this is one for the history books
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for the top 10
greatest medieval battles pardoned by
the presence of the true cross the
Knights of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
marched out to face Saladin
for this list the medieval period refers
to that chunk of European history from
the collapse of the Western Roman Empire
until roughly the fall of the Eastern
Roman Empire a thousand years later so
anything outside that time in place
roughly the 5th through the 15th century
won’t be included Joan does not liberate
the French as her legend suggests the
war continues for another 20 years
number 10 the Battle of Crecy though the
Hundred Years War began as a simple feud
between the ruling families of England
and France it forever changed the way
war was fought in Western Europe he had
an army of 14,000 men the largest army
that had ever set sail from England at
that point the Battle of Crecy was the
first of England’s decisive victories
and they won it by bucking the trend of
relying on heavy cavalry and instead
focused on a combined arms approach the
key to which was their longbow infantry
though the French force was much larger
they couldn’t compete with the long bows
firepower and the day was won not by
noble knights but by tactical use of
well-trained peasants the bow the
longbow holds a special significance in
the hearts of Englishmen it’s the weapon
of the underdog against the oppressor
number 9 the Battle of Stirling Bridge
this was the first important victory of
the Scottish rebellion William Wallace
was besieging the last English castle in
central Scotland when he heard of an
advancing army and went to intercept
them at a narrow wooden bridge over the
river 4th King Edward’s treasurer
persuaded the English commander to take
the quickest cheapest route even though
there was another way around so the
Scots just let as many of the enemy
cross as they could handle then cut them
off and fell on them as they struggled
in the marshy ground this narrow
structure was a key part of Wallace’s
plans
the remaining English forces smashed the
bridge and retreated
he had his carpenters undermined the
bridge the night before they let the
cavalry go through and did the bridge
and separated them from the infantry
number 8 the Battle of Moki the Mongols
objective was the great flat fertile
plains of Hungary there they could graze
their horses before moving deeply into
Europe though several of Hungary’s
neighbors had succumbed to Mongolian
attacks many nobles would have preferred
to see their unpopular new king defeated
rather than risk their necks against
what they considered a minor threat
turns out they were super wrong soon the
Mongols pored through the valleys and
down onto the Hungarian Plains troops
were mobilized to mow he and the first
few skirmishes went well but by the time
the full Mongol force finally revealed
itself the Hungarians had been lured
even deeper into their false sense of
security with tried-and-tested tactics
the Mongols drew the European cavalry
out into the open
almost the entire Hungarian army was
destroyed and the ensuing countrywide
devastation saw up to a quarter of the
population slain Europe took the Mongols
a little more seriously after that
soon after Mongol patrols reached to the
very walls of Vienna indeed no army of
any consequence stood between the
Mongols and the Atlantic Ocean number 7
the Battle of had team 88 years after
the end of the First Crusade Europeans
ruled Jerusalem but the Kurdish high
Ubud Sultan Saladin controlled the
surrounding
territories Crusaders make poor
neighbors and after diplomacy failed
both sides mustered their largest armies
yet now at Hattin he would confirm his
authority amongst the other Arab leaders
by unleashing his great Islamic army on
the Franks though Saladin’s was larger
he drew away to attack undefended
Tiberias and lured the Crusaders from
their fortifications at Hattin Saladin
destroyed the bulk of Frank’s army on
open ground Saladin cut off their
retreat harried them long enough to
force them to camp without water and lit
fires around them to dry their throats
the next day saw a vicious back and
forth some Crusaders escaped many died
and the rest surrendered Saladin then
conquered Jerusalem prompting a Third
Crusade
number six the fall of Constantinople
in early 1453 Constantinople was on the
ropes
Constantine paid gold to his enemies in
an attempt to keep the peace
Muhammad watched Constantinople run out
of money and refused to renegotiate the
terms cut off from their allies and with
Europe reluctant or unable to help they
were pretty much on their own but they
weren’t beaten yet their walls were
among the best in existence and they had
run a giant chain across the Golden Horn
to block naval access that said the
Ottomans got around this by dragging
their ships overland across a makeshift
road of greased logs and once assembled
they outnumbered the defenders about
seven to one the siege lasted 53 days
and ended with the Ottomans attacking
the walls until they fell snuffing out
the glory of Rome once and for all
leading the attack sultan mehmet ii
