Below are the decisive battles from Sir Edward S. Creasy's The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World, first published in 1851. Creasy lived from 1812 to 1878. (These are the battles alluded to in the Major General's patter song in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance.)
| Battle | Date | War | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Marathon | BC 490 | Persian-Greek Wars |
| 2. | Syracuse | BC 413 | Peloponnesian Wars |
| 3. | Arbela (Gaugamela) | BC 331 | Alexander & Macedonian Conquests |
| 4. | Metaurus | BC 207 | Second Punic War |
| 5. | Teutoberger Wald | AD 9 | Roman Empire Wars |
| 6. | Chalons-sur-Marne | 451 | Roman Empire Wars |
| 7. | Tours | 732 | Moslem Conquests |
| 8. | Hastings | 1066 | Norman Conquest of England |
| 9. | Orleans | 1429 | Hundred Years' War |
| 10. | Spanish Armada | 1588 | English Spanish Wars |
| 11. | Blenheim | 1704 | War of the Spanish Succession |
| 12. | Pultowa (Poltava) | 1709 | Great Northern War |
| 13. | Saratoga | 1777 | American Revolutionary War |
| 14. | Valmy | 1792 | French Revolutionary Wars |
| 15. | Waterloo | 1815 | Napoleonic Wars |
Mitchell's extension
| Battle | Date | War | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16. | Vicksburg | 1863 | American Civil War |
| 17. | Sadowa | 1866 | Seven Weeks War |
| 18. | 1st Marne | 1914 | World War I |
| 19. | Stalingrad | 1942 | World War II, Eastern Front |
| 20. | Midway | 1942 | World War II, Pacific |
My suggested additions
| Battle | Date | War | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adrianople | 378 | Roman Empire Wars | |
| Manzikert | 1071 | Roman-Turkish Wars | |
| 21. | Inchon | 1950 | Korean War |
| 22. | Dien Bien Phu | 1954 | French Indochina War |
| 23. | Tet | 1968 | Viet Nam War |