Are we talking about the same Augustus that tried to conquer Germania?
Expansion certainly was not stopped with or by Augustus, although losing those legions slowed things down for a bit. The main reason for stability and prosperity was the formation of the empire, doing away with the crippling effects of republican democracy.
Gettysburg.
No love for the Siege of Vienna? How much more of Europe could the Ottomans have conquered?
Probably most of it, though they wouldn’t have been able to absorb the whole of Europe into their empire successfully.
There was the time Cain demonstrated to Abel the effectiveness of backing up an appeal to reason with force. Does this count as a battle?
No. This thread is for FACTUAL battles.
I humbly apologize.
No problem. Sorry if I came on a bit blunt.
Battle of the Metaurus. In my opinion, the turning point of the Roman-Punic wars. Up to then, the Carthaginians were doing quite well. After that, it was a long slow decline.
Turned on an intercepted messenger, a forced march to merge two Roman armies, concealing the 2nd army so that Hasdrubal (Hannibal’s brother) didn’t know his was facing a much bigger force, etc.
If the two Carthaginian armies had merged, it might have been all over for the Romans. Western Civ. would have been entirely different, and ergo the events that played out after 1492 wouldn’t have happened which affects the entire globe.
As to the Battle of Hastings: It was sort of a foregone conclusion due to the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Harold Godwinson and troops fought a battle in the north, then had to quickly march south and fight a second battle. If William the Bastard had landed first, he probably would have been defeated and then Harald Hardrada would have had an edge in York. (Or in any case, whoever won the southern battle.) But even landing first (the wind was blowing south at that time, allowing Harald Hardrada to sail south from the Orkneys and kept William in Normandy), Harald Hardrada could have won if he had kept his troops together and closer to his ships. That would have set up a Harald vs. William battle, but Harald Hardrada would have stayed in the north for a while, so it wouldn’t have been nearly so soon.
Anyway, Northmen were going to conquer England (again). Not a huge change, I think.
I’m pretty sure the duke put of his journey across the channel for the reason of letting his enemies fight it out between themselves so that he could pick of the winner. If Hadrada had defeated godwinson I think the english people would have sided with the norsenman against the norman invader because it seems like everybody had scandanavian blood in them.
I’m not sure that many battles really affect the wide scope of history. For example, Ancient Rome is a subject I know very well, and IMO the transition from Republic to Empire was inevitable, regardless of the outcome of a famous battle like Actium. Certainly the details might be different if Antony and Cleopatra had won (e.g. the eighth month of the year might be named Anton), but the general scope of Roman history would probably remain the same (just different emperors–no Nero probably, but who’s to say an equally corrupt emperor wasn’t lurking in Antony’s family line?).
Battle of Milvian Bridge. Constantine conquered and Europe was christened. Europe might well have become christened regardless, but who knows.
Battle of Salamis, Thermopylae, Plataea. Grecian civilization prevailed and became the ideal for both Asia and Europe.
One of the many battles where brave Danish men righteously slaughtered the Hunish Swedish barbarian hordes.
More interesting is large battles that seemed monumental at the time, but proved largely inconsequential.
Also Battle of Svolder. We’re still making songs about that one. How many of the other battles can you say that about?
Hastings brought England into the European mainstream. Without Hastings and the Norman Conquest, England would have remained isolated from European politics like Ireland or Scandinavia were.
I’m going to join with those who say Salamis. It was a pivotal point in the beginning of Western history. If that battle had gone the other way then all of Western history would have been different.
I would say a key one was the Battle on the Plains of Abraham (French and Indian War). Had Montcalm prevailed, France would have kept Canada, and there would have (very likely) been no American Revolution.
All credit to Alexander for conquering the Persian Empire but he would have now been fighting beyond Persia. It would have been interesting to see how he’d have fared against Chandragupta and the emerging Mauryan Empire. I’m pretty sure Alexander vs Chandragupta would have been one of the epic battles of world history.
There would have always been an American Revolution regardless. It may have happened a couple of years later but as long as Britain didn’t fairly represent the colonist there would be perpetual discontent and sooner or later a revolution.
Neanderthals vs H. sapiens sapiens
Not so much of a battle as a feast followed by bestiality.
But still decisive.
Surprised it took so long to come up with these. They are all correct answers, as well as Marathon.
Washington’s successful retreat from Long Island certainly could have changed history had it not gone so well. Of course someone mentioned it upthread.
Yeah, it was a closely fought battle that Harold’s army was well positioned to win (as best we know from accounts–and remember always the level of skepticism we have for most of the more specific claims about European battles of the era.) Even if William had just won the battle but only forced Harold from the field, it’s not entirely likely that William would have won the English crown. Harold’s army was just the army he had in the field from his battle with Hardrada, there were more levies he had access to that he could have used to continue the fight. William was basically on his own, the men he came with were the men he’d have til the end of the campaign for better or worse. The best possible chance for him to win the throne was for him to win decisively in that first battle and for Harold to be killed.