The significance of a battle can be judged upon two criteria: first, its internal strategy and tactics, and the brilliance – or stupidity – of its commanders; and, second, how its outcome affected the war of which it was a part and, going forward, the course of history. As great battles recede into the past, the academic historian – whose function it is to analyse their significance – like everyone else, becomes more and more desensitised to the human suffering of the individual participants, and the terrible consequences for societies.
If, in retrospect, we can divorce the great battles of the past from emotion, we should be able to arrive at more reliable conclusions about their historical importance.
If I asked you to name some important battles from Britain’s past,…
