Famous Military Comanders

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DeletedUser

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Just thought I would trial an idea on Famous Military commanders, what we thought of them; what they were good at and what in the way let them down. There are a lot to pick from both from ancient history to modern times.

To start this off here are a few:

Hannibal
Leader from ancient history (aka Cartha) who made a blood oath to his farther to take out the Romans (when the roman empire was in its infancy). As a commander on the battlefield he was a great military strategist (some consider one of the greatest) and to some degree knew how to defeat armies my deviding them and using their weaknesses against them, however, as an overall leader, he lacked vision and any real in-depth grasp of strategy when it comes to conquest and associated diplomacy. As an individual he was also a barbaric sadist who cared nothing for his troops, only in his own glory; this was bore out when he drove his troops and elephants across the alps (in winter !!!) costing him half his army before he had his first real fight. In the end he lost because he failed to realise that even though he destroyed a roman army in Cannae (some consider his greatest victory) the romans had enough man power to lose these many troops many times and strill field an anrmy against him. Many still see him as one of the greatest strategists since his tactics in battlefiedl warfare were adopted by the Romans to defeat him.

Mark Anthony (aka Markus Anthonius) - most will know this from the poor depiction in the Cleopatra movie. Again much like Hannibal he was great on the battlefield, but again was a very poor strategist / diplomat overall. When the empire was broken up he took the largest area of land and let Octavian take the area that included Rome. Octavian being a much better diplomat / strategist knew the key to ruling the empire was Rome. In the great battle that took place on the sea at Actium and then on land at Alexandria Mark Anthony went against Octavian with troops that were inexperienced part time soldiers with little discipline, they also had language and command difficulties and Octavian had an experienced roman army behind him defeated him easily.

Sun Tzu - another ancient military commander and I picked this one because here is one of the few who possessed both battlefield skills and exceptional military strategy and diplomacy in knowing how to lead a campaign and win wars with minimal effort. Little is really known about him but most agree he was a genius in military strategy.


Some may see my depiction of some of these leaders Harsh but I am comparing them against their peers.

Don't know if this thread will work but worth a shot.

TT
 

DeletedUser

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hanibal: he brought the roman empire to its knees but he knew he couldnt besiege rome since it would be to hard to defeat, eventually he went home when scipio outwitted hi with superior troops
 

DeletedUser

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Not all are going to agree with each others thoughts on these leaders and will hopefully want to put forward leaders of their own and what they thought. Also means less chance of it getting too personal with it not being about players in the game
 

DeletedUser9522

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Napoleon: Took out half of Europe and established an empire that lasted for a long time.. Only blunder was invading Russia.

Also Hitler, (seriously) but I can't be bothered to write why yet.
 

DeletedUser

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most of these famous military comanders have some degree of insanity which lead them to poor decisions that lead to their downfall
 

DeletedUser

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napolean- greatest commander ever, won the most battles, then given a darn good thrashing by us brits, right oh old chap
 

DeletedUser

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Napoleon was a good commander, he was just a little dilusional. he believed he was a reincarnation of Ceaser and was here to recreate the empire. and another mad fact, Hitler thought he was a reincarnation of Napoleon if you believe some of the papers wrote on his psychosis
 

DeletedUser

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As a person I'd say neither.

As a leader I'd say Hitler ;)
Let's face it, all tribes who get anywhere, at some point, do something they're not proud of. This is also arguably true of military strategists, although I can't be bothered with an example, I'm lazy and ignorant like that :)
 

DeletedUser9540

Guest
He wasn't actually a very good military leader himself



he gained support through the weakness of Germany. anyone insane enough to go for his ideas is...well..insane!

he didnt use the Blitzkrieg, which failed earlier in WWI, but he was able to march on through Poland, due to Russias new hatred for the Allies after being cheated from land like Germany, and Italy from the Treaty of Versailles. after that, the French rolled over, and were taken over, and then England, though heavily bombed, held out.

Hitlers biggest mistake was throwing their diplomacy with Russia to the side, therefore getting a new two front war to deal with, due to the invading American troops from the Western Front.

after that, it was a cake walk for America, and Russia, but the end of WWII brought about a new conflict that we know as the 'Cold War' where both the USA, and Russia fought indirectly through bribes, and such, to try to start different forms of governments in Africa. Democracy was wanted by the United States, as that would surely benefit their economies, and Russia wanted communism because it would help fuel their growing economy.

as we all know though, the collapse of the Soviet Union also marks the end of the Cold War, due to the bankrupting of Russia by giving too many bribes, etc.
 

DeletedUser

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Georgy Zhukov - The ‘man who did not lose a battle’

Led the defense of Moscow, broke the siege at Stalingrad and led the counter-offensive against the Reich's forces which never did recover from the surrender at Stalingrad and the loss at battle of Kursk with his final battle being the Siege of Berlin.

 

DeletedUser6932

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So Pogue Mahone... A Hitler or a Churchill?

I'd say more like a neanderthol (hope I spelled that right to lazy to check) with a big club in his hand shouting war is good =P
 

DeletedUser6932

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Funny you say that guys but know sadly I'm not =P Mike Paul and Rob only know one word 'WAR'
 

DeletedUser6932

Guest
Since ya didn't disagree I take it my description ain't far off then =P
 
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