Greatest Military Leaders of all Time

Discussion in 'Historical Events Coffee House' started by El_Presidente, Aug 6, 2011.

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  1. El_Presidente Member

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    Who do you think is the greatest military leader of all time?

    I think is was Genghis Khan (Temujin)

    Who do you think it was?
    Discus
    El_Presidente, Aug 6, 2011
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  2. D3adtrap www.twitter.com/d3adtrap | Mr. Choc: Coco Fruits

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    This highly depends as whom we consider "leaders". Do you mean generals, who command armies or kings who controls armies and a nation?

    I'll still give some that come to mind:

    Julius Caesar - Purely brilliant military general. Unconventional wars in Spain, Gallia & Brittain, Civil war against his own kind, and against middle eastern people.
    Pompey The Great - Accomplished some truly great military feats including destroying all pirates in Mediterranean sea, killing or enslaving 12 million people in middle east...
    Erich von Manstein - Man who can command massive armies and "micro manage" small units in all that mess. Mastermind behind invasion of France and very impressive Crimean campaign.
    Zhu De - General who can lead less trained, out gunned & out numbered force to victory deserves a spot on my list.
    D3adtrap, Aug 6, 2011
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  3. Achtung Kommunisten! Well-Known Member

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    Guderian, Manstein, Bismarck, Sun Tzu, Napoleon, and El Presidente of course!
    Achtung Kommunisten!, Aug 6, 2011
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  4. slydessertfox Total War Branch Head

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    Alexander The Great was better than all of them
    slydessertfox, Aug 6, 2011
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  5. D3adtrap www.twitter.com/d3adtrap | Mr. Choc: Coco Fruits

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    Highly arguable. For one he was born king, where as Julius & Pompey had to get to power to rule over armies. For second he used he's fathers army, who spend life time building it. Third he had amazing army, where as Zhu De as I pointed out had major disadvantages compared to enemy. Lastly Julius fought against various kinds of foes, including fellow legionaries, the best ancient warriors. You cant claim that Julius had any advantage over them, because he was using the very same troops. Where as Alexander fought mainly peasant armies.
    D3adtrap, Aug 6, 2011
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  6. Big J Well-Known Member

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    Sun Tzu literally wrote the book on how to wage war and his teachings are just as relevant today as they were back then.
    Big J, Aug 6, 2011
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  7. slydessertfox Total War Branch Head

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    Alexander The Great was outnumbered in almost every one of his battles. And I mean by a LOT. He was riding with the companion cavalry, for his entire life prior to becoming king, so they knew that he was not just leading their cavalry because he was the king but also because he was probably the best cavalryman out of them all.

    @BigJ i agree
    slydessertfox, Aug 6, 2011
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  8. yuri2045 A Marines Biologist

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    It's really relative, for generals it would depend on the time, because battles in different spaces of time change and I mean a lot.From the Ancient era it would proabably be Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, In the Middle Ages it can probably be Joan d'Arc or Richard Lionheart, even Attila can be considered, although I don't really know about generals in this time period. To the Early modern ages it can be Cortéz, Frederick the Gread, Süleiman and of course Napoleon.
    Then there's political leaders, but this area is not of my experience, but I could name Tokugawa Ieyasu, because he was a vassal of the Oda and later Hideyoshi until the 1580's, but in 20 years he took over his masters land through diplomacy, and later with all that land, he just united Japan under the Tokugawa clan for over 300 years.
    yuri2045, Aug 6, 2011
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  9. slydessertfox Total War Branch Head

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    well according to deadliest warrior, you can include sadam hussein and Pol Pot :p
    slydessertfox, Aug 6, 2011
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  10. LampRevolt Well-Known Member

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    Julius Caesar and Sun Tzu.
    LampRevolt, Aug 6, 2011
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  11. Big J Well-Known Member

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    According to Deadliest Warrior, Vlad "the Impaler" is better than Sun Tzu.
    Big J, Aug 6, 2011
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  12. SPARTAN_KING1178 Well-Known Member

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    Me, Myself, and I.
    SPARTAN_KING1178, Aug 6, 2011
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  13. matthewchris Guest

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    Alexander had the some of the best cavalry and the best pikemen in the world. Not only that, but he had the almost unbeatable phalanx which was capable of destroying wave after wave of Persians. He was born into greatness, but he was only a good general.
    matthewchris, Aug 6, 2011
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  14. Otto Von Bismark New Member

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    [IMG]
    Otto Von Bismark, Aug 6, 2011
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  15. yuri2045 A Marines Biologist

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    Actually, he just used one of the most usefull tactics known to man, killing them from behind, really, the only reason why he won a lot of battles was his cavalry, because the pikemen can easilly be overwhelmed without support, he also was a good ruler because he conquered a lot of land but most people wouldn't revl against him, because he had a policy of tolerating the local people and not interfering with their affairs, it allowed him to conquer almost all of what would in the future be the Arabian Empire.
    yuri2045, Aug 6, 2011
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  16. D3adtrap www.twitter.com/d3adtrap | Mr. Choc: Coco Fruits

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    And Julius Caesar, Zhu De, Erich von Manstien were not? Julius Caesar was outnumbered in Battle of Pharsalus by Pompey over two to one. Like I pointed out before Alexander fought mainly peasant armies, where as that particular engagement was against fellow legionaries.
    Zhu De was out numbered, out gunned and had basically militia fighting for him, yet he prevailed time after another.

    Both of these fought far superior foe quantity vise. Quality vise Caesar faced same quality foes and Zhu De had worse quality troops himself. Alexander had always the top quality soldiers on the battlefield.
    D3adtrap, Aug 6, 2011
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  17. JayJayGT Well-Known Member

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    Alexander the Great - Due to the fact that he conquered so much in so little time, and even though he was born into greatness, he, himself lead the army and the Companion cavalry to victory against Thebans, Thracians, Persians, Indians and Greeks, and that every hardship his men suffered, he suffered.

    Julius Caesar - An amazing general, who used his cunning and whit, in nearly every situation.

    Napoleon - Complete badass and was nearly invincible... nearly.

    Genghis Khan & Attila the Hun - Both used terror as a weapon, both conquered a considerable amount of land and both used hoardes of cavalry... and did I mention they were badass.

    These are just a few of my favourites... but there're many, many more.
    JayJayGT, Aug 6, 2011
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  18. Emperor Napoleon Mr. Multi

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    Oh this one easy

    1.Emperor Napoleon Bonaprte aka Me

    2.Juiles Ceaser

    3.Alexzander the Great

    4.Otto Von Bismarck

    5.Frederick the II of Prussia
    Emperor Napoleon, Aug 6, 2011
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  19. D3adtrap www.twitter.com/d3adtrap | Mr. Choc: Coco Fruits

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    On Alexander: Greeks he faces were rebellions (Just to up keep my point on that he faced mainly inferior or peasant armies)

    On Napoleon: Got defeated by Brits, failed to invade Portugal three times and led his men into one of the worst disasters in military history (talking about Russia ofc) The last one alone is a good reason not to put him on (my) list.
    D3adtrap, Aug 6, 2011
    #19

  20. JayJayGT Well-Known Member

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    @Deadtrap

    I hope you know that it wasn't just the British who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo... and Caeser faced inferior Barbarian armies in Gaul , yet nobody mentions this, also Deadtrap what about Alexander's victory over the Theban Sacred Band, when in command of the companion cavalry... and the mighty Persian forces at the Granicus, Halicarnassus, Miletus, the Issus, Tyre & Gaugamela - because they were all inferior armies weren't they.
    JayJayGT, Aug 6, 2011
    #20
    pokemon12 likes this.
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