History · Reference dataset
Major Battles in World History
30 battles that changed history, from Kadesh (1274 BC) to Midway (1942), chosen across eras and regions. Each has both sides, commanders, the outcome, why it mattered, and the range of strength and losses that sources give, with how reliable that evidence is (surviving records, modern estimates, ancient sources only, or claims only). The individual estimates are in the list battleestimates.
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| ID | Battle | Wikidata ID | Era | Region | Kind | War | Start year | Date | Date note | Place | Modern place | Latitude | Longitude | Result | Victor | Outcome | Why it mattered | Side A | Side A participants | Side A commanders | Side A strength low | Side A strength high | Side A strength unit | Side A strength counts | Side A killed low | Side A killed high | Side A losses low | Side A losses high | Side A losses count | Side A evidence | Side A note | Side B | Side B participants | Side B commanders | Side B strength low | Side B strength high | Side B strength unit | Side B strength counts | Side B killed low | Side B killed high | Side B losses low | Side B losses high | Side B losses count | Side B evidence | Side B note |
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| 21 | Battle of Plassey (Palashi) | Q203233 | Early modern | South Asia | Battle | Seven Years' War (Anglo-French and Company conflicts in Bengal) | 1757 | 23 June 1757 | Gregorian (Britain adopted it in 1752). | Plassey (Palashi), Bengal Subah | Palashi, Nadia district, West Bengal, India | 23.800000 | 88.250000 | Victory | British East India Company | Company victory after much of the Nawab's army, under Mir Jafar, stood aside. | Clive won mostly through a secret deal with the Nawab's commander Mir Jafar rather than by fighting. The victory gave the East India Company control of Bengal's wealth and began British rule in India. | East India Company | British East India Company; Kingdom of Great Britain (39th Regiment of Foot) | Robert Clive; Eyre Coote; Major Kilpatrick | 3000 | 3000 | people | present | 22 | 22 | killed and wounded | Records survive | Wikipedia's infobox gives 3,100 men and 8 guns, uncited. Wikipedia's infobox gives 27 killed, uncited. Company returns survive. | Nawab of Bengal | Bengal Subah (Nawab of Bengal); French East India Company artillery detachment | Siraj ud-Daulah; Mir Madan (killed); Mohan Lal; St. Frais (French); Mir Jafar (commander who held back) | 50000 | 50000 | people | present | 500 | 500 | losses (undefined) | Modern estimates | Only part of this army actually fought; Mir Jafar's troops stayed out of the battle. Bengal numbers are rough, and engaged strength was far lower than present strength. | ||||
| 22 | Siege of Yorktown | Q459447 | Early modern | Americas | Siege | American Revolutionary War | 1781 | 28 September 1781 to 19 October 1781 | Gregorian. | Yorktown and Gloucester Point, Virginia | Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown, Virginia, United States | 37.230833 | -76.502500 | Victory | United States and France | Cornwallis surrendered his army. | Trapped by a French fleet and a Franco-American army, Cornwallis surrendered his whole army. The loss persuaded Britain to seek peace, and American independence was recognised in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. | Americans and French | United States (Continental Army and militia); Kingdom of France | George Washington; Comte de Rochambeau; Marquis de Lafayette; Comte de Grasse (fleet); Benjamin Lincoln; Henry Knox | 19800 | 19800 | people | present | 88 | 88 | killed and wounded | Records survive | Well documented by both armies. | British and German auxiliaries | Kingdom of Great Britain; Hesse-Kassel; Ansbach-Bayreuth; Loyalists | Charles Cornwallis (surrendered); Charles O'Hara; Banastre Tarleton | 8000 | 9000 | people | present | 142 | 309 | 7884 | 8589 | killed, wounded and captured | Records survive | Surrender returns survive; ranges reflect different counts of the sick and wounded. | ||
