Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good. Other times, if it weren’t for bad luck, we’d have no luck at all. In both cases, the cosmic game of chance can twist and turn on a dime, shaping history for better or worse through sheer, often stunning coincidence.

From the nation’s very existence to its national pastime, fortune has played as key a role as fortitude in winning the day. Conversely, seemingly insignificant circumstances—including, of all things, a window frame—have played outsize roles in determining the direction of the nation.

10 The Fortuitous Fog That Saved Washington’s Army

The United States came incredibly close to surviving a grand total of six weeks.

In August 1776, General George Washington and the bulk of the Continental Army were defending present-day Brooklyn. In what became known as the Battle of Long Island, his forces were outnumbered, outflanked, and outfought. Even considering the lopsided British victories during the war’s early stages, this was an outright disaster. On August 27, 970 Continental soldiers were dead or wounded and more than 1,000 were taken prisoner. Meanwhile, the British lost just 63 men.

Washington had his back to the East River and at least 15,000 British Redcoats closing in. Then Mother Nature saved the United States.

The next day, it poured, pausing both armies. On August 29, the British decided to wait out a dense morning fog before striking a decisive blow.

Around noon, Washington ordered his men “to impress every kind of water craft . . . that could be kept afloat . . . and have them all in the east harbor of the city by dark.” Extremely atypical of New York summer weather, the fog held the entire day, enabling an ever-so-silent nighttime evacuation across the river to Manhattan.^[1]

The fortuitous fog saved about 9,000 men that the fledgling Continental Army simply could not afford to lose. The cause would almost certainly have been lost that day. Instead, the British awoke the morning of August 30 to capture an enemy that had literally vanished into thin—or rather, thick—air.

9 Don’t I Know You? Lewis, Clark, And A Tribal Chief’s Long-Lost Sister

Dense forests, deep rivers, vast plains. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark braved forbidding, unexplored (by white men) wilderness in their search for the ultimately mythical Northwest Passage. Beginning in May 1804 (following the Louisiana Purchase), the now-legendary Corps of Discovery Expedition brought the explorers from St. Louis all the way west to the Pacific Ocean.

Of the myriad factors impossible for Lewis and Clark to have anticipated, none loomed larger than the Rocky Mountains. The Corps needed horses to get across the Rockies and didn’t have them. The Shoshone tribe had horses, but they had never seen white people before.

But they had seen Sacagawea. Incredibly, she was the long-lost sister of the tribe’s chief, Cameahwait.^[2]

Far from being a guide on the expedition, Sacagawea had been kidnapped from the Shoshone as a young girl by a rival band and eventually sold to a French-Canadian trapper accompanying the trip.

In an instant, Sacagawea went from slave to lifesaver. The chief thanked the corps for the joyous occasion with horses, supplies, and guides. Who knows when or if America would have laid claim to the remainder of the continent were it not for the luckiest family reunion in US history.

8 The ‘Pick from Heaven’ That Gave Rise To America’s Pastime

Nothing is more American than baseball. Since its first official game played in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1846, the old ballgame has been remarkably consistent. Familiarities like nine innings per game and nine players per team have been part of baseball since its first official rules, published barely a decade into the game’s existence in 1857.

But no single statute shaped the game like the distance between bases: exactly 27.432 meters (90 ft). Without that exact distance (in feet), the game would have been so drastically different that it may never have proven so enduringly popular.

Baseball is a game of inches played on a sprawling field. Routine plays—for example, a grounder to the shortstop—often result in close plays at first base. Generally, the runner is out or safe by just a step or two. The arbitrariness of 27.432 meters (90 ft) is so fortuitously perfect that its adoption so early in the game’s life span has been called the “pick from heaven.”^[3]

Those writing the rules in 1857 couldn’t possibly have predicted modern superstars like Mike Trout getting nipped at first by milliseconds or Jose Altuve stealing a base by a fingertip. Considering its tremendous significance, 90 is the luckiest number in all of American sports.

7 Hide-And-Go-Shoot: The Lost Company That Saved The Union

As brutal and impassioned as the US Civil War was, historians like the renowned Shelby Foote knew that the South’s odds of prevailing were incredibly long. The Union had more than twice as many soldiers and far more manufacturing resources than the Confederacy.

