Battles That Changed History

by D.K. Publishing

This illustrated guide to history's most famous battles explores military history from ancient battles to the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Cold War, and beyond.

Featuring stunning illustrations and in-depth analysis, this military history book uses maps, paintings, and photographs to reveal the stories behind more than 90 of the most important battles ever to take place. From medieval battles and great naval battles to the era of high-tech air battles, key wars and campaigns are analyzed in detail--the weapons, the soldiers, the military strategy, and the fateful decisions that led to glorious victories and crushing defeats. Famous military leaders are profiled, including Alexander the Great, Joan of Arc, Napoleon, Rommel, and others, and crucial arms, armor, and equipment are explained.

Whether at Hastings, Gettysburg, or Stalingrad, Battles That Changed History takes you into the thick of combat and shows how kingdoms and empires have been won and lost on the battlefield throughout history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, War, Military History, Reference, Historical

256 pages, Hardcover

Published September 11, 2018

About the author

Dorling Kindersley (DK) is a British multinational publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 62 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a consumer publishing company jointly owned by Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA and Pearson PLC. Bertelsmann owns 53% of the company and Pearson owns 47%.

Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including Eyewitness Travel Guides), arts and crafts, business, history, cooking, gaming, gardening, health and fitness, natural history, parenting, science and reference. They also publish books for children, toddlers and babies, covering such topics as history, the human body, animals and activities, as well as licensed properties such as LEGO, Disney and DeLiSo, licensor of the toy Sophie la Girafe. DK has offices in New York, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto and Melbourne.

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to know a bit about an “important” battle and like the D.K. approach (better graphics and pictures) more than Wikipedia’s, this is a fine book.

Its virtues are:
Great maps and drawings and period pictures
Helpful bits that place the battle in context
Identification of famous people associated with the conflict
It covers well over 50 battles (in two-page detail) and many others in the “directories”

Other factors to consider:
You get a page or two at most about any battle.
Simplification can be misleading if you don’t want or have time to dig deeper. .

The battles are grouped as follows:
Before 1000 C.E.
1000-1500
1500-1700
1700-1900
1900-present (in this case up to Operation Desert Storm)

Each of these sections has a directory that summarizes other conflicts during that period.
Not a bad effort but only as a starting point.
3.5*

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice companion/follow-up to DK's more massive Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5000 Years of Combat. While that book has 1/4- to 1/2-page summaries of nearly every famous battle ever fought (13 for the American Civil War alone), this more manageable book focuses on a much smaller selection and goes into considerably greater depth (2-4 pages each) on those battles that — at least in DK's opinion — most impacted history, (for comparison the Civil War here is just Gettysburg and Antietam). Have only visited around five of the sites listed here — so time to hit the road!

[Zachary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great reference book of different battles throughout history, and would be a great starter to many different battles and wars throughout history. I definitely learned a few things about new battles and others that I have definitely heard or learned about through school or personal study. However this book also has its flaws like the map diagrams of the battles could've been done better in my opinion. It is a good book just left me wanting more detail.

[Yianni · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s a great illustrative and visually captivating beginners history book on battles however I would not recommend if you are a reader that loves details and context of historical situations.

I felt major conflicts were missed out or the ones that were included had minimal depth- if you are studying historiography or wanting to gain synopsises on historical events in a wide range and lens this may be the book for you. However there are better publications and authors that give historical texts a more comprehensive overview of the preceding events leading to battles. If you further wanted more ancient historical and modern battles, I would look away to something else.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book that is definitely one to dip in and out of when required. Small bits of information which are a great start for research and the photographs contained within are high quality and amazing.

[Goran K · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid start if you want to research the history of an activity that is practiced most often by the humans - battle. Each conflict is explained in brief, basic terms and in the most crude lines. Otherwise this book would be much bigger.
It is great for starters, and if you want to discover some of the less acclaimed battles and wars. However, I'd like to point out that most battles in the book are well-known, and it is mostly west-centric with only a few of the conflicts on Balkans, Asia, Africa or South America being included.... and even then, they're included in the list of "worth mentioning". I'd prefer a book with a more diverse battles regarding participants and geographical locations. It seems that all significant battles happened in West Europe and North America, which isn't true.

