Joan of Arc wins her way into the presence of Charles VII at Chinon and persuades him, eventually, to trust her

1429 Orléans falls to Joan and the French
Joan of Arc leads French forces in the successful relief of Orléans

1429 Anointing of king at Reims
Joan of Arc stands nearby while Charles VII is anointed at Reims, then kneels before him and for the first time calls him her king

1430 Joan captured in skirmish
Joan of Arc is captured in a skirmish with the Burgundians, who subsequently hand her over to the English

1431 Joan burned as a heretic
Joan of Arc, tried by the Inquisition on behalf of the English in Rouen, is burned at the stake as a relapsed heretic

1438 Inca prince seizes throne
After a decisive victory over the Chanca people, a young Inca prince seizes the throne in Peru and takes the name Pachacuti

1443 Hunyadi liberates Balkans from Turks
The Hungarian general Janos Hunyadi takes Sofia from the Turks and in the next few months liberates most of Bulgaria, Serbia and Albania

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

1450 Guns on battlefield
The French bring two small cannon on to the battlefield at Formigny, where they have a significant effect in achieving the French victory

1453 Constantinople bombarded by massive gun
The Turks terrify Constantinople by lobbing vast stones at the city from a 19-ton bombard of cast iron

1453 Constantinople falls to Turks
Constantinople falls to a 21-year-old Muslim conqueror, Mehmed II, bringing the Ottoman Turks their capital city

1453 Turkish victory establishes Ottoman empire
The Christian emperor Constantine XI dies in the fighting in Constantinople, as the Greek Byzantine empire yields to that of the Ottoman Turks

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

1453 Hundred Years War ends (after 116 years)
Charles VII's full recovery of Aquitaine and Normandy effectively brings to an end the Hundred Years' War

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

1456 Peasant army defeats Turks at Belgrade
The Turks, besieging Belgrade, are dispersed by a peasant army inspired by the preaching of a Franciscan friar, St John of Capistrano

1461 Edward IV triumphant
The first success in the Wars of the Roses goes to the white rose, with the Yorkist prince crowned as Edward IV

1463 Incas conquer Chimu
The Chimu empire in Peru is conquered by the Incas under the leadership of Pachacuti's son Topa

1464 Turks conquer Bosnia
Mehmed II and the Ottoman Turks conquer Bosnia, where a large number of noble families convert to Islam

1475 Bribe ends renewed English attack on France
Edward IV, landing at Calais with a large army, is bought off at Picquigny with a bribe - ending his attempt to revive the Hundred Years' War

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

1480 Leonardo designs forts
Leonardo da Vinci takes a professional interest in the new science of fortification

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

1492 Christians take Granada
The army of Ferdinand and Isabella besieges and takes the city of Granada, completing the long reconquest of Spain from the Muslims

1494 King of France claims Naples
Charles VIII, king of France, marches through the Alps with an army of 30,000, to claim the throne of Naples

1495 King of France crowned in Naples
Charles VIII captures Naples in February and is crowned there in May, but is forced back across the Alps before the end of the year

1499 Swiss independence agreed
The Swiss (or Swabian) War ends with the treaty of Basel, bringing effective recognition of Swiss independence from the Habsburg empire

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

1517 Ottomans end Mameluke rule
The Ottoman sultan, Selim I, captures Cairo and ends Mameluke rule in the middle east

1517 Caliph removed to Istanbul
The last Abbasid caliph, captured by the Ottoman Turks, is taken as a prisoner to Istanbul - ending the authentic line of 'successors' to Muhammad

1519 Cortes seeks fortune in Mexico
The Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes lands on the coast of Mexico with 600 men, 16 horses and about 20 guns

1519 Cortes captures Aztec emperor
Cortes and his tiny force capture Montezuma, ruler of the mighty Aztec empire, in his palace at Tenochtitlan

1520 Cortes loses Tenochtitlan
Cortes loses control of Tenochtitlan and has to escape in haste with his men during 'the Sorrowful Night'

1521 Turks take Belgrade
The Turkish sultan, Suleiman I, marches into the kingdom of Hungary and captures Belgrade

1521 Cortes recaptures Tenochtitlan
After a little more than a year Cortes recaptures Tenochtitlan and finally establishes Spanish control over Mexico

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

1525 Peasant War appals Luther
Thomas Müntzer leads the rebels in the Peasant War, to the profound displeasure of Luther

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 Rome sacked by German mercenaries
Pope Clement VII hides in Castel Sant'Angelo while Rome is sacked by German mercenaries

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