One of the rare chances for the South to potentially win the war came at Gettysburg’s Battle of Little Round Top. If the Confederates had taken this strategically important hill, they would have turned the Union flank and imperiled their position throughout the broader landscape.

Many know about Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s famed bayonet charge. And while it’s true that the unorthodox desperation tactic led to many Alabamans surrendering, other rebel troops made a beeline toward a wall to regroup. Had they reached the position, their superior ammunition levels may have turned the tide back in their favor.

But by sheer luck, behind the wall were about 40 Union soldiers led by Captain Walter Morrill, who had been cut off from Chamberlain’s line hours earlier. For over one hour, these men had been hiding so effectively that no one, not even Chamberlain, knew they were there.

The ensuing barrage of bullets led to scores more Confederates killed. The rest surrendered or fled. The hidden heroes of Little Round Top had saved the day, and with it, perhaps the Union cause itself.^[4]

6 You (Only) Sunk My Battleship: Pearl Harbor Could Have Been Far Worse

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was an unmitigated disaster. The stats: 2,403 Americans killed, nearly 1,200 wounded, over 325 US planes destroyed or damaged, and 19 ships (including eight battleships) severely impaired or destroyed.

Amazingly, the losses would have been far worse if not for some incredible good luck. By sheer coincidence, all three of the aircraft carriers assigned to Pearl Harbor were off-site that day.

The USS Lexington had left Pearl Harbor on December 5 to transport a dive bomber division to Midway Island, while the USS Saratoga had recently completed a lengthy retrofit on the mainland and was days away from returning to Hawaii.^[5]

Most fortunate of all, the USS Enterprise had been delivering a Marine fighter squadron to Wake Island. The carrier was scheduled to return to Pearl Harbor on December 6, but bad weather delayed its estimated arrival until the following afternoon. As a result, it missed the surprise attack by mere hours.

Considering how vital air superiority is in modern warfare, the uphill climb to retake the Pacific would have taken far longer if the US had lost its air carriers that day. Also, in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor, America’s fears of a Japanese attack on the West Coast may have become reality, killing untold numbers of civilians.

5 Let Them Eat Popcorn: The Accidental Invention Of The Microwave

Perhaps the only thing as American as baseball is fast food. And the household item we use for the fastest food possible happened because a physicist had a sweet tooth.

Percy Spencer was a physicist—a pretty good one, actually. During World War II, he’d worked with the military to invent a more efficient radar system that relied on microwave radio signals generated by something called a magnetron.^[6]

One day as he was building magnetrons, Spencer discovered that a candy bar in his pocket had melted. Testing his fledgling theory, he experimented with a variety of foods, including popcorn kernels. Soon, Spencer had built the first true microwave oven by enclosing the heat-producing energy in a metal box, which controlled the whole heating process.

Though patented in 1946, the first mass-produced microwave oven wasn’t introduced until 1967 because the technology took that long to condense and make reasonably affordable. By 1975, a million were sold in the US every year. What would America be without pizza rolls and Hot Pockets?

4 The Window Frame That Doomed JFK

Seven months before he assassinated President John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald did what he’d done pretty much his whole life until that fateful day in Dealey Plaza: He failed.

After failing as a US Marine, failing to gain his desired celebrity as a defector in and then back from the USSR, and failing to provide for his wife and young children, Oswald came as close as he’d ever come to accomplishing something when he nearly assassinated Major General Edwin Walker on April 10, 1963.

Among other right-leaning tendencies, Walker was an ardent anti-communist. With his romanticism for the Soviet Union and Cuba, Oswald had found an ideal target for his marksmanship. Until a window frame intervened.^[7]

The bullet grazed the frame before basically parting Walker’s hair—the nearest of near misses.

Had Oswald succeeded in killing Walker, two possibilities may have saved JFK. First would have been a far broader police investigation that may have apprehended Oswald. If that had happened, Oswald’s raging desire to be significant may have finally been fulfilled. Also, his lifelong losing streak may have been snapped if his bullet had not nicked that frame. A thin slice of wood may have immeasurably altered US history.

3 Hole In Two: The Confusing Ballot That Swayed The 2000 Election

The month-long Florida recount battle to decide the 2000 presidential election had X factors galore. A partisan, cherry-picked recount demand by Al Gore and an alleged voter roll purge of Jacksonville-area African Americans were just two controversies.

