Battle of Marathon (490 BCE): Athens defeated a Persian invasion in Greece Battle of Thermopylae (480 BCE): Small Greek force held a mountain pass against Persia Battle of Salamis (480 BCE): Greek fleet defeated the Persian navy Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE): Sparta defeated Athens Battle of Gaugamela (331 BCE): Alexander the Great defeated Persian king Darius III Punic Wars (264-146 BCE): Rome defeated Carthage in three wars Battle of Cannae (216 BCE): Hannibal's great victory over Rome Battle of Zama (202 BCE): Scipio defeated Hannibal Battle of Actium (31 BCE): Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra Battle of Hastings (1066): William of Normandy won England Battle of Tours (732): Charles Martel stopped a Muslim army in France First Crusade (1096-1099): Christian knights captured Jerusalem Mongol conquests: Genghis Khan and successors built the largest land empire in the 1200s Hundred Years' War (1337-1453): England and France fought; Joan of Arc rallied the French Battle of Agincourt (1415): English longbows beat French knights Fall of Constantinople (1453): Ottomans took the Byzantine capital Spanish Armada (1588): English defeated Spain's invasion fleet Thirty Years' War (1618-1648): Religious and political war in central Europe French and Indian War (1754-1763): Britain defeated France in North America Battle of Lexington and Concord (1775): First fights of the American Revolution Battle of Saratoga (1777): American victory that brought France into the war Siege of Yorktown (1781): Last major battle of the American Revolution Battle of Trafalgar (1805): British Admiral Nelson defeated the French and Spanish fleets Battle of Austerlitz (1805): Napoleon's greatest victory, over Russia and Austria Battle of Waterloo (1815): Napoleon's final defeat War of 1812: US versus Britain; ended in a stalemate in 1815 Battle of New Orleans (1815): Andrew Jackson defeated British troops Battle of the Alamo (1836): Texas defenders fell to Mexican forces Mexican-American War (1846-48): US won California and the Southwest Crimean War (1853-56): Britain, France and the Ottomans fought Russia; Florence Nightingale nursed there Battle of Fort Sumter (1861): First shots of the American Civil War Battle of Gettysburg (1863): Turning point of the Civil War in the East Siege of Vicksburg (1863): Union victory that took control of the Mississippi River Appomattox (1865): Lee's surrender to Grant Franco-Prussian War (1870-71): Prussia defeated France and united Germany Battle of Little Bighorn (1876): Lakota and Cheyenne defeated Custer's troops Spanish-American War (1898): US gained Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines Russo-Japanese War (1904-05): Japan defeated Russia Battle of Verdun (1916): Long battle between France and Germany in WWI Battle of the Somme (1916): British offensive in WWI with heavy losses Battle of Britain (1940): RAF stopped German air attacks Dunkirk evacuation (1940): Rescue of Allied troops from France by many boats Battle of Stalingrad (1942-43): Soviet victory on the Eastern Front Battle of Midway (1942): US Navy victory in the Pacific Battle of El Alamein (1942): British victory in North Africa D-Day (June 6, 1944): Allied landings in Normandy Battle of the Bulge (1944-45): Germany's last big offensive in the West Iwo Jima (1945): US Marines captured the island Korean War (1950-53): UN forces helped South Korea against North Korea Vietnam War (1955-75): Long conflict between North and South Vietnam; the US supported the South Six-Day War (1967): Israel and neighboring Arab states fought in June 1967 Gulf War (1991): Coalition forces freed Kuwait after Iraq's invasion Chinese Civil War (1927-1949): Fighting between Nationalists and Communists, which the Communists won Russian Civil War (1917-1922): Reds under the Bolsheviks defeated Whites American Civil War (1861-1865): Union defeated the Confederacy; slavery ended English Civil War (1642-1651): Parliament defeated the king, Charles I Wars of the Roses (1455-1487): English families York and Lancaster fought for the throne Boer War (1899-1902): Britain fought two Boer republics in South Africa Battle of Adwa (1896): Ethiopia defeated Italy Battle of Plassey (1757): British East India Company victory that brought it power in Bengal Opium Wars (1839-42, 1856-60): Britain defeated China, forcing trade concessions Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901): Uprising against foreign influence in China Battle of Lepanto (1571): Christian fleet defeated the Ottoman navy at sea Siege of Vienna (1683): Defeat of Ottoman forces outside Vienna Seven Years' War (1756-1763): Global war involving Britain, France, Prussia and others Battle of Bunker Hill (1775): British won but lost many men Battle of Tippecanoe (1811): William Henry Harrison defeated Tecumseh's followers Battle of San Jacinto (1836): Texans defeated Mexican forces and won independence Battle of Antietam (1862): Bloodiest day of the Civil War Pearl Harbor (1941): Japanese surprise attack that brought the US into WWII Siege of Leningrad (1941-44): Long German siege of the Soviet city Battle of Okinawa (1945): Last major battle of the Pacific Fall of Saigon (1975): End of the Vietnam War Free flashcards from Peabody at peabody.kids/flashcards/famous-wars-and-battles