Volgagrad, Russia (1942-1943 AD) The Battle of Stalingrad is generally regarded as the decisive turning point of World War II, as well as the largest battle ever fought in history. Over the five months that the battle took place, over three and a half million men were involved on both sides, with over two million casualties. Stalingrad effectively ended Nazi Germany’s effort … [Read more...]
BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN (EL ALAMEIN BATTLEFIELD)
El Alamein, Egypt (1942 AD) The Battle of El Alamein actually constituted two separate engagements: the first was part of the German campaign to capture strategic targets in Egypt; and the second was the British counterattack that drove them back out of Egypt. It is the second battle that is well known and recognized as one of the key turning points of the World War II. The … [Read more...]
BATTLE OF BATAAN (BATAAN BATTLEFIELD)
Manila, Philippines (1942 AD) The Battle of Bataan was one of the most important strategic victories for the Japanese during the early Pacific campaign, and one of the largest military defeats in the history of the United States. Like Pearl Harbor, which had been attacked barely a few weeks before the war in the Philippines began, Bataan and the infamous death march that … [Read more...]
BATTLES OF CHANGSHA (CHANGSHA BATTLEFIELD)
Changsha, China (1939–1944 AD) The Battles of Changsha were a series of four major battles between China and Japan during World War II. Three times, in 1939, 1941 and 1942, the Chinese held off immense Japanese assaults on the highly strategic city of Changsha. This made Changsha one of the bloodiest and important battlefields of World War II, on a par perhaps with … [Read more...]
BATTLE OF AQABA (AQABA BATTLEFIELD)
Aqaba, Jordan (1917 AD) The Battle of Aqaba, a relatively minor engagement of World War I, has nevertheless loomed large in the public imagination for nearly a century. This is due to the romanticized idea of the great Bedouin cavalry charge which stormed as if from nowhere out of the desert, under the leadership of one of the war’s most famous leaders, T.E. Lawrence. This … [Read more...]
BATTLE OF VERDUN (VERDUN BATTLEFIELD)
Verdun, France (1916 AD) The Battle of Verdun was actually a campaign that lasted nearly a year and was one of the bloodiest engagements of World War I. One of the largest offensives launched by the Central Powers on the Western Front, it involved over two million soldiers, cost nearly a million casualties, and resulted in no strategic change of significance in the trench … [Read more...]
BATTLE OF GALLIPOLI (GALLIPOLI BATTLEFIELD)
Gallipoli, Turkey (1915 AD) The Gallipoli Campaign was the largest and longest battle to occur in the Ottoman theater during World War I. Outside of the Western Front, it was also the largest disaster of the war for the Entente powers. Over eight hundred thousand men fought on both sides, with a total of nearly half a million casualties. Although devised and organized by … [Read more...]
BATTLES OF YPRES (YPRES BATTLEFIELD)
Ypres, Belgium (1914 AD, 1915 AD & 1917 AD) The Battles of Ypres were a series of five major military engagements along the Western Front, some of which were among the largest and deadliest battles of the First World War. This made the area around Ypres one of the most active fighting zones of the war, where perhaps one and a half million or more troops on all sides lost … [Read more...]
BATTLE OF TANNENBERG (TANNENBERG BATTLEFIELD)
Olsztyn, Poland (1914 AD) The Battle of Tannenberg was one of the few truly great German victories of the First World War. More importantly for the Germans, it was one of the few battles of the war that did not also drain the victor of manpower through the loss of major casualties. This was due in large part to the fact that it took place at the very outset of the conflict, … [Read more...]
BATTLE OF YANGXIA (YANGXIA BATTLEFIELD)
Wuhan, China (1911 AD) The Battle of Yangxia was the final great battle of the Xinhai Revolution. It led directly to the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the overthrow of the last emperor of China, a position that had been in existence for thousands of years. Actually a series of battles that took place in and around Wuhan, Yangxia was a pivotal moment in Chinese history, one … [Read more...]
