War Classics – The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: From Marathon to Waterloo

Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy’s The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World was so significant a book in its day that it would have sat in the libraries of middle-class households alongside the Bible, Shakespeare’s Complete Works, and Milton’s Paradise Lost. While the 1851 work is seen as somewhat dated and flawed today, its influence remains, both in the enduring use of the term ‘decisive battle’, and in the subsequent obsession with adding to the list. Inevitably, as history (and war) progressed, further battles were indeed added: four in an 1899 edition, eight in 1908, along with other contenders proposed by different books. Newer but derivative works include Great Battles of the