Texts are good, photographs and illustrations too, it is informative and a really quick read. Excellent summaries, coffee table book to recommend.

[Moustafa Abdelhamid · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Book talks about all the significant battles each in 2-4 pages, some with more info than others. this kept me wanting more but it only offered glimpse on who was fighting who and why and in some more elaborated battles a small paragraph on how the battle was won. it is a good read to identify the greatest and largest battles in history however, it did not deliver in captivating me with the details of each battle, it only left me wanting to read more.

[Jbussen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad except that the "HOW" part was so abridged that it may as well have been completely left out. So yeah, a hundred of the most important game changers are profiled, but so what? Ever wonder what would have happened if the French won at Agincourt? Well keep wondering because this book doesn't speculate.

[Sylvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the pages had typos, but an entertaining and enlightening book nonetheless.

[RumBelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book broken up into four sections, each covering up to 500 years, discussed a variety of battles, worldwide, that influenced and affected history. In each section there were several battles from the same war, which did cut down on the variety. I will say that in each section battles were talked about from all over the world. There were two main areas in each section. In the first part, battles were described at length over two or three page spreads. Artwork, maps, battle plans, images of costumes and weapons and photographs were included in these loger break downs. At the end of each section was what was called the Directory, where other battles, supposedly less important, were discussed briefly in smaller paragraphs. In many cases, the battles listed in the Directory, seemed to me to be extremely important and influential (Kadesh in Egypt and Yorktown during the American Revolution being two examples) and I was puzzled as to why they were relegated to the shorter section.

Some of the battles discussed in each section included:

Before 1000CE

Marathon and Thermopylae two major confrontations between Greece and Persia.
Tours the Umayyad (Spanish) invasion of France during the reign of Charles Martel

Directory
Kadesh Egyptian battle with Ramses the II


1000-15000
Hastings
First Crusade and the Siege of Jerusalem
Dan No Ura Samurai clans in Japan
Lake Peipus where the Tuetonic Knights fought pagan Russians
Crecy and Agincourt during the 100 Years War

Directory
Bannockburn, a battle for Scottish Independence
Bosworth Field where Richard III fell


1500-1700
Siege of Tenochtitlan
Panipat the Mughal conquest of India
The Great Siege of Malta where the Knights Hospitallers had to defend the island from the Ottomans

Directory
Cajamarca the Spanish conquest of Peru


1700-1900
Plains of Abraham a battle in Canada during the Seven Years War
Marengo when Napoleon invaded Austria
Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812
Antietam and Gettysburg

Directory
Yorktown
Battle of San Jacinto during Texas' fight for independence


1900 - Present (2003)
Tsushima during the Russo Japanese War
Gallipoli
Dunkirk
Iwo Jima
Inchon during the Korean War
Six Day War that Israel fought
Tet Offensive during Vietnam

Directory
Madrid during Spanish Civil War
Falklands
Invasion of Iraq 2003

The art and photos added a great deal to the interesting and engaging text. The book, as a whole, was a wonderful historical compilation that took time to break down the major battles discussed and explored the conflict from all sides.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an illustrated guide to histories famous battles. The timeline for this book is from before 1000 C.E. To the “present”. Keep in mind this book was published in 2018 and the present for them seems to be the American Invasion of Iraq.

The battles are discussed through information presented, maps and information boxes about important people in the battle or new technologies used in these battles.

This was a good book for me to read because it was a good balance of information, pictures and maps that show troop movements and or location of these battles. I was curious about these battles but at the same time I didn’t want to know every minute thing about them so this was good.

[Aleksandar Todorovski · Rating 4 out of 5]

D.K. Publishing does a great job of condensing vital information in a way that is at the same time amazing and relaxing to read. Since I Enjoy D.K. Editions as a way to touch the basics on some topic which is interesting to me, or just to take a necessary break from the devouring of harder literature, I have to point out at the exemption here since I love military history. All of the battles which determined the Course of History with captivating images and a strategic map which visually displays the tactics of their generals, this is a great book to have in your home library.

