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.