lwarmonger

Robert E Lee. Truly worthy of personal and professional respect.

crooks

Hannibal.

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Oscar

Napoléon I think . He fought and won against five coalitions of European nations. That's not too bad

Rifleman

I'm not that impressed by great generals who came close to "conquering the known world." I admire men who served something besides their own ambitions. These come to mind:

King David: Faith, personal courage, loyalty, and ability. I'm not sure he was a great "general" but he was certainly a great leader.

Daniel Morgan: Cowpens was perhaps the tactical masterpiece of The American Revolution.

Thomas Jonathan Jackson: Same qualities as King David.

William Slim: Has anyone ever done as much with good light infantry?

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"Aim small, miss small." - Benjamin Martin in The Patriot

Albany Rifles

Agree

Daniel Morgan: Cowpens was perhaps the tactical masterpiece of The American Revolution.

William Slim: Has anyone ever done as much with good light infantry

I would add the following to this list.

Nathaniel Greene His masterful handling of the Southern Theater in 1780-1781 led to success for the United States.

Sam Grant His use of manuever was brilliant (Donelson, Vicksburg, Chttanooga, movement South of the James), his tenacity was outstanding and his magnanimity in victory helped heal a nation.

John J. Pershing. Not a great strategist nor tactician. But his insistance that the AEF stay together as a fighting force provided a valuable bedrock for the growth of the US Army in the 20th Century.

Carl Spaatz. Not often given credit for the Air Campaign over Europe. While the USAAF/RAF Bomber Command never fully detroyed German production, the strategic bombing camoaign forced the Luftwaffe to fight...which resulted in its destruction and enabled the successful opening of the Second Front.

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“When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers.” — Oscar Wilde

sealion

I guess what this session has to deal with , is about the judgement of histrory on the reputation of military leaders after their death, and their military skills , this is what we are talking about . History use to give the term GREAT to those who where the best , many are mentioned here , Alexander the Great however is the one i like most , his tactics were mentioned and studied by Napoleon Bonaparte , used in wwII by Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , being teached in military academies around the world etc , he made it all the way to India with not being able to take any support from his motherland Greece which those days where months behind him , he had no water if his soldiers hadn't , he said when i ll die carry me along my troops with my hands open so they ll be able to see i m not taking anything with me (he died at the age of 33 y.o.) he fought many times against numerous enemies and he never lost a battle. Offcourse there were many skilled military leaders , Alexander the Great is my vote , (as long i have to support only one)

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Solon you Greeks will be for ever kids,you forget your history and you start all over again(Plato)

dave lukins

Suleyman increased and Ataturk took away... well, he abolished the Ottoman caliphate

snc128

well,the focus point is not the caliphate but successfulness. anyway, each historical event is evaluated based on the needs of its time.

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Peace at home, peace in the world

zraver

bunch of choices, but only allowed 1. Bobby Lee was probalby the greatest combined arms American battlefield commander. His ability to read the enemy and react before the enemy was awesome. IIRc the British Military attache attached to his HQ described how after each battle vs Grant, Lee would pinpoint the exact next spot the two armies would collide.

For modern American- Patton as the stereotype since I could choose Abrams or the other avatars of tank warfare.

Greatest of all time, hrmmm very hard to say. Nimitz, Nelson, Alexander, Wellington seem to be the top four as far as global impact goes.

Shamus

From my own perspective no one on this list stands out.Some of the military leaders I personally respect the most have posted responses to this thread.

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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but
it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

dave lukins

Don, how many times have I told you not to look long in the mirror.

Albany Rifles

[quote=zraver;480701]bunch of choices, but only allowed 1. Bobby Lee was probalby the greatest combined arms American battlefield commander. His ability to read the enemy and react before the enemy was awesome. IIRc the British Military attache attached to his HQ described how after each battle vs Grant, Lee would pinpoint the exact next spot the two armies would collide.QUOTE]

1. There was no more official British military presence in the Conferderacy after Arthur Freemantle left in the late summer of 1863. It had simply become too much of a political hot potato for the British to risk having any of their serving officers caught within Confederate lines. So this never happened. And since the UK never recognized the CSA there would never have been a "British Military Attache".

2. Lee and Grant first tangled in May 64...no Brits around.

3. Who did Lee beat? Lost to Meade at Gettysburg and never figured better than a draw after that. Additionally Lee was not fighting a combined arms battle from May 64 onward; he was fighting a desperate deensive battle. His one great strategic move int eh summer fo 1864 (Early to the Valley and beyond) didn't amount to more than scaring some clerks and generals. Grants detached 1 corps from his army (VIth Corps) who stopped Early outside of Washington. And the detached force was destroyed by Sheridan over the course of the autumn.

LetsTalk

My friends and I always make fun of local new for trying to find the "The Chicago Connection" in every news story. When the levy broke in New Orleans, hours were spend on local media talking about Chicagoans in NO. When the Tsunami hit Asia a few years ago the same thing.

Lets see the choices Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Saladin AND Robert E Lee??? Pretty good general yes, but not worthy of this list.

Rifleman

Here's two I find worthy of admiration: James Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Instead of using their famous names to seek easy assignments they both sought combat.

Jimmy Roosevelt was Evans Carlson's XO in the 2nd Raider Battalion during the Makin Raid. Some of the USMC brass were nervous about letting him go on the raid but FDR threatened to cancel the raid by executive order if his son was not allowed to go into harm's way.

Teddy Jr. was ADC of the 4th ID and insisted on being in the lead assault wave at Utah beach. When the landing craft put them more than a mile off their objective on the wrong beach, Roosevelt reportedly said "We'll start the war from right here!"

Albany Rifles

Good choices.

As for Jimmy, there was also the political risk of his association with "Red" Carlson, who's political beliefs were always suspect!