The 10 Most Important Battles in History

I recreated 10 famous battles from history, including maps and animated troop movements. The goal was to summarize 10 impactful battles in a short, exciting way, while maintaining historical accuracy.
Support me on Patreon: / sunlesskhan
This project took me 22 days to complete
Week 1) Researching, gathering films/imagery, writing, and recording
Week 2) Creating the battlefields, units, generals, ships, banners and flags
Week 3) Animating and compositing, and finally sound design
Criteria for battles chosen: Decisiveness, Scale, Backstory Intrigue, Fame, Characters, Historical Impact
Sources:
"100 Decisive Battles from Ancient Times to the Present" by Paul K. Davis
"Battles That Changed History" (Smithsonian book)
0:00 Intro
0:37 Gaugamela
4:17 Badr
5:51 Hastings
9:34 Chakirmaut
11:44 Cajamarca
14:12 Spanish Armada
17:04 Yorktown
18:35 Waterloo
21:47 Verdun
24:08 Stalingrad

[@Sunless_Maximus]

* Correction on Waterloo * My depiction of Waterloo in this video is overly-simplistic (well, the whole video is meant to be very simplified) but it implies that the Imperial guard didn't fight at all which is not true, I was simply trying to show that Napoleon didn't get them into action in time/didn't use them effectively which is a common theme among the historians I was reading to research this battle. Waterloo is one of the most studied and debated battles of all time, and is definitely worth looking into if you enjoy history. There are many, many myths and misconception about what happened that day and why it turned out they way it did, but at least you can know the end result is accurate - Napoleon lost. Criteria for battles chosen: Decisiveness, Scale, Backstory Intrigue, Fame, Characters, Historical Impact What did I miss and what are the most interesting battles to you?

[@misterdoctor9693]

An excellently made video. You are underappreciated. My only critique is that you said "unhuman" rather than "inhuman".

[@Digital_Spliff]

Your passion does not go unnoticed. It is great to see you putting your storytelling and editing skills to content that is educational and thoroughly engaging. It's also really commendable that you haven't used your platform to try to blow this up. I'd encourage you to just make content about whatever you are passionate about.

[@georgevirtus]

If we are counting sieges the Fall of Constantinople, or the Battle of Ain Jalut.

[@georgevirtus]

I forgot to mention the battle of Britain

[@fiji00]

One of the most interesting battles to me are the ones from Yi Sun against the Japanese in the mid 1500s his ability to single handedly carry his nation to victory despite being at such a disadvantage is incredible

[@superstupendo1018]

Damn, first he said we suck at rl, now he’s saying we suck at history

[@x8jason8x]

Law of averages says he's right. 😂

[@MrPeterduplessis]

As a fan of history long before I was a purveyor of Rocket League, I love your take on the former. A lot of big history channels use a tone that is frankly quite dry in an effort to seem like an authority on the matter. I love your brand of humour and I think the application of that humour and tone will take you far with this medium. I appreciate your work Sunless, keep at it

[@user-pk6dt5lt5e]

Sunless come back to rocket luage❤

[@Virge]

I love these styles of videos! Been watching a ton of historic stories on wars and battles lately and this one was great!

[@zppy.]

Yooo it’s Virge

[@ItzCoop]

Ratio

[@the_Wolf_directly]

Whattup virge 🎉

[@KaydenRichards-fd7bk]

Rocket League doesn't deserve such a great storyteller, editor, etc.

[@Tyler.McGrath]

The Genghis Kahn series will be the ultimate crossover.

[@TheKiltedGerman]

I highly recommend you define what "biggest" means, because many of these battles aren't what I expect most consider when thinking "biggest."

[@charlie8344]

Title should be "biggest impact in history"

[@erwannthietart3602]

​@@charlie8344except Waterloo isnt even the battle with the biggest impact of the Napoleonic war by a loooooong mile. Leipzig, Austerlitz, Iena, Trafalgar,Aspern then Wagram, Eylau are MUCH more important in the grand scheme of things than Napoleon's final battle, the biggest impact Waterloo had was bolstering British propaganda, but like history tells us about how precarious Napoleob's position already was during the hundred days, his entire empire was at stake at every single fight, because the entire economy of the country, thus his logistics for anything relied on Napoleon always winning his battles, he was one battle away from losing it all over again. Meanwhile in sheer Scale Wagram, Leipzig and Eylau are so much more important. On sheer importance as it allowed Napoleon to spread the revolution and nationalism across Europe Austerlitz still studied today and Iena etc... Trafalgar is singlehandedly the reason why Napoleon couldnt invade England etc...

