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Famous Battles Quiz

Can you name these famous battles from history?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Featured Quiz
Last updated: September 29, 2020
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First submittedFebruary 13, 2013
Times taken45,441
Average score56.3%
Rating4.16
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Year
Description
Battle
1944–1945
Last major German offensive on the Western Front in WWII
Battle of the Bulge
1942–1943
German advance halted at Volga River; turning point on the
Eastern front in WWII
Battle of Stalingrad
1942
Turning point in Pacific Theater; U.S. Navy defeats Japan
thanks to codebreakers.
Battle of Midway
1940
The Luftwaffe tries to destroy the RAF
Battle of Britain
1916
Deadliest battle on the Western Front in WWI
Battle of the Somme
1863
Northern victory over Lee's forces in Pennsylvania
Battle of Gettysburg
1815
Final battle in War of 1812, fought after peace was signed
Battle of New Orleans
1815
Final defeat of Napoleon
Battle of Waterloo
1805
Napoleon's greatest victory which ended the Holy Roman Empire
Battle of Austerlitz
1805
Admiral Nelson defeats Napoleon's navy
Battle of Trafalgar
1777
Burgoyne surrenders. Turning point of the American Revolution.
Battles of Saratoga
1415
Henry V leads British longbowmen to victory over French
Battle of Agincourt
1066
Decisive victory in the Norman Conquest
Battle of Hastings
732
The Franks turn back Muslim conquerors in northern France
Battle of Tours
216 BC
Hannibal encircles and annihilates a numerically superior Roman Army
Battle of Cannae
480 BC
300 Spartans die while fighting the Persians
Battle of Thermopylae
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77 Comments
Quizmaster
+7
Level ∞
Sep 29, 2020
With the latest update I removed the Battle of the Alamo, and added Austerlitz and Cannae.
Nyackjohn
+5
Level 79
Jul 3, 2010
I tried spelling Theropylae about 20 different ways - guys, you've gotta lighten up on the spelling a bit, several times I got as far as "thermopyl.." and it still would not accept. There is a DIFFERENCE between British, Canadian and US spellings sometimes which are not accounted for - I know this is all in fun, but it is a bit frustrating!
Quizmaster
+4
Level ∞
Jul 6, 2010
I wonder how you were spelling it? Thermopylae, Thermopylie, and Thermopylea all would have worked. But I worked on it some more to make it easier.
kalbahamut
+7
Level 81
Feb 13, 2013
I should get extra points for spelling it right on the first try.
azteque316
+4
Level 69
Mar 1, 2014
Really not easy for a francophon like me... There are a lot of difference between the spelling in French and English.
uncrazy
+1
Level 9
Feb 9, 2012
It's Napoleon, not Napolean.
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Feb 9, 2012
Fixed. Thanks!
Baltimorean
+1
Level 67
Feb 14, 2013
You fixed it in one spot but not the other.
Quizmaster
+5
Level ∞
Aug 28, 2015
Fixed for real now.
Possums
+2
Level 30
Jun 29, 2016
Are you sure?
kalbahamut
+20
Level 81
Sep 25, 2018
Napolean is the newer slimmer version.
RippedJelly4269
+2
Level 2
May 22, 2012
Excellent Quiz, I've learned most of these from my 8th grade class 2 years ago, anyways I would like to see more WW2 battles like guadalcanal and D-day if you edit this quiz
Salz
+1
Level 59
Aug 1, 2012
Damn... How could I miss Agincourt?
Doppelganger
+1
Level 4
Dec 7, 2012
Got everything right except for Thermopylae , because I kept on typing Salamis , 'cos it happened in the same year ._.
AllenY
+1
Level 68
Feb 13, 2016
Haha, that has to be a rarity. I remember doing an assignment on Leonidas and the 300 just a short time before the movie was announced
What
+1
Level 27
Feb 13, 2013
I played some of these battles in Empire Earth :D
jmaddog
+2
Level 33
Apr 28, 2013
THIS IS SPARTAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!
sio2
+2
Level 9
Jul 20, 2013
why do all of these quizez mention the spartians
thecoolestdude2
+3
Level 68
Nov 14, 2013
I'm surprised that so few people got one of the most important battles in the whole Revolution. That and Trenton are the battles that impacted the most, the first bringing France into the war and the second saving Washington's army from disappearing after the soldier's papers ran out of time.
brandybuck96
+11
Level 83
Sep 30, 2020
Any non-Americans are very unlikely to know much at all about the American Revolution
AbrahamG
+2
Level 39
Oct 12, 2020
I'm American and I know more about the French Revolution than the American one
riverblue
+1
Level 31
Jan 29, 2014
No love for the Crimea.
RJF
+1
Level 63
Nov 6, 2021
The Battle of Balaclava was certainly very significant, moreso than pretty much all the US-related battles listed here.
CmdrKeen
+1
Level 32
Mar 4, 2014
Only one I missed was Saratoga. That's a toughie! Loved the rest.

