The Battle 100: The Stories Behind History's Most Influential Battles

This handy browser's reference from retired Army officer and decorated Vietnam veteran Lanning offers brief accounts of the author's choice of the 100 most influential battles in history. The selections are wide-ranging: the first three are household words--Yorktown, Hastings and Stalingrad--while the last three are Tel-el-Kebir, which established the British protectorate over Egypt in 1882, Vyborg, the White victory over the Reds in 1918 that ensured the independence of Finland, and Little Big Horn, whose major importance is the amount of controversy it has generated since 1876. The author has impartially included wars of colonial conquest (Cajamarca, which gave Pizarro and Spain rule over the Inca Empire) and colonial liberation (Carabobo, which freed Venezuela, and Dien Bien Phu). He also offers useful perspectives on naval battles (Actium, Trafalgar, Tsushima, Lepanto and Midway, to name a few). Each article features a clearly written if brief narrative, including analyses of what is known about the tactics and weapons, and an excellent map. Some of them also have flaws, such as the article on Tsushima--not all the Russian ships were old--and the political attack on Walter Cronkite in the article on the Tet Offensive. This work is very similar to Lanning's The Military 100, a volume in the same format on the most influential commanders, but unusual and even witty insights also abound, such as the comment that the Battle of Kadesh was the first example of a general's publicity machine (in this case, Ramses II of Egypt) turning a drawn battle into a victory. The wide range keeps depth of each article limited, but these are useful introductions to many battles that are not household words.