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Best Generals of all Time


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Patton was a great battlefield general but was not a good war general

 

Washington on the other hand was a poor battlefield general but an excellent war general

 

Lee would presents an interesting theoretical dilemma. what if Lee had comparable resources and financial backing as his Union counterparts?

I think Washington was a good general with what he had. His victory at second Trenton and Princeton was a thing of beauty. The Yorktown campign was another gem. Just holding that army together was a job.

 

And I totally agree about Lee. What if he faced a decent opposing general before Meade? What if he wasn't facing such long odds, would he have been more cautious?

 

Job Stuart was a great general

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Patton? He wasn't even one of the top 5 generals in World War 2.

 

Subotai

Alexander of Macedon

Timur Lenk

Napoleon

Thomas Johnathon Jackson.

I think I'm just partial to his no nonsense attitude

 

He'd be the one I take out and could put a bunch in...

 

Stonewall as you said

 

George Washington for his War command

 

Eisenhower

 

MacArthur

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Hannibal. He went to Italy with no support or logistics and stayed for thirteen years waging war and defeating larger Roman armies in the most daring and sustained military campaign in history. Raised an army on in Spain and marched it over the alps and down into Italy winning some of the greatest battles in history. And no movie about this guy?? Boo!

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Hannibal. He went to Italy with no support or logistics and stayed for thirteen years waging war and defeating larger Roman armies in the most daring and sustained military campaign in history. Raised an army on in Spain and marched it over the alps and down into Italy winning some of the greatest battles in history. And no movie about this guy?? Boo!

I'm not huge into movies... But is there no Hannibal Barca movie?

 

He was brilliant... That's why I needed him on the list

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Hannibal. He went to Italy with no support or logistics and stayed for thirteen years waging war and defeating larger Roman armies in the most daring and sustained military campaign in history. Raised an army on in Spain and marched it over the alps and down into Italy winning some of the greatest battles in history. And no movie about this guy?? Boo!

It was all a lie. Northern African elephants didn't even exist.

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I think I'm just partial to his no nonsense attitude

 

He'd be the one I take out and could put a bunch in...

 

Stonewall as you said

 

George Washington for his War command

 

Eisenhower

 

MacArthur

 

Ike was a pedestrian general, at best. His best skills by far were political, which is why he was such an excellent coalition commander at SHAEF, and probably our best-qualified president.

 

Don't even get me started on Dugout Doug. In WWI, in command of the Rainbow Division, his casualty rates were so high that even the French thought he was bloodthirsty (the same French that thought they could defeat machine guns with good troop morale). He managed to get his ass fired for insubordination by TWO presidents, took bribes from the Philippine government, managed to lose an entire air force (including the largest grouping of strategic air power in the US Army Air Corps) on the ground despite having 12 hours warning of impending attack, abandon an army in the field and got a Medal of Honor for it, oversaw two separate military disasters in two separate wars (the Philippines in WWII, and "The Great Bugout" in Korea,) stuck an untrained reserve division into the foulest battlefield on the planet with no support (he even stripped the artillery) and canned all the commanding officers when they couldn't get results, maintained an occupation army in Japan that was so ridiculously unready that the 24th Infantry had to strip an entire regiment to put a battalion-minus task force into the field that was still under equipped.

 

On the other hand, his New Guinea campaign after Buna-Gona-Sanananda was an absolute masterpiece of combined arms operations and economy of force, he had the best understanding of the use of airpower of any general in the US Army, his withdrawal in to the Bataan peninsula is a case study in fighting retreats, and even though a half-witted shavetail looie fresh out of West Point could have drawn up the Inchon operation, he actually did it.

 

He's a complex character. But overall, I think in most conditions in most eras he would have gotten his ass kicked by competent generalship.

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Ike was a pedestrian general, at best. His best skills by far were political, which is why he was such an excellent coalition commander at SHAEF, and probably our best-qualified president.

 

Don't even get me started on Dugout Doug. In WWI, in command of the Rainbow Division, his casualty rates were so high that even the French thought he was bloodthirsty (the same French that thought they could defeat machine guns with good troop morale). He managed to get his ass fired for insubordination by TWO presidents, took bribes from the Philippine government, managed to lose an entire air force (including the largest grouping of strategic air power in the US Army Air Corps) on the ground despite having 12 hours warning of impending attack, abandon an army in the field and got a Medal of Honor for it, oversaw two separate military disasters in two separate wars (the Philippines in WWII, and "The Great Bugout" in Korea,) stuck an untrained reserve division into the foulest battlefield on the planet with no support (he even stripped the artillery) and canned all the commanding officers when they couldn't get results, maintained an occupation army in Japan that was so ridiculously unready that the 24th Infantry had to strip an entire regiment to put a battalion-minus task force into the field that was still under equipped.

 

On the other hand, his New Guinea campaign after Buna-Gona-Sanananda was an absolute masterpiece of combined arms operations and economy of force, he had the best understanding of the use of airpower of any general in the US Army, his withdrawal in to the Bataan peninsula is a case study in fighting retreats, and even though a half-witted shavetail looie fresh out of West Point could have drawn up the Inchon operation, he actually did it.

