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

Lanning Lt. Col. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003

A fascinating and thought-provoking ranking of the battles that have shaped history and changed our world.
The Battle 100 ranks the world’s most important battles from ancient times to the present according to their influence. In dramatic narrative style, this military history evokes and describes each significant battle, providing commentary on who won, who lost and why. The Battle 100 also includes an evaluation of the battle’s influence both on the outcome of its war and on the society of the time.
Over the span of more than 3,000 years, battles have helped to determine the history of the world. The Battle 100 covers the entire spectrum of recorded military history, from Megiddo in 1479 b.c. to Desert Storm in 1991. The text also offers an afterword on the recent terrorist attacks in 2001 against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
A map of each of the 100 battle sites assists the reader’s understanding of the action and its results.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-Lanning has presented what, in his opinion, are the most important military battles in world history. The foreword stresses that the ranking is according to the battle's "influence on history," rather than by "decisive engagement." Each essay discusses participants, leaders, and location, and gives an evaluation of the battle's impact. The land, sea, and air battles included range in date from 1479 B.C.E. to 1967 and include such significant engagements as the battles of Yorktown, Hastings, Stalingrad, Cajamarca, Waterloo, Normandy, and Dien Bien Phu. Military jargon is kept to a minimum; however, students will need some background knowledge to fully appreciate many of the entries. While informative half- to full-page, black-and-white maps show each battle's setting, there are no world and/or regional map(s) to show the relative location of each conflict. The bibliography is extensive. This readable resource provides more information and analysis on individual battles than a general encyclopedia, and will be useful for students needing an overview on an engagement.
Eldon Younce, Harper Elementary School, KS
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc. (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570717990
• ISBN-13: 978-1570717994
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,951,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read, even for the novice!, September 23, 2003

By 

Gary E. Robbins "Flagstaff DVD Owner" (Flagstaff, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Battle 100: The Stories Behind History's Most Influential Battles (Hardcover)

This was a most engrossing book. It lists the 100 most important battles, in the author's order of importance. He begins with the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, where the colonies won their independence. (The Battle of Saratoga is #15, and ths shots fired at Lexington and Concord are #74.)

Second is the Battle of Hastings in 1066, with the Norman Conquest of England. This would be the last time that England was every invaded. (The Spanish Armada in 1588 is #16, and the Battle of Britian in 1941 is #40.)

Third is the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-43, which was the turning point of World War II. (Normany in 1944 is #13, the Seige of Moscow in 1941 is #22.)

Fourth is the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, which was the first significant cooperation among European nations against Napoleon.

Fifth, is the Battle of Antietam, where the United and Confederated States suffered 23,000 casualties, the most of any day in history for America, outnumbering the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, the Mexican-American War and the Spanish-American War combined. (The Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 is #17, and the Battle of Vicksburg in 1863 is #49.)

Sixth is a battle that I had never heard of, the Battle of Cajamarca in 1532 where the Spanish were able to claim most of South America. (The Battle of Tenochititlan in 1521, where Mexico City was captured, is #12.)

Seventh is the Atomic Bombing of Japan in 1945. (The Battle of Midway in 1942 is # 44, Pearl Harbor in 1941 is #62.)

Eighth is the Battle of Huai-Hai in 1948 which was the final major fight between the Chinese Communists and the forces of Chiang Kai-shek.

Ninth is Waterloo in 1815, after Napolean escaped from his exile in Elba.

Tenth is the Ottoman Turks' unsuccessful siege of Vienna in 1529 which marked the end of the march of Islam into eastern Europe. (The Battle of Tours which halted the Muslim invasion of France in 732, is #24, and the Battle of Granada in 1491-92 which ended seven centuries of Muslin control of Spain, is #35.)

This is a great book. I couldn't put down. I recommend it highly.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting collection of short essays, but there are problems, May 2, 2006

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Battle 100: The Stories Behind History's Most Influential Battles (Paperback)

Anytime you put together a list of the "100 Most" anything, you can expect to start arguments, and this collection of two- and three-page summaries of military and naval engagements is no exception. The coverage ranges from Megiddo, around 1479 BC, to only one more recent than the Golan Heights in 1967. All the obvious choices are here, including Gettysburg, Inchon, Trafalgar, Plassey, Normandy, Stalingrad, and Hastings, but many others are probably new even to many military history buffs, like Alexander's victory at Arbela-Gaugamela in 331 BC, which spelled the end of the Persian Empire, or Muhammad's success in battle at Mecca in 630, which virtually guaranteed the continued existence of Islam in the Near East, or Yenan in 1934, where Mao Tse-Tung ended the Long March by destroying the Nationalist Chinese army and ensured the survival of the People's Republic of China, with enormous repercussions on the second half of the 20th century. However, Lanning shows an uncomfortable America-centrism in ranking battles. The Number One spot goes to the Battle of Yorktown in 1781 -- which, while a key event in establishing the United States as an independent nation, may turn out to have been considerably less important if it's looked back on a thousand years from now. On the other hand, without Charles Martel decisively bringing to a halt the Muslim advance into Western Europe at the Battle of Tours in 732 (only no. 24 on his list), Medieval and Renaissance Europe would never have taken place and the entire cultural and philosophical milieu which gave rise to the American Revolution -- or even, perhaps, to the colonization of the New World in the first place -- would never have happened. I count twenty-two battles in the list -- nearly a quarter of the total -- in which the U.S. or the American colonies played a major role, and that's far too many when you consider the whole history of the world. While I don't see any important engagements that were omitted, some, like San Jacinto (which is certainly important to Texans like me), are much too minor on the global scale to be included on this list in the first place. Likewise, Desert Storm in 1991 is turning out to be much less significant in the long run than the present U.S. administration would like us to believe.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Armchair Historian's Delight, November 28, 2009

By 

Herbert L Calhoun "paulocal" (Falls Church, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Battle 100: The Stories Behind History's Most Influential Battles (Hardcover)

While one may disagree with Lt. Col Lanning's rankings, no one will disagree with the fact that he has done all of us "armchair historians" a yeoman's service. There is no need to continually consult and re-consult the Wikipedia every time a war or a battle of history is mentioned.

Here, in one well-crafted volume covering 3000 years of history, are the 100 most influential battles. The author lists them in rank order providing summary analysis of the causes, key aspects of the fighting including order of battle information with battlefield maps and well-thought out strategic and tactical analysis. Each battle is evaluated in terms of its long-term contribution to history rather than to any single battle's outcome, no matter how decisive. This rationale is hard to argue with, and the author is consistent in applying his rule.

The narrative (as well as the analysis), is high quality, well researched and short - no longer than two to three pages. While it is easy to detect a slight U.S.-centric bias, that is only a minor and expected nuisance which does no harm to an otherwise excellent summary of the most influential battles in history. For my need: which is to have a handy reference of summaries of history's key battles in one volume, this book serves perfectly. Three stars