Who do you think was the best military commander throughout history?

Question

Who do you think was the best military commander throughout history?
Most will say Alexander the great and for good reason but was he the greatest or do you think there is another who was as good or better

its up to you to decide what your definition of "best" is it could be a commander that never lost a battle, or a commander that won an outstanding victory against all odds or a commander who was an excellent tactician and knew when to fight and when not to or the best all-rounder and top bloke its up to you I will put this question up for a vote as that seems fair, who am I to decide

Answer 1

Genghis Khan from Mongolia
Kublai Khan
Julius Caesar
Patton

Answer 2

Alexander of Macedon
Russian Csar Peter the Great
Napoleon Bonaparte
Mahatma Gandy
Josip Bros Tito

Answer 3

That is tough. It depends what best means.

But I have nominations:

Alexander of course. I mean the guy conquored the known world by the time he was 25. Thats pretty darn impressive.

Cao Cao. a previous poster mentione Zhuge Liang, also another prominent commander. But Cao Cao did defeat and Unite most of Northern China.

Napoleon did conquor Europe and proclaim himself emperor.

Charles Martel - The guy conquored most of Europe as well and defeated a very well equiped Muslim invading army. He used Infantry to defeat heavy calvary troops and when the Emir was predicting it would take a generation before Europeans could develop heavy calvary like them, Martel had done it within Five.

Answer 4

It's close between Hannibal and Spartacus. Both took on the Roman Empire with spectacular victories but the difference between the two was the miracle of Spartacus.

Hannibal was a general, trained in Carthagenian strategy so his victories were based on calculated tutoring. Spartacus was a freed Roman slave who's victories using guerrila tactics and inferior numbers of soldiers kept the best Roman generals on their knees for years.

As a Brit I would also have to include Admiral Nelson. Nelson repeatedly defeated the French and Spanish fleets combined and died in service of his King and country at Trafalgar, a victory fighting to protect our national existence.

If he'd failed, French and Spanish would be first spoken languages in most of the places in the world where English is spoken, including England.

ESP: Yo no quiero pensar por eso!
FRA: C'est merde!

Answer 5

id say General Robert E Lee, he stood in the MIDDLE of almost every battle he fought in, and then he jsut made a decision, in the blink of an eye, even if they were "losing" and the battle would turn around, and they would win.. For example, there was this one battle, i forgot the name, but Lee actually fled from the Union for 10 miles, untill he found this one hill, from a bridge, so the only way to get to the hill, is for them to cross theb bridge. After 20 Hours of fighting, the COnfederates asked the Union to stop coming at them, not because they couldn't fight, but because The union waves kept coming and coming, and the confeds would shoot em down. THey asked thyem to stop because their men had to cgo to the Bathroom, and so they could eat. Kinda cool that Lee found this place, and had sucha defensive strategy.

P.S this is not Stonewall Jackson im hinting at, at all,

Answer 6

Adolf Hitler.............Whoops. Thats offensive enough. But the Germans owned all of Europe since 1938 to the end of the war in 1944 and 5 nations gathered forces as allys and crushed him.

Answer 7

Five star General Douglas MacArthur

Answer 8

best at what?for achievement it has to be Alexander the great,the son of a king maybe but on his own merits he took the known world and then some,having taking on and beaten all the middle east army's he moved east to India,those he beat became his allies thus leaving no enemys behind him,7 cities were named after him,trade routes were opened,governments were formed that still stand now,his military tactics still form part of warfare training today,who else can boast the same achievments?

Answer 9

Zhu geliang from the ancient China, Shu kingdom.

Answer 10

It depends on what you mean by BEST military commander... most conquered?
Hitler, Ghandi, Napolean come to mind.

Best military commander for battles fought?
too many...

Best military tactician?
Sun Zsu ... top notch guy whose works are STILL studied today...

You should refine your question ;)

Answer 11

field marshal sam manekshaw, considering the limitations posed on him by politicians and meager resources, he led his indian army to a glorious victory in 1971.