| 23 | Battle of Waterloo | Q48314 | Modern | Europe | Battle | Waterloo campaign (Hundred Days, War of the Seventh Coalition) | 1815 | 18 June 1815 | Gregorian. | South of Waterloo, United Kingdom of the Netherlands | Walloon Brabant, Belgium (between Waterloo, Braine-l'Alleud and Plancenoit) | 50.678056 | 4.412222 | Victory | Seventh Coalition (Wellington and Blucher) | Coalition victory; Napoleon abdicated days later. | Napoleon's defeat ended his return from exile and his career for good. The peace already being settled at the Congress of Vienna then shaped Europe's borders for decades. | French | First French Empire (Army of the North) | Napoleon Bonaparte; Michel Ney; Jean-de-Dieu Soult; Jean-Baptiste Drouet d'Erlon; Honore Reille | 72000 | 73000 | people | present | 24000 | 26000 | killed, wounded and captured | Records survive | About 246-252 guns. About 15,000 more deserted after the battle (Barbero 2005, p. 420). Killed and wounded are not separated in these sources. Muster rolls exist; estimates agree within a few percent. | Seventh Coalition | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; Kingdom of Prussia; United Kingdom of the Netherlands; Kingdom of Hanover; Duchy of Brunswick; Duchy of Nassau | Duke of Wellington; Gebhard von Blucher; Earl of Uxbridge; Thomas Picton (killed); William, Prince of Orange; Friedrich von Bulow | 118000 | 120000 | people | present | 24000 | 24000 | killed, wounded and missing | Records survive | Sources give killed, wounded and missing separately for each army; they are not added together here. Barbero gives 17,000 for Wellington and 7,000 for the Prussians. Well documented. | ||||
| 24 | Battle of Gettysburg | Q33132 | Modern | Americas | Battle | American Civil War (Gettysburg campaign, Eastern Theater) | 1863 | 1 July 1863 to 3 July 1863 | Gregorian. | Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania | Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania, United States | 39.811389 | -77.225833 | Victory | United States (Union) | Union victory; Lee retreated to Virginia. | Lee's defeat ended his last major invasion of the North, and Vicksburg fell to the Union the next day, turning the war toward a Union victory. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, given at the battlefield cemetery that November, gave the battle its lasting meaning. | Union | United States (Army of the Potomac) | George G. Meade | 93500 | 104256 | people | engaged | 23049 | 23049 | casualties (killed, wounded, captured and missing) | Records survive | Regimental returns survive for both armies. | Confederacy | Confederate States (Army of Northern Virginia) | Robert E. Lee; James Longstreet; Richard S. Ewell; A. P. Hill; J. E. B. Stuart | 65000 | 80000 | people | engaged | 4708 | 4708 | 23000 | 28000 | casualties (killed, wounded, captured and missing) | Records survive | Confederate returns often left out officers, so totals may be low. | ||
| 25 | Battle of Isandlwana | Q747589 | Modern | Sub-Saharan Africa | Battle | Anglo-Zulu War | 1879 | 22 January 1879 | Gregorian. | Isandlwana hill, Zulu Kingdom | Isandlwana, near Nquthu, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa | -28.356389 | 30.652500 | Victory | Zulu Kingdom | Zulu victory; the British camp was overrun. | A Zulu army armed mostly with spears and shields overran a British camp defended by modern rifles, one of the heaviest defeats suffered by the Victorian army. Britain still went on to defeat the Zulu Kingdom later that year. | British | British Empire: British Army regulars (24th Foot), Natal colonial volunteers and police, Natal Native Contingent | Lord Chelmsford (overall, absent from camp); Henry Pulleine (killed); Anthony Durnford (killed) | 1837 | 1837 | people | present | 1300 | killed | Records survive | Two guns were captured. British dead were counted and named. | Zulu | Zulu Kingdom | Ntshingwayo kaMahole Khoza; Mavumengwana kaNdlela; Dabulamanzi kaMpande (reserve) | 20000 | 25000 | people | present | 1000 | 3000 | 3000 | 5000 | killed and wounded | Modern estimates | A reserve of 3,000-5,000 went on to attack Rorke's Drift. Zulu losses were never counted; figures are estimates from bodies found and later accounts. | |||
