None of the above.
Your title says “tactical” general. None of the above were “tactical.”
America’s greatest were Nathan Bedford Forest and George S. Patton.
OA
PLAY The Greatest Tactical General of All-time (photo fun - use your intuition)
- Thread starter coalcracker
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None of the above.
Your title says “tactical” general. None of the above were “tactical.”
America’s greatest were Nathan Bedford Forest and George S. Patton.
OA
coalcracker
Veteran Member
Reveal:
I’m going to start by posting the link. This will give you access to all the results. You will have to type the general’s name into a search (instructions within the article at this link:
Napoleon was the Best General Ever, and the Math Proves it.
For what it’s worth, Grant had a higher score than Lee, but neither ranked first.
#2 - Julius Caesar
#3 - Arthur Wellesley
#4 - Takeda Shingen
#5 - Khalid Ibn Al-Walid
#6 - Hannibal Barca
#7 - Ulysses S. Grant
#8 - Frederick the Great
#9 - Georgy Zhukov
#10 - Alexander the Great
At # 1, by a decisive amount, is Napoleon Bonaparte. More details at the above link for those who are interested.
Congrats to our Memorial Day winners:
I’m going to start by posting the link. This will give you access to all the results. You will have to type the general’s name into a search (instructions within the article at this link:
Napoleon was the Best General Ever, and the Math Proves it.
For what it’s worth, Grant had a higher score than Lee, but neither ranked first.
#2 - Julius Caesar
#3 - Arthur Wellesley
#4 - Takeda Shingen
#5 - Khalid Ibn Al-Walid
#6 - Hannibal Barca
#7 - Ulysses S. Grant
#8 - Frederick the Great
#9 - Georgy Zhukov
#10 - Alexander the Great
At # 1, by a decisive amount, is Napoleon Bonaparte. More details at the above link for those who are interested.
Congrats to our Memorial Day winners:
No Guderian?
Lee’s other commanders failed him. Plus he didn’t have the materiel he needed to prosecute the battle properly.
Ragnarok
On and On, South of Heaven
I was going for Patton but, yeah... The pioneer of the Blitzkrieg... That's a good call, too.
Tristan
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Alexander the Great.
What about Ghengis Khan?
Marthanoir
TB Fanatic
How about Tom Barry, his book & tactics were studied by Che , studied at West Point, by the Chinese & the NVA,
Guerilla Days in Ireland is the go to book of guerilla warfare.
Guerilla Days in Ireland is the go to book of guerilla warfare.
Guerilla days in Ireland : Barry, Tom, 1898-1980 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
ix, 228 pages ; 22 cm
archive.org
Takeda, yes. Alexander, according to history, fought in over 200 actions. He was a very tough cookie.
OA
PghPanther
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Not even close..........D Napoleon lead more battles by far in his success...........43 verses Lee's 27.
Napoleon was a freak about physics......wanted to know how far the projection of cannon balls and their kinetic energy and talked frequently to scientists like the great Laplace (physist) of his day to understand powder charges and distances.
Napoleon was a freak about physics......wanted to know how far the projection of cannon balls and their kinetic energy and talked frequently to scientists like the great Laplace (physist) of his day to understand powder charges and distances.
Vegas321
Live free and survive
Jeb Stewart failed him but Longstreet pleaded with Lee to go around the Right flank on day one and two. Lee refused, and did the famous frontal.
Must note, day 3 of Pickets charge. The southern cannons overshot the Union lines. Big mistake.
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Or Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who Patton, Rommel, and Swartzkauf all studied?
LOL we all have our lists.
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
And was hiring mercenaries, called Hessians (Germans).
Trivia: George Patton had a very high-pitched whiny voice IRL. Heard that on a documentary a decade or so ago.
Ragnarok
On and On, South of Heaven
A heavy metal band from Tampa hooked up with a philharmonic orchestra and did a 30 minute masterpiece about the whole event. Fun fact, the lead guitarist and founding member, Jon Schaffer, was arrested at Jan 6.
ArisenCarcass
Veteran Member
Alexander Suvarov
jed turtle
a brother in the Lord
Been thinking abut this reply:
my answer: Jesus Christ. Had legions of angels at His beck and call, but took the hit for humanity all alone. The mighty Roman Empire fell as a result of His life And death. 2000 years later, nearly half of the planet’s population bend the knee in submission to His Kingdom, acknowledge Him as King, and none of is disciples recanted their Faith in Him as the true Son of God, despite torture and death for most of them. nobody else comes close.
my answer: Jesus Christ. Had legions of angels at His beck and call, but took the hit for humanity all alone. The mighty Roman Empire fell as a result of His life And death. 2000 years later, nearly half of the planet’s population bend the knee in submission to His Kingdom, acknowledge Him as King, and none of is disciples recanted their Faith in Him as the true Son of God, despite torture and death for most of them. nobody else comes close.
Kathy in WV
Down on the Farm...
Just because I've no clue, lol.