scholar warrior obsessed number five the
siege of Ohio 91 years into the war
England controlled northern France and
just needed olea
to begin invading the center their
assault started off well but soon lost
momentum so they decided to starve the
city building a loose ring of
fortifications around it not much
happened for the next six months or so
that is until one Joan of Arc arrived
with reinforcements Joan’s arrival with
more troops tips the balance in favor of
the Audion a and the French they attack
prophecies had been swirling about her
and her presence galvanized the citizens
to take up arms with her France
dismantled the English siege fort by
fort forcing them to abandon the whole
endeavor and their Joan’s legend began
inspiring the French cause to be reborn
the fact that she comes back very
quickly seemingly unhurt by this wound
has been used as a miracle number for
the siege of Jerusalem finally at
Jerusalem the First Crusade was in
tatters functionally leaderless and with
several powerful Lords the ones who
hadn’t quit by this point all vying for
control more over the surrounding
countryside had been stripped bare
meaning no food water or lumber for
siege equipment food had always been
scarce then they had the expelled
Christians to feed as well the first
assault failed but coincidentally a
bunch of Genoa sailors soon appeared and
with nothing better to do they
dismantled their boats to build siege
engines
we took the lattice and lashed them to
the battlements of the city
an amazing number of men began to climb
equipped and restocked the crusaders
launched a two-pronged attack that
breached Jerusalem’s walls resulting in
an excessively brutal civilian massacre
even by medieval standards hard to
believe this was the most successful
crusade ever number three the Battle of
Agincourt after a couple of generations
of mandatory archery training English
longbowmen were truly a potent force by
this point in the Hundred Years War the
only way of getting an army that was
strong was to increase the proportion of
archers in it outnumbered and in a race
against time henry v s– army chose a
position at one end of a muddy field
with forests protecting their sides
forcing the heavily armored french
knights to slog through mud under a hail
of arrows when they finally reached the
english position the few exhausted
survivors were easily beaten some only
needing to be pushed over by this time
in history both nations were
increasingly relying on professional
soldiers like we have today and
England’s archers proved that to be the
way of the future this story shall the
good man teach his son and Crispin
Crispian shall ne’er go by from this day
to the ending of the world number 2 the
Battle of tool this one pitted the
Franks and Burgundians against Umayyad
Arabs and Berbers invading from the
Iberian Peninsula the Moors want to
expand their empire and import their
faith in Muhammed by avoiding the main
roads the Franks managed to intercept
the Umayyads by surprise choosing a
defensible position right in their path
with trees to mask their numbers but
there the commander of the Frankish army
stood
waiting patiently for the enemy to
strike in a tight balance they needed
only to wait for their opponents to
either go home freeze in the coming
winter
or else charge uphill through rough
terrain which they did and ultimately
failed Abdul Rahman may not have been
paying as close attention to Charles
Martel as he probably needed to in this
case the Franks probably didn’t know
this but they were likely the best
defense Europe had at the time it was
his stunning victory at the Battle of
Tor that earned Martel the nickname
Charles the hammer before we unveil our
number one pick here are some honorable
mentions
number one the Battle of Hastings were
fired up blood was boiling we were ready
for it you know we were gonna let it
come to us and when it came then they’ll
be held in pain following the death of a
childless king several challenges arose
to claim the crown of England from the
dead Kings successor
well actually happened in practices that
as soon as Edward dies the throne is
used upped by Horrell Godwinson having
deflected one set of invaders from
Norway the anglo-saxon defenders then
had to rush south to face the Normans
two different leaders two very different
styles of fighting though they held the
line for most of the day the more
experienced Normans lured them into a
charge then fell upon them and secured
victory it was important because it
meant that the English vaque ‘td the
heddle which the Normans had been
attacking during that day if the
subsequent rise of the world spanning
British Empire resembled Roman practices
more than Scandinavian ones it can be
attributed to William the Conqueror
bringing England back under the
influence of mainland European culture
it was a quite a question the battle was
won by the better-better leader on the
day do you agree with our list
what other medieval battles shaped
European history for more historical top
10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com until our
enemies that they may take our lives
but they’ll never take Oh radar
