Ask Hitler what he thought of his generals.
What he should have done was liquidate all the high ranking officers, as Stalin did!
A list of generals made by a college professor?
Hang on, I’m working on my list of great fashion designers right now.
(Maybe a list made by Norman Schwarzkoph I might take seriously.)
“were later convicted of war crimes”
Which means nothing in itself, except that they were on the losing side.
“If you want to reduce war history ti lists, you have to go to America”
Nothing wrong with taking a good swipe at pop-history and top ten lusts in general, but come on. No German publication ever ranks historical figures in like fashion? If that’s true I’ll eat my hat.
By the way, there’s nothing wrong with being deductive persay. A good aphorism like “power corrupts...”can tell us what we need to know better than a full multivolume set. When we call something deductive, of course, we mean falsely reductive, as to “rationalize” means to be irrational. Probably this list and the accompanying story are reductive in a bad way. I’m just saying.
“If you want to reduce war history ti lists, you have to go to America”
Nothing wrong with taking a good swipe at pop-history and top ten lusts in general, but come on. No German publication ever ranks historical figures in like fashion? If that’s true I’ll eat my hat.
By the way, there’s nothing wrong with being reductive persay. A good aphorism like “power corrupts...”can tell us what we need to know better than a full multivolume set. When we call something deductive, of course, we mean falsely reductive, as to “rationalize” means to be irrational. Probably this list and the accompanying story are reductive in a bad way. I’m just saying.
This seems like another case of Germany becoming filled with “consternation” when anybody tries to analyze it’s military history.
Note to Germany : Discussing the greatest German military minds in history is not an endorsement of whatever ideology they served. It’s okay to analyze the military brilliance of the Nazis, despite atrocities that were committed, even during warfare.
We can, and should, discuss these matters in an objective way, and without fear.
I saw a filmed interview of a German general years ago. He was in prison at the time for war crimes.
He was asked who were the best allied generals and he simply said “Patton and Montgomery”. He didn’t mention Zukov or any other allied generals.
I wasn’t surprised at Patton but thought to myself that Montgomery must have been a little better than history portrays him.
Yeah, because we're free thinkers. We don't have to conform to the whims of those in power, don't have to hide from the past. There is nothing wrong with recognizing military brilliance - even in an adversary (past, present, or future). To close your mind based on politics invites military defeat.
Though it is hard to take this seriously. As others say, this is made up by a college professor. History buff? Military buff? I don't know, if he doesn't have Rommel on the list it is hard to take him seriously. I'd like to hear his justification for leaving him off the list.
Yeah, Moltke. Too bad they didn’t stick to the plan.
Came to see Guderian on the list. Left satisfied.
I didn’t see v. Nitwitz or v. Efwitz on the list either.
Rommel was a Nazi...? That is COMPLETELY ridiculous.
He was profoundly apolitical and showed great respect to POW’s, etc.
In fact you can argue that he was executed BECAUSE he was not a Nazi.
A couple years from now, the German magazine will probably publish a list of “Top 10 Gay-American Generals” and be proud of their article.
Listing of military generals should be solely based on their abilities as force multipliers, not whether they fought on good or evil. Every General fights to further his Nations cause. Who was that German who led the Romans into an ambush that wiped out an entire legion?
Soon the only commanders Germans can praise will be the likes of Mohammed, Suleman, Mehmet, etc.
The Germans used to be so army-centric that they named all their naval battlecruisers after Prussian generals, many on this list.
Seems that PC has killed that strain in the current Germany. Good thing we aren’t staring at a horde across the Fulda Gap anymore.
Georg Freiherr von Derfflinger was an Austrian Protestant who made a naem for himself fighting for Saxony, Sweden and fianlly Brandenberg Thirty Years War. He was not Prussian.
I know my military history reasonably well, and WWII history in particular, and had no idea who Eberhard von Mackensen was. Weird list just on that.
Oh, and there is no doubt Guderian created the doctrine for combined arms built around tanks, mechanized infantry, self-propelled artillery, and close air support that came to be known as Blitzkrieg. No “said to have developed modern German tank strategies” about it, it is absolutely so. He owed a lot to a Brit named Fuller, but Guderian was able to get Hitler and the Wehrmacht to listen to him.