One. Persian war. 500 BC to 449 BC.
(1). The nature of the war: Persian conquest of the independent ancient Greek city-state (suzerain).
(2). Overview of the war:
1。 In 500 BC, Athens and Eretria (located on the island of Evia) held an uprising against Persian rule (Miletus uprising was supported by the city-states of Asia Minor), which was the cause of the Persian war.
2。 In 492 BC, King Madoni of Persia invaded Greece, only occupied Thrace and was defeated.
3。 In the spring of 490 BC, King Darius I of Persia invaded Greece for the second time and was defeated in the marathon.
4。 In 480 BC, King Xue Xisi of Persia led the Polish army to Greece for the third time. In the battle of Plataya, the Greek city-state Coalition forces (about 60,000 people) defeated the Persian army (70,000-80,000 people). Almost at the same time, the Persian fleet lost in the battle of Cape Micale.
The whole war ended in the defeat of the Persians.
(3). Comments:
The Greek-Persian War was chosen as:
1。 Persian War was the first large-scale long-term war between Asia and Europe.
2。 The result of failure completely changed the fate of Iranians. Otherwise, it may be them, not Arabs, who occupy the whole of West Asia and North Africa today.
3。 The Greek-Persian war is of great significance to the development of tactics and the formation of the army. The phalanx created by the Greek army is one of the early famous battle formations. And the first to realize the necessity of protecting the most important part of the battle formation-the wing side.
Two. Punic war. 264 BC-BC 146 BC.
(1). The nature of the war: an aggressive war in which ancient Rome and Carthage first fought for Sicily and then for the sovereignty of the whole western Mediterranean. Because the Romans called Carthage Punic, it was named Punic War.
(2) Overview of the war: Punic war was fought three times.
1。 The first Punic War (264 BC-24 BC1year). The main reason for this war is the fight for Sicily. In 24 1 BC, the Roman fleet won a great victory in the battle near Agadi Islands (see Agadi Islands Battle), and the Carthaginians agreed to withdraw from Sicily.
2。 The Second Punic War (2 18 BC-20 1 year BC). In 2 16 BC, the Roman army (about 70,000 men) was surrounded by Hannibal's army (50,000 men) and was completely annihilated. After this victory, many Italian tribes and cities surrendered to Carthage. But in the decisive battle of Zama in 202 BC, the Carthaginians were defeated and lost their rule over the Mediterranean.
3。 The Third Punic War (BC 149-BC 146). After Carthage was defeated by the kingdom of Numidia, Rome launched the third Punic War. 146 years ago, the Romans stormed Carthage and razed it to the ground. Carthage, which existed for 400 years, was destroyed.
(3). Comments:
The Punic War was chosen for the following reasons:
1。 It not only has a long time span and a wide combat area, but also planted the seeds of white aggression and expansion. Before, the war in ancient Rome was mainly a tribal struggle between cities, and this war was the first life-and-death conflict between whites and foreign races for land and resources. It has developed the confidence and strategic attempt of white people to expand westward (Arabian Peninsula) and southward (Africa), which is a preview of the Crusades and the colonial world in Western Europe since 1500.
2。 Created the first territory in the history of the world across Europe, Asia and Africa-the ancient Roman Empire.
Three. Arab conquest war. 634-730 AD.
(1). the nature of the war: after the formation of the Arab empire (see the unified war on the Arabian peninsula), the caliph forcibly annexed large areas of western Asia, north Africa and southwest Europe under the pretext of "spreading Islam" and "waging jihad against infidels" in order to expand the scope of his rule.
(2) Overview of the war: It is divided into two stages.
1。 The first stage (634-656) began with the conquest of Byzantium and Iran. 1, In June 637, the Arabs won a great victory in the Battle of Kadsia, and then easily captured the Iranian capital, Cotesia. The Arab army defeated the Iranian army again and again and seized Mosul and Inner Havander. Since then, Iran has been incorporated into the territory of the Arab caliphate. In 640-64 1 year, Arab commanders marched straight into Egypt. In 64 1 year, it occupied upper Mesopotamia and entered Alexandria in September 642 according to the no-war agreement with the authorities. Then it occupied cyrenaica in 642, and Byzantium lost Egypt. Libya was occupied in 643, and Byzantine African territory was occupied in 647. In 66 1 year, the Umayyad dynasty established an Islamic Arab empire across Europe, Asia and Africa based in Syria.
2。 In the second stage (from the end of the seventh century to the 1930s), Arabs continued to conquer Transcaucasia, Central Asia, eastern Iran and Asia Minor, and even reached the borders of Europe. In 705-7 15, the Arab army defeated the China army and its allies, and consolidated the rule of the caliph in Central Asia. In July12, Arabs invaded India (the lower reaches of the Indus River). Their troops did not exceed 6,000, but after successively defeating the Indians, they incorporated the Indus Valley north of Multan into the Arab Empire. In 732, the Arab army fought against the Frankish army commanded by Charles Martel, and was defeated by the Franks. Forcing the Arabs to withdraw from Gaul and temporarily stop marching into Europe. But still occupied Spain and Portugal for a long time.
