On September 28, 480, the Athenian navy destroyed the Persian invasion fleet in the Bay of Salamis. Had the Persians won, such noted figures as Plato, Aristotle, and Alexander along with democracy itself might have been erased from history. This original survey charts 50 such defining and revolutionary moments from the annals of history, concluding with September 11, 2001, and shows how the eveā¦