Posted on 11/14/2004 5:23:06 PM PST by Cyropaedia
In light of the upcoming film Alexander (the Great), who in your opinion were actually the greatest military commanders our world has known...?
Mine are Genghis Khan, Alexander, and U.S. Grant.
And not very bright.
They were within 50 kilometers of Cairo and 30 kilometers of Damascus before the U.S. ordered them to stand down.
I agree that Grant was very good commander, but I don't think he was on the level of Lee.
Henry V was a brilliant tactician and an idiotic strategist.
The English won all the big battles of the Hundred Years War and were catastrophically defeated by the French in the war as a whole.
Yup, some people are just so predictable.
Nah, Kerry always sucked. Even his bass playing. :0
Marking for later read
I can't agree with MacArthur. He had a fine staff and was able to use them with skill. As a general, he was very vain and hard to get along with. He also made speeches without approval from the White House, and making foreign policy. He was too egotisical to a fault and made a number of stragetic decisions. He was a good general but not a great one. Truman's comment after he fired MacArthur: "I fired God!"
Others I have forgotten:
Hannibal
General John Longstreet
Francis Drake?
This is going to sound a little wishy washy but Lee was a good but not great general and Grant was an above average but not truly great.
At the start of the CW he beat a lot of really bad Union Generals. McClellan was a great organizer but would not fight because he always assumed Lee had greater numbers than were actually under his command. As a result, Lee racked up many victories and his reputation grew as a result.
Grant on the other hand was not well organized, but unlike other Union Generals, he was not afraid to use his advantages in supplies and manpower to his advantage. In addition, un like McClellan he was willing to take some risk to win the war. Also, several of Grant's early failures were not entirely of his own making.
Patton was the greatest battlefield commander in American history (IMHO, of course...) MacArthur is up there, too.
I think he was an officer that served in both World Wars. Maybe just the first one but I can't remember now.
Arioch7 out.
Forrest. He killed my G-G-G Grandfather in hand to hand combat. He was a colonel then. Sherman, Lee, Grant (no matter what detractors say), JEB Stuart, Jackson, Johnston.
Patton, Montie, Rommel, some ruskies, Napoleon, Wellington, Hannibal, Washington, Alexander the great.
Jane-Gus Khan.
Who was the Celtic Chick that beat the Romans in Britain.
" If you don't really understand history I can see your error in saying washington . . ."
Well, gee. . . I guess I do not understand history. Why don't you explain to me why Washington is not one of the great ones. Certainly many professional military historians -- who obviously also do not understand history -- rank him up there. He was number one in the book "The Military 100."
So take some time to give us the benefit of your wisdom and insight. I am ready to be educated. Again please compare and contrast Napoleon and Washington. Especially the difference in the strategic results of their campaigns. I await, oh great one.
Even moreso considering he literally wrote the book on tank warfare: "Achtung-Panzer!" was the name of it.
What a hero!!
Boudicca
Monty's defeat of Rommel was nothing short of brilliant, although I have to reconsider him as part of the "Greatest" list.
Schwartzkopfs envelopment and distruction of a large modern army in such a short time will go down in history as one of the greatest military actions of all time; comparable to D-Day, Shermans March, etc.
Franks, while I respect him tremendously, fought two pi$$-ant enemies with overwhelming force. A 15 year old paintball-battle-fighter could have done as well.
Scipio - excellent, yes!
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