(3). Comments:
1。 The conquest of foreign countries by Arabs accelerated the process of feudalism in Arab society and established a feudal centralized country with absolute theocracy headed by caliph. As a result of the Arab movement, Arab religion-Islam-spread in various conquered countries.
2。 Wherever the Arab army went, it plundered a lot of property (gold, silver, silks and satins), horses and livestock. The accumulation of rich material wealth played a certain role in resisting the Crusaders in the future.
3。 Arab aggression against Europe. It caused the direct opposition between Christianity and Islam. The confrontation between them lasted 1000 years. It was the biggest contradiction in the world in the Middle Ages.
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Four. Crusade. 1096— 1270.
(1). The nature of war: the war of aggression launched by feudal lords in western Europe to plunder economically developed countries in the Near East. Crusaders' clothes are decorated with the Red Cross as a symbol, so they are called "Crusaders".
(2) Overview of the war: The Crusaders carried out eight large-scale crusades (mainly by land). In order to avoid being too long, only a brief description is given here. During the first ~ fourth ~ sixth Crusades, Europeans won a great victory, and established many Crusader countries such as the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Cyprus. Other oriental explorations ended in failure. Europeans just plundered a lot of wealth, but failed to realize their desire to own land. Perhaps the most influential was the Third Crusade. The Armageddon between Saladin of Egypt and Frederick I of the Holy Roman Empire was made into a movie. I remember watching it when I was 5-6 years old. It was called Saladin. I still can't forget the grand war scene in the film.
(3). Comments:
The significance of the Crusade is not that it forcibly strengthened the cultural and economic exchanges between the East and the West through war. My personal view is that the draw of the war made Europeans find it difficult to expand the Arabian Peninsula to the west and manage the North African continent to the south. They had the idea of seeking and obtaining benefits from other directions, so they used advanced science and technology, Columbus's discovery of the new continent and the crazy colonial history of Europeans from 1500 to Africa-America, India and Southeast Asia.
Five. Hundred years' war between Britain and France. AD 1337— 1453。
(1). The nature of the war: Britain and France first fought for power and profit for the issue of succession to the throne, and then it evolved into Britain invading France, and France was forced to resist, thus launching a century-long war.
(2). Overview of the war:
1。 In the first stage of the Hundred Years' War (1337- 1360), Britain and France fought for Flanders and Keith. The British defeated the French in the Battle of Loire (1340) and the Battle of Poitiers (1356). The French were forced to sign a very harsh peace treaty in Bretigny in 1360-ceding the territory from the south of the Loire River to the Pyrenees to Britain.
2。 In the second stage of the Hundred Years' War (1369- 1380), French King Charles V (1364- 1380 in office) reorganized his army and reorganized the tax system. He replaced part of the knight's armed forces with hired infantry, and established field artillery and a new fleet. By the end of 1970s, the French army had gradually forced the British to retreat to the coastal areas.
3。 The third stage of the Hundred Years' War (1415-1424). 14 15 years, the British army defeated the French army in the Battle of Azankur. Forcing the French to sign a peace treaty in Trouvat on 1420. According to the terms of the peace treaty, France became a part of Britain and France.
4。 The fourth stage of the Hundred Years' War (1424-1453). The French people waged guerrilla warfare, and Joan of Arc led the struggle. She won the battle of Orleans under her command (1429.5). The French army captured Paris in 1437, recovered champagne in 144 1 year, recovered Marne and Normandy in 1450, and recovered Guienne in 1453. 1453 65438+1October 19, the British surrendered in Bordeaux, and the war ended.
(3). Comments:
Although the duration of this war is a point of view, it is not ranked in the top 20 in the history of world wars in terms of scale and influence, and it seems that it should not be selected. However, people seem to have overlooked a very important point, that is, Britain has established its basic strategy for the European continent-the European balance strategy.
Britain is an island country isolated from the European continent. Because there is no territory bordering small European countries, it is impossible to exert geopolitical influence on them, so squeezing into the European continent has become its early development goal. However, the defeat in France made Britain realize that it could not stand on the European continent, but it was unwilling to give up its influence on Europe, so it tried to prevent one country from dominating the European continent while maintaining its relative independence. Because when this happens, Europe will surrender to a central country, and Britain will lose its influence on Europe, thus being completely isolated by European countries.
Under this strategy. The alliance between Britain and Prussia ~ Russia ~ Austria-Hungary shattered Napoleon's attempt to dominate Europe; The combination of France and the United States prevented Germany from unifying Europe. When Russia was at war with the Turkish Empire, Britain tried to block the opening of a sea passage to the south. At present, Britain is relying on the United States to reduce the influence of the European Union, led by France and Germany, despite its reluctance to join the EU for economic reasons.