Who is better general?

[Semper Fi]

If those are your measures, then Cortes wins hands down.

What about his cousin Pizarro?

He did more with a less force, and Cortez had several tribes that despised the Aztecs on his side.

[zraver]

The Spanish conquistadors cannot really be counted. The differance in technology and erasian diseases made it an unfair match up. Hell the Aztecs beat Cortez and then fell to the disease she left behind.

[Semper Fi]

No Cortez did conquer the Aztecs with help.

The Aztecs beat themselves by trying to capture the Spaniards for sacrificial puposes instead of just killing them. A stubborn bunch they were.

And yeah the Spaniards had horses, armor, better weapons, and disease.

[Officer of Engineers]

If you're talking about lasting effects. The Spaniards killed gods both litterally and figurartively. It's pretty hard to argue that the Spaniard God is stronger than the Aztec God, epecially when you're squirming and dying without the Spaniards laying a hand on you.

Alexander may come the closest to that in he himself believe he was a god but nobody worshipped him after he died while South America represents the largest Catholic community in the world.

[Bill]

The world is a better place without the Aztecs.

I say Kudos to you Mr.Cortez. You may have been a murdering son of a biitch, but your efforts were for the betterment of mankind.

[Semper Fi]

Cortez couldn't of cared less about mankind. All he cared about was getting the color.

And the Aztecs weren't that bad if they didn't love to sacrifice people. Other then sacrifices they rarely killed anyone including their enemies.

Ironically Cortez loved Mexico, and the natives so much he requested to be buried there instead of his native Spain.

[zraver]

If you're talking about lasting effects. The Spaniards killed gods both litterally and figurartively. It's pretty hard to argue that the Spaniard God is stronger than the Aztec God, epecially when you're squirming and dying without the Spaniards laying a hand on you.

Alexander may come the closest to that in he himself believe he was a god but nobody worshipped him after he died while South America represents the largest Catholic community in the world.

By the same token then the Mongols are back in the running beucase the Arabs still haven't recovered form thier last caliph being rolled up in a carpet and trampled to death.

The Roman's are back in the running beucase, well the vatican and many of it's traditions and all of it's power stems from decsions made during the days of the empire. And the lingering legal code and and influence son modern republican goverment.

[Officer of Engineers]

I was speaking of the fact that you watch your own god die while you're dying along with him just because the new god showed up.

[Guest]

why Hitler is part of the list .... the thread is about generals ..

if the politicians are to be included my vote goes with Lenin whose ideology created the largest empire (communist empire) ever in history

[deadkenny]

why Hitler is part of the list .... the thread is about generals ..

if the politicians are to be included my vote goes with Lenin whose ideology created the largest empire (communist empire) ever in history

Hitler actually did direct the armies, down to quite a level of detail on the eastern front in particular. So I can understand including him in the list as a 'general' (in the generic sense of directing armed forces, not in terms of actually holding the military rank), however, IMHO people are way off base selecting him as 'the best', given the others on the list.

[neilmpenny]

Pity Erwin Rommel never made the list or was mentioned in your idle chatter. He was pretty special.

[Porky]

Hitler's invasion of Poland was the equivalent strategic blunder as Japan's Pearl Harbor attack.

I've always wondered what would have happened had Hitler ignored the terms of the tripartite pact on some pretext and not declared war on the U.S.

Despite Poland, despite Pearl Harbor, the U.S only declared war on Japan. Hitler first declared war on the U.S- dumber than Poland.

I mean after Poland, it was still the "phony war".

[Publius_]

Adolf Hitler was a corporal and an armchair general... while the Germans achieved great successes in the early stages of WWII, it was blitzkrieg warfare and the Allies unpreparedness for it is what German successes can be attributed to.

Adolf Hitler in the early years of the war was like a random investor in the late 90's... there were no wrong stocks to pick from, really, only better stocks.

I have to say, I don't really see the point of this thread. I don't think there's any point in having a highly subjective poll with many non-researched opinions... I think it would be better to open threads debating the fine points of individual generalship, and if we are to compare generals, it should be contemporary generals on the same or opposing sides (ex. Rommel and Montgomery, Patton and Montgomery, Zhukov and his Russian and German contemporaries, etc.)

[crooks]

Hannibal Barca

If he would of beaten the Roman Empire the world would be alot different.

"Hannibal is at the Gates"

And why is Hitler in the list instead of Zhukov, Rommel or Patton?

Agreed.

Only a lack of men prevented him from doing so.

Wasn't Patton a bit "crazy"?

Also, Monty would be worth an add.

[baz0927]

Where is Monty on the list?