10 greatest military commanders of all time

freerepulic ^ | August 31, 2002 | zapiks44

[zapiks44]

Who do you think are the 10 best military commanders of all time? (By military commander, I mean someone who actually commanded armies and orchestrated the attacks, not politcal leaders, such as Churchill) Here are my picks:

1.Alexander the Great (The undisputed greatest military genius who ever lived)

2.George S. Patton ( Can't forget him)

3.Napoleon (Obvious, but the French don't get credit since he's techincally Italian!)

4.Julius Ceasar (Veni, Vetti, Vecci)

5.Richard the Lionheart/Saladin (The two men who've probably shaped the Middle-East more than anyone else)

6.Georgi Zhukov (Main architect of Stalingrad victory)

7.Erwin Rommel (The real "Desert Fox")

8.Hannibal (Coined the term (Crossing the Alps)

9.Stonewall Jackson (Of course)

10. Horatio Nelson (Stopped Napoleon from invading Britain and spreading to South America)

[FreedomCalls]

What about Hernando Cortez's conquest of the Aztecs? Or the incredible conquest of the 35,000-strong Incan army by Francisco Pizzaro with only 102 men?

[ConsistentLibertarian]

A far better choice would be Themistocles, who had to prepare an unwilling democracy for a war they weren't willing to fight, and who then led them to victory against great odds. Plus, he was a regular guy. Home schooled by his momma and such.

[Destro]

Themistocles of Athens who defeated the larger Persian Fleet at Salamis.

Greek King of Epirus Pyrrhus was king of the Hellenistic kingdom of Epirus and cousin to Alexander the Great. Hannibal himself called Pyrrhus second only to Alexander the Great in generalship. Hannibal ranked himself below Pyrrhus. From Pyrrhus we get the term "Pyrrhic victory".

Germany's Erich von Manstein

General Lee is probably the greatest General since Napoleon.

Kubalai Khan is also on my list. Genghis Kahn should be second on the list. Alexander gets top billing because he won more battles and territories with less troops and with less destruction.

[portfmgr]

I certainly don't think that he was one of the greatest commanders of all time (this post was prompted by your mention of Jeb Stuart), but I just finished watching a documentary about General George A. Custer, and I had no idea he was such a major figure in the Civil War. According to the documentary, he modeled some of his cavalry tactics after the success of Jeb Stuart.

He led an interesting life (was promoted to General at age 23), and even more interesting now is that he is perceived to be such a racist, idiotic villain.

[Mr.Clark]

I agree with Alexander as the best ever. Considering the things he accomplished, the destruction of the Persian Empire, the annexation of its territory, and, most impressive, keep his relatively small army on the attack, I think Alexander is a lock for the best military commander ever.

[dogbyte12]

Thutmosis III is my main guy. Here is why. His grandfather, Thutmosis I, only had a daughter with the official wife... Her name was Hatshepsut. He had a son with a concubine who was Thutmosis II. He had no official son, but conceived Thutmosis III with a concubine. Hatshepsut was pissed. She put III in a monastery as a teenager, shaved his head, and declared herself Pharoah.

Boy broke out of the monastery around 18, slaughtered Hatshepsut and her lover, and basically conquered all of the known region of the world at the time. That is really carrying a grudge. He probably was the greatest warrior ever, pre Alexander.

[Destro]

Hell no! ALexander of Caeser. JC wept like a baby when he saw Alexander's statue.

[Destro]

Hell no! ALexander over Caeser. JC wept like a baby when he saw Alexander's statue.

[Fintan]

U. S. Grant.

Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misrepresented. He ended the Civil War. Period.

[FreedomCalls]

Vo Nguyen Giap in Viet-Nam defeated the greatest technological army of the 20th century with barefoot soldiers.

Ahmad Shah Masoud in Afghanistan defeated the second greatest technological army of the 20th century with little more than a bunch of AK-47s (and maybe a Stinger or two).

[ofMagog]

William Tecumseh Sherman

[Steve Van Doorn]

Hannibal? Didn’t he send his troops on a one-year expedition when the Romans crossed over and kicked their ass?

The others I can agree with.. I would put Stonewall Jackson up higher.. and maybe add Robert E Lee?

[Hugin]

I agree, Genghis Khan has to rate #1. He conquered more terrirtory and people, sacked more cities, destroyed more armies and empires than any other general in history. He never lost a battle, and only stopped from conquering western Europe because it was too remote to bother with. Plus he did it without modern technology and an army of only about 100,000 men. Then he set about creating an enlightened (at least for the time) civil service to administer it all. An amazing individual.

[Destro]

Kemal Ataturk did not smash the allies at Gallipoli. He was a subordinate under the command of a German general. Western withdrawl of backing to the Greeks had more to do with the Greeks losing than Ataturk's generalship. He is probably in the top 100.

[Jeff Chandler]

I'm glad you mentioned Sherman. What he did was horrible, but he understood what had to be done to break an adversary. None of this "Okay, now that we have the advantage we'll let you off the hook so you can regroup and come back to kill us in the future." crap.

[Steve Van Doorn]

U. S. Grant.

LOL he was no good. He just out produced and out manned the south. Anyone could of won with those odds at that point in the war.

[vbmoneyspender]

Do you know what happened to Giap after Tet? He got fired because Tet was considered to be a disaster by the NVA. To the extent Giap is now considered a successful general, he owes it all to the Watergate break-in, with an assist from the Washington Post and the New York Times.

[Kevin Curry]

Wellington over Napoleon

With Blucher's help.

[MilspecRob]

Germanys general Model (sp) fought defensive battles at odds of 16 to one sucesfully.

[zapiks44]

Looks like Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan are vying for #1. My vote goes to Alexander. (I should've included Genghis; he just slipped my mind as I was typing the original post)