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for the top 10
greatest medieval battles pardoned by
the presence of the true cross the
Knights of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
marched out to face Saladin
for this list the medieval period refers
to that chunk of European history from
the collapse of the Western Roman Empire
until roughly the fall of the Eastern
Roman Empire a thousand years later so
anything outside that time in place
roughly the 5th through the 15th century
won’t be included Joan does not liberate
the French as her legend suggests the
war continues for another 20 years
number 10 the Battle of Crecy though the
Hundred Years War began as a simple feud
between the ruling families of England
and France it forever changed the way
war was fought in Western Europe he had
an army of 14,000 men the largest army
that had ever set sail from England at
that point the Battle of Crecy was the
first of England’s decisive victories
and they won it by bucking the trend of
relying on heavy cavalry and instead
focused on a combined arms approach the
key to which was their longbow infantry
though the French force was much larger
they couldn’t compete with the long bows
firepower and the day was won not by
noble knights but by tactical use of
well-trained peasants the bow the
longbow holds a special significance in
the hearts of Englishmen it’s the weapon
of the underdog against the oppressor
number 9 the Battle of Stirling Bridge
this was the first important victory of
the Scottish rebellion William Wallace
was besieging the last English castle in
central Scotland when he heard of an
advancing army and went to intercept
them at a narrow wooden bridge over the
river 4th King Edward’s treasurer
persuaded the English commander to take
the quickest cheapest route even though
there was another way around so the
Scots just let as many of the enemy
cross as they could handle then cut them
off and fell on them as they struggled
in the marshy ground this narrow
structure was a key part of Wallace’s
plans
the remaining English forces smashed the
bridge and retreated
he had his carpenters undermined the
bridge the night before they let the
cavalry go through and did the bridge
and separated them from the infantry
number 8 the Battle of Moki the Mongols
objective was the great flat fertile
plains of Hungary there they could graze
their horses before moving deeply into
Europe though several of Hungary’s
neighbors had succumbed to Mongolian
attacks many nobles would have preferred
to see their unpopular new king defeated
rather than risk their necks against
what they considered a minor threat
turns out they were super wrong soon the
Mongols pored through the valleys and
down onto the Hungarian Plains troops
were mobilized to mow he and the first
few skirmishes went well but by the time
the full Mongol force finally revealed
itself the Hungarians had been lured
even deeper into their false sense of
security with tried-and-tested tactics
the Mongols drew the European cavalry
out into the open
almost the entire Hungarian army was
destroyed and the ensuing countrywide
devastation saw up to a quarter of the
population slain Europe took the Mongols
a little more seriously after that
soon after Mongol patrols reached to the
very walls of Vienna indeed no army of
any consequence stood between the
Mongols and the Atlantic Ocean number 7
the Battle of had team 88 years after
the end of the First Crusade Europeans
ruled Jerusalem but the Kurdish high
Ubud Sultan Saladin controlled the
surrounding
territories Crusaders make poor
neighbors and after diplomacy failed
both sides mustered their largest armies
yet now at Hattin he would confirm his
authority amongst the other Arab leaders
by unleashing his great Islamic army on
the Franks though Saladin’s was larger
he drew away to attack undefended
Tiberias and lured the Crusaders from
their fortifications at Hattin Saladin
destroyed the bulk of Frank’s army on
open ground Saladin cut off their
retreat harried them long enough to
force them to camp without water and lit
fires around them to dry their throats
the next day saw a vicious back and
forth some Crusaders escaped many died
and the rest surrendered Saladin then
conquered Jerusalem prompting a Third
Crusade
number six the fall of Constantinople
in early 1453 Constantinople was on the
ropes
Constantine paid gold to his enemies in
an attempt to keep the peace
Muhammad watched Constantinople run out
of money and refused to renegotiate the
terms cut off from their allies and with
Europe reluctant or unable to help they
were pretty much on their own but they
weren’t beaten yet their walls were
among the best in existence and they had
run a giant chain across the Golden Horn
to block naval access that said the
Ottomans got around this by dragging
their ships overland across a makeshift
road of greased logs and once assembled
they outnumbered the defenders about
seven to one the siege lasted 53 days
and ended with the Ottomans attacking
the walls until they fell snuffing out
the glory of Rome once and for all
leading the attack sultan mehmet ii
scholar warrior obsessed number five the
