Updated August 21, 2019 30.0K votes 6.8K voters 316.7K views
Voting Rules
Weighing only the skills of the generals, vote up those who would win an all-out war.
The great military theorist von Clausewitz once wrote "war is the realm of chance." So many unpredictable factors affect success in battles. How can we discuss skill or generalship when a chance of rain the night before a battle might completely change its outcome? And yet, as the greatest generals know, there are no excuses in combat. If it rains, the rain must be accounted for and turned to an advantage. Adaptability, courage, charisma, and intelligence all play a part in a successful military campaign.
The generals in this imaginative exercise are the best of the best. These are the generals who have won the most battles against the greatest odds, who have forged empires, and who have left indelible marks on world history.
So how to decide between them? It's important that only the general's individual skill be considered. Naturally, Erwin Rommel's tanks would demolish the armies of Hannibal Barca, but if the technological gap were ignored, would Hannibal's encirclement technique defeat the Desert Fox? Would Takeda Shingen's lightning cavalry shatter the brilliant defensive tactics of Georgy Zhukov if they had similar numbers and equipment? Vote up the general you think would dominate in an all-out brawl between the most brilliant military minds history has to offer.
Where And When: When Alexander the Great was born, in 356 BCE, he had a huge military head start. His father, Philip II, had assembled a great army. However, without Alexander's military genius, it's unlikely even that mighty army would have gone on to conquer an unprecedented amount of territory, creating one of the largest empires of the ancient world.
His Greatest Achievements: Alexander was a prodigious tactician and a great military innovator. One of his most consistent tactics was to arrange his troops in a signature wedge shape, which made it easier to defend the core of the army from archers, and allowed cavalry to sweep out and punch holes in the enemies defenses. That's how he won the Battle of Issus against a much larger Persian force, perhaps his greatest accomplishment.
How He Went Out: To this day, it's unclear what ended Alexander the Great at the age of 32. Some said malaria, others said poison. His armies had already reached into India, and he was planning an invasion of Arabia; who knows what he might have accomplished had he lived. Maybe he would have eventually lost a battle.
Where And When: Born in 100 BCE, Julius Caesar rose to the heights of Roman society both through the luck of his birth, and his incredible usefulness as a military commander. He was responsible for the conquest of Gaul and the strengthening of the Roman legions. This, in turn, allowed him to achieve supreme political power and to become the unchecked ruler of the empire he had such a big hand in forging.
His Greatest Achievements: The conquest of Gaul, Caesar's greatest military achievement, was made possible through his shrewd use of military engineers. These were specialized groups that could quickly build powerful fortifications, seemingly overnight. This allowed the highly organized Roman army to fight as though fortified, even in wilderness battlefields.
How He Went Out: Politics got the better of Caesar, and he was stabbed in the Roman forum. His military career had ended after he thoroughly defeated the rebellious Pompeiian faction at the Battle of Pharsalus.
Where And When: The man who would be known as the "Master of Europe" was born a commoner in 1769. A lifelong military man, he rose through the ranks during the French Revolution and eventually became Emperor of France through a coup. This was the start of an explosive time for France, during which Napoleon's armies crushed the nations of Europe and stretched all the way into Russia, even sending expeditions into Egypt.
Win/Loss Ratio: 88.3% (38 wins, 5 losses - numbers that make him by far the most statistically successful general in world history)
His Greatest Achievements: His military innovations are too many to count here, but Napoleon's genius is synonymous with his success at the Battle of Austerlitz. Taking a huge risk, he ordered his army to retreat from the most defensible ground, giving the impression of fear and disorganization. Overconfident, his enemies pursued him, and they were crushed when Napoleon's hidden Third Corps joined the fray.
How He Went Out: After his famous and crushing defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon was forced to abdicate. He entered into exile and perished on the Isle of Saint Helena, possibly from stomach cancer.
Where And When: Hannibal Barca was part of a family of great warriors. Various members of his family commanded the Carthaginian Armies during the Punic Wars with Rome. Indeed, Hannibal was born into these battles in 247 BCE. While the conflict ended with the devastation of Carthage, Hannibal Barca led his troops to stunning success in several engagements with the Romans.
His Greatest Achievements: While Hannibal is best known for the stunning logistical feat of crossing the Alps, his greatest military achievement was at the battle of Cannae. The Romans had raised a force of 80,000 troops to Hannibal's 50,000. Rather than relying on conventional military wisdom, Hannibal used his cavalry to encircle the Roman Army, flanking them and crushing the much larger force.
How He Went Out: After being betrayed by an ally, Hannibal was defeated at the battle of Zama. He fled into exile, where he fought for a few smaller kingdoms before eventually taking his own life to avoid extradition to Rome.
Where And When: It might seem unlikely that two of the world's greatest military geniuses would live at the same time, and history should draw them into direct conflict, but that's exactly what happened in the case of Arthur Wellesley and Napoleon. Wellesley was an Irish aristocrat who rose through the ranks of the British military, winning numerous engagements by land and sea, until he came into direct conflict with Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815.
His Greatest Achievements: While Wellesley will forever be known for Waterloo, his tactical mind was best on display during the battle of Salamanca. He was evenly matched with his French counterpart, the general Marmont, for weeks. Finally, seeing an opening, Wellesley committed his entire cavalry force to a charge that may have been the most effective single cavalry movement of the Napoleonic Wars. This combination of patience and decisiveness was characteristic of Wellesley.
How He Went Out: Waterloo was the end of Wellesley's military career. Like many successful generals, he transitioned into politics, becoming a powerful conservative voice and, eventually, prime minister.
Where And When: Georgy Zhukov was the Soviet Union's greatest military general, whose successes were all the more remarkable given that the Soviet military was rife with corruption, incompetence, and nepotism. He was responsible for pushing the Japanese out of Mongolia, and stopping the German advance at Leningrad in 1941.
His Greatest Achievements: Zhukov's most stunning victories were defensive, stopping the German army at Leningrad and Moscow. In Moscow particularly, he exhibited his greatest skill: an unparalleled understanding of terrain and troop movement. This careful attention to battlefield mechanics allowed the Soviet Army to hold its own against German superiority of numbers and equipment.
How He Went Out: After WWII, Zhukov was so enormously popular that Stalin viewed him as a threat. He was removed from supreme command and entered politics, where he remained until he was 62. Eventually, he was forced out by Khrushchev, and later on he suffered from a stroke and passed.
