In your opinion, what were the five greatest battles of history? I say:

The Battle of Samos- because it extended greek independence, and allowed Greece to become an advanced culture
The Battle of Zama-Rome became the greatest power in the Medditeranean, spreading what is today Western Civilization
The Battle of Troyes- stopped the advance of the Huns into Gaul
The Battle of Armada- British independence is assured, and it becomes a leading world power.
Pearl Harbor- Saves England from destruction, and dooms Germany and Japan to the void

5. The siege of the Alamo - Guaranteed war with Mexico, and the completion of the United States.

4. The Persian attack on the Hot Gates - 300 Spartans, some few thousand other Greek warriors, and as many as 800,000 Persians clashed on this rocky landscape. After many fierce days of fighting, the persians eventually won. But their victory was short lived.

3.The Nazi attack on the Soviet capitol - After betraying the Soviet Union, Hitler sent his soldiers north and quickly overpowered many Russian armies. But as the Germans approached Moscow itself, the Soviets managed to drive back the opposing Nazis and drive their enemies back to Berlin.

2. Pearl Harbor - Disastrous battle for America. Hundreds were slain, but this attack spurred the USA to join the conflict in Europe and the Pacific.

1. The Tet Offensive - An amazing South Vietnamise and American victory, the Viet Cong attacked the U.S. embassy building, as well as nearly 60 other major cities, in Vietnam, surprising American troops and their native allies. Desite this surprise attack, American troops with the help of Southern viatnemise drove the Viet Cong back. The fighting was so fierce in the U.S. embassy building, staff members were forced to pick up brooms and mops, and any equipment they could find, in case the enemy breached their defenses...

War has a simple meaning. It is our desperate attempt to cling on to the one thing that gives us life...through the raining down of death.

The Battle of Mount Hyjal was the final battle of the Second Invasion of the Burning Legion. The Eredar champion, Archimonde scaled Mount Hyjal and attempted to steal the powers of the World Tree for himself. Though faced with the allied forces of Orcs, Alliance and Night Elves, he managed to reach the World Tree and began siphoning its power. The druid Malfurion Stormrage, in a bid to stop him, called ancient spirits of the forest that gathered around Archimonde and exploded, obliterating him, but also resulting in an unimaginable amount of damage to the surrounding region, including the World Tree as well. Without the World Tree's magic to sustain them, the Night Elves became mortal.


These chapters will show the events which led to this Great Battle for Azeroth.



The First plans

This battle was long orchestrated by Medivh, the Last Guardian, by his cunning, sometimes trickery and telling the future through dreams to the mortal races. After he was resurrected by his mother, Aegwynn, she sent him on a quest to stop the Legion from destroying The World Tree and with it, Azeroth. Medivh set out to gather a large army to defend the tree from the onslaught of the Burning Legion and their allies (Scourge, etc...). Although guarded by the Night Elves, Medivh knew that the they alone would not be enough to defend the tree. This is where the Human Alliance and the Orcish Horde came in...


Gathering the Troops

Medivh journeyed back to the Eastern Kingdoms, where he hopes to find enough troops to make a last against the Legion. Not long after his arrival he sensed a powerful orc nearby. This orc was none other than Thrall of Durnholde, warchief of the Horde. Medivh sent Thrall a vision of a Great Battle between Thrall's Orcs vs The Humans under a fiery sky. Thrall followed the spirits which led him to Medivh, who at this point calls himself the Prophet, and he tells the Powerful Warchief that the Legion will soon be here and that the orcs will find their destiny in Kalimdor. Thrall agrees with the plan and gathers the clans who wish to follow him to the lost continent. Medivh knew he just sent a large host of orcs (and Trolls who joined the Orcs a bit later) but still it wasn't enough. So Medivh decided to go ask aid to the Human Alliance. Here he does not have as much luck as he had with the Orcs. Heavily divided and arrogant as they come, the humans did not heed Medivh's call and ignored him. Both King Terenas of Lordearon and Archemage Antonidas of Dalaran ignored the Prophet and lost many men in the fights with the undead scourge. However Jaina Proudmoore, one of the most powerful soreceses in Azeroth, believed Medivh after she saw the carnage in Stratholme. She gathered as many followers as she could. From Khaz Modan to Quel'thalas, from Lordearon to Azeroth, humans, elves and dwarves alike gatherd to the port cities of Lordearon and set sail to Kalimdor. Now Medivh had enough troops to stop the legion.


