About
Battlefields of the World is an independent interactive map and guide to 9,321 historic battles and sieges worldwide. Every battle has its own page with a map, key facts, a short summary and links to further reading. It is a sister site of Battlefields of Britain.
| Continent | Battles |
|---|---|
| Europe | 4,681 |
| Asia | 2,158 |
| Africa | 791 |
| North America | 1,324 |
| South America | 240 |
| Oceania | 103 |
| Antarctica | 1 |
| Islands & open ocean | 23 |
| Era | Battles |
|---|---|
| Ancient (before 500) | 555 |
| Medieval (500–1499) | 1,508 |
| Early modern (1500–1799) | 2,499 |
| 19th century (1800–1913) | 2,245 |
| World War I era (1914–1918) | 448 |
| Interwar (1919–1938) | 152 |
| World War II era (1939–1945) | 617 |
| Post-1945 (1946 onwards) | 953 |
| Date not recorded (no reliable year in Wikidata) | 344 |
How the data is put together
- Which battles: Wikidata items that are an instance of battle, siege, naval battle, skirmish or a related class, have coordinates, and have an English Wikipedia article. Air battles and legendary battles are not included.
- Dates: from Wikidata’s “point in time” (or, failing that, “start time”), used only when precise to at least the year. Where Wikidata records several different years, the earliest is shown and this is noted. Full dates are shown only from 1600 onwards and only when a single exact date is recorded. 344 battles have no reliable year and are shown in grey.
- Wars, participants and winners: Wikidata “part of”, “participant” and “winner” statements. Not every battle has these.
- Country and continent: assigned from the recorded coordinates using Natural Earth 1:10m boundaries (public domain). These are modern countries, not the states that fought. Points within about 5 km of a coast are given that country; points further out are listed as “At sea”. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are listed separately. Crimea is listed under Ukraine.
- Locations are as recorded in Wikidata and are often approximate.
Licences and credits
- Wikidata: CC0 (public domain dedication).
- Battle summaries: adapted from English Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. Each page links to the article and the exact revision used and describes the changes made. That adapted text is available under the same licence.
- Images (7,233 battles): from Wikimedia Commons, freely licensed or public domain only. Author and licence are credited under each image.
- UK battlefield boundaries (81 battles): Historic England Register of Historic Battlefields and Historic Environment Scotland Inventory of Historic Battlefields, via Battlefields of Britain. Battlefield boundary © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Battlefield boundary: contains Historic Environment Scotland and OS data © Historic Environment Scotland and Crown Copyright and database right 2026, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Country boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).
- Base map: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Battlefields of the World is not affiliated with or endorsed by Wikimedia, Historic England, Historic Environment Scotland, Natural Earth or OpenStreetMap. Information is compiled automatically from the sources above and may contain errors.