But the freakiest and perhaps most damning oddity was Palm Beach County’s “butterfly ballot,” a punch card design that laid out the candidates’ names on two pages rather than one. This allowed the use of larger font sizes for the area’s sizable elderly population.^[8]

Good intentions, unintended results: The ballot ended up confusing the heck out of voters—so many, in fact, that it likely cost Gore the presidency.

Some 6,600 voters punched Al Gore’s name and that of another candidate—usually the Reform Party’s Pat Buchanan, atypically placed above the major party Democrat on the ballot—nullifying their votes. About 1,600 punched George W. Bush and another, nullifying their votes. Considering that Bush officially won Florida—and with it, the White House—by just 537 votes, it’s believable that several times that many voters intended to vote for Gore in Palm Beach.

2 The Ill-Timed Financial Crisis That Flatlined McCain’s 2008 Presidential Run

Luck giveth, luck taketh away. Eight years later, it was the Republican candidate who got extremely unlucky. This time, it was something far bigger than a ballot.

The final tallies from the 2008 presidential election appear closer to a rout than a nail-biter. Barack Obama won nearly 10 million more votes than John McCain and won the electoral college by a decisive 365–173.

But a nail-biter it was. In fact, many polls in early September had the race deadlocked. Then the economic system of the United States almost collapsed.

Of course, the financial crisis itself was no coincidence, having resulted from poor policy-making by both parties. The coincidence was this long-simmering pot coming to a rolling boil less than two months before a presidential election.

The collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008. The government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on September 17. The bank bailout on October 3. Game, set, and match.

When a law called the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act passes a month before a presidential election, the party of the sitting president loses.^[9] Far from being a landslide loser, John McCain was a victim of circumstance with a real chance at winning just weeks earlier.

1 The Inglorious Return Of Carlos Danger

Let’s not relitigate the 2016 US presidential election. In a contest where the winner lost the popular vote and won three decisive states by less than 80,000 votes combined, anything and everything that happened may have swayed it.

So let’s not argue. Rather, let’s all agree on this: It sure is some creepy coincidence that the husband of one of the candidate’s top aides liked to sext with his kid in the background. And that coincidence led to an unforeseen final chapter in the saga of Hillary Clinton’s emails.

Oh, and did we mention that the guy’s name is Weiner?

So, an investigation that was conducted and completed by the FBI—the probe into Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state—was reopened only because the husband of a staffer did something so egregious that it warranted an investigation by the FBI.^[10]

And Weiner, also known by his avatar pseudonym Carlos Danger, managed to accomplish all this during the final stages of the ugliest presidential race ever. You take the cake, Carlos. Just don’t take any more photos.

Christopher Dale frequently writes on society, politics, and sobriety-based issues. His work has appeared in The Daily Beast, NY Daily News, Parents.com, and New York Newsday, and he regularly contributes to TheFix.com, a sober-lifestyle website. Follow him on Twitter.

Throughout the centuries, countless inventors and scientists have made significant contributions to our understanding of the world around us. Sadly, not all of them have got the due they deserve, and many still remain out of our history books for one reason or another. That’s despite the fact that so many technologies we use today – like computer programs, wireless devices, films, and others – were developed by these forgotten, overlooked inventors from history.

10. Joseph Glidden

Barbed wire played a crucial role during the westward expansion period in American history. It made it possible to fence in vast tracts of land that were previously open and vulnerable, making it easier for ranchers to control their herds and farmers to protect their crops. It also contributed to the end of the open-range system and the emergence of large-scale agriculture across the country, and it was now much easier to enforce property rights on the ground. 

Joseph Glidden, a farmer and businessman from Illinois, is credited with inventing the first successful barbed wire design in 1874. He had been experimenting with different prototypes for several years, before he chanced upon the idea of wrapping two metal wires together with sharp barbs. Glidden patented his design in 1874 and started manufacturing it on a large scale. Before long, barbed wire was a common sight on farms and ranches throughout the American West, making him one of the most successful inventors and businessmen in American history. 

9. Martin Cooper

Martin Cooper is an American engineer and inventor who is also sometimes called the ‘father of the cellular phone’, as his invention ultimately paved the way for the development of modern smartphones. In 1973, he led the team that built the first mobile cell phone called the Motorola DynaTAC, completely revolutionizing the way we communicate with each other. 

