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Battle is a clash between groups of armed people. It occurs in many cultures and on all
continents. Its character, the duration which the number of participants, weapons, and the tactics
employed is infinitely economic, tech, and political features of its age. In the European tradition
it was a way for the rulers of one country to force those of another of another to comply with
their wishes. Asian cultures often avoided battle and sought to win by rapid movement or
protracted operations. The defining characteristic of the battle as a concept in the Theory of
combat has been a dynamic one through the course of military history, changing with the
changes in the organization, employment and technology of military forces.

While the British military historian Sir John Keegan suggested an ideal definition of battle as ,
the origins and outcomes of battles can rarely be summarized so neatly.

In general a battle during the 20th century was, and continues to be, defined by the combat
between opposing forces representing major components of total forces committed to a military
campaign, used to achieve specific military objectives, within a time-frame of less than a month.
Where the duration of the battle is longer then a week, it is often for reasons of staff operational
planning called an operation. Battles can be planned, encountered, or forced by one force on the
other when the latter is unable to withdraw from combat.

A battle always has as its purpose the reaching of a mission goal by use of military force.[8] A
victory in the battle is achieved when one of the opposing sides forces the other to abandon its
mission, or to surrender its forces, or routs the other, forces it to retreat or renders it militarily
ineffective for further combat operations. However, a battle may end in a Pyrrhic victory, which
ultimately favors the defeated party. If no resolution is reached in a battle, it can result in a
stalemate. A conflict in which one side is unwilling to reach a decision by a direct battle using
conventional military forces often becomes an insurgency.

Until the 19th century the majority of battles were of short duration, many lasting a part of a day.
This was mainly due to the difficulty of supplying armies in the field, or conducting night
operations. The means of prolonging a battle was typically by employment of siege warfare.
Improvements in transportation and the sudden evolving of trench warfare, with its siege-like
nature during World War I in the 20th century, lengthened the duration of battles to days and
weeks. This created the requirement for unit rotation to prevent combat fatigue,[9] with troops
preferably not remaining in a combat area of operations for more than a month. Trench warfare
had become largely obsolete in conflicts between advanced armies by the start of the Second
World War.