The Decisive Battles of World History

268 Pages·2014·19.03 MB·English

by  Gregory S. Aldrete

Topic Subtopic
History Military
The Decisive Battles
of World History
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Gregory S. Aldrete, Ph.D.
Frankenthal Professor of History and
Humanistic Studies
University of Wisconsin–Green Bay
P
rofessor Gregory S. Aldrete is the Frankenthal
Professor of History and Humanistic Studies
at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay.
He received his B.A. from Princeton University in
1988 and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan
in 1995. His interdisciplinary scholarship spans the
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Among the books Professor Aldrete has written or edited are Gestures
and Acclamations in Ancient Rome; Floods of the Tiber in Ancient Rome;
Daily Life in the Roman City: Rome, Pompeii, and Ostia; The Greenwood
Encyclopedia of Daily Life: A Tour through History from Ancient Times to
the Present, volume 1, The Ancient World; The Long Shadow of Antiquity:
What Have the Greeks and Romans Done for Us? (with Alicia Aldrete);
and Reconstructing Ancient Linen Body Armor: Unraveling the Linothorax
Mystery (with Scott Bartell and Alicia Aldrete).
Professor Aldrete has won many awards for his teaching, including two
national ones: In 2012, he was named the Wisconsin Professor of the Year
by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and
the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and in 2010,
he received the American Philological Association Award for Excellence in
Teaching at the College Level (the national teaching award given annually by
the professional association of Classics professors). Professor Aldrete also
has been a University of Wisconsin System Teaching Fellow, a University
of Wisconsin–Green Bay Teaching Scholar, and winner of a Teaching at Its
Best award.
Professor Aldrete’s research has been equally honored with a number of
prestigious fellowships, including two year-long Humanities Fellowships
from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Solmsen
i
Fellowship at the Institute for Research in the Humanities in Madison.
Additionally, he was chosen as a fellow of two NEH seminars held at the
American Academy in Rome; was a participant in an NEH institute at the
University of California, Los Angeles; and was a Visiting Scholar at the
American Academy in Rome. His university has given him its highest
awards for both teaching and research: the Faculty Award for Excellence in
Teaching and the Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship, both from
the Founders Association.
Professor Aldrete’s innovative Linothorax Project, in which he and his
students reconstructed and tested ancient linen body armor, has recently
garnered considerable attention from the media, having been featured in
documentaries on the Discovery Channel and the Smithsonian Channel and
on television programs in Canada and across Europe. It also has been the
subject of articles in U.S. News & World Report, Der Spiegel, and Military
History and of Internet news stories in more than two dozen countries.
Professor Aldrete maintains an active lecture schedule, including speaking
to retirement groups; in elementary, middle, and high schools; and on cruise
ships. He also has been named a national lecturer for the Archaeological
Institute of America. For The Great Courses, he taught History of the Ancient
World: A Global Perspective(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:374)
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
Professor Biography ............................................................................i
Course Scope .....................................................................................1
LECTURE GUIDES
LECTURE 1
What Makes a Battle Decisive? ..........................................................4
LECTURE 2
1274 B.C. Kadesh—Greatest Chariot Battle ....................................10
LECTURE 3
479 B.C. Plataea—Greece Wins Freedom.......................................17
LECTURE 4
331 B.C. Gaugamela—Alexander’s Genius .....................................24
LECTURE 5
197 B.C. Cynoscephalae—Legion vs. Phalanx ................................31
LECTURE 6
31 B.C. Actium—Birth of the Roman Empire ....................................38
LECTURE 7
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LECTURE 8
636 Yarmouk & al-Qadisiyyah—Islam Triumphs ..............................53
LECTURE 9
751 Talas & 1192 Tarain—Islam into Asia.........................................60
LECTURE 10
1066 Hastings—William Conquers England.....................................67
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Table of Contents
LECTURE 11
1187 Hattin—Crusader Desert Disaster ...........................................74
LECTURE 12
1260 Ain Jalut—Can the Mongols Be Stopped? ..............................81
LECTURE 13
1410 Tannenberg—Cataclysm of Knights ........................................88
LECTURE 14
Frigidus, Badr, Diu—Obscure Turning Points ...................................95
LECTURE 15
1521 Tenochtitlán—Aztecs vs. Conquistadors ...............................102
LECTURE 16
1532 Cajamarca—Inca vs. Conquistadors .....................................109
LECTURE 17
1526 & 1556 Panipat—Babur & Akbar in India ..............................116
LECTURE 18
1571 Lepanto—Last Gasp of the Galleys.......................................122
LECTURE 19
1592 Sacheon—Yi’s Mighty Turtle Ships........................................129
LECTURE 20
1600 Sekigahara—Samurai Showdown .........................................135
LECTURE 21
1683 Vienna—The Great Ottoman Siege .......................................142
LECTURE 22
1709 Poltava—Sweden’s Fall, Russia’s Rise .................................149
LECTURE 23
1759 Quebec—Battle for North America ........................................156
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Table of Contents
LECTURE 24
1776 Trenton—The Revolution’s Darkest Hour ..............................163
LECTURE 25
1805 Trafalgar—Nelson Thwarts Napoleon ...................................170
LECTURE 26
1813 Leipzig—The Grand Coalition ...............................................176
LECTURE 27
1824 Ayacucho—South American Independence ..........................182
LECTURE 28
1836 San Jacinto—Mexico’s Big Loss ...........................................188
