Top 10 Generals

[heydaralon]

Pick any general from Romania during WW1 to add to this list

[Montegriffo]

Are we only talking land armies? If not you have to put local boy Horatio Nelson in the top ten, changed sea warfare tactics forever and had half a dozen victories culminating in Trafalgar and the end of the good times for Napoleon.

[Hastur]

One of many favourites is John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough.

Historian John H. Lavalle argues that:
Marlborough's place as one of the finest soldiers Britain ever produced is well deserved. He possessed the personal courage, imagination, common sense, self-control, and quick wits that mark the best battlefield commanders. He had an unerring ability to sense an enemies weaknesses and the ability to use stratagems to throw his enemy off balance.... It was in the realm of strategy, however, where Marlborough really shone. As commander-in-chief of a coalition army, he had the ability to tolerate politicians, allies, and fools gladly. He also saw the potential of the recently introduced combination of flintlock and socket bayonet to restore the offensive...to warfare in an age when extensive fortifications, magazines, and the defensive dominated military thinking. Marlborough's attention to logistics allowed him to break free of the bonds of the magazine system and ensured that his soldiers were fed, clothed, and paid, earning him the loyalty of his troops and the nickname 'Corporal John.'
Marlborough was equally adept at both battle and siege.

Robert Parker writes:
in the ten campaigns he made against [the French]; during all which time it cannot be said that he ever slipped an opportunity of fighting, when there was any probability of coming at his enemy: and upon all occasions he concerted matters with so much judgement and forecast, that he never fought a battle which he did not gain, nor laid siege to a town which he did not take.

To military historians David Chandler and Richard Holmes, Marlborough is the greatest British commander in history, an assessment that is shared by others, including the Duke of Wellington who could "conceive nothing greater than Marlborough at the head of an English army".

[ssu]

Are we only talking land armies? If not you have to put local boy Horatio Nelson in the top ten, changed sea warfare tactics forever and had half a dozen victories culminating in Trafalgar and the end of the good times for Napoleon.

They are called admirals, Montegriffo.

Btw, one Finnish Beer factory had "Admiral" beer with famous admirals. It became a successfull export to Japan as one of the admirals depicted was Togo.

Here are some of the "Beer Admirals", not all (Amiraali=Admiral in Finnish)

Togo:


Jellicoe:


von Kraemer:


Drake:


And of course, Nelson:

[Speaker to Animals]

The only general I ever heard of that won a naval engagement was Eurybiades.

[Montegriffo]

Are we only talking land armies? If not you have to put local boy Horatio Nelson in the top ten, changed sea warfare tactics forever and had half a dozen victories culminating in Trafalgar and the end of the good times for Napoleon.

They are called admirals, Montegriffo.

Btw, one Finnish Beer factory had "Admiral" beer with famous admirals. It became a successfull export to Japan as one of the admirals depicted was Togo.

Here are some of the "Beer Admirals", not all (Amiraali=Admiral in Finnish)

Togo:


Jellicoe:


von Kraemer:


Drake:


And of course, Nelson:

Pah, if we are limited to dry land my vote is for the 1st Duke of Marlborough John Churchill. Victor at Blenheim.

2nd choice Boudica who almost kicked out the Roman army with her little tribe of barbarians.

[Smitty-48]

Pah, if we are limited to dry land my vote is for the 1st Duke of Marlborough John Churchill. Victor at Blenheim.

2nd choice Boudica who almost kicked out the Roman army with her little tribe of barbarians.

John Churchill I'd agree, Boudica no, they were crushed by Suetonius, even though they outnumbered the Legions 20 to 1, yet with the Romans inflicting a devastating 200 to 1 kill ratio against the tribes. They had the Romans outnumbered and surrounded in a Cannae scenario, and the Romans fought their way out of it, cutting through them tribes like a hot knife through butter, that was a total catastrophe for Boudica & Co.

"Ignore the racket made by these savages. There are more women than men in their ranks. They are not soldiers—they're not even properly equipped. We've beaten them before and when they see our weapons and feel our spirit, they'll crack. Stick together. Throw the javelins, then push forward: knock them down with your shields and finish them off with your swords. Forget about plunder. Just win and you'll have everything." ~ Suetonius, to his Legions.

[Montegriffo]

Yeah Boudica was just a local East Anglian choice, I didn't really expect to get her in the top ten. Kinda running out of British top ten material after General John Churchill. Maybe Cromwell but he was too much of an evil bastard to include.
Major General Orde Wingate maybe but not really top ten.

[Smitty-48]

Boudica had a blood feud with the Romans, but in the end all she achieved was getting 80,000 of her people slaughtered and then she died in obscurity, she didn't free Britain, even when the Romans left the Britons didn't rule, the Germans came in a took over.

She certainly doesn't get on a list with the likes of Wolfe, Wellesley, Clive, Slim, Allenby, Montgomery, and Churchill.

[GloryofGreece]

How about Tomyris
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomyris

Cyrus

Alexander

Caesar

Genghis