Wars and Battles: Timeline

See also Wars and Battles.

Marathon: a watershed in the Greco–Persian wars, ending the First Persian Invasion and showing the Greeks that the Persians could be beaten			490 BC
Thermopylae: a Greek force (including 300 Spartans) held off a much larger Persian army led by Xerxes I			480 BC
Peloponnesian War (Athens vs. Sparta)			431–404 BC
Punic Wars (Rome vs. Carthage)	First		264–241 BC
	Second		218–202 BC
	Third		149–146 BC
Hannibal leads his army across the Alps, to mount a surprise attack on Rome from the north			218 BC
Cannae: Hannibal defeats a numerically superior Roman force – one of the greatest feats in military history, and the Roman Empire's second greatest defeat			216 BC
Zama (modern Tunisia): Scipio defeats Hannibal and his elephants, ending the Second Punic War – Hannibal's only defeat			202 BC
Arausio (Gaul): the Roman Empire's greatest defeat			105 BC
Roman Civil War (Pompey opposed Julius Caesar)			49–45 BC
Philippi: the final battle in the Wars of the Second Triumvirate: a decisive victory for Mark Antony and Octavian over Brutus and Cassius			42 BC
Actium: Augustus (Octavian) defeats Antony and Cleopatra			31 BC

Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (or Fields), a.k.a. the Battle of the Campus Mauriacus, Battle of Châlons, Battle of Troyes or the Battle of Maurica: a coalition led by the Roman general Flavius Aetius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I defeats an army of Huns and their vassals, commanded by their king Attila			451
England is invaded by the Great Heathen Army (a.k.a. Great Danish Army or Viking Great Army) – beginning a 14–year campaign, which would end in the treaties that established Danelaw			865
Clontarf: Brian Boru defeats the Vikings in Ireland			1014
Stamford Bridge: Harold defeats his brother Tostig and King Hardrada of Norway	(25 September)		1066
Hastings	(14 October)		1066
First Crusade: captured Jerusalem in 1099			1095–9
Second Crusade			1145–9
Battle of Hattin: Saladin defeats the Crusaders, allowing him to recapture Jerusalem and thus prompting the Third Crusade			1187
Third Crusade: led by Philip II of France, Richard I of England, and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, after Saladin recaptured Jerusalem in 1187			1189–92
Battle of Arsuf: Richard I of England (the Lionheart) defeats Saladin			1191
Battle of Jaffa: the final battle of the Third Crusade, after which Richard I of England (the Lionheart) negotiated a truce with Saladin			1192
Fourth Crusade			1201–4

There were various other, later campaigns that were known as Crusades – but these were the main ones.