The eve before battle

However when he arrived at Kalimdor he saw the orcish horde and the human alliance fighting each other as they did for generations, still seeing each other as enemies. But the most concerning was that an orc chieftain, Grom Hellscream, drank Mannoroth's blood and thus re-beginning the Bloodhaze on the orcs. Medivh summonded both Jaina and Thrall to his lair at Stontalon Peak and forced them to ally each other. Both shocked and slightly appalled, they both agreed and became allies. After having destroyed Mannoroth, the new alliance went North where they stumbeld upon the Night Elves who in turn attacked them for killing Cenarius. However, Medivh again succeeded to ally the three factions by revealing his identity and the purpose as to why the Three factions should cooperate.


The Plan

Near Mount Hyjal the factions gatherd and raised up their defences. The humans decided to build their base near the foot of the mountain while the orcs build up midway and the night elves on top of the mountain, just in front of the world tree. Knowing that the Legion would be to strong to handle, Furion Stormrage, Archdruid and leader of the Night Elves, devised a trap that could destroy Archimonde and his warriors...but also at the cost of the Night Elves immortailty. However the Night Elves were willing to give up their immortality to defend Azeroth. The trap consisted of gathering enough spirits to drain Archimonde's energy and thus destroying him. However it would take a lot of time and thus the side of good needed to stall Archimonde long, while waiting for enough spirits to arrive. Shortly after their bases were built, Jaina reports that the enemy was coming. The Battle was at hand...


The battle

Archimonde began his assault on Jaina's base with his Undead Warriors. Jaina's troops did a marvelous job at holding the undead at bay and sometimes received back-up from their Horde and Sentinel-allies. But after a few days Jaina's defences were destroyed and she was forced to teleport herself to a safer distance. Now using Jaina's base as his outpost Archimonde began attacks on his next target, the Horde Base. However Thrall's defences were even better then Jaina's.

Having bought some mines from goblins near his base, Thrall made a minefield which would literally send the undead through hell (again) before they could even reach the base. Even if they would reach it, they were awaited by hundreds of Orcish Grunts, Troll Headhunters and Tauren warriors. To make things worse for the attackers the night elves were able to build better defences inside Thrall's base and thus were able to hold off Archimonde's troops for a long time. But also in his turn Thrall's base was overrun and he stood face to face with Archimonde.

The Eredar laughed at how Mannoroth was foolish enough to use the Greenskins as his puppets during the 1st and 2nd war, although Thrall replied that the Orcs were now free and they won't stop until the Legion was banished. Before Archimonde was able to kill Thrall, Jaina teleported the Warchief and all of his surviving warriors to the rendez-vous point. To add further insult to being denied his prize, Thrall hit Archimonde with a bolt of lightning immediately before being portaled out.

Having lost their Horde and Alliance allies, the night elves still had friends who were willing to help them. Having been pursuaded by Tyrande Whisperwind, The Dark Trolls halted the Scourge in the West-pass of the mountain while the Furbolgs, who in their turn were pursaded by Shandris Feathermoon, halted the Scourge's process in the South. Both also in their turn, were overrun. Now the Night Elves stood alone as the last remaining side of Good on the mountain, but this made them more ferocious in battle. Mere hours before Furion's plan was ready the elven warriors fought their hardest, this inspired even the Treants to join in the battle. When Archimonde finally joined in, the night elves suddenly retreated, allowing Archimonde to get near the world tree. This was what Furion planned a few days earlier.

