What was the worlds most important battle

While there's no doubt that the battle of Milvian Bridge is very important in the history of mankind, I wouldn't necessarily go as far as to call it the most important. There are some vital aspects that must be considered looking at the importance of a battle, or any event for that matter.

1. The area of the world affected. Though this is slowly changing, history as taught in the Western World is very Euro-centric. In the context of Europe, yes the battle of Milvian Bridge is very important. However, from the standpoint of China, India, Africa, etc., this battle loses much of its significance. For a Chinese, the fact that Europeans are today Christian, Muslim or Pagan is of no great importance.

2. The need for the event. Perhaps the rise of christianity in the Roman empire was inevitable, and the battle of Milvian Bridge was not needed to introduce christanity as the state religion. Who's to say if another event would have prompted the conversion of another emperor later on?

3. Who's to say what other outcomes might have happened if the battle had never take place or had a different outcome? Even an apparently minor battle might have gigantic consequences on the history of mankind, but which are at present poorly understood. The further back in time one goes, the more complex this question becomes.

That being said, I would say that there are important battle in the history of mankind, but no one most significant battle. Please hunt around this section for a topic that has a discussion of the 100 most significant battles in history. We shouldn't repeat ourselves...

if we talk about recent history I just want to add D-Day,

Originally posted by Ikki The empire was saved

saved and?

and later on? the ottomans did exactly what you said

i mean these sieges cannot be included into most important battles since they could not change the world forever but postponed the inevitable

If we look from a eurocentric perspective we could say DDay was an important battle.But Kursk was the most important battle of ww2 with stalingrad a close second.

Even though kursk directly affects europe the East is still out of bounds to eurocentric historians or popular western history

Originally posted by cebeci Originally posted by Ikki The empire was saved  saved and?

 Do you see no relevance in the Arabs not overcoming the only obstacle to them overrunning the Balkans and beyond? Byzantine victory prevented a dramatic change in history, took about 800 years until the empire was finally destroyed and the Turks established themselves in Europe, proper. Had the Arabs achieved what the Ottomans did all those centuries earlier theres no reason to assume the Arabs would of stopped at the Balkans, but just kept on going westward.