Military History Buffs: Give me your Top 5 Military Commanders of all time.

[AuburnAlumni]

Here's the deal...

You have an army. You are in charge of assigning an overall Commander with 4 Divisional Commanders.


Any military leader from any era and any nation is available to you.




My personal choices...


My overall commander is Napoleon Bonaparte.

My Divisional Commanders are....

Robert E Lee
George Patton
Genghis Khan
Hannibal

With Lee, I get a brilliant commander who will have his men fiercely loyal to him. He also has the ability to utilize his forces to the fullest, even against superior numbers.

With Patton, I get a sledge hammer. A leader who will be relentless in his aggressiveness and men who believe they'll be victorious every time.

Genghis Khan provides me with a brilliant attacking commander, utilizing superior battlefield tactics to surprise, encircle, and destroy his opponents.

Hannibal is another outstanding strategist who gets the most out of his troops.


Napoleon is a no brainer for me as my overall commander in that I feel he's the greatest military commander of all time.

[SPTO]

Re: Military History Buffs: Give me your Top 5 Military Commanders of all time.

I agree with your list though I'd replace Genghis Khan with Erwin Rommel. He got the job done even when tactically he didn't have the best soldiers or even superior numbers. We should also not forget that it was Rommel WITHOUT the aid of any intelligence and such knew where the Allies were going to land on D-Day but Hitler chose not to go with Rommel's advice.

[AuburnAlumni]

Re: Military History Buffs: Give me your Top 5 Military Commanders of all time.

I agree with your list though I'd replace Genghis Khan with Erwin Rommel. He got the job done even when tactically he didn't have the best soldiers or even superior numbers. We should also not forget that it was Rommel WITHOUT the aid of any intelligence and such knew where the Allies were going to land on D-Day but Hitler chose not to go with Rommel's advice.

Rommel was actually my next choice. lol I debated between Hannibal/Genghis Khan or go with Erwin Rommel/Stonewall Jackson.

[superjames1992]

Re: Military History Buffs: Give me your Top 5 Military Commanders of all time.

I agree with your list though I'd replace Genghis Khan with Erwin Rommel. He got the job done even when tactically he didn't have the best soldiers or even superior numbers. We should also not forget that it was Rommel WITHOUT the aid of any intelligence and such knew where the Allies were going to land on D-Day but Hitler chose not to go with Rommel's advice.

And the response to D-Day was more lackluster than it should have been because no one dared to wake Hitler up the morning of the invasion.

Of course, even if the Normandy landings were crushed, the Germans had almost no chance at stopping the Red Army in 1944. It would have probably just resulted in the Soviet domination of Europe via puppet states in the post-war era. The war would have certainly dragged on longer, though, as Hitler could mass all his formations against the Soviet Union instead of having to fight a two-front war in the last 11 months of the war.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: Military History Buffs: Give me your Top 5 Military Commanders of all time.

Sun Tzu
Napoleon Bonaparte
Robert E Lee
Hannibal
Erwin Rommel

JMHO

[AuburnAlumni]

Re: Military History Buffs: Give me your Top 5 Military Commanders of all time.

Sun Tzu
Napoleon Bonaparte
Robert E Lee
Hannibal
Erwin Rommel

JMHO

Tzu your overall commander? Interesting.

[bkrich83]

Re: Military History Buffs: Give me your Top 5 Military Commanders of all time.

Sun Tzu
Napoleon Bonaparte
Robert E Lee
Hannibal
Erwin Rommel

JMHO

I like this list alot, although I think Patton was more pioneering in his use of armor than Rommel. Patton was probably the biggest go getter of the group.

It's a tough list to make. Are we talking small unit tactics, strategic level commanding, mission planning and logsitics, etc.

[jb12780]

George Washington
Robert E. Lee
Patton
Schwartzkofph
William Wallace


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[AuburnAlumni]

Re: Military History Buffs: Give me your Top 5 Military Commanders of all time.

I like this list alot, although I think Patton was more pioneering in his use of armor than Rommel. Patton was probably the biggest go getter of the group.

