Replies

Patton and Napoleon certainly, and Rommel was a good general, though he had his drawbacks (over extended many times, poor grasp of logistics, unsound plan for the defense of France). MacArthur lost his nerve, in command shock, after the Chinese intervention in Korea, as is proven by Ridgeway's superior performance with the same hand. Montgomery was mediocre - Market Garden is a telling failure, and the multiple failures in front of Caen, despite massive resources at his disposal, are not to his credit. Hannibal I addressed in a previous post, above. Nimitz was indeed a great military commander, though also one with a simply overwhelming hand. And arguably, if one is looking for flaws, 1943 was largely wasted in the south Pacific fighting, when the central pacific route taken later was already open. Schwartkopf made sound use of an overwhelming hand, only to see his forces stopped before they could save us from our present difficulties, but was never tested for real greatness by any real adversity or challenge. Zhukov was simply in charge of an eventually sound institution; he had some brilliant conceptions but also some stunning failures, and overall his record in an unimpressive one - great breakthroughs stabilized by inferior defending forces, much higher losses sustained from a position of material superiority, etc.

Zhukov was simply in charge of an eventually sound institution; he had some brilliant conceptions but also some stunning failures, and overall his record in an unimpressive one - great breakthroughs stabilized by inferior defending forces, much higher losses sustained from a position of material superiority, etc.

Zhukov did pretty good at Nomonhan, certainly far better than Kuropatkin ever managed against the Imperial Japanese Army.

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.