When Archimonde began sucking the Energy from the tree, the spirits came and with their combined magic drained Archimonde dry from his energy and in turn destroyed him. While their leader died, the Legion's troops also disappeared, and Arthas, who stood at the sideline all along, gathered the newly "free" undead minions and returned to his home in Lordaeron.


Aftermath

Although Archimonde was destroyed, the losses were high. Not only did many warriors fall, but the Tree was heavily burned and the forest was turned to cinders. The surviving warriors, with their leaders, looked up towards the tree and saw it was slowly healing. Giving a sort of symbolism, as long hope is there, the races will also be able to rebuild their civilizations. After having signed a treaty of peace, the races went their separate ways. The Orcs founded their azerothian capital in southern Kalimdor, the jungle trolls settled on the nearby echo isles, and the tauren returned to their ancestral home in Mulgore. The humans, after having their capital overrun by the Scourge, began constructed a new capital on the continent of Kalimdor. The dwarves returned to own ancestral home in Khaz'Modan. The high elves had no where to return, since Arthas razed Quel'thelas to the ground whilst corrupting the Sunwell, the source of the high elves power. The surviving high elves renamed themselves the blood elves, and settled in various human areas. Lastly, the night elves, having lost both their immortality and sacred tree settled down in an attempt to find a new purpose in life. While the female Sentinels kept watch, the male druids started work on growing a new world tree off the northern coast of Kalimdor while unbeknownst to them, the original World Tree was healing itself.

As for Medivh, he took his place "amongst the legends of the past."

The Battle of Mount Hyjal

The Battle of Gettysburg.
Roughly 50,000 casualties, with roughly 100,000 combatants, over three days. One of the definitive moments in American history.

The Battle of Stalingrad. (Seems to be a favourite)
Over 1,490,000 casualties. Incredibly blood, and hailed as one of the bloodiest battles in human history. Tons of street fighting as well.

The Battle of Midway.
Major sea battle, important to the American effort in the Pacific.

Siege of Orleans.
Joan of Arc and the French beat the English. A good turning point in the Hundred Years War.

Battle of Lexington and Concord.
The beginning of the American Revolutionary war.

In order:

The Battle of Helms Deep- 1,000 Men and Elves annihalate 10,000 Orcs.

The Battle of Endor-The Rebellion routes the Imperial fleet.

The Battle of Mount Hyjal-The mortal races of Azeroth unite and crush the Burning Legion.

The Battle of Yavin (Operation Skyhook)-30 Rebel ships destroy the Death Star.

The Battle of Hoth- The Imperial forces crush and destroy the Rebel base scattering them throughout the galaxy.

those spartans dominated man very cool warriors

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Originally posted by Ramah99:

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1000 greeks against an army of 3-5 million. Sure they were annihilated, but they delayed and demoralized Xerxes' forces allowing Greek victory in the long run. Molon Labe!

. It was 6,000 Greeks vs. 200,000 Persians. And the Greeks would most likely of held the pass had it not been for a Greek traitor who told Xerxes about a hidden pass through the mountains.

The end part of the fighting, which captures the spirit of the battle as it has stood in history, took place with 1000 men, the Spartans and the Thespians. Granted the 3-5 million number is most likely exaggerated, but at a certain point it doesn't matter. Defection aside, the remaining men stood up against obviously suicidal odds in order to delay Darius and fight to the death. Western Civilization survived.

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1000 greeks against an army of 3-5 million. Sure they were annihilated, but they delayed and demoralized Xerxes' forces allowing Greek victory in the long run. Molon Labe!

. It was 6,000 Greeks vs. 200,000 Persians. And the Greeks would most likely of held the pass had it not been for a Greek traitor who told Xerxes about a hidden pass through the mountains.

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Sumeria origionally was ruled by a democratic government, but as the cities of Ur, Uruk, and all the others grew, Lugals, or "Great Lords" who had a position exactly like that of the Dictator of Rome, took the riegns of power and became priest kings, and even later, secular kings with divine sanction.

From what I can gather, this was an extremely primitive form of democracy, and was nothing close to the organization in Athens. Not to mention that the overall systems were still run by kings and local town/tribe leaders. My point stands, any form of government was generally autocratic.

