Cyrus the Great of Persia entered Babylon after his general Ugbaru had already taken the city, reportedly diverting the Euphrates to allow troops to march along the riverbed and through unguarded gates. The bloodless conquest ended Nabonidus's reign and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, and Cyrus's subsequent decree allowing exiled peoples, including Jews held captive since Nebuchadnezzar's conquest, to return home became a landmark act of ancient statecraft.
Vlad III Dracula crossed the frozen Danube into Ottoman territory, sacking towns and reportedly killing tens of thousands of Turks and Bulgarians in a scorched-earth campaign. His own account, sent to the Hungarian king, claimed a body count so staggering that historians still debate its accuracy. The raid provoked Sultan Mehmed II's retaliatory invasion of Wallachia later that year.