| 26 | Battle of Adwa | Q302519 | Modern | Sub-Saharan Africa | Battle | First Italo-Ethiopian War | 1896 | 1 March 1896 | Gregorian. In the Ethiopian calendar it is commemorated on Yekatit 23. | Near Adwa, Tigray, Ethiopian Empire | Adwa, Tigray Region, Ethiopia | 14.018889 | 38.973333 | Victory | Ethiopian Empire | Decisive Ethiopian victory; the Italian army was routed. | Ethiopia's defeat of an invading Italian army forced Italy to recognise Ethiopian independence in the Treaty of Addis Ababa that year. Ethiopia stayed free through the Scramble for Africa and became a lasting symbol of African resistance to colonial rule. | Ethiopians | Ethiopian Empire | Emperor Menelik II; Empress Taytu Betul; Ras Makonnen; Ras Alula; Ras Mengesha Yohannes; Ras Mikael of Wollo; Negus Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam | 73000 | 100000 | people | present | 3886 | 7000 | killed and wounded | Modern estimates | Camp followers about as numerous again (Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, p. 108). Ethiopian figures are estimates; they vary by about 30 percent. | Italians | Kingdom of Italy; Eritrean askari (colonial troops) | Oreste Baratieri; Vittorio Dabormida (killed); Giuseppe Arimondi (killed); Matteo Albertone (captured); Giuseppe Ellena | 14519 | 17770 | people | engaged | 5900 | 6133 | killed, wounded and captured | Records survive | The whole Italian army in East Africa numbered about 29,700. Italian losses were recorded by the army; the two counts are close. | ||||
| 27 | Battle of Tsushima | Q208127 | Modern | East Asia | Naval battle | Russo-Japanese War | 1905 | 27 May 1905 to 28 May 1905 | Gregorian. Russia then used the Julian calendar (14-15 May 1905). | Tsushima Strait, between Korea and Japan | Tsushima Strait (Korea Strait), between South Korea and Japan | 34.450000 | 130.150000 | Victory | Empire of Japan | Decisive Japanese victory; most of the Russian fleet was sunk or captured. | Japan's near-total destruction of Russia's fleet, which had sailed halfway around the world, ended the Russo-Japanese War. It was the first time in the modern era that an Asian power defeated a European great power in a major war. | Japan | Empire of Japan (Combined Fleet) | Togo Heihachiro; Kamimura Hikonojo; Kataoka Shichiro | ships | present | 117 | 117 | killed and wounded | Records survive | Wikipedia's infobox lists 4 battleships, 29 cruisers, 21 destroyers and 45 torpedo boats, among others, without a citation. Three torpedo boats sunk. Losses are well documented; ship counts need a cited source. | Russia | Russian Empire (Second and Third Pacific Squadrons) | Zinovy Rozhestvensky (captured); Nikolai Nebogatov (surrendered); Oskar Enqvist | ships | present | 4380 | 5045 | killed and captured | Records survive | Wikipedia's infobox lists 8 battleships, 3 coastal battleships, 9 cruisers and 9 destroyers, among others, without a citation. A further 1,862 were interned in neutral ports (Regan). Russia lost all its battleships present: 6 sunk and 2 captured, plus coastal battleships (infobox). Personnel losses are documented; ship strength is uncited here. | ||||||||
| 28 | Battle of the Somme | Q132568 | Modern | Europe | Battle | First World War (Western Front) | 1916 | 1 July 1916 to 18 November 1916 | Gregorian. | Both banks of the Somme River, Picardy, Western Front | Somme and Pas-de-Calais departments, France | 50.015556 | 2.697500 | Inconclusive | Anglo-French gains of a few miles; no breakthrough. Some historians call it an attritional Allied success. | The 141-day Anglo-French offensive moved the front only a few miles at the cost of hundreds of thousands of casualties on each side. Its first day remains the bloodiest in British Army history, and the battle came to stand for the slaughter of trench warfare. | British Empire and France | British Empire (including Dominion and Indian forces); French Third Republic | Douglas Haig; Henry Rawlinson; Hubert Gough; Joseph Joffre; Ferdinand Foch; Emile Fayolle | people | present | casualties (killed, wounded, missing and captured) | Modern estimates | Measured in divisions, not men: Wikipedia's infobox (uncited) gives 13 British and 11 French divisions on 1 July, and 50 British and 48 French divisions over the whole battle. Given separately for Britain and France; not added together here. Casualty returns exist but are counted differently by each army. | Germany | German Empire | Erich von Falkenhayn; Paul von Hindenburg; Erich Ludendorff; Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria; Fritz von Below; Max von Gallwitz | people | present | 237159 | 600000 | casualties (killed, wounded, missing and captured) | Modern estimates | Wikipedia's infobox (uncited) gives 10.5 divisions on 1 July and 50 divisions over the battle. German losses are the most disputed figure of the battle: German and British counting methods differ. Totals depend on whether lightly wounded men are counted. | |||||||||||