Ragnarok
On and On, South of Heaven
MinnesotaSmith
Membership Revoked
Julius Caesar (i.e., at the Battle of Alesia), Alexander, Rommel in WWI, and NB Forrest (look up Brice's Crossroads and his military assessment at Shiloh) all were far superior generals to those in the OP.
Example: https://www.warhistoryonline.com/wo...ant.html?chrome=1&Exc_D_LessThanPoint002_p1=1
"...Rommel’s men, over 52 hours of continuous combat had taken 18 miles of Italian territory, climbed 2 miles up mountains, captured a grand total of around 9,000 men, and had lost only six dead, and 30 wounded [out of under 200 troops Rommel had with him]. Rommel received an honorable mention in dispatches that day, and was later awarded the Pour le Mérite, Imperial Germany’s highest military honor. It was almost unheard of for this to be awarded to a mere Lieutenant."
Brice's Crossroads: NB Forrest was outnumbered over 2:1, and in a running fight (NOT with the advantage of fighting from fortifications) managed this:
Confederate losses:
96 killed
396 wounded
Invader losses:
223 killed
394 wounded
1,632 missing/captured
16 guns
1855 Yankees permanently lost to 96 Southern Patriots bravely fallen = a 19:1 ratio.
Example: https://www.warhistoryonline.com/wo...ant.html?chrome=1&Exc_D_LessThanPoint002_p1=1
"...Rommel’s men, over 52 hours of continuous combat had taken 18 miles of Italian territory, climbed 2 miles up mountains, captured a grand total of around 9,000 men, and had lost only six dead, and 30 wounded [out of under 200 troops Rommel had with him]. Rommel received an honorable mention in dispatches that day, and was later awarded the Pour le Mérite, Imperial Germany’s highest military honor. It was almost unheard of for this to be awarded to a mere Lieutenant."
Brice's Crossroads: NB Forrest was outnumbered over 2:1, and in a running fight (NOT with the advantage of fighting from fortifications) managed this:
Confederate losses:
96 killed
396 wounded
Invader losses:
223 killed
394 wounded
1,632 missing/captured
16 guns
1855 Yankees permanently lost to 96 Southern Patriots bravely fallen = a 19:1 ratio.
Last edited:
coalcracker
Veteran Member
The element that one must consider is that the statistical model known as Wins Above Replacement comes from baseball. It rewards quantity as well as quality.
For example, current NY Yankee superstar Aaron Judge, a once-in-a-generation talent, a future Hall of Fame inductee, a 6’7” giant who hits majestic homeruns, only ranks #550 on the all-time WAR list. He is clearly better than most of the names above him on that list. Judge is under contract to play the next nine years, so after all those “battles,” he will have accumulated many more victories and will have moved up far higher on the list.
I could post videos of Aaron Judge hitting a baseball like no other. Moonshots! Unbelievable blasts, but he just hasn’t been at the plate enough times to compete with “Napoleon,” the Babe Ruth of military generals.
The beauty of the mathematical metric is that it can and does compare players from different generations. The downside is that it measures quantity as well as quality.
For example, current NY Yankee superstar Aaron Judge, a once-in-a-generation talent, a future Hall of Fame inductee, a 6’7” giant who hits majestic homeruns, only ranks #550 on the all-time WAR list. He is clearly better than most of the names above him on that list. Judge is under contract to play the next nine years, so after all those “battles,” he will have accumulated many more victories and will have moved up far higher on the list.
I could post videos of Aaron Judge hitting a baseball like no other. Moonshots! Unbelievable blasts, but he just hasn’t been at the plate enough times to compete with “Napoleon,” the Babe Ruth of military generals.
The beauty of the mathematical metric is that it can and does compare players from different generations. The downside is that it measures quantity as well as quality.
Knoxville's Joker
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Well if they had skipped on a couple of battles and not have massive losses they would have lasted longer. Honestly had they invaded DC and kept it occupied early on they would have also likely won.
jed turtle
a brother in the Lord
He is the only one that DOES count...
Ragnarok
On and On, South of Heaven
Number of battles shouldn't matter as much as what the victory entails.
Jan Sobieski saved Europe from being over run by Islam. Bonus points in my book.
None of the above...
I vote for General Stonewall Jackson...the last I heard his brilliant Valley campaigns were still studied at West Point...if he had lived things might have been quite different in PA....
He wasn't too bad at Manassas either. He was a West Point boy just like many of the Southern Generals...his West Point nickname was Beauty.
Since the military is now woke and he was a confederate general ...
He may not still be studied. ..if so their loss
I vote for General Stonewall Jackson...the last I heard his brilliant Valley campaigns were still studied at West Point...if he had lived things might have been quite different in PA....
He wasn't too bad at Manassas either. He was a West Point boy just like many of the Southern Generals...his West Point nickname was Beauty.
Since the military is now woke and he was a confederate general ...
He may not still be studied. ..if so their loss