World's greatest general

[Matt Black]

As requested by Briony-Gloriana, herewith a thread for all of us (Americans and their generals are included ).

My votes:-

Heinz Guderian
Moshe Dayan
Bernard Montgomery (if nothing else to annoy the Americans!)
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
Von Manstein
Duke of Wellington
Napoleon
Stonewall Jackson
John Pershing
George Patton
Georgi Zhukov

Yours in Christ

Matt

 

[Jude]

Probably Napoleon...but the word 'greatest' has to be defined here.

What about Caesar (Julius) or Hannibal or Alexander? What about...


Attila the Hun
Canute
Charlemagne (Charles the Great)
Chiang Kai-shek
Chief Joseph
Clovis of the Franks
Constantine The Great
Dayan, Moshe
Eisenhower, Dwight David
Frederick II (The Great)
Grant, Ulysses Simpson
Houston, Sam
Jackson, Thomas "Stonewall"
Kaishek, Chiang
Khan, Genghis
Khan, Kublai
Lee, Robert Edward
Patton, George S., Jr.
Pershing, John Joseph
Peter the Great
Richard I (the Lion-Hearted)
Rommel, Erwin
Saladin
Shaka Zulu
Washington, George

[ June 04, 2004, 10:04 AM: Message edited by: Jude ]

 

[Matt Black]

I forgot Rommel. And you put Chiang Kai-Shek twice. Genghis Khan, Caesar and Alexander, definite yes, Kublai Khan not so sure about - good ruler, but not sure about good military chap. Eisenhower too lacklustre and relied on others; he also delayed the end of WWII into 1945 IMO

Yours in Christ

Matt

 

[Dr. Bob]

Originally posted by Dr. Bob Griffin:
Moshe Dayan would get my vote. Key figure in four wars and great diplomat for peac as well.

One page bio is worth the read:
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/Dayan.html

HERE is where I should have posted my tribute to Dayan, NOT on the American list. Duh.

 

[North Carolina Tentmaker]

My vote goes to Alexandar the Great.

But don't forget Joshua, Gideon and David.

 

[KenH]

George Patton

 

[Roy]

Greatest military leader, in my mind, is King David. Of course, he wasn't a general.

Roy

 

[Dr. Bob]

And we all know where David was when he should have been fighting over at Rabbah-amman . .

 

[Daniel David]

Don't forget about stormin' Norman.

 

[LadyEagle]

Don't forget about Stonewall Jackson.

 

[Major B]

How about Sun Tzu--we are still reading his book!

And don't forget Cromwell, who forged a new type of army with new tactics, and seldom lost.

 

[pinoybaptist]

Mao Tse-tung, George Patton, Douglas Mac'Arthur,
Hannibal, Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, Rommel, Dayan, Alexander the Great, Grant, Houston, Atilla the Hun.

My personal favorite is my own countryman, called the boy general by you Americans, Gregorio del Pilar, died at Tirad Pass, stood his ground with his troops hugely outnumbered and outgunned by Americans to cover the retreat of the then elected Filipino president, Emilio Aguinaldo.

 

[Major B]

Winfield Scott
Vo Nguyen Giap (beat US)
Mao
Stonewall Jackson
Andy Jackson
Charles Martel (saved Europe from Islam in 732)
King Jan Sobieski (saved Europe from Islam in 1683--is there a pattern here?),
Julius Caesar
Sun Tzu
Oliver Cromwell
King Gutav Adolphus of Sweden, who saved Protestantism at the cost of his own life,
Wellington (who DEFEATED Napoleon)
Hans Guderian
George Washington.
Lee
MacArthur

 

[rsr]

For more variety, let's add Mehmed the Conqueror, Belisarius (which opinion, I admit, is colored by the Robert Graves novel), Alaric and Shaka Zulu.

 

[LandonL]

How about whomever was in charge at Thermopylae?

Eisenhower I disagree with. If he had just turned Patton loose the war would have been over by Christmas 1944. Yes, Patton thought that, and I'm basically quoting it...but with his results, can you -really- argue that he wouldn't have found a way?

My vote is for Patton, by the way. With either Attilla, Alexander or one of the Khans a close second. I mean, those empires were HUGE.

 

[mioque]

"How about whomever was in charge at Thermopylae?"
''
King Leonidas of Sparta?

"My vote is for Patton, by the way. With either Attilla, Alexander or one of the Khans a close second. I mean, those empires were HUGE."
''
Genghis Khan his empire was the largest.

And Patton could easily have lost against the Commies because of something simple as a lack of gasoline/warm clothing.

 

[Melanie]

I reckon Alex the Great, Kenghis Khan and Napoleon.

These guys also had a serious dose of meglomania in their makeup I feel.

 

[Melanie]

Who was the English general at the Battle of Agincourt, this was pretty good battle against the odds!

 

[Major B]

Originally posted by mioque:
And Patton could easily have lost against the Commies because of something simple as a lack of gasoline/warm clothing.

Patton had our logistics chain, not that of Germany. We had warm clothing, we had the gas, and we had the bomb.

 

[Major B]

Originally posted by Briony-Gloriana:
Who was the English general at the Battle of Agincourt, this was pretty good battle against the odds!

I believe it was King Edward.

But remember, he was fighting the French...

Who, in his case, charged the English position with their heavy armor in spite of a very wet and muddy field. Knights in armor laying on their back or face in the mud are vulnerable to anyone, and apparently the English foot soldiers had a royal time bashing and slashing hapless French knights.