[Tung Lam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quyển này có chất lượng in khá tốt, bìa cứng, khổ lớn, giấy đẹp, in màu.

Đọc hết quyển sách này chúng ta sẽ được điểm qua những trận đánh lớn mang ý nghĩa lịch sử xuyên suốt từ thời cổ đại, trung đại cho đến hiện đại.

Về nội dung thì khá đơn giản, chỉ nêu chung chung về bối cảnh, diễn biến ngắn và kết quả. Nhưng được cái là nhiều tranh minh hoạ khá đặc sắc. Nếu bạn không muốn tìm hiểu quá kỹ, chán những con số khô khan thì sách rất phù hợp.

[MK · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw the title of this book, “Battles That Changed History,'' I felt quite proud.

I give it a high rating because the content is excellent. But any Battles are a mechanism for arms dealers and investors to make money, and any other reason is just an afterthought.

The paintings and pictures in this book are certainly powerful, but they are not something to be proud of. This world is impermanent, and history will change without bothering to start a war.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that this book is great! (Only if you enjoy history, like I do.) It details a large number of historically significant battles, ranging from ancient Rome to World War II, and everything in between. I think that it's good, because it explains each battle, why is was important, and most importantly to me it explains what happened during the battles including helpful sidebars in the margins and numerous images. It's a great read for you history buffs out there! 5 out of 5 stars.

[Christopher Lutz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book. Smithsonian DK books are always a win with me. This one serves as a quick overview of warfare though the major battles that shaped nations, created new tactics, and changed the world forever. Great intro for eras and conflicts that you may not know. For me this book enhanced my interest in the wars of the ancient world.

[Leandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most visually striking books I've ever owned, the art and illustrations are top tier. The battle maps, when present, are top notch. This is what you should have in mind if you're thinking of getting this book.

With that being said, the context given for each battle is often rather meager, and the selection of battles feels a bit incomplete and lopsided towards more recent history.

[Jason Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book itself was good, but it is absolutely not designed to be read on a Kindle. This is a coffee table book with terrific illustrations in it, and to read it on a black and white Kindle or a phone with a tiny screen doesn't do it justice. Four stars on the book itself; minus one star for even offering it in eBook format.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great illustrative book on turning point battles throughout history. I find with any book like this I gravitate to the incidents that I am most familiar then work my way from there. This is a DK book so lovely and graphically done.

[Scott Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall , very informative book on major battles around history of warfare , my only gripe is the title , Battles which changed history , there is nothing to tell you why it changed history , no what if's , unless you have knowledge of the battles themselves , the title is mis leading.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, brief, illustrated, excellent summaries of select battles throughout history. There are some obvious proofreading errors that should have been caught, but this is a great coffee table book for historical warfare buffs.

[Bill Baltas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book but I would have liked it more if the author had explained why he thought these battles were so pivotal to history. In some cases he gave a sentence or two about why he thought the battle was pivotal to history, but in most cases he talked about a battle then moved on.

[Raphael Heard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This showed me a ton of conflicts that I never knew about, or how important they were to world history. A phenomenal catalog of battles that have shaped the present world.

[Mary Lou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great homeschool resource

[Len Coombs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fine production values and beautiful illustrations, but for many of the highlighted battles this book tells little about how they changed history.

[Sourojit Das · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Coffee Table book.

[Joseph Millo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good battlefield maps. Succinct summaries of each battle. However, with 2-4 pages for each battle, so much information is left out. A good introduction IF you have no prior knowledge of the battle.

[Doug Caldwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this mostly to get familiar with battles way back when.

[SassieMolassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good starter information with a couple of pages of each battle and not near as in depth as I wanted. Especially with the battles in countries that I’m not familiar with. 3.5 stars ⭐️

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for the broad overview. Man is, and always has been, a warring species. Remarkably repetitive themes and motivating factors playing out in countless conflicts over the many millennia and continents. Have we learned nothing beyond how to kill and maim more efficiently??

Some terrific illustrations and maps. Might have done well to expand on some of the larger battles and put them into a broader historical context while trimming some of the lesser known. The weighting was perhaps too equitable. In the end an impossible task executed admirably.