who was the greatest general in the roman army..?

Question

I think is was Maximus Decimus Meridius but im not sure but he's the greatest general i know of...i mean the only general who kill an emperor in the roman history which i think he's the greatest of all..

Answer 1

If you are going to assess the military worth of a Roman General you have to consider the scope of his victories and the calibre of his opponents. This is very brief assessment with lots of gaps!

Pompey was recognised as rome's wonderkid-general in the years before the first triumvirate, bearing in mind his thrashing of the pirates and victories in Africa against jugurtha (I think). But during the Sulla v Marian conflict several attempts were made to defeat Sertorius in Spain, by vastly larger armies commanded by a couple of Roman Generals, one of which was Pompey?

Plus, he had one eye. I think that deserves mention.

Pompey was a great organiser, but not tactically sound. His victories were great at the time, but his opponents were never remembered in history for their greatness and the resources at his disposal were vast.

Caesar conquered Gaul & Britainnia, but he did this by a combination of politics and warfare against an enemy who thought war should be conducted either nude or certainly armourless, and that combat should be 1 on 1 with slashing weapons. Against Roman military technology there was only ever one outcome. You can slash armour all you want, but when someone jabs a few inches of a pointed short sword in your face from behind a big shield, you're going to lose, irrespective of how much battlefury you have. Anyway, Caesar would have been one of the worst generals in history had he failed to conquer Gaul with the resources at his disposal. I concede that the barbarian Vercingetorix was a challenge, but if you actually analyse the battle Ceaser was outmanourvered badly by the Gaul! I think Ceasar can be better measured by his victories during the Civil war and over the aged Pompey. However, even there he had a battle hardened army and he fought a vastly more inexperienced force, with some terrible tactical decisions being made by Caesar's enemies.

Crassus lost in Parthia, but was it not he who crushed spartacus? Of course, the escaped army of gladiators and slaves is no fit comparison, but its worth rememering that he was not that bad a general.

Scipio Africanus was the general who defeated Hannibal. Arguably, Hannibal was, along with Phyruss of Epirus, mithrodates and possibly Jugurtha, one of the greatest generals since Alexander. You cant argue with that pedigree but my knowledge of the Punic Wars is limited.

Vespasian was effective in the invasion of Britain, although his enemies were the disorganised British tribes.

To end, I have always thought Sertorius was the greatest Roman General but the one least interested in politics and therefore the one least mentioned in history. However, like Memnon vs Alexander, his contemporary's obviously repsected him enough to rarely have a bad word said against him, and it is not often that you have a man so unknown by the public who, and I'm going from memory here, plutarch felt could have, and should have, been the greatest Roman General of his time.....

Answer 2

Roman General

Answer 3

Famous Roman Generals

Answer 4

Rome did not have generals - it had two military consuls, who were elected each year under the Roman Republic. These two military consuls each held military authority for the defence of Rome. To varying degrees, military authority was also given to lesser military commanders.

While Scipio Africanus, Fabius (the Delayer), Marius (who held the consulate seven times), Sulla (the dictator), Pompey, Caesar were among the most able consuls of the late Republic era, it was the development of the Roman military machine that made it more formidable against its opponents.

P.S - Maximus Decimus Meridius (from the Movie 'Gladiator' is very very loosely based on a real person named Maximus. Also Commodus was not killed in a gladitorial battle as the movie makes it out.

Answer 5

Killing an emperor is not an indication of military skill. Winning campaigns is what a general does, and Rome had a number of generals who were more capable than Maximus Decimus.

Scipio Africanus defeated Carthage, Rome's chief rival of his day. Gaius Marius defeated a major invasion of Teutons and a Numidian revolt. Lucius Cornelius Scylla was the victor in a civil war, and then went on to destroy Mithradites of Pontus. Pompey conquered everywhere he fought until the civil wars of his day.

Probably the greatest of the Roman generals was Julius Caesar, who conquered Gaul and defeated Pompey. I am not even up to the fall of the republic here, and we have many better than Maximus Decimus.

Read Plutarch and Suetanius, but remember they were partisans politically. Livy was more honest.

Also, remember that a general should be judged not just by a battle or two, but how the victories are consolidated. Julius Caesar built on his victories to establish and spread the Roman culture for millenia. We even have a month named for him!

A single emperor defeated, when at times Rome went through them in batches, means nothing. Galba was killed by his successor, who was in turn killed by his.

Answer 6

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RE:
who was the greatest general in the roman army..?
I think is was Maximus Decimus Meridius but im not sure but he's the greatest general i know of...i mean the only general who kill an emperor in the roman history which i think he's the greatest of all..

Answer 7

Julius Caesar is usually the "go to" greatest general, he might have been, he really pushed the Roman civilization to the empire it became.

Marius and Trajan were also great generals.

Answer 8

Julius Caeser certainly expanded the empire tremendously, but I haven't studied their generals well enough to really say. Still, I wouldn't say that assassinating the emperor would add to a general's credibility in any manner.

Answer 9

Scipio Africanus

Answer 10

Most probably Caesar and Sertorius, although Ancient Rome was blessed in having great generals.