[@Gitmellow]

@@erwannthietart3602 Don't forget Borodino.

[@erwannthietart3602]

@@Gitmellow in scale yes, in importance technically by the time of Borodino the Grande Armée was already a shadow of its past self honestly

[@Gitmellow]

@@erwannthietart3602 Then I think Smolensk would be a better choice, since that was one of the only times Napoleon came extremely close to capturing the Russian army.

[@mikeg6166]

Very well done. You are an excellent storyteller. Another battle worth mentioning in ww2 is Midway. It turned the tide in the Pacific.

[@Sunless_Maximus]

Yes! Midway is super interesting and important. Would love to do a video on that one in the future.

[@Raven187FPV]

I would love to see something about the Doolittle raid. The story is epic. Making bombers lighter, so they could take off from aircraft carriers, so they could bomb Japan, whilst still knowing they didn't have enough fuel to get back and had to ditch. One of the planes was Enolw Gay...the plane that went on to drop Little Boy over Hiroshima.

[@Heliomun]

bro. this video is amazingly solid. interesting, informative, and just overall a fun watch. wasnt expecting this level of polish. cant wait for more, keep it up my guy.

[@nap0038]

I can’t wait for you to cover Waterloo in your Napoleon Series. There seems to be quite a bit wrong about the battle in this video (a mix of actions from a few battles, particularly that bit about the Guard not being used), but I understand this format didn’t allow for incredibly accurate and detailed recounting. Really liking this channel, sunless!

[@nickscott1310]

Beyond impressed. I’ve watched all of your history vids at this point and this is for sure the best second channel on YT.

[@Jason911_]

You had my attention absolutely focused for the entirety of this video, please do more ww2 themed videos!! 😄

[@Sunless_Maximus]

You will definitely see more WW2 content on this channel!

[@strategic_knight9124]

@@Sunless_Maximusor ww1 series

[@HuntingtonBags]

Great video, i like how you not only talk about the battle, but also the impact. Fascinating to see how these battles affected us in present day!

[@matthewsonger6737]

Bro. Been watching you for Rocket for years and now I'm even more hyped. History is my ish. Love it. Gimme more.

[@theunknownchampion9492]

LOVE THIS VIDEO! Your editing is phenomenal!

[@the_Wolf_directly]

This was beautiful, thanks fir the great content. I love history videos like this and appreciate the time and effort put into the graphics and visual aids. Looking forward to more.

[@SomeGuyNamedJustin]

a 200,000 men army running away from a 47,000 men army is unbelievable. this is why i love learning about the history of wars

[@judejones203]

Love this content! Can’t wait for more. Your style goes perfectly within this genre

[@handsomehog3001]

Hey Sunless, been following you for a long time and love the way you have reinvented yourself with this new history page. I hope you finish your Napoleon series and expand on this one and do even more battles! Love to see you enjoying a new project that you're into!

[@ottogarvens]

Please keep uploading on this channel, I love it so much. I need more videos like this, the quality of each video is sooooo Fuego.

[@jeroenkuppens7626]

great video sunless! i especially love the visuals you made for this video. top tear! can't wait for more

[@da_Sizzle]

it is amazing to see you switch to history! please keep on growing this channel, the history nerd gang will support you

[@pg8669]

Awesome video sunless. These are so entertaining and informative

[@unknownpr1124]

You got a great voice for this kind of content, I'm glad you branched out into this

[@crislucilfer5605]

Amazing video! Kept me watching till the end with the phenomenal story telling! Looking forward to the next video Sunless :))

[@joshlampe3458]

Interesting list, the world wars are a little underrepresented in my opinion, if nothing else from a scope perspective. This is so well done Sunless, I can't wait to see what's up next! Awesome job!

[@alexfrag3775]

This is awesome, Sunless. I'm looking forward to more from your new channel.

[@Ayeooh]

Keep it up sunless. Can't wait for more!

[@alexnovak3319]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1340">22:20</a> as a matter of fact, the first instance of large-scale use of poison gas was on 31st of January 1915, when Germany fired 18,000 artillery shells containing liquid xylyl bromide tear gas on Russian positions on the Rawka River, west of Warsaw during the Battle of Bolimov.

[@Sunless_Maximus]

I did not know that, thank you.

[@alexnovak3319]

@@Sunless_Maximus glad to help in anyway I can.

[@el_diablo_raman7094]

Im so happy you put time and effort into history videos, many people like me love them, please keep uploading ❤️

[@robertbrownm]

Nice video! Thank you for putting together. Love the scale of time you tackled.