It's a tough list to make. Are we talking small unit tactics, strategic level commanding, mission planning and logsitics, etc.

I went with a mix for mine. So yeah...a mixture of the various traits would be the way to go IMO.

Generals like Khan and Patton would be my "go to" commanders for assaults. Lee would be my strength in rearguard actions and defense. Napoleon is an outstanding strategic level commander, etc.

[19]

Re: Military History Buffs: Give me your Top 5 Military Commanders of all time.

Tzu your overall commander? Interesting.

Absolutely. If you haven't read the 'Art of War", I highly recommend it. Especially if you're interested at all in Military History. It's amazing how many things in there that are relevant to warfare today. IIRC, there is also a 2 hour special on Sun Tzu that airs on History Channel from time to time.

A couple a my favorites quotes...

“To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the
opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.” - Sun Tzu

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” - Sun Tzu

[Blitz1942]

Re: Military History Buffs: Give me your Top 5 Military Commanders of all time.

I'm far more knowledged on World War 2 than other conflicts, so I'm sort of biased with a few of my picks, but if I had to build an army these would be my generals:

Julius Caesar - He'd be my overall commander. There's better out there, but Caesar knew how to get the people behind him (with the exception of those who feared he'd become too powerful as an emperor). People wanted to fight for Caesar. He was motivating and spoke well. He was also a great tactician and very smart with his attacks.

Erwin Rommel - Rommel needs to be included in any and every list. He did more with less than almost every other general. He was a nightmare for the French in 1940 as commander of the 7. Panzer Division. He pushed the British around with a smaller force through most of the North Africa campaign, but ended up losing the overall battle because Hitler stopped sending him support (it all ended up being diverted to the Eastern Front). He still managed to fight off both the British and Americans before being pulled out by German high command. He built up the Atlantic Wall at Normandy because he felt that would be the attack point, but still didn't get the resources or troops required to fully defend the area.

George S. Patton - "Attack, attack, and attack some more." "No one ever defended anything successfully." "A violently executed plan executed now is better than a perfectly executed plan executed later." "Stay on the enemy's heels, don't give him the chance to breath and recover." "You don't win a war by dieing for your country. You win a war by making the other poor bastard die for his." If that didn't clarify things, Patton's my offensive specialist. He knew how to run an offensive campaign. Never let up, never let the enemy rest. That's the type of soldier you want leading your attacks.

Albert Kesselring - Churchill wanted to delay an attack on France and attack Italy. His logic: To defeat the crocodile, you don't attack it head on (France), but go after it's soft underbelly (Italy) to avoid the teeth. Now, normally this works, except the Germans had Kesselring in Italy. Kesselring ended up making that "soft underbelly" a bloody two year struggle for every foot of ground. Kesselring would be my defensive commander because of this. He was also very popular among his troops, a bonus for any commander.

Georgy Zhukov - Most well known for retaking Stalingrad after the Germans had taken over 90% of the city. He could defend when he needed to, and he could attack when he needed to. He knew how to win a war of attrition.

[AustSaint]

A good question and one that has made me think a lot about all the generals that I admire.
Commanding general
Napoleon Bonaparte
The four divisional generals were the most difficult, as personalities had to be weighed with the idea of working under Bonaparte.
Arthur Wellesley the duke of Wellington
Alexander the great
Henry the fifth
Gustavus Adolphus the second

[BestServedCold]

Re: Military History Buffs: Give me your Top 5 Military Commanders of all time.

Commander General
Alexander the Great

Divisional Generals
Flavius Belisarius
Khalid ibn al-Walid (the Drawn Sword of God)
Hannibal
Saladin


That would be an unbeatable army.

[dickey1331]

Re: Military History Buffs: Give me your Top 5 Military Commanders of all time.

Commander

Adolf Hitler

Divisional Generals

George S. Patton
Robert E. Lee
Douglas MacArthur
Alexander the Great

[TripleCrown9]

Re: Military History Buffs: Give me your Top 5 Military Commanders of all time.

Alexander the Great

Napoleon
Washington
Khan
Rommel