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.
That he was.
But he was still a first class leader of light cavalry.
Yes, he was also decorated for heroic service at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (Seminole War) and wounded seriously.......
Reverse sloping is the perfect tactic of choice to defeat Napoleon's battle plan. Masking troop setup meant that Napoleon's choice tactics were almost impossible to implement. This is something that Wellington learned in Spain. Furthermore, Wellington early on and Wellington later were two different generals. Kind of like the early George Washington trying to face Brits at Brooklyn Heights compared to George Washington at Trenton and Princeton.
Furthermore, Wellington's aura of leadership was what I believe made him a good general. His ability to locate fire, his ability to rush to a challenged spot and lead men, and his cool under fire. In fact, he HATED Napoleon's false shows of theater in front of troops, preferring a true gentlemanly approach to warmaking.
Finally, Wellington never abused power the way Napoleon did. Even as a political leader, he refused to become a Napoleon of his own.
Finally, the observance of officers on your part is notable, but I am reminded of this saying my martial arts instructor always tells me:
An apprentice blames his tools, an expert makes better tools, a master guides the tools to work for him. Not every great general has had a good group of officers surrounding them. That hasn't kept them from becoming great, though. A bad general laments the lack of a good commanders. A better general institutes the training of better commanders. The best general guides his officers, and inserts himself where needed.
I'd second that. Along with Jackson and Lee. Several of the great plains Indians deserve to be included as well.
Badisches Landesmusem Karlsruhe
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General Patton!
check
Technology doesn't equate to smarts on the battlefield. Especially against a third rate enemy.
Just finished reading an auto-biography on Stonewall. The man was a brilliant, no compromise, hardass.
Hannibal and Lee LOST. Patton however was a winner. You would think that The Greatest Generals would be the ones that won.
General Moters? General Mills? Both did pretty good.
He'd never pass the PC sensitivity training required in today's Army.
See JasonC's R'489
The book, The Military 100, gives Grant a better ranking than Lee. Grant is number 33 and Lee at 60.
The top ten are
Washington
Napolean
Alexander
Genghis Khan
Julius Caesar
Gustavus Adolfus
Francisco Pizarro
Charlemagne
Hernando Cortez
Cyrus the Great.
Joan of Arc.
wow I posted that 3 days ago. I wondered how long it would take for a Reb to find it and respond. LOL
!StoneWall!
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