siege of Ohio 91 years into the war
England controlled northern France and
just needed olea
to begin invading the center their
assault started off well but soon lost
momentum so they decided to starve the
city building a loose ring of
fortifications around it not much
happened for the next six months or so
that is until one Joan of Arc arrived
with reinforcements Joan’s arrival with
more troops tips the balance in favor of
the Audion a and the French they attack
prophecies had been swirling about her
and her presence galvanized the citizens
to take up arms with her France
dismantled the English siege fort by
fort forcing them to abandon the whole
endeavor and their Joan’s legend began
inspiring the French cause to be reborn
the fact that she comes back very
quickly seemingly unhurt by this wound
has been used as a miracle number for
the siege of Jerusalem finally at
Jerusalem the First Crusade was in
tatters functionally leaderless and with
several powerful Lords the ones who
hadn’t quit by this point all vying for
control more over the surrounding
countryside had been stripped bare
meaning no food water or lumber for
siege equipment food had always been
scarce then they had the expelled
Christians to feed as well the first
assault failed but coincidentally a
bunch of Genoa sailors soon appeared and
with nothing better to do they
dismantled their boats to build siege
engines
we took the lattice and lashed them to
the battlements of the city
an amazing number of men began to climb
equipped and restocked the crusaders
launched a two-pronged attack that
breached Jerusalem’s walls resulting in
an excessively brutal civilian massacre
even by medieval standards hard to
believe this was the most successful
crusade ever number three the Battle of
Agincourt after a couple of generations
of mandatory archery training English
longbowmen were truly a potent force by
this point in the Hundred Years War the
only way of getting an army that was
strong was to increase the proportion of
archers in it outnumbered and in a race
against time henry v s– army chose a
position at one end of a muddy field
with forests protecting their sides
forcing the heavily armored french
knights to slog through mud under a hail
of arrows when they finally reached the
english position the few exhausted
survivors were easily beaten some only
needing to be pushed over by this time
in history both nations were
increasingly relying on professional
soldiers like we have today and
England’s archers proved that to be the
way of the future this story shall the
good man teach his son and Crispin
Crispian shall ne’er go by from this day
to the ending of the world number 2 the
Battle of tool this one pitted the
Franks and Burgundians against Umayyad
Arabs and Berbers invading from the
Iberian Peninsula the Moors want to
expand their empire and import their
faith in Muhammed by avoiding the main
roads the Franks managed to intercept
the Umayyads by surprise choosing a
defensible position right in their path
with trees to mask their numbers but
there the commander of the Frankish army
stood
waiting patiently for the enemy to
strike in a tight balance they needed
only to wait for their opponents to
either go home freeze in the coming
winter
or else charge uphill through rough
terrain which they did and ultimately
failed Abdul Rahman may not have been
paying as close attention to Charles
Martel as he probably needed to in this
case the Franks probably didn’t know
this but they were likely the best
defense Europe had at the time it was
his stunning victory at the Battle of
Tor that earned Martel the nickname
Charles the hammer before we unveil our
number one pick here are some honorable
mentions
number one the Battle of Hastings were
fired up blood was boiling we were ready
for it you know we were gonna let it
come to us and when it came then they’ll
be held in pain following the death of a
childless king several challenges arose
to claim the crown of England from the
dead Kings successor
well actually happened in practices that
as soon as Edward dies the throne is
used upped by Horrell Godwinson having
deflected one set of invaders from
Norway the anglo-saxon defenders then
had to rush south to face the Normans
two different leaders two very different
styles of fighting though they held the
line for most of the day the more
experienced Normans lured them into a
charge then fell upon them and secured
victory it was important because it
meant that the English vaque ‘td the
heddle which the Normans had been
attacking during that day if the
subsequent rise of the world spanning
British Empire resembled Roman practices
more than Scandinavian ones it can be
attributed to William the Conqueror
bringing England back under the
influence of mainland European culture
it was a quite a question the battle was
won by the better-better leader on the
day do you agree with our list
what other medieval battles shaped
European history for more historical top
10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com until our
enemies that they may take our lives
but they’ll never take Oh radar
Please follow and like us: