What was the most important battle in human history?

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   EJ Lambertposted 12 years ago

   What was the most important battle in human history?
   
   There has been no shortage of battlefields to explore and remember over the course of many centuries.  Which one holds perhaps the most significance to how civilization has advanced?
   
   

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   Thief12posted 12 years ago

   "There was never a good war, or a bad peace" --Benjamin Franklin

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      EJ Lambertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Tell that to the British when they invaded India.  Franklin is right for the most part, but even he can't deny war, more than anything in human history, is responsible for our rapid advancement as a species.

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      Thief12posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Tell that to the people on the losing side. How many civilizations have been lost, destroyed, banished, or sent into a cultural, economical, or sociopolitical regression because of war?

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      EJ Lambertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I never said it was a good thing.  I merely stated it as fact.  War brings unnecessary sacrifice and suffering.  The fact of the matter is it's survival of the fittest.  The reason wars are fought is because the benefits of victory are enormous.

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      Alastar Packerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Regardless of its advancing civilization on this planet or not, many believe we'll never visit the stars without leaving it behind  for good as an extremely sad collective memory.

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      EJ Lambertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      No doubt.  We need that "Star Trek" sort of peace to make it happen.

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   Mel Jayposted 12 years ago

   That is a truly difficult question.  There are so many battles that could have led to today's world being a very different place.  What if the Norman's had not won at Hastings in 1066 - would there have ever been a British Empire?  What if the Romans had not been massacred at Tuetoburg on 9 CE - would the Roman Empire have extended north through Germania and reached the Baltic Sea and maybe even Russia?  There might never have been a Soviet Union.  What if Napoleon had won at Waterloo in 1815?  Would we all be speaking French today? (The French would love that) What if Alexander the Great had lost the battle against the Persians at the Granicus River in 334 BCE - would Ancient Greek culture have spread across the western world?  I have absolutely no idea about any of this but it is fun to speculate.

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      EJ Lambertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      To me the most critical engagement that comes to mind is Stalingrad.  You have to think about the stake.  If the Germans capture it, they gain the oil wells in the Caucasus and the Russians collapse.  Then what do the Allies do?

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   Alastar Packerposted 12 years ago

   How about two: Gettysburg and Kursk with a 150 and 70 year anniversary's this July, respectively? What would the world be like if America had broken into two countries and the Germans had been triumphant in histories greatest tank battle, which is now considered the true turning point in WW2 by many historians?

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      EJ Lambertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I really don't see how the Germans could have won at Kursk.  They were outnumbered and the Russians knew exactly where they were attacking.  It was a foregone conclusion.  Gettysburg on the other hand was pivotal to an entire hemisphere.

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      Alastar Packerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That's correct, they were certainly stopped at the northern point but apparently may have been near a breakthrough on the southern even after the battle on the 12th at Prokhorovka. Hitlers stopping after Sicily invasion may have been decisive.

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      EJ Lambertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Zhukov had an entire army in reserve ready for any breakthroughs.  Any victory for the Germans was Phyrric at best.  If Hitler had stopped us on Sicily it would've been a setback but not decisive.

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      Alastar Packerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      He sure did. Did any of that that reserve engage at the Prohorovka massive tank battle?

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      EJ Lambertposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      All of it did.  That was why the battle was so massive in the first place.

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      Alastar Packerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Believe i read in Von Mellenthin's memoirs where they could have won on the south front if Hitler hadn't called off the offensive cause of Sicily. It is hard to see after the 12th though, your right.

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