[@ambushx1108]

The amount of work in this deserves an award. Also happy Easter Sunless🎉

[@pajserlatacchini9400]

Bro a kid can do this. Try HistoryMarche and Kings and Generals to see what is real work for these types of videos. It took him longer to find movies to put for visuals then to draw this and use it as a "map"

[@nuiscope5323]

Really cool video and easy to follow along! Miss your rocket league content but you do you my man. Just want you to be alright and especially happy above all else. Hope you're doing ok! You're a legend and we all love and support you

[@xxPrimeval]

Great work on this video, the editing and the historical accuracy is brilliant. Loved the Napoleon 1-3 as well, looking forward to more on Napoleon as well as the future of this channel. Keep it up! Oh and just because...."What a save!" Lol.

[@adisapre1791]

Bro the effort here is phenomenal, love the new content

[@fizzle7421]

Dang, man. I'm hard to for it. Sunless got me learning history. That's what's up though. I didn't even know this channel existed. I saw the post about this video on Twitter because i was trying to find out what you were up to. Didn't expect this, but I'm not complaining. I'm down to watch this channel grow

[@lt.random210]

This is a great way to futureproof your career since rl can’t stay forever. This video is awesome, love the operations room type history videos.

[@vengo9270]

Awesome video man, love it

[@maksdzugan3671]

really impressive video, keep up the great work

[@leelucas8657]

Fantastic video. Please do more on single battles and their key moments, if you have the time!

[@ArithmiiaOP]

Not gonna lie this is a perfect pivot. You’ve always been a really good story teller so this just shows that even more.

[@jelllly.]

I absolutely love this content Sunless, I appreciate the crossover of Rocket League viewers who are also interested in History is small but please don't be disheartened, there is a huge audience for this brilliantly made and interesting channel!!

[@SgtJet3]

You are so damn good at this sunless. love this new look. ;)

[@Story_Politi]

That is a MASTERPIECE!!

[@atomickrispies]

Wait this is fire. I didn't realize it was you Sunless, I just saw the title and thumbnail and this was right up my alley. Thanks for this, I'm super addicted to this kind of content

[@yama5198]

Clicked on this randomly only to find out it’s Mr. What a Save! himself. You’ve only further impressed me sir

[@polrzx]

very well made video , you earned my sub. soon i reckon your channel will take off . keep it up!

[@kolbybixler7574]

This is my favorite passion project on the internet.

[@JaxPlays]

Yo, I didn’t even know you had this channel. This is great. Keep it up.

[@pretech7047]

This was an amazing video. I only remembered The Battle Of Hastings so it was very informative!

[@TheSasudomi]

Outstanding work my dude. The visuals, sounds or the information itself. Damn, what a good and entertaining video.

[@Sunless_Maximus]

Thank you so much! This is just the beginning…

[@WalterDubz1]

Really enjoyed the flow and vibe of this one.

[@egblackfang]

This is why I love Sunless. The eye for details is amazing!

[@zteir]

I love the hard work man. Please keep it up. You don’t even have to stay in history and I’ll still love it

[@Codzilla2181]

Wow hearing Sunless' voice when clicking a history video in my recommended tab is pretty surprising, the video is very good, keep up the good work

[@kademackay9563]

Dude, the butterfly effect is so cool in history

[@fiji00]

This vid was on my recommended page and I was so shocked when I realized it was RL Sunless Kahn I thought it was an April fools upload for a second until I checked out the rest of the channel but this was an absolute banger of a video

[@tiestofalljays]

Just saw you mentioned this channel in your RL vid. Awesome.

[@hexagonsun]

good video cant wait for more

[@Marguerite-tv4tq]

Merci beaucoup❤Great video! I subscribed to your channel. What an interesting coincidence: within recent few months I've posted in one social network the detailed topics about three great battles: Waterloo, Verdun and Stalingrad. Exactly these three decisive battles are presented in your video.

[@azuremk__3101]

This is awesome to see! Always thought you were a wonderful storyteller and wondered if you would ever make other content apart from Rocket League. These are so interesting to watch! Keep up the great work. Also, I saw your post about potentially making another Rocket League video: I would recommend doing it - But ONLY if you actually want to! I would like to see it, but I think making something you’re passionate about is the most important thing.

[@wthkal]

I have a passion for history and this video is hands down one of my favorites.

[@laxstar0058]

I want to mimic all the other comments I’m seeing. Great stuff, this was well done and very enjoyable.