Albigensian Crusade (fought by the Catholic Church against the so–called Cathar Heresy)			1209–29
Battle of Lewes: Simon de Montfort captures Henry III			1264
Battle of Evesham: Simon de Montfort, de facto ruler of England since the above battle, is brutally murdered by forces loyal to the King			1265
Stirling Bridge: the Scots under William Wallace defeat the English			1297
Falkirk: Wallace finally defeated			1298
Bannockburn: Robert the Bruce leads the Scots to victory over the English			1314
Crecy (Edward III defeats Philip VI of France)			1346
Poitiers (Edward the Black Prince defeats John II of France)			1356
Shrewsbury: Henry IV defeats a rebellion led by Henry Percy (Hotspur) and his uncle, Thomas Percy; the Prince of Wales (the future Henry V) is seriously wounded with an arrow in the face			1403
Agincourt (Henry V wins the hand of Catherine of Valois)			1415
St. Albans: first battle of the Wars of the Roses			1455
Bosworth Field: last battle of the Wars of the Roses			1485
Flodden Field: English under the Earl of Surrey defeat the Scots near Coldstream, Northumberland; many Scots, including King James IV, killed; commemorated in the traditional song The Flowers of the Forest (not Flower of Scotland)			1513
Francis Drake "singes the King of Spain's beard" at Cadiz			1587
Spanish Armada			1588
(Second) Defenestration of Prague prompts the Thirty Years' War			1618
Siege of La Rochelle			1627–8
Edge Hill: first battle of the English Civil War			1642
Marston Moor (near York): the bloodiest battle of the English Civil War, in which the Parliamentarians secured the North of England			1644
Naseby: Charles I's final and decisive defeat, and the first victory of Fairfax's New Model Army			1645
Preston: Cromwell defeats the Royalists again			1648
Peace of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years' War			1648
Worcester: Cromwell's final victory over the future Charles II			1651
Sedgemoor (Somerset): the last major battle on English soil			1685
Battle of the Boyne: William III defeats James II			1690
Blenheim: Marlborough's greatest victory, fought on the Danube to prevent a Franco–Bavarian thrust on Vienna			1704
Ramillies: Marlborough defeats the French under Villeroi			1706
Oudenarde: Marlborough and Eugene of Savoy defeat the French under the Dukes of Burgundy and Vendome			1708
Malplaquet: Marlborough and Eugene defeat the French under Villars			1709
Dettingen: George II becomes the last British sovereign to lead his troops into battle			1743
Prestonpans: Jacobite victory near Edinburgh			1745
Culloden: the final defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie's 'Forty Five' Jacobite rebellion; fought on Drumossie Moor, 4 miles East of Inverness; the last major battle on British soil			1746
War of Jenkins' Ear (Britain vs. Spain)			1739–48
Seven Years' War (Third Silesian War)			1756–63
Plassey: British East India Company under Robert Clive defeats the Nawab of Bengal, leading to British control over Bengal and eventually the whole of India			1757
General Wolfe dies while capturing Quebec from the French			1759
Bunker Hill (Boston): the first battle of the American War of Independence			1775
Washington crosses the Delaware river on Christmas Day, surprising British troops and resulting in a victory at Trenton the following day			1776
US naval captain John Paul Jones sacks Whitehaven			1778
Yorktown – the last battle of the American War of Independence			1781
Battle of the Saintes: Rodney saves the British West Indies (specifically Jamaica) from the French and Spanish			1782
Calvi (Corsica): Nelson loses his right eye when hit by stones and other debris			1794
Battle of Fishguard: the last (unsuccessful) invasion of Britain	(February)		1797
Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Nelson loses his right arm after being hit by a musket ball	(22–25 July)		1797
Vinegar Hill: the last, unsuccessful attempt of the Irish (Wexford) rebels to hold ground against the British	(21 June)		1798
Battle of the Nile: Nelson routs the French squadron in Aboukir Bay	(1–3 August)		1798
Copenhagen (Nelson: "I really do not see the signal")	(2 April)		1801
Trafalgar	(21 October)		1805
Austerlitz: the Battle of the Three Emperors (France vs. Russia and Austria) – one of Napoleon's greatest victories, often regarded as a tactical masterpiece	(2 December)		1805
USA declares war on Britain – initiating a conflict that's seen by many British historians as "a minor theatre of the Napoleonic Wars"	(18 June)		1812
Borodino: the principal battle of Napoleon's Russian campaign (a pyrrhic victory for him – commemorated in Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture)	(7 September)		1812
Leipzig: the culmination of the German Campaign – a.k.a. the Battle of the Nations; Napoleon's first decisive defeat in battle	(16–19 October)		1813
British troops occupy Washington and set fire to many public buildings, including the White House (then known as the Presidential Mansion) and the Capitol, during the so–called War of 1812	(24 August)		1814
New Orleans: the last battle between Britain and the United States	(8 January)		1815
Waterloo	(18 June)		1815
Greek War of Independence			1821–9
Belgian Revolution: riots in Brussels lead to the secession of the Southern Netherlands from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, resulting in the establishment of Belgium as an independent state and the installation of Leopold I as King of the Belgians in the following year			1830
