Tiberius Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Some consideration for: Erich von Manstein: Perhaps the "best" overall general in 20th Century warfare. 1) 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. 2) Ulysses Grant: Terrible President, but he saves the Union from certain battlefield defeat but IMO, his most important battle was at Petersburg 1) Hard to disagree with this, but some might say he used up his men, but what else could he do? 2) Yes I think Grant was a great general who kept his cool and understood the flow of events during a battle. The Vicksburg campaign stands out to me as his best. He got along well with people and especially the navy in that instance. If Lee had his Pickett's charge, Grant had his Cold Harbor. His whole overland campaign was well done though. Kept the pressure on and locked Lee down tight while Sherman marched to the sea and up the coast again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdutton Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 General Zod General Chang: General Hammond: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireChan Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 General Tso. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpberr Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 1) Hard to disagree with this, but some might say he used up his men, but what else could he do? 2) Yes I think Grant was a great general who kept his cool and understood the flow of events during a battle. The Vicksburg campaign stands out to me as his best. He got along well with people and especially the navy in that instance. If Lee had his Pickett's charge, Grant had his Cold Harbor. His whole overland campaign was well done though. Kept the pressure on and locked Lee down tight while Sherman marched to the sea and up the coast again. Giap made my list because there aren't many battlefield commanders with his resume - outlasting or beating back three world powers in three different decades with essentially the same peasant army with small arms. His adversaries, regardless of decade, had fancier hardware, more of it and it got deadlier with each adversary. He was also smart enough to know Vietnam was enough. Agreed on Grant. I picked Petersburg because that was the decisive battle for Richmond, and thus the war. So long as Richmond survived, the war would continue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 General Tso. I geek out to an MMO called Star Wars The Old Republic from time to time and on Yavin 4 there is a Major Tso Even Generals had to climb the ranks at some point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
row_33 Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Guderian was a good subject for a University paper decades ago. Led Panzer invasions of Poland and France, twice retired for directly refusing to carry out orders from his boss (didn't know that was something that was allowed especially a second time), surrendered to the US and deemed not to be charged with war crimes, visited Britain later in life to discuss the battles with his opponents. Another German tank man gets all the glory for some reason, as much as we feel we are allowed to hand out from the winning side... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanker Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 General Malaise had a tight fisted grip on the economy for eight years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary M Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Not one mention of MIlls? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Not one mention of MIlls? How 'bout Tires too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 (edited) Guderian was a good subject for a University paper decades ago. Led Panzer invasions of Poland and France, twice retired for directly refusing to carry out orders from his boss (didn't know that was something that was allowed especially a second time), surrendered to the US and deemed not to be charged with war crimes, visited Britain later in life to discuss the battles with his opponents. Another German tank man gets all the glory for some reason, as much as we feel we are allowed to hand out from the winning side... They got all the glory because they were our only source for information on the Eastern Front. Most of them were interviewed by the US and Britain post-war less out of historical interest than for the practical reason of answering the question "How do we fight the Russians?" Since there were no Russians to contradict their stories, they could make up any old bull **** they wanted, which is why their stories are almost universally "We're all geniuses, and we would have won if it wasn't for friggin' Hitler." Since they got to write the history of the war unchallenged, it's also why you've never heard of the better junior Wehrmacht generals like Balck, Strachwitz, or Hube (who was called "Der Mensch" by Landsers in 1 Panzer Army - he wasn't "the old man," like most generals. He was just "The Man.") They never had the chance to write or publish their memoirs like Guderian or Manstein (although Balck's were published last year, and I do have them on my bookshelf, as well as Erhard Raus's.) It's also why you never hear of generals like Rokossovskiy (likely the best general of the war), Pliev, or Malinovsky. The Russians basically treated the entire war as top secret, so we heard nothing but the German point of view in the West for 50 or so years. Edited March 21, 2017 by DC Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 (edited) How about Charles Martel? The first European leader to stop the spread of Islam in the 9th century. Or William the Conqeror? If they call you "the Conqueror " you're probably boss. Shaka Zulu maybe? Edited March 22, 2017 by joesixpack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Two of my favorite generals And Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 How about Charles Martel? The first European leader to stop the spread of Islam in the 9th century. Or William the Conqeror? If they call you "the Conqueror " you're probably boss. Shaka Zulu maybe? William the Conqueror was also known as William the Bastard, which is much less flattering. Plus...have you ever read about the battle of Hastings? The Normans won practically by accident, when Harold Godwinson died and the Saxons fell apart. Shaka, I have high regards for, but can't consider him one of the greatest generals. I'm always amused at how he established the Zulu military legend: before him, Zulu warfare was highly ritualized. Impi would line up across from each other and sing, a couple of big swinging dicks would challenge each other in single combat between the lines, and at the end of the day they'd decide who won and everyone would go home. Then one day, Shaka says to himself "I have ten thousand guys with spears, why the !@#$ are we singing?..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberius Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Harold really had no chance at Hastings. Williams army was based upon mounted cavalry, barbed steeds. Harold was on foot, basically immobile. Think about the difference, Harold might even have lacked command and control, let alone mobility. William was a modern army fighting an ancient army. They had fought together and William learned how backwards the Brits were and understood his army was easily superior to Harolds. That's why he sailed across the channel to bring battle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azalin Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 General Disarray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo716 Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 My kinsman Casimir Pulaski, father of the American cavalry General of the Pulaski cavalry legion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frostbitmic Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 General Malfeasance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 My kinsman Casimir Pulaski, father of the American cavalry General of the Pulaski cavalry legion And City Holiday in Chicago. First Monday of March. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_Pulaski_Day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo716 Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 And City Holiday in Chicago. First Monday of March. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_Pulaski_Day There is a large parade in cheektowaga/Buffalo every year as well He is one of the reasons I have such a passion for History Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 My kinsman Casimir Pulaski, father of the American cavalry General of the Pulaski cavalry legion Wasn't there some old school Bills player named Walt Pulaski? Any relation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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