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.

[NorCalRepub]

don't forget the Navy..........
Adm. Nimitz - kicking the hell out of the Japs all across the Pacific.....with all that ocean it was a logistic triumph.......
Adm. Nelson.........greatest Adm. of the British Admiralty

[Minus_The_Bear]

Patton - Struck fear into the Hitler's armies

King Leonidias of Sparta - Stood with 300 against the Persian army

Alexander - Conquered the known world

Sherman - Brutal

[StoneFury]

Guderian (not the best, but one of them)

[Blood of Tyrants]

After the South had been under blockade for three years and had little supplies or food ans Lee was almost always outnumbered and outgunned. Grant wasn't half the general that Lee was.

[Alouette]

Grant? Are you nuts? The only reason he beat Lee was that he had far more men who were much better equipped.

He beat Lee after McClellan, Meade, & Burnside, who had the same amount of men & equipment failed.

He won. Lee lost. Deal with it.

[Little Bill]

Basil II, Manstein, Hannibal, Marius.

[asgardshill]

Scipio Africanus (great basics, great motivator)

Charlemagne. He was not only a divider (of the enemy's head from his shoulders), but a uniter as well.

The Duke of Wellington (took out Napoleon)

Sun Tzu (maybe not strictly a commander, but he talked a great game)

Patton (50,000 more gallons of diesel and he would have been in Berlin playing mumbledy-peg with Hitler).

And speaking of Napoleon, that little Corsican pipsqueak is definitely NOT on this list.

[Gritty]

Put George Washington way up there.

He was not only a great commander who fought an almost hopeless war against nearly hopeless odds both at home and abroad, but a beloved leader who then set the standard to found the most inspiring and unusual country the world has ever experienced.

This world would be a far different and meaner place today without his august presence.

[Fatalis]

How about MacArthur, Saladin and Tamerlane. Also Sargon.

[TexConfederate1861]

Good GOD...you must not be from TEXAS.!?

It is spelled SAM HOUSTON! :)

[Norman Bates]

George S. Patton

[dogbyte12]

Pharoah Thutmosis III.

He was Alexander the Great, before Alexander the great.

[yarddog]

I too am shocked that anyone would think Grant was anything more than an average general.

Getting defeated several times by an opponent with only a fraction of your strength does not indicate a great general. Finally grinding him down shows determination but losing more men killed than Lee's army ever numbered should be telling.

[Ironfocus]

Montgomery, Christiaan de Wet.

[Defiant]

Alexander, Ghengis, Hannibal, Guderian. Honorable mention for some great campaigns to Sherman and Grant, Ceasar, Napolean, Chief Joseph, Cortez and I'm sure many others that I am forgetting off the top of my head. Sun Tsu laid down principles that still stand, and Liddell Hart made them more modern.

With the rise of computers and war gaming, the strategies employed by the US military in its latest campaigns are as good as any ever employed in history. Gulf War I, Afghanistan and Iraq are instant classics, and Fallujah is just the latest example. These don't get credited to a single individual, so we don't have our Alexander, but our strategy is just as good.

[mastercylinder]

this up coming film makes me so mad because of all the historical lies making Alexander look like a lover more than a brilliant general
p.s. Has any body read the Theodore Dodge books. There the greatest! One book is about Alexander's fantastic military campaign and the other is about Hannibal's triumphs.

[TexConfederate1861]

YOU DEAL WITH IT!

Just because Grant "won", doesn't mean a damn thing!
Lee was a better General. Ask anyone that went to West Point.

[bubman]

Hannibal, Caesar, Salladin, El Cid, Cortez there are so many

[isom35]

in the future, Capt. Kirk.

[DixieOklahoma]

George Washington - NO
Lee - Yes
US Grant - NO
Stonewall - Yes
Napolion - Yes
Patton - maybe
Alexander - Good God Yes
Tommy Franks - NO (has not fought an enemy on par with us)

If you don't really understand history I can see your error in saying washington and US grant. But for fact they were not great military leaders... how hard is it to defeat an undermanned, starving, underequipped and fleeing army? very hard if you are US grant.