The Irony of European apologetics

Let me first start off by stating that I am not saying in any way, shape or form that terrible actions taken by people of European decent are any less terrible. I'm not even trying to say that Euroepan colonialism or imperialism was/is less significant on the people it affected. These actions shaped our world today and how we view that world, as I result people have a view of world events that is slanted toward a western view and it comes out through everything; food, "normal" culture, media, views of beauty, etc and some people identify that actions taken by Europeans are not necessarily good. What I am saying is that I occasionally see statements like this:




This statement is extremely ironic. It lives in the idea that World history begins and ends with Europe or at the most the greater Mediterranean world.Europe doesn’t start pulling any real dick moves until  the16th century, really don't amp everything up until after the Turks are beaten at Vienna, and they do so until midway through the 20th century. The reason they stop is because they were so busy killing each other in the first and second world wars that they didn’t have  too much time to kill anyone else and after they are too exhausted to do it to anyone else. France keeps trying, but Algeria and Indochina do not go very well and while South Africa sticks around til the 90's and the USA is still going they are governments formed much later than western Europe's. The irony is that you state that World History is Europe pulling a bunch of dick moves its because you have a very euro centric view of the world. For a huge chuck of history nobody is able to do anything to anybody outside their sphere because they don’t know they exist and don’t have any ability to reach them. China at one point in their rare expansion periods heard about these people called the Romans who had outposts a few hundred miles away. Really outside of Alexander the Great reaching India and setting up Greek states out there for a short time, nobody is even really aware of whats east of Persia and Alexander himself thought they would find the end of the earth. Being from the western world we have this view that everything important has to have happened in the west, but world history doesn’t revolve around Europe.The Arab states in the middle east are the only ones really aware that China and Europe are not just myths and China doesn't really care because Europe isn't China and everything important is happening in China, while Christian Europe isn't exactly on speaking terms with the Arab Muslims. The same issue comes up when talking about the crusades as people often view this as another sign of Europe picking on their defenseless Muslim neighbors, the Muslim world was devastated much more severely by the Shia-Sunni infighting and all of the nomadic Horse archer people's who would invade a various times, including the Mongols who did far more long term damage to the Middle east Muslim world than European's did with the crusades. This is a common problem though, often people assume that if something/someone sucks then they have always sucked and that's exactly the case here.

Top 10 battles

Okay so I decided that doing the battles individually was taking too long and quite frankly I was not enjoying it in any way. So now I have my list with a brief description on why this battle is here and a link to more information about it.

10. Battle of Tours
 Charles the Hammer defeats the Umayyad Caliphate, mostly due to sheer luck. This stops the Muslim advance into modern day France and allows the Christian kingdoms to strengthen. Remember Charles the hammer's son Pepin the short is able to be anointed king of the Franks and Charles grandson is Charlemagne.


9. Battle of Zama
 Scipio Africanus defeats Hannibal and secures victory for Rome in the second Punic war. After this Rome has no rival in Europe.
8. Battle of Huai-Hai
 This battle is why Communist China wins the Chinese Civil war. Pretty simple, if this battle goes the other way we have a possible very different china and very different cold war. Also Guns and roses would have had to have a different album title for Chinese democracy.
7. Battle of Waterloo
 Napoleons most famous battle. If he wasn't high on opium he might have won and a very different France. I doubt he would have been able to reconquer Europe but Europe may have looked very different.
6. Battle of Salamis
 Far more important than Thermopylae as the Greeks actually win this battle and win it very decisively. The Greek fleet smashes the Persian fleet and Xerxes's army is unable to do anything in Greece as a result and retreats back to Persian territory.
5. Battle of Cannae
 This battle is unique on the list as the loser is the reason why this is so important. Rome had another army smashed by Hannibal and not just smashed but destroyed the largest army Rome had ever formed. But Rome doesn't lose, any other nation would have capitulated but Rome just keeps chugging along and their Italian allies stay loyal. Hannibal has really lost the war here because if this isn't going to bring Romes allied states in Italy over to him nothing will.
4. Battle of Gaugamela
 Alexander earns his title of THE Great by defeating the Persian empire led by Darius III. This is the ultimate achievement for Alexander as he will wander around the east for years after this because he is sort of crazy (okay he's just plain crazy), but after his death Persian, Egypt and all the other places he conquered up to the edges of India are divided up by his generals and remain Greek cultured empires for quite some time. Even after these kingdoms fall the Greek influence remains.
3. Battle of Badger Mouth
 Probably the single most important battle most in the west have never heard of. To be fair nobody in the west would have possible heard about this for quite some time as China is considered a place of Myth in Europe until the Mongols show up. The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan handily defeats the army of Jin China, but Jin exists for some time after this and isn't completely conquered until Genghis's successor Ogedei does so 20 years later. Whats really important about Badger Mouth is that this is really the only place where someone, anyone might have turned the Mongols back, but after this they are so superior to any other opponent that nobody can come close to matching the Mongol armies.
2.Battle of Vienna
 People tend to think that in 1492 Columbus opening the Americas up to Europe makes Christian Europe the dominant force in the world, but in 1683 the Ottoman Empire controlled all of south east Europe and were besieging Vienna. This is a point where Christendom in Europe is at war with itself as the protestant reformation had begun over 150 years earlier and the Muslim Ottomans took advantage of this. The only reason why Vienna doesn't fall is because the Holy Roman Empire along with the King of Poland, Catholic and protestant alike, attacked the besieging Ottoman army and relieved the city. If Vienna falls then the Ottomans have a major foothold in modern Austria and an advance into Northern Italy or Southern Germany could be on the table. Also apparently the Croissant was invented during the battle, so there was that.
1. Battle of Stalingrad
 2 million casualties, that is the estimated number of casualties at the battle of Stalingrad from Soviet and axis forces. There are an estimated half a million soviet deaths in this one battle which is more than any other Allied nation has during the entire war, except for China. It is five months of nonstop fighting between the two most powerful nations in the world at this time as they trow everything they have into this one city on the Volga river. People sometimes say that Hitler had no chance to win the war against the Soviet Union, but even after failing to capture Moscow in operation Barbarossa I believe that he does if  Operation Braunschweig, the plan to capture the Soviet Oil fields, can succeed.This is the battle where everything turns, after the loss at Stalingrad Germany cannot win and the Soviet Union pushes Nazi Germany out of Soviet Territory and eventually into Germany itself. Think about this, if Stalingrad falls early on or if otherwise Operation Braunschweig suceeds then Soviets lose their oil fields and all lend lease shipments have to go through Vladivostok and across Siberia. Could the Soviet Union have continued? Maybe, but its also a very real possibility that they would not have.

