They were the hinges of history when our fate lay with armies and our destiny with the outcome on a blood-soaked field. Over the coming months I’ll consider ten occasions when a clash of steel helped determine what happened next. I’m starting with Edington in 878 AD.

Simply put it was the greatest comeback since Lazarus. Alfred the Great, Saxon King of Wessex, had been ousted by the Danes and was licking his wounds and reputedly burning cakes in the Somerset Levels. Here he contemplated his lost kingdom while a few followers wondered what his next move would be, or even if he had any moves left other than occasional guerilla warfare launched from his Athelney hideout.