Cooper began his career in the telecommunications industry in the 1950s, working for companies such as Teletype Corporation and Motorola. He started working on the development of a portable cell phone design some time in the late 1960s, that would allow people to make calls from anywhere instead of fixed locations. 

On April 3, 1973, Cooper made the first cell phone call from a Motorola DynaTAC to Joel Engel at AT&T. While the DynaTAC would go on to become the first commercially available cell phone, it was still prohibitively expensive and inaccessible for most people, delaying mass adoption by several years. 

8. Mary Anderson 

The windshield wiper may be an irreplaceable car safety feature today, but that wasn’t always the case. It was invented by Mary Anderson – an American inventor who came up with the idea in 1902, after she observed that drivers at the time had to stop their cars and manually clear snow, rain, and debris from the windshields to improve visibility, which was dangerous and time-consuming. 

Anderson’s earliest prototype comprised a lever that could be used to move a rubber blade across the windshield from inside the car. She patented it in 1903, though it would take many more years before drivers warmed up to the idea. Many car manufacturers were skeptical of the need for a windshield wiper in cars at the time, and were hence slow to adopt the technology. Obviously, they were wrong about it, as windshield wipers are a standard feature in almost every car sold around the world today. Since her invention, Mary Anderson has been awarded a number of honors and awards for her contribution to automotive safety, including her 2011 induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

7. Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel

The mechanical metronome is a device used by musicians to mark time and regulate tempo. It was invented in the early 19th century by Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel – a Dutch inventor and clockmaker. Winkel’s ‘musical chronometer’ from 1814 consisted of a pendulum that could be adjusted to different speeds using a sliding weight. He couldn’t patent it, however, and the credit originally went to a German inventor called Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, who copied Winkel’s prototype and started selling it under his name. 

Maelzel’s marketing efforts were so successful that the metronome was soon commonly known as the ‘Maelzel Metronome’. Beethoven was the first composer to use metronome markings in his pieces, which would soon become common practice for musicians around the world. While Winkel’s original design was initially forgotten, he is now recognized as the true inventor of the device that changed music forever. Apart from allowing composers to specify exact tempos for their works, the metronome also allowed for the standardization of tempo markings across different styles of music.

6. Henry Blair

Henry Blair was an African-American inventor and farmer credited with the invention of the corn planter in 1836. We’re not sure about his exact origins, though he’s assumed to have been a freedman around the time of the invention, as slaves weren’t allowed to file patents back then.

Blair’s corn planter was a significant improvement over previous methods of planting corn, which usually involved arduous work like digging holes and planting seeds by hand. Blair’s device was a horse-drawn machine that could plant corn seeds in a straight row on a large scale, greatly increasing efficiency and speed.

Blair’s invention made it possible for farmers to plant corn quickly and relatively effortlessly, leading to increased productivity and lower food prices. The corn planter also paved the way for the larger mechanization of agriculture, which played an important role in the early development of industry across America.

5. Peter Durand

Peter Durand was a British merchant known for his patent of the tin can in 1810. Before the invention, preservation was a major challenge for the food industry, as food could only be stored for short periods of time and in limited amounts. Durand’s invention made it possible to keep food items edible for much longer periods of time, as it used a unique sealing technique to make the containers truly airtight. 

The tin can was an important invention that allowed for the transport and storage of food over long distances. It also allowed for the creation of new products and innovations in the industry, as it was suddenly possible to dramatically increase shelf life of food products and other perishable items. While other tin can designs had existed before Durand’s patent, his invention involved sealing food in a tin container using a soldered lead plug, making it much more airtight and commercially-viable.

4. John Harrison

Before the invention of the marine chronometer, determining longitude at sea was a difficult and often inaccurate process. Sailors relied on celestial navigation and dead reckoning, which could be affected by weather conditions and human error. This made long-distance seafaring extremely dangerous, resulting in a number of shipwrecks. In the 18th century, the British government even offered a prize of £20,000 to anyone who could solve the problem of determining longitude at sea.