And for spellings - approximate, then use a browser like Chrome or Firefox to pick it up and fix it for you!

CenturioAnglicorum
+1
Level 53
Mar 25, 2014
There were not 300 Spartans at Thermopylae... you people really need to get this out of you head - Hollywood is fallible! Herodotus estimates that there were over 5000 Spartans, and modern estimates are more around 20,000
thecoolestdude2
+9
Level 68
May 3, 2014
There were 300 Spartans, but they were helped by other Greek city-state's forces.
NorwegianQMaster
+2
Level 53
Jul 12, 2019
There were around 7000 greeks. 300 spartans, 700 something and 6000 athenians. The 300 and 700 stand their ground while the persians got around them. The remaining greeks slaughtered the persians using the phalanx. It is belived to be 50 000 death ON the persian side. Herodotus says 100 000.the 1000 greeks died. Leonidas fought his way into the middle of the army. There he died alone. Such a great army. The spartans. Wish i could go BACK in time to experience that and stop the treasonary of euphilarus.... Something.
GKS
+1
Level 46
Apr 17, 2020
There were at most only a couple of thousand Spartans in the battle of Thermopylae, however they were aided by thousands upon thousands of Athenian allies. Perhaps the 300 Spartans cliche is more accurate than earlier assumed, maybe referring to one of the final stages of the battle, where there were only a few hundred Spartans left in a final stand after the Persians had defeated the majority of the army.
Duzza
+11
Level 32
Nov 7, 2015
Very US-centic, I have never heard of some of these battles, couldn't others such as Balaclava (Crimean War) or Chalons (defeat of the Huns) be included instead of Saratova and New Orleans
kalbahamut
+7
Level 81
Feb 16, 2016
Important battles I haven't heard of before are on this quiz!! Battles I've heard of but most other site users have not should be on the quiz instead!!
McLerristarr
+8
Level 62
Apr 25, 2016
Just because something is important to an American, doesn't make it so.
kalbahamut
+9
Level 81
Sep 25, 2018
Just because something happened in America doesn't make it unimportant.
pctjunkie
+2
Level 89
Sep 30, 2020
@McLerristarr - actually yes it does. By definition. Not because of the person being an American, but because, as you already pointed out, something is important. If something is important to somebody, ANYBODY, then it is important. Maybe not important to you, but that doesn't diminish its importance to the other person. You don't get to decide what is important to anybody else.
PoetsCorner
+1
Level 86
Jan 8, 2022
According to some Jetpunk users, Americans aren't "somebody". To be American is the very definition of worthlessness.

