Favorite Battle of All Time

[Rodion Romanovich]

Not in any particular order:

Thermopylae - the perhaps most impressive battle fought by vastly outnumbered troops, but tactics were pretty simple.

Issos & Gaugamela - good use of the phalanx, and good ideas for how to protect the flanks

The battle of X for being the first recorded example of flanking IIRC.
Edit: replaced the battle name with an X because I think I got the wrong name...

Cannae - well the entire series of battles fought by Hannibal was impressive, but Cannae was the climax of it.

Pharsalus - keep a strong line of infantry, pressure the enemy to flank you to relieve it's own slightly weaker infantry line, then unleash an ambush you had hidden behind your line all the time, a line of spearmen perfect for catching the incoming enemy cavalry. Beautiful!

The Roman attempt to conquer Parthia in 117 AD which ended up in destruction of many roman units, broke the myth of the romans being invincible, and meant roman rule would never expand that far again. The well-coordinated rebellions of many conquered peoples in the eastern half of the empire were impressive.

Hastings, for the very simple fact that it shows that a varied troop selection with simple tactics can defeat an enemy camping on a hilltop.

Horns of Hattin - yet another example of the "locals" using the advantage of weather and almost scorched-earth like strategy to obtain a battle with the odds on their side from start. The enemy caught after a long march through hot desert with heavy armor, exhausted and unprepared for Saladin's skilled tactics.

Agincourt - just like with Cannae and Hannibal, this is the climax of a long series of battles where all where won by essentially the same principle. What makes Agincourt so interesting is that it was a situation with worse odds than in any of the previous battles, and still the English troops won.

Too bad I know too little about 1600 to 1900 and too little about Chinese and Japanese history... If I did, there would be more battles of the period in the list here...

Not really a single battle, but the British fighting in the first half of ww2 really is an exciting read. The naval battles, especially vs the legendary German battleships - Bismarck, Admiral Graf Spee and so on, then the campaign in Norway, the impressive Dunkirk evacuation, and then the battles in North Africa - a few divisions of "auxiliaries" and regulars cleverly redistributed to break the back of Italians with vastly superior numbers. The decision to send half the British tank reserve to North Africa while the threat of a German landing was imminent, and of course the air fighting over Britain and the channel.

Fall Gelb - probably the peak of German tactics in the war. While it was a mistake to not press harder at Dunkirk, who would have known better? Plus Monty did a great job coordinating the delaying rearguard actions, and particularly the French troops at Lille fought very well.

The reestablishment of the Soviet line after the brilliantly well-coordinated surprise element attacks that begun Operation Barbarossa. Although there were plenty of Soviet division that were encircled, those losses were understandable because of the surprise of the modern German tactics. But still morale was kept intact and already in the winter Zhukov could launch counter-attacks near Moscow. Maybe he could have achieved even more if Stalin hadn't redistributed the reinforcements evenly along the entire line instead of letting Zhukov continue his offensive to break and encircle the armored spearhead of the German Northern Army Group?

Kursk - largest tank battle ever! Too bad it's not become a movie or been depicted in a game aiming for total realism

The Vietcong in the Vietnam war, impressive action from a guerilla force against the most advanced army of the time.

Edit: I have to stop editing this post to add more battles! But I can hardly resist... So difficult to choose...