00:00 The Battle of Marathon in 490 BC is the first important battle on the list of battles that a reasonably knowledgeable person should know.

02:17 The Battle of Marathon saved the Greeks from being conquered by the Persian Empire and set off a century of Persia wanting to conquer Greece.

04:15 The Battle of Actium in 31 BC marked the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire under Octavian, who became the first Roman emperor.

06:18 The Battle of Tours in 732 marked the defeat of the Iberian Moors by Charles the Hammer Martel, halting their advance into France, while the Battle of Hastings in 1066 solidified William the Conqueror's claim to the English throne and had a lasting impact on the English language, and the Siege of Baghdad in 1258 resulted in one of the deadliest massacres in history and the end of the Golden Age of Islam.

08:27 The Battle of Vienna in 1683 marked the last great Ottoman attempt to conquer Europe and resulted in the loss of most Ottoman lands in Central Europe, leading to the decline and eventual dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

10:24 The three most important battles of the Second World War are the Battle of Midway in the Pacific, the Battle of Stalingrad on the Eastern Front, and the invasion of Normandy in June of 1944.

12:22 The host addresses a listener's review and adds their episode suggestions to the list of future episodes.