8. Battle of Huai-Hai

 PLA soldiers with captured American rifles and an M5 Stuart

Coming in at number eight we have the Battle of Huai-Hai was the final major fight between Communist China and Nationalist China in the Chinese Civil war. It is also been called the Battle of Hsupeng, Battle of Xu-Beng and the Huaihai Campaign and was fought between November 1948 and January 1949. It was an incredibly decisive battle in which over half a million Nationalist Chinese soldiers were killed and the political impact for Nationalist leader Chiang Kai Shek and it dramatically alters the Cold War.

Background: The Chinese Civil war had begun in 1927 but was suspended in 1936 so that the Chinese could unite to defend against the Japanese invasion. The Nationalist Chinese had western support and conventional armies while the Communist Chinese under Mao Zedong was somewhat supported by the Soviet Union, but not as much as you would suspect because Stalin did not think Mao could win, and used largely guerrilla tactics against first the Nationalist and then the Japanese. These guerilla tactics won the Communists much support from the Chinese people and the war weakened the Nationalist Chinese forces that had to face the brunt of the Japanese attacks. After the war the support from the Soviet Union increased for Mao and the communists and they were able to use Manchuria as a base of operations and the cease fire between the nationalists fell apart in June 1946 and the Civil War began again. It seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Nationalists would win, but the Communists were able to push the nationalists back and the poor discipline and leadership and just overall corruption in the Nationalist government led many Nationalist soldiers to desert to the Communist Chinese. 

The Battle: The Nationalists had a half-million-man army between the Huai River and the Lung Hai Railway and Mao devised a plan where he would systematically divide and destroy each army in three phases. This was all helped along by secret Communists in the Nationalists leadership some of whom simply surrendered their armies and defected as soon as they encountered Communist forces. Shek attempted to reinforce each area but guerrilla attacks and these internal divisions made these attempts extremely difficult despite the fact that he possessed total air superiority. The fact is that Nationalists leadership was extremely poor and they were completely unable to coordinate their forces in any way. Over the next two months, the Communists destroyed each of the three Nationalist forces. Shek’s poor generalship was shown as he was unable to reinforce any of these trapped forces and in fact ordered them all to try and break out which was extremely difficult in the dead of winter and with limited supplies and food. Of the six highest-ranking Nationalist generals in the battle, two were killed in the fighting and two captured while two managed to break out to Nationalist held territory. I am probably putting too much blame on Chiang Kai Shek as Communists agents had almost completely infiltrated his government and so Mao was fuly aware of everything that the nationalist forces were doing. In the end though Chiang Kai Shek lost 500,000 of his best soldiers who were, American armed and American trained and really lost the war at this battle. 

Aftermath: After the battle the western democracies abandoned Chiang Kai Shek and the Nationalist cause, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall stated, "The present regime has lost the confidence of the people, reflected in the refusal of soldiers to fight and the refusal of the people to cooperate in economic reforms."  After this the Communist completely controlled Northern and Central China and would completely push the nationalists off the main land and by May 1949 Mao Zedong declared victory. The Chinese civil war is not officially over as the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China both claim that they are the true government of China and nations only officially recognize one government or the other. 

