The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World from Marathon to Waterloo

This volume narrates fifteen epic military confrontations that forged human events from antiquity to the modern age.  But this volume promises much more than another rendition of how Britain's greatest general defeated the French emperor. The author tells his Victorian audience in the preface that he is interested in understanding military contests that have had a "practical influence on our own social and political condition." The author seeks to identify which military conflicts have had the greatest impact on world history.  While never developing a full-fledged theory of history, he employs some basic rules of thumb that illuminate key turning points through the ages. Drawing upon a wealth of historical knowledge, the author pinpoints empires and states that significantly influenced the evolution of world politics and social organization. He then traces political and social change back to the key military confrontations that made such change possible, and thereby explores how military conflicts gave rise to, sustained, and brought down history's greatest civilizations, empires, and nation-states.