George Washington???? Not even on the list?
Sorry, rich white slave owners need not apply. So sayeth the left.
George Washington!!!
A fine book titled “The Military 100” gave him top ranking because his strategic sense led directly to the creation of the United States, the greatest nation in human history.
The fact that Washington was only a fair tactician and lost more battles than he won counts for little against his grasp of grand stategy — all the Patriots had to do to win was not lose.
The British were fighting a domestically unpopular war with long, long supply lines. Even without French intervention, the Patriots were already a tougher nut than King George, Lord North and the Tories in Parliament realized. And there were certainly a minority of British political leaders like Edmund Burke who favored the American cause to some degree or other.
Ben Franklin’s masterly negotiation of the alliance with France sealed the doom of the British war effort.
Napoleon, Caesar, Hannibal, Alexander and others may have won more battles than George Washington. But what did they build of lasting value?
So, our beloved Founder wins handily. Hooray for George Washington!!! Hooray for Ben Franklin!!! Hooray for the brave Patriots of 1776 — and those of 2010!!!
I strongly recommend “The Military 100,” which has been reprinted several times and should be easy to find.
Speaking of Sun Tsu (Political Junkie Too was, above), “he will triumph who knows when to fight and when not to fight”. The General, George Washington, understood that one very well. Everyone did what they did, the Framers rose to never-equalled genius, but no Washington, no independence.