Painting rich portraits of imperial conquest, diplomatic intrigue, and battlefield genius, Sir Edward Creasy'sFifteen Decisive Battles of the Western World captured the imagination of readers in Victorian England and became one of the best-selling books of its generation, even rivaling sales of Charles Darwin's Origins of Species. Creasy's crisp and clear depictions of history's greatest battles - which trace how military conflicts from Marathon to Waterloo gave rise to, sustained, and brought down history's greatest civilizations, empires, and nation-states - effectively created a new genre in military history.