(Please understand: I don't endorse this viewpoint but I have witnessed it a lot.)

joeythelemur
+8
Level 83
Aug 2, 2016
Man, I never get why people get so twisted about this. QM says that about 40% of the site visitors are American, so the content will naturally skew that way. But even so, how is it US-centric when only 4/14 are US battles? You could just as easily say its too German, since there are at least 4 related to German battles, or too French as 5-6 involve Napoleon or happen in France.
RJF
+1
Level 63
Nov 6, 2021
@joeythelemur That's because in the grand scope of history, the US played a very insignificant part until the dawn of the 20th century, so those 5-6 battles in which France was involved áre much more important. The Battle of Austerlitz single-handedly changed world history in a major way. Saratoga? Not so much...
kalbahamut
+5
Level 81
Sep 25, 2018
They could have put on a lot more battles that many Americans would know. Lexington and Concord. Battle of Bunker Hill. Yorktown. Antietam. Bull Run/1st Manassas. Shiloh. Ft Sumter. Siege of Baltimore. Little Bighorn. Iwo Jima. Tet Offensive.

So... how about you spend less time complaining and pick up a book.

Thorvald
+1
Level 71
Feb 16, 2016
Suggestions for expansion (or the second part) - three battles that had the result been the other way round, the world would look very different now: 1071 - Battle of Manzikert (Byzantine Empire lost to Seljuks; for the next 23 years the Empire was ravaged by civil wars and struggled in the west, effectively losing Anatolia to the Turks); 1683 - Battle of Vienna (joint Polish-Austrian-German forces broke the siege of Vienna; after this battle the Ottoman Empire ceased to be a major threat to the Central Europe) and 1920 - Battle of Warsaw (Polish army defeated the Soviets and prevented them from marching into Germany, where the factory workers were very much in the revolutionary mood).
Gripgirl17
+3
Level 42
Feb 20, 2016
Yeah, these are famous battles, but very modern/western-centric. Your only ancient battle is Thermopylae which wasn't even the turning point of the Greco-Persian Wars... Megiddo, anyone? What about some of the Mongol wars? Pffft...
martay
+2
Level 70
Sep 25, 2018
It's not intended to be a comprehensive list. A bit more diversity would be nice, but it's a perfectly serviceable start to what could be an on-going series.
Karamchand
+1
Level 49
Oct 11, 2020
I'm just gonna leave this here in case anyone is interested in a quiz with more ancient/medieval battles.

