Not saying that war is good, but which conflict was the most crucial in determining where we are today. Which war, that if lost/won depending on your viewpoint, would've drastically altered the world we live in today?



I would have to say the Persian Wars. Between the Greek city states and the Persian Empire. It was quite a 'hollywood' war, the coalition of the Greek states were always outnumbered at least 2:1, and the Greeks often were bickering amongst each other.

The Spartans and Athenians were the most powerful of the city states.

The Spartans with the most efficient military force (all male citizens trained from childhood to fight, slaves which outnumbered them 10:1 did all agriculture) cemented their place in history as a formidible and almost invincible fighting force: 300 Spartans led by Leonidas, and few allies sacrificed themselves at Thermopylae, killing over 30,000 Persians. It is also considered the Greatest Last Stand in History. Military academies look on this battle to show the difference of extremely well-trained soldiers (Spartans) and mediocre (Persians), and using the terrain to the Greek's advantage (Thermopylae was fought on a narrow mountain pass, phalanxes could not be flanked). Although every Greek was wiped out at the battle, it enabled Athens to be evacuated, and set up the battle of Salamis.

The Athenians evacuated their home, and later was sacked by Persians, the small but well-trained and highly-maneuvuerable Athenian fleet later fought the Persians at Salamis. Although heavily outnumbered, the Athenians lured the Persians in to a narrow strait, where the Persians could not retreat, because their vast number of warships clogged the strait. The Persian fleet was almost destroyed. The Persians fled back to their homes afterward.

The Persian Wars was very crucial. Athens was still a fledgling democracy before its Golden Age, had the Persians won, democracy would cease to exist. Enslavement of Attica and the Pelopponese would guarantee that the cultural flourishing of Athens to never come.

We would not have:
Democracy
Drama (Comedy and Tragedy)
The writings of Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato.
Math of Pythagoras
Medicine of Hippocrates
The Olympic Games