[@DPSshrek]

Nice one sunless!

[@benadryller3830]

As a fan of rocket league, sunless' storytelling, and extertaining history videos, i see this channel as a win for me

[@wrexocane]

Keep going! We need great storytellers like you!

[@prox6352]

Awesome stuff! Having a rl KZbinr I like also make History videos is a nice bonus. Subscribed.

[@skryptik4905]

holy shit do this full time I love these!

[@dalcowboiz]

Goated, love this

[@TheGoudaGoblin]

This is so well done. We already knew sunless was a great storyteller, but the troop graphics are awesome too. Personally, I would love to see more little jokes like the elephant one thrown in, especially if you end up covering some heavier events in depth. Curious if others agree, but this is a banger video either way

[@dylb0t]

We love Sunless, period. I will watch whatever you put out, because YOU are that good at this. Doesn’t matter to me that I discovered you through RL.

[@dyoshitimo932]

Sunless Khan teaching me history is something I was not expecting this year w video

[@christiandinapoli7716]

As a man who has been a history buff since birth, started playing rocket league in 2016, and watched sunless khan throughout college, getting a degree in history…this channel is the peak culmination of my life, orchestrated by 1 man

[@frostvin62]

Actually love this

[@DiamondsAndCourts]

What the heck! I didn't realize this was subless until i looked at the comments. This channel is just as good!

[@marriedtwogaming]

This is phenomenal

[@jakewantstoplay1897]

Looking forward to the full Stalingrad video. No doubt a couple of the others will get their own videos too.

[@Werdwell]

well done sunless, proud of you

[@kylehanks8629]

I freaking love this video, your voice is so amazing for documentary and your editing style is my favorite for battles. Also the battle field look? AMAZING. The only thing I really disagree with is Stalingrad being your WWII battle, I feel D-Day, the battle of the bulge, Battle of Midway, or the Battle at Pearl Harbor would be more important in this case, primarily Pearl Harbor because it gave the Americans a gateway into the war. Other than that though the video is amazing and I can’t wait to see more!!

[@fikiryehualawork5117]

This is amaizing I wish you had a history podcast series as well....amaizinf

[@joaodias8824]

A less known battle but still important is the battle of Diu

[@RLWahvey]

Might have to get into historical battles after this one. W

[@itsmarco1181]

Keep going!

[@yourneighbour3309]

amazing video damn

[@syn14mkdono]

Underrated content❤

[@eduedu4812]

Epic video! Would have loved to see Battle of the Vistula River 1920, Battle of Grunwald or the Battle of Vienna... Alas, maybe for another time!

[@paulizzs4720]

These were just small skirmishes on the eastern flank with no significance for big politics

[@Zel-Veraan]

Doesn't matter what it is, if Sunless is narrating, I'm watching.

[@eeevan7939]

Happy Easter Sunless

[@usm1le]

This is SERIOUSLY entertaining

[@guryurfur528]

I got goosebumps hearing your voice. Its been so long. Hope you are doing well!

[@chipcrispy]

Wonderful job! I owe you a sub

[@FullmetalArborist]

If I was rich, I would absolutely propose a DnD campaign that you’d be a part of and also edit/produce on the backend. Your skill with storytelling and shaping a narrative is well-practiced and your editing skills are so much better than Mustys.. I think it’d be a neat opportunity to flex your creativity and create some really compelling content. Also.. this video is a great watch, I appreciate you taking the time to put this together

[@Heliomun]

honest to god never expected this type a content from an rl content creator. but hey, im here for it.

[@mattrabarts2639]

Great video can’t wait for the stalingrad episode.

[@lFunGuyl]

Person Cavalry just had to go all the way back to get that corner boost! <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="187">3:07</a>

[@FlyersRL3477]

I need this guy as my Social teacher

[@HoagieMacintosh69]

a few of these battles arent top 10 worthy but great video boss you nailed it

[@mikeklein-thibodeau4569]

Found you through RL, Sunless, and love the history shift! But how are you going to do the biggest battles in history and not have a single Chinese battle??? The Siege of Kaifeng and the biggest early use of gunpowder, the Battle of Lake Poyang and the largest fresh-water naval battle of all time, plenty of battles from the Taiping or Boxer Rebellions! Might have to do another 10 biggest battles video at some point!

[@derpynerdy6294]

Waterloo? 😂. I would argue, battle of leipzig was the pinnacle.

[@ghettorl6135]

im not much into history but this Stood out and i watched the full 27 minutes and it was amazing