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.

[clee1]

Truman really sucked as a president.

Weeeeeeeelllll..... Hold on a second, FRiend.

I'm not a big Truman fan, but I won't go so far as to say "he sucked". He certainly won't be getting any "greatest President" accolades from me.

He DID order the nuking of Japan, and he DID stand against the communists; so IMHO, the man can't be ALL bad. ;0

Also, he knew (perhaps instinctively) that Joe Stalin wasn't kinda like the "Russian Senator from Georgia" who could be bought off with a pork-barrel aid package. He knew well the threat that we faced from communism - something that FDR and his pack of sychophants didn't seem to get.

[eleni121]

Herodotus says,

"Miltiades' words prevailed. The vote of Callimachus the War Archon was cast on the right side, and the decision to fight was made."
( Book 6 sect 109)

And let's not forget the strategic planning of Themistocles.

And you know what happened to Militiades. After the victory, he tried unsuccessfully to regain control of the Aegean islands that had capitulated to the Persians in 489BC, but he did not have a sufficient naval force to accomplish this task.

Upon failing to achieve the blockade of Paros, he was imprisoned at Athens for his defeat, dying soon afterward of a wound received at Paros.

This is how the victor of Marathon rewarded.

[Tribune7]

Joshua and Joan of Arc.

[Verginius Rufus]

Herodotus is our earliest and most important source for the battle of Marathon but he was writing some decades later when the commanders would have been long dead...if he spoke to any participants in the battle they were probably ordinary soldiers who may not have had a very good understanding of how the command decisions were made. At any rate there is some doubt about how accurately Herodotus portrays the role of the war archon or polemarch in 490.

The Painted Colonnade or Stoa Poikile in Athens had a depiction of the battle which is known from Pausanias' Description of Greece (2nd century A.D.). According to Pausanias, the painting showed the hero Marathon, Theseus, Athena, Heracles, Callimachus, Miltiades, and the hero Echetlos. Herodotus leaves out most of the supernatural stuff.

After Miltiades' unsuccessful attack on Paros, he was put on trial, and Pericles' father tried to have him condemned to death.

[eleni121]

This is how the victor of Marathon rewarded

This is how the victor of Marathon was rewarded

[Verginius Rufus]

I admire Chief Joseph very much...the only question is whether he may be given credit which should be shared among several of the Nez Perce chiefs.

The Nez Perces thought they had crossed the border into Canada and were safe (the fact they hadn't seen any "duty free" shops should have been a tip-off). The site of their final battle, Bears Paw battleground, about 15 miles south of Chinook, Montana, is in an out-of-the-way spot but certainly worth a visit. There are historical markers to help the visitor understand the battle.

[FierceKulak]

Washington wasn't a brilliant tactician, but it seems to me he had good strategic sense and most importantly was a great leader.

[jpsb]

He dropped the bomb, I'll give him that, but that was a no brainer.

Truman was ready and willing to divid Japan into zones just as Geramny was, McAuthur refused. Again disobeying orders from Washington. Well not really since Truman ordered McAuthur to share Japan with Stalin, McAuthur gave them a spot ringed by American bases. Stalin hated McAuthur. McAuthur was also ordered to give the British a zone, he gave them Hiroshima. Truman did not to squat to stop the Sovets until Korea, and one could argue that Korea would never have happened if the Truman administration had not advertised that Korea was of no interest to the United States. But McAuthur was equally to blame for pulling US Forces out of there in 49, Dido Joint Chiefs who OKed the withdrawal, bad move on everyones part.

[MilspecRob]

Thanks Verginius Rufus and I agree with your post about the shared fame of this noble tribe.

I don't get to "Big Sky" country as much as I would very much like to, but the Bears Paw site will be on my list for next visit.

[Ciexyz]

My Grandmother (born approx. 1898) never forgave Truman for the way he treated McArthur. Course my grandparents never had a good word to say about any Democrat, and they passed on their thinking to my Daddy, too.

[Poser]

Patton and Sherman.

[SunkenCiv]

a blast from the past, might be good for a ping?

Who Were the Greatest Military Commanders (Of All Time) ?
Posted on 11/14/2004 5:23:06 PM PST by Cyropaedia
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1279985/posts

[indcons]

Great!! I was thinking of posting a vanity along these lines earlier today but didn't want to do so. You're right....we can use this one instead. Thanks SunkenCiv.

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure. Sort of reminds me of that topic where your new ping list (everyone reading this, join now :') was more or less born. :')

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1541590/posts?page=86#86

[Wombat101]

Alexander, Julius Caesar, Ghengis Khan, Saladin, El Cid, Drake, Nelson, Napoleon, R.E. Lee, Spruance, Mac Arthur, Patton, Guderian, Rommel.

[Wombat101]

PS, I'd like to add Yammamoto to that list..My bad.

[indcons]

Can't forget that GGG thread either :)

[The Sons of Liberty]

Don't forget "Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf" - he should've been promoted to Five Stars after the Gulf War. He had a brilliant plan.

[Wallace T.]

If Stonewall Jackson had been placed in charge of the Confederate Army at the outset of the Civil War, and if Jefferson Davis had kept his nose out of military matters, Washington, DC, would have fallen within a few days of the battle of First Manassas, West Virginia would never have seceded, and Maryland and Kentucky would have joined the Confederacy. Cincinnati, Columbus, and Philadelphia would have fallen to the Confederates, and the Union would have been compelled to sign a peace treaty. All of this would have been accomplished by mid-1862, sparing this continent further carnage.

[indcons]

My choices (in chronological order):

Alexander the Macedonian
Genghiz Khan
George Washington
Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov