History classrooms & homeschool families

Map the battles that shaped history

See where battles were fought across 3,500 years, era by era. Then open 30 battles that changed history, and weigh every estimate of how many fought, from Herodotus to modern historians.

Open a featured battle Download the battles (CSV)

2,300 battles · 1457 BC to 2026 · 30 featured

Where battles were fought, and when.

Each dot is a battle, siege or sea battle, coloured by its era; choose an era to see only its battles. The 30 ringed battles are featured: choose one to see who won and how many fought, by every estimate.

Battle of Talas, AD 751. Abbasid Caliphate won. Estimates of how many fought: Abbasids and allies 30,000–200,000; Tang China and allies 30,000–100,000. See every estimate

Map: Natural Earth (public domain). Battles: Wikidata (CC0). A battle without coordinates of its own is placed at its town or region. Swipe the map sideways to see the rest.

Choose a featured battle

Medieval · Battle · Central Asia

Battle of Talas

May 751 to September 751 · Talas River valley near Taraz, on the Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan border

Part of the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana.

Abbasid Caliphate won. Abbasid victory, helped by the defection of the Karluk Turks from the Tang side.

The clash marked the western edge of Tang Chinese power in Central Asia, and the An Lushan Rebellion a few years later pulled China's armies home for good. A popular but debated tradition says Chinese prisoners taken here brought papermaking to Samarkand.

Abbasids and allies

Evidence: Modern estimates

Who fought Abbasid Caliphate; Tibetan Empire; Karluks (defected from Tang during the battle)

Commanders Ziyad ibn Salih (field commander); Abu Muslim; Caliph al-Saffah

Tang China and allies

Evidence: Modern estimates

Who fought Tang dynasty; Ferghana; Karluk mercenaries (defected)

Commanders Gao Xianzhi; Li Siye; Duan Xiushi

Early accounts Ancient and medieval writers, chronicles, memoirs and commanders' own claims, some written at the time and some centuries later
Official records Returns, official histories and statistics kept by armies and governments
Modern historians Later scholars, working from records, logistics and the ground
Summaries Encyclopedia summaries and popular websites that pass on others' figures

How many fought? One mark for each estimate; a bar is a range. Point at, tap or tab to a mark for its number and who made it.

Abbasids and allies people

Tang China and allies people

For the Abbasids and allies, the largest estimate of how many fought is 6.7 times the smallest.

For the Tang China and allies, the largest estimate of how many fought is 3.3 times the smallest.

How many were lost? Filled marks count the dead; rings count everyone lost (dead, wounded, captured and missing). Point at, tap or tab to a mark for its number and who made it.

Abbasids and allies no figure

Tang China and allies people

Every estimate, and who made it

Abbasids and allies

Strength

30,000 people (present) Modern historians: Filippo Donvito (modern estimate) Wikipedia, "Battle of Talas" (infobox), citing Donvito, "Treacherous auxiliaries: The Battle of the River Talas", Medieval Warfare 5.1 (2015), pp. 22-27 Source (opens in a new tab)
200,000 people (present) Early accounts: Chinese sources (as reported by Chang 2023 and Donvito 2015) Wikipedia, "Battle of Talas" (infobox), citing H. K. Chang, Civilizations of the Silk Road (2023), p. 141 Source (opens in a new tab)

Tang China and allies

Strength

30,000 people (present) Modern historians: modern estimate Wikipedia, "Battle of Talas" (infobox), citing Christopher Beckwith, The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia (1993), p. 139; David Graff, Medieval Chinese Warfare 300-900 (2001), p. 215 Source (opens in a new tab)
10,000–20,000 people (present), Tang soldiers, plus 20,000-30,000 Karluks Early accounts: Chinese sources Wikipedia, "Battle of Talas" (infobox), citing Chang (2023), p. 141; Donvito (2015) Source (opens in a new tab)
100,000 people (present) Early accounts: Arab sources Wikipedia, "Battle of Talas" (infobox), citing no single citation Source (opens in a new tab)

Killed

20,000–30,000 people Early accounts: Chinese sources Chinese sources say about 2,000 survived (Chang 2023) Wikipedia, "Battle of Talas" (infobox), citing Bai Shouyi, A History of Chinese Muslims (2003), pp. 224-225; Alexander Monro, The Paper Trail (2016), p. 151 Source (opens in a new tab)
45,000–50,000 people Early accounts: Arab sources Wikipedia, "Battle of Talas" (infobox), citing Hyunhee Park, Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds (2012), p. 25 Source (opens in a new tab)

Captured

20,000–25,000 people Early accounts: Arab sources Wikipedia, "Battle of Talas" (infobox), citing Park (2012), p. 25 Source (opens in a new tab)

About the date. Julian. Wikipedia gives a May-September 751 window; the fighting itself lasted only days and its exact date is uncertain.

