Who Were the Greatest Military Commanders (Of All Time) ?

[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.

[Missouri]

This Captain got his damaged sub off the sea bottom near Gibraltar. Well it was a good movie.

Donitz was put on trail for the same things American submariners were doing to the Japanese. He was no Nazi. Why Hitler put him in change after his suicide is anybodies guess.

[unspun]

Lee was a better General. Ask anyone that went to West Point.

Seems he thought so --maybe until Gettysburg and Pickett.

[Arioch7]

Thanks man!

To all, what about Wild Bill Donovan?

He was not a theatre type of guy but he is important in modern warfare and I give him his due.

Arioch7 out.

[Doctor Stochastic]

The Mamlukes (Turkish prisoners of Jenjis F. Khan, sold into slavery in Egypt) were able to defeat the Mongols.

[Zechariah11]

Here's an honest question:

Was Lee a great general or was it Stonewall Jackson who made him look great?

My understanding is that Pickett never forgave him for that suicidal charge at Gettysburg after the war.

[Williams]

Grant was following President Lincoln's desire to reunite the country following the war, and he respected Lee, but he didn't give Lee favorable terms because it hadn't been a "fair fight."

[unspun]

Tactical: American: Richard Rogers, Francis Marion, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Frank Merrill and Hal Moore.

Not John Stark?

BTW, Rogers & Hart were better than Rogers and Hammerstein   ;-`

[Doctor Stochastic]

Hey, how about Captain Bligh? Sailing all that way back? Or it that just a myth?

It's true. Of course, that only makes him one of the greatest navigators of all time. (Up there with Columbus.)

[unspun]

He helped coordinate air support between troops in contact and USAF/USN aircraft at the CAOC (Coalition Air Operations Center), and said Franks not only openly maligned the air services but also created an atmosphere where the Army leadership in the campaign sought to avoid USAF/USN air support by seeking any alternative, even if air support would be more appropriate than artillery based on target type and response time.

Well, there seem to have been fewer friendly fire incidents, than in Desert Storm.

[You Dirty Rats]

Greatest soldier was Henry Fonda. He stopped the Battle of the Bulge with about 6 55 gallon drums!

LOLOLOL!!!!! That has to be the funnist comment I've ever seen on Free Republic! Talk about a movie that bore no relation whatsoever to the battle!

I've been to Bastogne. They have the first tank from 4th Armored there, as well as a "Cafe du Patton". Cool place.

[clee1]

I'll agree with you as regards Rommel, but most of his shortcomings were due to superior's actions, not his own.

As to Douglas McArthur, let's keep in mind several factors:
First, by the time of the Chineese intervention in Korea, McA was an elderly man - He had retired from the US Army before WWII, and was the Marshal of the Philippines on Dec 7th 1941. He was Chief of Staff of the US Army when Ridgeway was a Captain! McA was a hands-down military genius. From his exceptional delaying tactics in the Phillipines to his Island Hopping methodology in the war in the Pacific, from his administration of a defeated Japan (and keeping the Russians out of there!) to his amazing response to the invasion of S. Korea - when he had nearly nothing to respond with. His invasion of Inchon, in the face of opposition from Collins and Ridgeway, was a military master stroke! His admittedly pi$$-poor response to the Chineese intervention shocked him to the core. He didn't believe the Chineese would be willing to risk nuclear war over N. Korea. I blame that more on crappy intel than McA's ineptitude. Sorry, McA was the BEST military commander in modern times.

[clee1]

Right. Karl Donitz. And he wasn't a Nazi - he hated the Nazis.

[Zechariah11]

Well said.

[Antoninus]

Belisarius - I read somewhere that he never suffered a defeat. He was the master of defensive warfare, taking a secure position that the opponent needs, and forcing the enemy to attack you. If Justinian didn't yank him around all over the Mediteranian, and allowed Belisarius to completely conquer either the Western empire or Persia, who knows how world history would have turned out.

Actually, his first recorded engagement against the Persians was a defeat. And he fought to several draws and was continuously hamstrung by his general officers either contradicting him publicly or not following his commands. At his height, his prowess was so great that the Ostrogoths begged him to take the crown of the Western Empire which had been officially defunct since 476 AD. He turned it down out of loyalty to the Emperor Justinian.

Simply put, in my opinion, he was the greatest military commander in history and lived a most fascinating life.

[Calusa]

Alaric the Visigoth Sacked Rome in 409 A.D.(C.E.) inspiring Augustine's book City of God. Tolling the death knell for the Western Roman Empire.

Boudicca , a Celtic Briton Woman Sacked London around 500 A.D., and came close to driving the Romans out of Britain, but, they sent in re-inforcements and you can imagine the rest. Mel Gibson I believe is doing a movie about her.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***When Cortez defeated the Aztecs, ***
He STILL whipped the Aztecs.

My personal favorite is ARMINUS of Germany who destroyed the legions of VARUS. This defined the borders between the Romans and Germany for thousands of years. The Romans never tried to take Germany again.

"VARUS! GIVE ME BACK MY LEGIONS!"....Augustus would cry in times of national peril and not enough troops.

[redrock]

William T. Sherman..(that should piss off all my relatives down south..)

George Patton.

redrock

[Antoninus]

I seriously doubt that Ghengis Khan could have defeated an equal Roman army at the Empire's zenith. His greatest weakness was not having efective infantry. GK had the advantage of facing enemies with no effective and capably lead army. The Mongols were nothing but hit and run cavalry and the well organized legions of the early Roman Empire would have destroyed his army.

The Romans historically had great difficulty against mounted archers... How many Roman armies were destroyed in the wastes of Parthia? Crassus, Valerian, Julian, etc. Depending on the commander, the field of battle, and the usual intangibles though, I believe that the Roman army under, say, Trajan, could have successfully engaged and defeated Genghis.

[clee1]

Thanks.

Too many people buy into the revisionist-history when it comes to McA. He did far better in the Pacific during WWII and Korea than Marhall and Eisenhower did in Europe.

McA gave Marshall an evaluation that stated he should never be given command of more than a regiment; and he described Eisenhower as "the best clerk I ever had."

McA was petty, and he had a tremendously inflated ego, but describing him as a military genius is NOT hyperbole.

[mirkinmuffley]

Patton is coming on AMC right now. 10:45 CST