ofelas

Trying to keep this as a measure of military feats & prowess, and nothing else; though I do realize there's bound to be some overlap with political leadership.

I've started with a short list, please feel free to explain whom else y'all think should be on the list, and why.

I've tried my best to restrict the list to major players, and not include isolated incidents of bravery/heroism/single battles.

Thx!

Mods - Could you please delete the word "hold" in the title, thx.

Stitch

Sal-al-din; fought for what he believed in, was (relatively) fair to his enemies (especially for the Middle Ages), was a master strategist and a great leader. Was never pointlessly brutal (except when necessary), and more or less lived by the Golden Rule.

Ray

It is hard to say who is the greatest.

They all added to the woes of the world!!

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"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

HAKUNA MATATA

Ray

Call me a wimp. if you wish!

I have seen wars and it leads to nowhere.

It is fun in an air-conditioned home, with the CNN live, and a beer by the side!

gamercube

Ashoka.

H.G Wells describes it best:

Sir,

You have to agree that Ashoka actually tried a great deal to reduce the woes of the world.

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Hasta la Victoria siempre!

Shuttlecat

None of the above. That should always be a choice.

snc128

ghengis(cengiz) khan, scipio, alexander the great, atilla the hun, salahaddin eyyubi, julius caesar, kublai(kubilay) khan they all were extraordinary military leaders.
but Mustafa K.Atatürk, Fatih the Conquerer and the Suleyman the Maginificient should be included in the list.

Atatürk created unbelievable strategies where there was no power equilibrium and changed the destiny of a nation completely.

the conquest of Istanbul (actually Constantinopole) by Sultan Mehmed the Conquest is a real militarist and strategical achievement all on its own.

Suleyman the magnificient increased the Ottoman territory from 2million km^2 to 6million km^2 in his nearly 40 years reign period.it means 3 times bigger...

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Peace at home, peace in the world

bolo121

Flavius Belisarius, Last of the Romans

Did more with less than many a leader.

Bigfella

I would have thought that Zhukov (Russia WW2) or Spruance (America WW2) were ata least as worthy of a spot as Rommel & Yamamoto.

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Win nervously lose tragically - Reds C C

S-2

"They all added to the woes of the world!!"

"It is fun in an air-conditioned home, with the CNN live, and a beer by the side!"

Separate posts but superb perspectives from a career military professional and combat veteran.

Succinct and to the point, Brigadier. Right on.

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"This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski

Officer of Engineers

I remember a Chinese proverb describing a good general and a bad general.

If we have a good general, we eat tonight. If we have a bad general, we will be running for our lives.

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Chimo

Kansas Bear

The Brigadier has wisdom comparable to Erasmus.

"Dulce bellum inexpertis" (War is delightful to the inexperienced).
~Erasmus

bolo121

Have to agree about GK Zukhov, was reading 'When Titans Clashed' recently, and was again struck by the scale of his achievements.

ofelas

Spruance - while a trendsetter, I wouldn't include him in the list as a leader who had feats of military prowess. I would have included Guderian as a forward thinking founder of doctrine/tactician before Spruance.

Zhukov - now here's a tough one - while some of his end goals were successful, at what cost? He generally managed to sacrifice 5 times the number of his own troops at any given time - I question his costly victories like Stalingrad, Berlin etc. on this premise; that's without even getting into Rzhev, Operation Mars or his command at Totskoye.

Ray

(embarrassed)!

I will remember this saying of Erasmus.