They took place across the globe; some lasting days, others months or even years. But which of the Second World War battles are the most significant? Here, as part of our Second World War Week, Professor Evan Mawdsley from the University of Glasgow lists the battles that had the most impact upon later military and political events, and indeed the outcome of the war itself…

1) France, May 1940 ...

2) Battle of Britain, August–September 1940 ...

3) Operation ‘Barbarossa’, June–July 1941 ...

4) Moscow, December 1941 ...

5) Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941 ...

6) Midway, June 1942 ...

7) Operation ‘Torch’, November 1942 ...

8) Stalingrad, November 1942 to January 1943 ...

9) Briansk-Orel/Belgorod-Kharkov, July-August 1943 ...

10) Normandy, June–July 1944 ...

11) Operation ‘Bagration’, June–July 1944 ...