| 29 | Battle of Stalingrad | Q38789 | Modern | Europe | Battle | Second World War (Eastern Front) | 1942 | 17 July 1942 to 2 February 1943 | Gregorian. Start date debated: some historians use 23 August 1942. | Stalingrad and the Don-Volga steppe, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union | Volgograd, Russia | 48.715000 | 44.532500 | Victory | Soviet Union | Soviet victory; the German Sixth Army was encircled and surrendered. | The encirclement and surrender of the German Sixth Army ended Germany's 1942 drive toward the Caucasus oil fields and marked the turning point of the war in the East. With total deaths estimated in the millions, it is often ranked among the deadliest battles in history. | Axis | Nazi Germany; Kingdom of Romania; Kingdom of Italy; Kingdom of Hungary; Independent State of Croatia | Adolf Hitler; Friedrich Paulus (surrendered); Hermann Hoth; Maximilian von Weichs; Erich von Manstein; Wolfram von Richthofen | 270000 | 1011000 | people | present | 800000 | 1500000 | casualties (killed, wounded, missing and captured) | Modern estimates | The two numbers describe different phases and areas, not a disagreement. Per-country figures (e.g. Germany 300,000-400,000+, Romania 109,000-200,000) are also in the Wikipedia infobox. Axis losses depend on which operations and allied armies are included. | Soviet Union | Soviet Union (Red Army) | Joseph Stalin; Georgy Zhukov; Aleksandr Vasilevsky; Andrey Yeryomenko; Vasily Chuikov; Konstantin Rokossovsky; Nikolai Vatutin | 187000 | 1143500 | people | present | 478741 | 674990 | 1129619 | 1347214 | casualties (killed, missing, wounded and sick) | Modern estimates | Krivosheev and Pereslegin group missing men differently. Soviet official figures are precise-looking but are thought by some historians to be low. | ||
| 30 | Battle of Midway | Q173034 | Modern | Oceania | Naval battle | Second World War (Pacific War) | 1942 | 4 June 1942 to 7 June 1942 | Gregorian, local (U.S.) dates; Japanese records across the date line give 5-7 June. | Waters north of Midway Atoll, central Pacific | Midway Atoll, U.S. Minor Outlying Islands (battle area to the north) | 30.000000 | -178.000000 | Victory | United States | American victory; four Japanese fleet carriers were sunk. | U.S. carrier planes sank all four Japanese fleet carriers in the attacking force, after codebreakers had revealed the Japanese plan. Japan never regained the initiative in the Pacific. | United States | United States (Pacific Fleet, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army Air Forces) | Chester Nimitz; Frank Jack Fletcher; Raymond Spruance | ships and aircraft | present | 307 | 307 | killed | Records survive | Wikipedia's infobox (mostly uncited) gives 3 fleet carriers, 233 carrier aircraft and 127 land-based aircraft. One fleet carrier (Yorktown), one destroyer and about 150 aircraft lost. U.S. losses are well documented. | Japan | Empire of Japan (Combined Fleet) | Isoroku Yamamoto; Chuichi Nagumo; Nobutake Kondo; Tamon Yamaguchi (killed) | ships and aircraft | present | 3057 | 3057 | killed and captured | Records survive | Much of the Japanese fleet, including 5 battleships, never came into action. Four fleet carriers and one heavy cruiser sunk; 248 aircraft destroyed (Parshall and Tully, p. 524). Parshall and Tully used Japanese records; figures are reliable. |
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Last checked against sources: November 7, 2026.
Last changed: November 7, 2026. This is when we last changed the data or its description. It doesn’t mean the data runs up to that date.
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