The Alamo: Mexican general Santa Anna besieges an insurgent army of Texan settlers and adventurers from the United States at San Antonio			1836
First Opium War (Britain vs. China)			1839–42
Crimean War			1853–6
Ottoman Sultan Abdul Majid I declares war on Russia – starting the Crimean War			1853
Britain and France declare war on Russia	(March)		1854
Battle of Alma – British/French victory	(September)		1854
Battle of Balaclava – including the Charge of the Light Brigade	(October)		1854
Battle of Inkerman – British/French victory	(November)		1854
Second Opium War (Britain vs. China)			1856–60
Indian Mutiny			1857
Battle of Magenta: decisive victory for the French and Sardinians under Napoleon III over the Austrians under Gyulai. Gave its name to a colour (dye) discovered the same year (4 June)			1859
Solferino: the battle that resulted in the formation of the Red Cross (France and Piedmont defeated Austria)	(24 June)		1859
Garibaldi leads 1,000 Italian patriots in the conquest of Sicily and Naples			1860
Fort Sumter: first shots fired in the American Civil War	(April)		1861
Bull Run (Manassas): first pitched battle in the American Civil War – Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson earns his nickname	(July)		1861
Chancellorsville: "Stonewall" Jackson accidentally shot by his own troops			1863
Confederate army under Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant	(April)		1865
Seven Weeks' War (engineered by Bismark in order to establish Prussia's succession over Austria as the most powerful German state)			1866
Battle of the Little Bighorn (Custer's Last Stand)			1876
Zulu War: including Rorke's Drift (immortalised for 20th century cinemagoers in Zulu)			1879
First Boer War			1881
General Gordon murdered at Khartoum, after a 10–month siege by the Mahdi's army			1885
Wounded Knee: the last major pitched battle between native Americans and US Cavalry			1890
Ethiopia asserts its independence by defeating the Italians at the Battle of Adwa			1896 (1 March)
The shortest war ever: Britain vs. Zanzibar (38 minutes)			1896 (27 Aug)
Omdurman: Kitchener defeats the Mahdi			1898
Second Boer War			1899–1902
Ladysmith besieged by Boers (relief led by General Redvers Buller)			1899
Mafeking besieged (relief led by Lord Baden–Powell)			1899–90
Battle of Spion Kop			1900
Russo–Japanese War			1904–6
Russian Civil War			1917
Irish War of Independence			Jan 1919 – July 1921
Irish Civil War			June 1922 – May 1923
Chaco War (Bolivia vs. Paraguay)			1932–5
Spanish Civil War			1936–9
Guernica destroyed by bombs of the German air force			1937
Greek Civil War: the Government army, supported by the UK and USA, defeats the so–called Democratic Army of Greece – the military branch of the Communist Party of Greece	First phase		1943–4
	Second phase		Dec 1944 – Jan 1945
	Third phase		1946–9
Korean War			1950–3
Dien Bien Phu: the decisive battle in the Indochinese war of independence from France	(March – May)		1954
The US Government establishes a Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in Vietnam, as its MAAG in Indochina (deployed under President Truman) is reorganised into country–specific units. This is the date recognised by the US Government (since 1998) as the start date of the Vietnam War	1 November		1955
Hanoi authorises Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam to begin a low–level insurgency. This is another date recognised by some as the start of the Vietnam War	(December)		1955
Suez crisis (followed Egypt's nationalising the Suez Canal to raise funds for the Aswan Dam)			1956
Two companies of the South Vietnamese army (Army of the Republic of Viet Nam – ARVN) are ambushed by a well–organized force of several hundred Viet Cong, identified as the "2d Liberation Battalion". The ARVN units lose 12 killed, 14 wounded, and most of their weapons. This is yet another date recognised by some as the start of the Vietnam War	26 September		1959
Bay of Pigs: a failed attempt by 1,200 Cuban exiles – backed by the CIA – to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro			1961
Six–Day War (the third Arab–Israeli war – Israel captures the Golan Heights)			1967
My Lai massacre (Vietnam)			1968
Honduras and El Salvador go to war over a football match			1969
The last US troops leave Vietnam	29 March		1973
Yom Kippur War (Arab forces take Israelis by surprise on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, which this year fell on 6 October)			1973
The Vietnam War finally ends as North Vietnamese troops enter Saigon, virtually unopposed	30 June		1975
Cod Wars (Iceland vs. UK)			1976
Falklands war			1982
First Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm)			1991
Bosnian War: Bosnian forces oppose self–proclaimed Serb and Croat entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina			1992–5
Operation Desert Fox: US/UK air attacks on Iraq			1998
US forces attack the Tora Bora caves in Afghanistan, believing that Osama Bin Laden is hiding there	(December)		2001
US forces, backed by those of the UK, Australia, Poland and Denmark, invade Iraq	(March to May)		2003

The CIA reports that no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq

2005

Osama bin Laden is killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in a US operation ordered by President Barack Obama and launched from Afghanistan

(May)

2011

© Haydn Thompson 2017–23