Just Living History
Battles & Campaigns
Where it happened, who was there, and how the ground shaped the outcome.
Battle of Thermopylae
A Greek force under Leonidas of Sparta held a narrow coastal pass against the invading army of Xerxes for three days, until a mountain path around them was revealed.
Battle of Cannae
Hannibal let the larger Roman army push into his centre, then closed both wings around it. It became the textbook double envelopment, studied by commanders for two…
Battle of Hastings
Harold Godwinson raced south from victory at Stamford Bridge to meet William of Normandy. A day-long fight on Senlac Hill ended with Harold dead and the Norman conquest…
Battle of Agincourt
A sick, outnumbered English army trapped in northern France chose a narrow, muddy field between two woods. French armoured knights advanced into it and were destroyed.
Battle of Trafalgar
Nelson broke the conventions of naval warfare by driving two columns straight into the Franco-Spanish line. Britain lost no ships; the combined fleet lost twenty-two…
Battle of Waterloo
Napoleon attacked Wellington’s army south of Brussels, needing to win before the Prussians arrived. They arrived first.
Battle of Gettysburg
Lee’s second invasion of the North collided with Meade’s Army of the Potomac at a crossroads town. It ended with Pickett’s Charge and the costliest battle of the Civil…
Battle of Midway
Forewarned by codebreakers, the US Navy ambushed the Japanese carrier force near Midway Atoll. Four Japanese fleet carriers were sunk, and Japan lost the initiative in…
D-Day: Operation Overlord
Allied forces landed on five Normandy beaches after a night of airborne drops. By nightfall more than 150,000 troops were ashore and the liberation of Western Europe had…
Battle of Stalingrad
A German drive on the city on the Volga became months of street fighting. A Soviet counter-offensive encircled the German Sixth Army, which was forbidden to break out…