LECTURE 29
1862 Antietam—The Civil War’s Bloodiest Day ..............................194
LECTURE 30
1866 Königgrätz—Bismarck Molds Germany.................................201
LECTURE 31
1905 Tsushima—Japan Humiliates Russia ....................................208
LECTURE 32
1914 Marne—Paris Is Saved..........................................................215
LECTURE 33
1939 Khalkhin Gol—Sowing the Seeds of WWII ............................221
LECTURE 34
1942 Midway—Four Minutes Change Everything ..........................227
LECTURE 35
1942 Stalingrad—Hitler’s Ambitions Crushed ................................234
LECTURE 36
Recent & Not-So-Decisive Decisive Battles ...................................240
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Table of Contents
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL
Bibliography ....................................................................................247
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The Decisive Battles of World History
Scope:
M
any of the most decisive turning points in the history of the
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such moments often represent fundamental clashes among rival
religions; cultures; and social, political, and economic systems. The outcomes
of these battles have dramatically transformed and shaped the course of
history, often sending it on unexpected or completely new paths. This course
examines more than three dozen such pivotal moments, highlighting and
exposing the key incidents and personalities responsible for these critical
shifts. During the course of these lectures, we’ll discover how the Battle of
Yarmouk contributed to the establishment of Islam in the Middle East; how
the Battle of the Talas River curbed the expansion of the Tang dynasty of
China; how the Battle of Boyaca resulted in South American independence
from Spain; and how the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, fought on the borders of
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This course features three aspects that should be relatively original, even for
those with some familiarity with military history. First, it is truly global in
scope, including not only the more familiar battles of Western civilization
but also pivotal ones in Asia, South America, India, and the Middle East.
Thus, we’ll cover Mohamad of Ghor and the Battle of Tarain in India, as well
as William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings; we’ll explore the Battle
of Sacheon in Korea, as well as the Battle of Stalingrad. Second, the course
analyzes both key land battles and naval clashes, topics that are frequently
treated separately. Third, although many famous battles are included, there
are also a good number that are not very well known, such as the battles of
Cynocephalae, Yarmouk, Diu, and Ayacucho. Often, a more obscure battle
whose outcome was actually more decisive is substituted for a much better
known but, in reality, less pivotal one. Thus, instead of Marathon, we’ll
look at Plataea; rather than Waterloo, we’ll explore Leipzig; and in place of
Gettysburg, we’ll discuss Antietam.
1
Naturally, the lectures provide clear and vivid accounts of the campaigns and
battles themselves, but they also offer in-depth descriptions of the cultural
aspects of warfare, including the nature of the societies involved. We’ll come
to understand, for example, how the code of samurai behavior shaped the
outcome of the Battle of Sekigahara or how the attitudes of the Crusaders
contributed to their defeat at the Battle of Hattin.
Similarly, most lectures feature an examination of the often colorful
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politicians, soldiers, or inventors. We will witness, on the one hand, how
the impetuosity of young Ramesses II brought him victory, while for the
Prussian von Moltke, it was his coldly calculating mind that led to success.
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and interesting trivia. Thus, we’ll see how Horatio Nelson’s brilliant naval
career nearly came to a premature end in the jaws of a polar bear and how
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been completely different if, in his youth, Admiral Yamamoto had lost three
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This course reveals the secrets behind of some of the most famous armies of
all time, such as those of Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan, explaining
the tactics and technologies that allowed them to triumph over their foes. It
also traces the effects of changing technologies over time and shows how an
edge in technology frequently resulted in military success, from the hoplite
style of warfare of the ancient Greeks, to the innovative turtle ships of the
Korean Admiral Yi, to the steel swords and primitive muskets of the Spanish
conquistadors. Although perhaps unfortunate, it is nevertheless true that
warfare typically sparks technological creativity and invention—consider the
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(cid:191)(cid:89)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:92)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:86)(cid:3)(cid:71)(cid:88)(cid:85)(cid:76)(cid:81)(cid:74)(cid:3)(cid:58)(cid:82)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:58)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:3)(cid:44)(cid:44)(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:54)(cid:76)(cid:80)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:15)(cid:3)(cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:72)(cid:3)(cid:80)(cid:82)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:3)(cid:86)(cid:82)(cid:83)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:86)(cid:87)(cid:76)(cid:70)(cid:68)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:83)(cid:85)(cid:82)(cid:71)(cid:88)(cid:70)(cid:87)(cid:86)(cid:3)
of technology often are found in the military. In examining the great battles
of human history, we will also trace the overall history of technological
innovation, from the Stone Age to the dawn of the Space Age.
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e
p course, but it will also be of great interest to anyone with a basic desire to
o
c
S understand why history turned out as it did and how we got to where we
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