Famous Battles

Shikari
+3
Level 33
Dec 5, 2016
Never heard of the War of 1812 before (I'm a Brit, not US). I assumed it was Napoleon's 1812 Russian campaign and so the battle was Borodino.
kalbahamut
+2
Level 81
Sep 25, 2018
From the British perspective the War of 1812 was simply one inconsequential theater of the Napoleonic wars. At least that's my understanding.
blizzrd33
+1
Level 80
Sep 30, 2020
I'm Australian and also have not heard much about the War of 1812. That date is famous to me because of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture to commemorate the turning back of Napoleon's armies in Russia.
kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
Oct 22, 2020
most Americans have not heard much about the War of 1812, either, and probably couldn't tell you anything more about it than the year that it happened.
JonOfKent
+1
Level 57
Dec 9, 2020
I used to have a Canadian friend who was very proud of the Canadians burning down the White House. I've only just learnt what war that was part of. Educational, this.
TangoMike
+3
Level 50
Nov 14, 2018
The Henry V question, should be English, not British
david2013
+2
Level 85
Oct 11, 2020
The army was English, but there were a large number of Welsh longbowmen attached. So it's composition was "British" in a sense.
jojo8
+1
Level 65
Oct 2, 2022
I think using the term British would be an anachronism. Wales was part of the Kingdom of England at the time.
BlackJohn
+1
Level 75
Nov 30, 2018
It wasn't just 300 Spartans, especially for the first couple of days. After they knew they would get surrounded Leonids ordered the rest of the Greeks (7000 or 2500 depending on the account) to retreat and he would remain, faithful to Spartan Law. However, 700 hoplites from Thespiai decided to stay and died to the last man together with the Spartans.
gewehr6628
+1
Level 46
Apr 9, 2021
but there were 300 spartans, so the question is correct
Walacama
+1
Level 82
Feb 4, 2019
What's a battle?
abalaji
+1
Level 36
Feb 4, 2019
when you fight the urge to go to school
Tramp
+1
Level 76
Sep 30, 2020
A group of 5 or more bats
GlassMonkeyCode
+1
Level 68
Feb 15, 2019
Thanks Battlefield 1942, I learnt a lot from that game.
Berney
+1
Level 81
Jul 22, 2019
Good quiz. I've also created a couple of map based 'battlefield quizzes people might be interested in, Battlefields of Britain (with map) and American Civil War Battlefields (with map).
kalbahamut
+2
Level 81
Aug 8, 2019
Only missed Tours. Fine quiz.
blizzrd33
+1
Level 80
Sep 1, 2019
Suggestions to add: Battle of Cannae; Battle of Vienna; Battle of Lepanto; Battle of Stirling Bridge
Stef2
+2
Level 61
Dec 8, 2019
You should add Battle of Verdun as a type-in.
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Sep 29, 2020
That will work now.
KevinDuBrow
+1
Level 53
Oct 11, 2020
What is the rationale for this? They're two separate battles, and the Battle of the Somme had more casualties by far. I don't see why Verdun is a valid type-in.
RobertoCF
+1
Level 77
Nov 2, 2021
I think they accept Verdun for Somme because there is some debate about which one was deadliest.
Quizzer121
+1
Level 53
Jun 6, 2020
How did so many people miss the Somme?
Jacktheguy
+4
Level 90
Oct 11, 2020
I guess Somme people just never heard of it before.
Findlay
+1
Level 82
Oct 1, 2020
Everything but Saratoga. The US Revolutionary War really is a black hole in my historical knowledge, despite knowing all sorts of minutiae about the War of 1812 and the Civil War...
NHG
+1
Level 49
Oct 2, 2020
It's somewhat surprising that Cannae - arguably the most famous battle from a military strategy perspective, and one that is a fundamental part of courses at military schools around the world - is the least answered question!
Jehovia
+1
Level 57
Oct 11, 2020
I get why you accept Poitiers but I don't understand why Tours remains the main answer. I live in Tours and I've never heard it called that.
Rufy
+1
Level 76
Oct 11, 2020
Two things I've learnt today: the English speaking world call "battle of the Bulge" what we call "the battle of the Ardennes" and "battle of Tours" what we call "battle of Poitiers" (obviously the battle was not fought in a city but somewhere between those two). Thanks anyway for accepting the French type-ins. I had 16/16 thanks to that. Glad to learn something new on Jetpunk every day!
dunkinggandalf2
+3
Level 69
Oct 11, 2020
Tours confused me, because it's widely considered to be in Central France, rather than Northern France. The region it's in is even called "Centre - Val de Loire". I think it might confuse other Frenchmen as well, without offering much of an additional clue. Maybe you could just say "battle in France"? Since Poitiers is accepted as a type-in anyway, I'm not sure it would confuse anyone this way. Thanks!
AbrahamG
+1
Level 39
Oct 12, 2020
It's sad that more people know about Waterloo than Austerlitz, Leipzig, or Borodino
FFFantasia
+1
Level 48
Oct 13, 2020
I typed in "Verdun" and got the Somme as an answer? That just seems questionable to me, maybe in some places they're the same battle but from what I was taught, the Somme was an entirely separate battle as a *reaction* to Verdun.
Koult45
+2
Level 53
Oct 17, 2020
Kept typing "Avignon" instead of Agincourt and thinking I misspelled it, lol. That's the only one I missed besides the American ones.
gewehr6628
+1
Level 46
Apr 9, 2021
cool quiz
FreeStater
+1
Level 75
Dec 18, 2022
A shame that the Alamo was removed. I'd say it's more famous than Austerlitz, even if less significant.
PortugaisVolant
+1
Level 60
Jan 6, 2023
Depends if you're American or European. As a French, Austerlitz is way more obvious to me than Alamo.
PortugaisVolant
+1
Level 60
Jan 6, 2023
By the way, why can we write Battle of Poitiers, and it's written Battle of Tours, while it's actually Poitiers and the Arabs never went till Tours?
SpartanLlama
+1
Level 69
Jun 23, 2023
Feel good for getting Saratoga, guess I'm a true patriot
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