Impact: The Communist takeover of China had a massive impact on the world, especially the Cold war world with the scales apparently tipped toward the Communist side of the cold war. The Chinese would support North Korea in the Korean war when they attacked American forces in 1950 and engaged in a three years deadlocked with United nations and American forces in Korea. However while a good leader Mao was not the best Communist and had no interest in blindly supporting the Soviet Union and would focus largely inward as his attempts to reform the nation led to millions of death from execution and starvation but the population would double from 600 million in 1953 to over 1.3 billion by the early 2000’s. Communist China does not give the Communist side a real advantage as China does not join the CCCP, but a Republic of China would have been very different during the Cold war. For one the Soviet Union could have had a much more pressing concern on its southern border as Chiang Kai Shek was very pro-western. China under the Nationalist would have likely remained corrupt poorly led and the Chinese people would have suffered but it probably would have been a better alternative to the millions that died under Mao, keep in mind though that the Republic of China did not start to democratize until the late 80’s and had their first truly open elections in 2005. However China's population probably would not have exploded to the extent that it did but the nation would have likely industrialized much earlier, likely around the same time that Korea and Japan did but again it probably just means China would have fully industrialized earlier than they have by around twenty years. Overall though my doubts at a significantly different Modern China is why I leave Huai-Hai low.

Next: Waterloo  1815

9. Battle of Zama

Coming in at number 10, is the final major engagement of the second Punic War, the Battle of Zama on October 19, 202 BC. This battle loses a lot to the earlier battle of Cannae, but it is the decisive conflict in which Hannibal is defeated in Tunisia by Scipio Africanus's Roman army. I originally had this much higher but the chief problem with Zama is that the Second Punic War is largely over at this point , Carthage is losing everywhere but Italy and if Scipio is defeated at Zama then this would only prolong the war, not turn it in Carthage's favor. But lets get into the background.

Background: So in the second Punic War began in 218 BCE when Hannibal began moving against Rome and would cross the Alps to try and defeat Rome and return Carthage to its former glory. Rome had defeated Carthage in the first Punic War and one of Carthage’s top generals was Hannibal’s father Hamilcar who supposedly made Hannibal and his brother Hasdrubal swear to defeat Rome for what it had done to Carthage. You see after Rome had won the first Punic War they changed the peace treaty after Carthage had demobilized and this greatly angered the Carthaginian people and breed a lot of resentment. Hannibal took an army to Italy and would defeat the Romans in every engagement he faced them in Italy, but while everything was going well for Hannibal tactically he was unable to get support from the non-Romans in Italy and Carthage was losing the war everywhere but Italy.  Meanwhile Scipio was a young Roman General who been able conquer Iberia from the Carthaginians and after being elected Consul took an army to attack Carthage itself, where he defeated a Carthaginian army at The Battle of the Great Plains in 203 BCE and as a result Carthage recalled Hannibal from Italy. Hannibal may have never actually been to Carthage before as he grew up in Iberia fighting with his father, but he was given an army of around 50,000 including 4,000 cavalry and about 80 War Elephants to face Scorpio’s army that was about 40,000 with roughly 6,000 mostly Allied Numidia Cavalry.

The Battle: The battle is quite complex and I am by no means an expert but what happens is that both armies array with Cavalry on the flanks and Infantry in the middle, but Hannibal puts his Elephants in front to charge and disrupt the Roman Infantry. However Scipio had anticipated this and arrayed his Infantry in columns so that skirmishers were able to draw them through the lines and cause minimal casualties. He also had his troop’s blow every horn in their possession to confuse the Elephants and cause them to panic, which some of them did. Overall the effect of the Elephants was minimal and it is here where Hannibal’s plan is disrupted. 

This is also one of the only times during the campaign against Hannibal that Rome has an advantage in Cavalry and so the Roman Cavalry is able to drive off the Carthaginian Cavalry and the Infantry stalemate in their engagement. However when the Roman Cavalry returned from driving off the Carthaginian cavalry it fell upon the Carthaginian infantries rear and Hannibal’s army collapsed.

Aftermath: This is the last major engagement of the Punic Wars and afterwards Carthage is forced to sue for peace.  Rome takes all the territory outside of Africa has to pay War reparations to Rome and is prevented from waging war. The only thing that Carthage gets is that Hannibal is not turned over to the Romans and he becomes an important player in Carthaginian politics. That is until he is forced into exile by the Romans at the behest of the Carthaginian Nobility that did not like Hannibal’s attempts to democratize and de corrupt the Carthaginian system. He worked for a variety of kingdoms and was relentlessly pursued by Roman Assassins. The precise date of his death is debated but between 183-181 BCE Hannibal killed himself rather than fall into the hands of the Romans.

Importance: As I said before I originally had this much higher but I had to drop it lower and lower because it did not meet my criteria of a History shaping battle. Carthage had lost, even if they won at Zama they were still going to sue for peace, the conditions would have been more favorable but still they would have lost. What’s really important about this battle is that this is the only time that Hannibal is decisively defeated, for 16 years the Romans were time and time again defeated by Hannibal but here at Zama, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus leads a smaller Roman force and defeats Hannibal.  After the Second Punic War Rome really conquers the known world, which leads to the statement that ‘Rome conquered the world in self-defense’ all the enemies of Rome that joined with Carthage against Rome were subsequently invaded by Rome after the war turned in Rome’s favor. After Zama any threat to Rome in the Mediterranean is vanquished with Carthage’s capitulation.