John Harrison, a self-taught carpenter, took up the challenge and invented a series of precision clocks known as marine chronometers in 1735. These early navigation devices allowed sailors to determine longitude with precision and navigate with much greater safety and efficiency. Harrison’s first marine chronometer was tested on a voyage to Jamaica, and it was found to be accurate within a distance of 18 geographical miles. The invention led to increased trade and commerce around the world, directly contributing to the rise of the British Empire. 

3. Garrett A. Morgan

Born on March 4, 1877, in Paris, Kentucky, Garrett Augustus Morgan was an African-American inventor credited with important inventions in public safety. He invented the gas mask and the traffic signal, two inventions that have saved countless lives ever since. While the mask was designed to protect people from the harmful effects of smoke and gas during fire-related accidents, the traffic signal was intended to prevent on-road accidents and reduce traffic congestion.

The gas mask was patented in 1914, and has since been used by firefighters, police officers, and other first responders to protect them from the effects of smoke and gas during accidents and other similar situations. The original design featured a hood that covered the wearer’s head, along with a breathing tube that filtered out harmful chemicals and smoke. 

The three-position traffic signal, on the other hand, was patented in 1923. It was a crucial innovation in city planning and public safety, especially on busy roads and highways, and has since been used by countries around the world.  

2. Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace, born Augusta Ada Byron in 1815 in London, is often referred to as the first computer programmer due to her pioneering work with Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine – a hypothetical machine designed to perform complex calculations. She was the daughter of poet Lord Byron and a mathematician mother, and had a natural flair for mathematics and the sciences from a very early age. 

Lovelace’s work on the Analytical Engine – also sometimes called the first computer ever – led her to write what is considered the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine. She was also the first mathematician to calculate a sequence of numbers known as Bernoulli numbers, which could be classified as the first computer program ever written. Lovelace’s work on the Analytical Engine was particularly advanced for the time, as it proved that computers could be used to perform complex operations on values other than numbers, like musical notations. 

1. Eadweard Muybridge

Eadweard Muybridge was a British photographer and inventor who made crucial contributions to the invention of motion pictures in the late 19th century. He is best known for his work in stop-motion photography, which involved manually capturing multiple images of a moving subject to create the illusion of motion. 

Muybridge’s most famous work was his early film capturing the motion of horses, which he photographed in a series of still images. He used a series of cameras placed along a track to shoot the horses in motion, followed by a zoopraxiscope – a device he conceptualized and built himself – projecting the images in rapid succession on the screen, creating the first motion picture in history. His innovations opened up new possibilities for visual storytelling, and gave birth to all the movies and other kinds of videos we see around us today. For his contributions, Eadweard Muybridge is still sometimes called the ‘Father of the Motion Picture’.

For as long as humans have existed, there has been war. Whether over cultural differences, expansionism, or some other reason, wars have forged empires, destroyed others, consolidated leaders, and changed the course of history. But while we all know about the World Wars and famous revolutions, there are some battles often forgotten, the results of which helped shape our world to what it is today.

Related: 10 Really Surprising Facts About Ancient Warfare

10 The Battle of Didgori

Internal conflict and advancing Muslim forces left the state of Georgia in the 11th century with only a minor foothold in the Caucasus, seemingly powerless to stop the Seljuk Turks from destroying them completely. By the time a 16-year-old David (or Davit) IV took the Georgian throne in 1089, the country was paying tribute to the Turks, who had taken their capital.

With the Seljuks turning their attention south to join the Muslim war efforts in the early Crusades, David took the opportunity to stop tribute payments, stepped up his rebuilding efforts, and took back territory from the distracted Turks. Fearing the rise in power of David and the continuation of Christianity in the region, the Seljuks returned with Muslim allies to form an army of around 300,00–500,000, meeting David’s much smaller forces (about 50,000) at the Battle of Didgori in 1121.

Despite being heavily outnumbered, David had a plan: first, he sent a small band of soldiers to the Turks offering to defect, and once inside the enemy camp, they killed the Seljuk leaders, while David attacked their front and flank simultaneously. Without leadership, the Turks fled and were decimated. Not long after, David would recapture Tbilisi and enjoy a string of further victories in the region, establishing a Christian Caucasus and slowing the expansion of the Muslims.^[1]

9 The Battle of La Forbie

From 1095, Crusader armies battled with Muslim forces over the Holy Land, forming the Crusader States in the region, known as Outremer, after early successes. However, after much back and forth over five more major Crusades, the 1187 Battle of Hattin saw Salah al-Din’s Ayyubid Caliphate rest control of the Holy Land once more. This battle is perhaps the most famous of the Crusades, but the often overlooked Battle of La Forbie in 1244, sometimes called the Battle of Hiribya, proved more pivotal to history.