Beersheba: The last great calvary charge, it was awesome. Plus it captured super important water sources for the Allies, thus making further advances possible.

It's hard to chose 5 greatest battles because there's so many ways to measure "greatest"
*casualties
*historical importance
*the first battle to use a specific weapon/tactic/ what have you or the last battle to use it
(I'm not sure where that came from so don't ask.)

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Any form of government before that was generally despotic/monarchic.

Sumeria origionally was ruled by a democratic government, but as the cities of Ur, Uruk, and all the others grew, Lugals, or "Great Lords" who had a position exactly like that of the Dictator of Rome, took the riegns of power and became priest kings, and even later, secular kings with divine sanction.

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democracy exists in every primitive society. It is the most primative form of government.

That's a very oversimplified generalization. The Greeks had an actualy system of government, not a few indivduals. Any form of government before that was generally despotic/monarchic. An actual system of government is much different than the "primitive democracy" you're talking about.

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Greek Fire(I think, Not Likely but maybe) and Olive Oil

A byzantine invention and an indo-mediteranean

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primitive democracy and philosophy

democracy exists in every primitive society. It is the most primative form of government. I feel a little iffy about philosophy, though. I don't think I understand its roots too well.

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I think that there's also a LOT to be said about Greek advances in theory. They inspired the basis of modern science and technology in both Roman and Middle Eastern civilizations.

that's true.

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gum

Like chewing gum? That's a mayan invention.

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steam power

by that logic, the Egyptians invented the lightbulb. In the court of Thutmose III, there was a glass ball with a copper wire inside of it, and when a current was pushed through it, a blue-black glow would form.

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Originally posted by northstar316:
Now that I think about it, what purely Greek inventions exist?

The catapult, acoustics, the hydrometer, cranes, gum, the dioptra, (invented by one of my favorite ancient inventor, Heron of Alexandria), hula hoops, steam power, odometers, screws, showers, musical notation, electro-therapy, automata (automatic puppets invented by Heron as well, ..he also invented a way to use water power to open temple doors as if by 'magic.'), the first fortune-telling machine.

primitive democracy and philosophy

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Now that I think about it, what purely Greek inventions exist?

The astrolabe, for one. They were also pretty good at making major improvements in city planning, construction, and whatnot.

I think that there's also a LOT to be said about Greek advances in theory. They inspired the basis of modern science and technology in both Roman and Middle Eastern civilizations.

It's Iwo Jima USMC and it was more towards the Japanese Home Islands then the Phillipines

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Now that I think about it, what purely Greek inventions exist?

Greek Fire(I think, Not Likely but maybe) and Olive Oil

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To say the Persians had a better culture than the Greeks, well, I'm not sure about that. The Greeks offered too much in the world of science, philosophy, and democracy to be undermined by the Persians.

The greeks were lovely theorists, but when it comes to practical aplications of their knowledge, they flunked majorly. Also, many of the achievements in technology that wre "brought about" by the Greeks were actually borrowed from other culters.

Now that I think about it, what purely Greek inventions exist?

The Battle of Herosheemu (I have no fucking idea how to spell that, it was the battle in world war II that the marines pushed up the flag on the hill and it was in the phillipeens, grr don't know how to spell that either...).

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The Persians didn't so much rely on "missles" as they did on bows and arrows. They had one heck of a line that would barrage the enemy with arrows, and then bring in their incredible calvary. (Aside from the infantry, blah.)

The Greeks DID use javelins. They were long, heavy spears. That's really their best offensive; stay in the phalanx and charge with your spear. I said javelins only because some soldiers tossed their spears as javelins and relied on their short swords for hand-to-hand.

Ha, not to nitpick and get off topic, but arrows are missile weapons. And the long spears used by the phalanx were most definitely *not* javalins, although they could be thrown. There's a distinct difference.

The phalanx, like the Roman legions, were simple, adequately armored units that worked because of thier simplicity and inherent strength. Gotta love 'em.