Since the first recorded armed conflicts in Sumeria in 2500 BCE, battles have been fought for geographical and political gain. Early combats were small in scale, involving only a few thousand infantry and primitive chariots, but successive campaigns in the region gave the city-states of Babylon and Agade enormous power. 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History traces 5,000 years of armed conflict around the globe, revealing the part each battle played in the course of a campaign or war and the wider political or social impact it had on the region or country as a whole.
Illustrated throughout with ancient carvings, detail-filled tapestries, dramatic paintings and evocative photographs, 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History is packed with striking imagery and illuminating text. Award-winning historian RG Grant has gathered an expert team of contributors to provide incisive and insightful descriptions of the nature and course of every battle included. From the Battle of Troy to the Siege of Antioch and from the Battle of Gettysburg to the bombing of Guernica, this book traces the changing face of warfare around the globe and throughout history, and highlights the fascinating and often surprising consequences of individual conflicts on the history of the world.