By 1244, the Christians had retaken Jerusalem once again, and the advancing Egyptian army, reinforced by tribesmen, stormed the Holy Land to take it back. One reason this battle is largely forgotten is due to details being extremely sparse. What we do know, however, is that the Christians were completely overwhelmed, ousted from the area, and would never again return. Further Crusades would be called to try, but the defeat at La Forbie marked the collapse of Christian influence and power in the region, cementing the Muslim and Arab influence that persists to this day.^[2]

8 The Battles of Hakata Bay

The Emperor of the Mongols and the Yuan Dynasty in China, Kublai Khan, sought to expand his territory east in the 13th century, first taking Korea before setting his sights on Japan. The Yuan fleet first arrived in 1274, after initial demands were ignored by the Japanese, with this first encounter known as the First Battle of Hakata Bay.

Japan’s defense force was heavily outnumbered and had no answers to the Yuan’s gunpowder, retreating to a fortress for their final stand. However, a freak storm came to their rescue, blowing the advancing Yuan fleet back and destroying many of their ships. Back in China, Kublai was undeterred, arranging a second invasion attempt in 1281, known as the Second Battle of Hakata Bay.

Once again, the Japanese were outmatched but saved by Mother Nature when a typhoon swept the Yuan ships away, forcing the remainder to retreat. These defeats served as a limit on the Mongol’s reach, at least in the east, and the two storms of Hakata Bay became known as “divine wind,” or kamikaze, which would be immortalized by Japanese suicide pilots during World War II.^[3]

7 The Siege of Baghdad

The Abbasid Caliphate had ruled much of the Middle East since around AD 750. The era considered the Islamic Golden Age generally follows the rise, expansion, and cultural development of the Abbasids and other Muslim states.

However, that all changed when the advancing Mongol Empire arrived at their capital of Baghdad in 1258. The Abbasid Caliph, Al-Musta’sim, refused the Mongols demands, and in return, the Mongols laid siege to Baghdad, bombarding it until the Caliph quickly changed his mind and surrendered. While not a battle per se, the quick and violent interaction between both empires, and the resulting success of the Mongols, would have long-lasting effects.

Firstly, Baghdad’s various historical articles and important documents were looted and burned, the city itself was destroyed, and almost the entire population was killed. Al-Musta’sim was said to be rolled in a carpet and trampled to death by horses (due to the Mongols not believing royal blood should be spilled on the Earth). The downfall of the Abbasid Caliphate, along with the destruction of their capital, is generally marked as the end of the Islamic Golden Age.^[4]

6 The Battle of São Mamede

In the 11th century, the entire Iberian Peninsula had changed hands was divided between the Moors in the south and the Visigoths in the north—which consisted of the Kingdoms of León, Castille, and Aragon. At this time, Portugal was merely a county of León, governed by Theresa of León and her husband. But when her husband died, Theresa found herself fighting for control with her son Afonso, who rallied for Portuguese independence.

Tensions culminated in the 1128 Battle of São Mamede. Afonso defeated his mother’s forces and took control of Portugal, going on to defeat the King of León and forge the county’s path to independence. Afonso declared himself king in 1139. After capturing Lisbon and other areas of southern Portugal from Muslim rule, León recognized the county as an independent state, which was ratified by the Pope in 1179. While the battle was merely the first step in a long process, the independence gained at São Mamede would have a significant impact worldwide, with Portugal playing a big part in the early colonization of Africa and South America centuries later.^[5]

5 The Battle of Achelous

The Bulgars settled the Balkans in the seventh century, regularly clashing with their Byzantine neighbors. Past their peak, Byzantium still dominated the region, but the rise of the First Bulgarian Empire would certainly challenge that.

The Bulgarian Tsar Simeon, having defeated the Byzantines multiple times over the years, sought to consolidate both empires in marriage, which their old rivals refused. This inevitably led to yet another war in 917, in which both sides met at Achelous. The Byzantines looked to have the battle won, but rumors began circulating in their camp that their commander Leo Phokas had been killed. One story states that having initially pushed Simeon back, Phokas dismounted from his horse to take a drink, but his men simply saw his unmanned horse and assumed the worst.