 

He's a complex character. But overall, I think in most conditions in most eras he would have gotten his ass kicked by competent generalship.

Stratego guy hides behind miners

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I'm not huge into movies... But is there no Hannibal Barca movie?

 

He was brilliant... That's why I needed him on the list

 

There is no Hannibal Barca movie...mostly because there's no Phoenecian cultural heritage (as opposed to influence) anywhere in the world. People want to watch people they can relate to.

 

Just like there's no Sargon or Tiglath-Pileser movies, either (both of who probably deserves an "honorable mention" for the top 5.) Plenty of influence, but very little cultural heritage of ancient Akkadian or Assyrian remaining in the world.

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There is no Hannibal Barca movie...mostly because there's no Phoenecian cultural heritage (as opposed to influence) anywhere in the world. People want to watch people they can relate to.

 

Just like there's no Sargon or Tiglath-Pileser movies, either (both of who probably deserves an "honorable mention" for the top 5.) Plenty of influence, but very little cultural heritage of ancient Akkadian or Assyrian remaining in the world.

 

Sargon of Akkad is definitely an interesting character.

 

And like you said Akkadian culture is not represented in the world

 

He is the Augustus Caesar of Semetic cultures

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Ike was a pedestrian general, at best. His best skills by far were political, which is why he was such an excellent coalition commander at SHAEF, and probably our best-qualified president.

 

Don't even get me started on Dugout Doug. In WWI, in command of the Rainbow Division, his casualty rates were so high that even the French thought he was bloodthirsty (the same French that thought they could defeat machine guns with good troop morale). He managed to get his ass fired for insubordination by TWO presidents, took bribes from the Philippine government, managed to lose an entire air force (including the largest grouping of strategic air power in the US Army Air Corps) on the ground despite having 12 hours warning of impending attack, abandon an army in the field and got a Medal of Honor for it, oversaw two separate military disasters in two separate wars (the Philippines in WWII, and "The Great Bugout" in Korea,) stuck an untrained reserve division into the foulest battlefield on the planet with no support (he even stripped the artillery) and canned all the commanding officers when they couldn't get results, maintained an occupation army in Japan that was so ridiculously unready that the 24th Infantry had to strip an entire regiment to put a battalion-minus task force into the field that was still under equipped.

 

On the other hand, his New Guinea campaign after Buna-Gona-Sanananda was an absolute masterpiece of combined arms operations and economy of force, he had the best understanding of the use of airpower of any general in the US Army, his withdrawal in to the Bataan peninsula is a case study in fighting retreats, and even though a half-witted shavetail looie fresh out of West Point could have drawn up the Inchon operation, he actually did it.

 

He's a complex character. But overall, I think in most conditions in most eras he would have gotten his ass kicked by competent generalship.

Losing the AF on the ground in the Philippines was simply unforgivable.
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Ike was a pedestrian general, at best. His best skills by far were political, which is why he was such an excellent coalition commander at SHAEF, and probably our best-qualified president.

 

Don't even get me started on Dugout Doug. In WWI, in command of the Rainbow Division, his casualty rates were so high that even the French thought he was bloodthirsty (the same French that thought they could defeat machine guns with good troop morale). He managed to get his ass fired for insubordination by TWO presidents, took bribes from the Philippine government, managed to lose an entire air force (including the largest grouping of strategic air power in the US Army Air Corps) on the ground despite having 12 hours warning of impending attack, abandon an army in the field and got a Medal of Honor for it, oversaw two separate military disasters in two separate wars (the Philippines in WWII, and "The Great Bugout" in Korea,) stuck an untrained reserve division into the foulest battlefield on the planet with no support (he even stripped the artillery) and canned all the commanding officers when they couldn't get results, maintained an occupation army in Japan that was so ridiculously unready that the 24th Infantry had to strip an entire regiment to put a battalion-minus task force into the field that was still under equipped.

 

On the other hand, his New Guinea campaign after Buna-Gona-Sanananda was an absolute masterpiece of combined arms operations and economy of force, he had the best understanding of the use of airpower of any general in the US Army, his withdrawal in to the Bataan peninsula is a case study in fighting retreats, and even though a half-witted shavetail looie fresh out of West Point could have drawn up the Inchon operation, he actually did it.

 

He's a complex character. But overall, I think in most conditions in most eras he would have gotten his ass kicked by competent generalship.

Dugout Doug lol

 

Definitely not on the list

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Losing the AF on the ground in the Philippines was simply unforgivable.

 

It was, but it's really thinking he was bloodthirsty that gets me.

 

I mean, French generals were so profligate with their mens' lives that the French Army mutinied in 1917 and refused to fight until Petain promised an end to "suicidal offensives." And THESE are the generals that thought MacArthur's casualty list was awfully long.

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Some consideration for:

 

Erich von Manstein: Perhaps the "best" overall general in 20th Century warfare.

 

Vo Nguyen Giap: Outlasts the Japanese, beats the French and United States over three decades in Vietnam.

 

Ferdinand Foch: French General, World War I - he saves the Allied bacon three times - at both battles at Marne and the one at Somme.

 

Ulysses Grant: Terrible President, but he saves the Union from certain battlefield defeat but IMO, his most important battle was at Petersburg

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