On more than one occasion, historic events have been decided on the banks of this river.
• In 278 Roman emperor Probus vanquished a larger invasion force of Burgundians and Vandals, which had been raiding the Roman province of Rhaetia.
• At Lechfeld, a stony plain between the Lech and the Wertach near Augsburg, Otto I defeated the Magyars in August 955.
• In the Battle of Rain in April 1632, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden defeated and mortally wounded Johan Tzerclaes, Count of Tilly