Simeon noticed the growing panic and disarray among the Byzantine men, stopped his retreat, and launched a counterattack, giving the Byzantines one of their biggest ever defeats. Simeon’s success allowed him to attain the title of Tsar, established Bulgaria as a significant European power, and allowed Christian Bulgaria to remain religiously independent.^[6]

4 The Battle of Stamford Bridge

While the year 1066 in England is synonymous with the Battle of Hastings, perhaps an equally significant battle in world history occurred just weeks prior, when the English fought off Viking invaders for the final time at Stamford Bridge, ultimately ending the Viking Age.

With King Harold of England in London awaiting an expected Norman invasion, the Norwegian King Hardrada arrived with his forces at York in 1066 to do the same. Harold marched his troops 185 miles north from London in just four days to meet them, surprising the invaders and quickly decimating them in battle, with King Hardrada being killed.

The victory led to the expulsion of the Vikings, ending their claims to the English crown and significance in Europe as a power. Three weeks later, William the Conqueror invaded from Normandy, much as Harold had anticipated; however, he was now severely weakened. The Normans took advantage and seized the crown, with the defeated Harold the final Anglo-Saxon king of England.^[7]

3 The Siege and Fall of Tenochtitlan

While Cortés’s Spanish conquistadors arrived with just 500 men, they quickly laid plans to conquer the Aztec Empire. After slaughtering thousands of unarmed Aztec citizens on their way through the country, the Spanish-led forces (which consisted of many unhappy rival tribes eager to be rid of the Aztecs) arrived at the capital Tenochtitlan and took the Aztec leader Montezuma II hostage. Quickly growing tired of the Spanish and Montezuma’s attempts to placate them, the Aztecs rebelled, and Montezuma was killed, although it is not clear by whom.

After much warfare and more atrocities than can be counted, events culminated in May 1521 when the Spanish laid siege to Tenochtitlan. Cutting off the city for about three months and battering it with cannons, the Aztecs were no match for the Spaniards’ superior weaponry and horses and were forced to surrender. They had already been ravaged by smallpox courtesy of the Spanish, with defeat here marking their ultimate demise and the rise of Spain’s American colonization project.^[8]

2 The Battle of Shanhai Pass

Ruling China from 1368, the Ming dynasty was on the decline by the 17th century. A combination of natural disasters and incompetent rulers left the country in ruins, which all served as the motivation for others to rise against them.

By 1644, pockets of unrest had formed all over the country, and a group of rebels under the command of Li Zicheng stormed Beijing, taking the capital. The Ming Emperor, powerless to resist, committed suicide. But the Ming commanders refused to acknowledge or deal with Li and instead turned to the Manchu people (the Jin Dynasty, in northeast China) for assistance.

The Manchu responded, heading to Shanhai Pass (a gate at the Great Wall) a month after Beijing fell, where Li’s forces formed to meet them. But they were duly thumped. The result of this battle proved significant, with the victorious Manchus pouring into the country to assume control, install themselves as rulers, and rename their dynasty Qing. They would go on to rule for 300 years and would be the last dynasty of Imperial China.^[9]

1 The Battle of Zenta

For several centuries, the Ottoman Empire was the major force of Europe and the Middle East, filling the gap left by the Byzantines and stretching Muslim influence well into Christian Europe. The Holy League of nations, led by the Habsburg Empire (Austria), was formed in the 17th century to try and stop the previously unchecked dominance of the Ottomans.

Having recently taken much of Hungary and now pushing further north, the Battle for Vienna in 1683 saw the Ottoman’s first major defeat in Europe and is considered as the beginning of their decline. But it was at the Battle of Zenta that the Turks would be pushed back for good, allowing Austria to establish itself as a major European power.

In 1697, the League’s forces ambushed the Ottomans while they forded a river on their way to take Zenta (in modern-day Serbia). In the panic, many Ottoman troops drowned while attempting to flee, and many more were wiped out in the battle itself. The Ottomans had been crushed, and the Treaty of Karlowitz quickly followed, curtailing their ambitions in Europe and forcing them to cede large portions of Europe in the process.^[10]