All 30 featured battles

Battles that changed who ruled where.

Chosen across eras and continents: each changed who ruled a region, ended a war or empire, or stopped an invasion, and each teaches something about how we know. Choose one to open it above.

Ancient before 500

Medieval 500 to 1499

Early modern 1500 to 1799

Modern 1800 on

How we know

Numbers from the past need weighing.

The 262 estimates behind the featured battles come from four kinds of source. Each mark on a chart is coloured by the kind that made it.

Early accounts 62 estimates

Ancient and medieval writers, chronicles, memoirs and commanders' own claims, some written at the time and some centuries later.

Official records 9 estimates

Returns, official histories and statistics kept by armies and governments.

Modern historians 159 estimates

Later scholars, working from records, logistics and the ground.

Summaries 32 estimates

Encyclopedia summaries and popular websites that pass on others' figures.

How good is the evidence for each side? One column for each featured battle, oldest first; its two squares are its two sides. Point at a column to name it, and choose it to open the battle.

Ancient

Medieval

Early modern

Modern

Records survive 14 sides. Muster rolls, returns or official counts were kept.
Modern estimates 36 sides. Historians estimate from records, supplies and the ground.
Ancient sources only 6 sides. Only ancient writers give numbers, often inflated.
Claims only 4 sides. Only the sides' own boasts or the winner's word survive.

Questions to ask of any number

Who counted, and when? A writer centuries later, a commander, or a clerk with a roll?
Who won? Winners wrote most of the records, and often made the enemy larger.
Present or engaged? An army on the field is not the same as the troops who fought.
What is being counted? Killed, or everyone lost: the dead, wounded, captured and missing.

For study

Ideas for family and classroom study.

Younger learners · 20 minutes

Where were the battles?

Choose each era on the map in turn. Where are the most dots in ancient times, and where in modern times? Find your own country, and one battle near it.

Ages 11–14 · 40 minutes

Three hundred Spartans?

Open Thermopylae. How many Greeks fought, and how many were Spartans? Compare Herodotus's number for the Persians with the modern ones. Why might an ancient writer's number be so much larger?

Ages 15–18 · one or two sessions

Weigh the sources

Choose a battle whose sides have different kinds of evidence, such as Panipat or Gettysburg. Rank its estimates from most to least trustworthy, and explain your ranking.

Make it your own

Build your own version.

All three lists are free in full: the 2,300 battles with dates, places, coordinates, wars and sides; the 30 featured battles with both sides' ranges; and every estimate with who made it and where it is published. Join them on WikidataID.

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Free in full. No Data Pass or API key needed. Opening this guide does not use your API allowance.

Sources and limits

The 2,300 battles are from Wikidata (CC0), limited to well-documented battles: an English Wikipedia article and articles in at least 15 languages (10 outside Europe, where other-language coverage is thinner). Wikidata's sides and commanders are often incomplete, its dates are not converted between calendars, and it has almost no casualty figures. The featured battles' numbers come from the ancient texts in translation and the scholarship cited in each estimate. The map is Natural Earth's 1:110m land (public domain).

What each record contains

Explore the dataset and its sources. These fields are in the complete download.

Field	How to read it
`Battle`	The battle's name, with its year added where two share a name.
`Kind`	Battle, Siege or Naval battle.
`StartYear`	Year it began (negative = BC).
`StartMonth`	Blank where the sources don't give it.
`StartDay`	Blank where the sources don't give it.
`EndYear`	Year it ended, when it lasted beyond one day.
`EndMonth`	Blank where the sources don't give it.
`EndDay`	Blank where the sources don't give it.
`DatePrecision`	Day, Month or Year: how exactly the start is known.
`Era`	Ancient (before 500), Medieval, Early modern (1500–1799) or Modern (1800 on).
`Region`	One of nine world regions, from the battle's coordinates.
`Location`	Where it was fought, as Wikidata names it.
`PresentDayCountry`	Today's country or countries; blank at sea or where not recorded.
`Latitude`	Decimal degrees: the battlefield's own point or, where DataNotes says so, its location's.
`Longitude`	Decimal degrees: the battlefield's own point or, where DataNotes says so, its location's.
`War`	The war or campaign it was part of.
`Participants`	The sides as Wikidata records them; often incomplete.
`Commanders`	Commanders and their side, as Wikidata records them; often incomplete.
`WikipediaLanguages`	How many Wikipedia language editions have an article: a rough measure of how well known it is.
`WikidataID`	Its Wikidata item, for joining with other data; Wikidata's own dates and inventors were not used.
`WikipediaUrl`	Its English Wikipedia article.
`DataNotes`	Where Wikidata's date or coordinates are weaker, in words.

Working with the download? Convert CSV to JSON, or turn a column into a list with the comma separator.

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