Edward IV of England

February 2, 1461 · 4,000 total casualties

Mortimer's Cross secured the Welsh March for Edward and prevented a Lancastrian flanking threat before he marched on London. Edward later adopted the 'Sun in Splendour' as his personal badge, referencing the three-sun omen. The battle launched Edward's meteoric rise — within six weeks he would be king.

March 29, 1461 · 28,000 total casualties

Towton broke Lancastrian military power for a decade and secured Edward IV's throne. Up to 28,000 men died — perhaps one percent of England's entire population. It remains the bloodiest single day in English history. The scale of the slaughter forced both sides to recognise that the war could consume the nobility itself.

July 26, 1469 · 2,000 total casualties

Edgecote Moor marked Warwick's open break with Edward IV. The Kingmaker was attempting to rule England through a captive king — exactly what Edward had done earlier with Henry VI. But the experiment failed: Edward could not effectively govern from captivity, and Warwick was eventually forced to release him, sowing the seeds of his own destruction.

April 14, 1471 · 4,000 total casualties

The death of Warwick the Kingmaker removed the most dangerous threat to Edward's restored throne. Warwick had made and unmade two kings; his end in the fog at Barnet brought the turbulent middle phase of the wars to a close. Edward IV would now rule England uncontested for twelve years.

May 4, 1471 · 2,000 total casualties

Tewkesbury extinguished the legitimate male Lancastrian line. Henry VI, already imprisoned in the Tower of London, was murdered shortly after the news arrived. Margaret of Anjou was captured and eventually ransomed to France. For the next twelve years, there was no plausible Lancastrian claimant — except a young Welshman in Brittany named Henry Tudor.