The Greatest Generals of World

[Grand-Vizier]

There are many but my favourite is Kemal Atatürk.

[video=google;-6199483909852762253]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6199483909852762253[/video]

Marshall Atatürk also never lost a battle.

 

[Grand-Vizier]

These among greatest, Timur, Atilla Hun, Fatih Sultan Mehmet, Atatürk, Alp Arslan, Oğuz Khan, etc

 

[Erhabi]

These among greatest, Timur, Atilla Hun, Fatih Sultan Mehmet, Atatürk, Alp Arslan, Oğuz Khan, etc

Fatih Sultan Mehmed was a great man, credit goes to his father Sultan Murad though..He raised him well.

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

I prefer admirals are most better than generals... Land wars are more and there are more chances of heroism and strategies..
But Naval wars are less and require more planning and strategies...
In this case i would rate
Rajendra Chola and nelson as the greatest strategist...

 

[Anotherangle]

Finding greatest generals in whole human history is a difficult task; instead we should categorize the generals according to their times, type of wars etc. But, some will still stand apart and those will be really great.

 

[Joe Shearer]

I prefer admirals are most better than generals... Land wars are more and there are more chances of heroism and strategies..
But Naval wars are less and require more planning and strategies...
In this case i would rate
Rajendra Chola and nelson as the greatest strategist...

That is very difficult to understand.

We do not know a single detail of Rajendra Chola's campaigns. We know every small detail about Nelson. Why do you think Rajendra Chola was a great strategist? How do you know he was?

 

[Axa-]

Gengiz, Atilla, Timur, M.K Ataturk.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Turks plz don't be too partial.Timur,genghis, are certainly strong contenders.Mehmet a little behind them though not much.But ataturk and attila not really.
Especially when the others are

Bonaparte,alexander,caesar,hannibal,khalid,subutai,belisarius.
Plus there's scipio,frederick,wellington,suvorov,moltke,manstein.
yue fei.

 

[Sashan]

That is very difficult to understand.

We do not know a single detail of Rajendra Chola's campaigns. We know every small detail about Nelson. Why do you think Rajendra Chola was a great strategist? How do you know he was?

The details are sketchy but I will not agree about not a single detail was known about Rajendra Chola's campaigns. There are inscriptions and even a city which exists even today to celebrate the reach of Chola kingdom upto Ganges - Gangai Konda Cholapuram. Some of the inscriptions are found in what is called Tiruvalangadu Cheppedu(means pages made of copper) and there are other places where inscriptions has been discovered including a place called Uthiramerur in Northern Tamilnadu. And there are Tanjore inscriptions which talks about Khmer king requesting Chola assistance in his war with Ankor. Some tamil incriptions have been found in Indonesia itself which was the seat of the Srivijaya Kingdom. And Chinese inscriptions are there quoting his father and him but not so extensive.


Assuming what is depicted of him is true, here are the list of countries/empires he conquered.

1. Cheras
2. Pandhyas
3. Srivijaya kingdom under Sailendras
4. Khymer kings and Thai kings paid tributes
5. Kalinga
6. Pala
7. Srilanka
8. Western Chalukyas
9. Eastern Chalukyas
10. Mathura
11. And some countries which I could not figure out - Sakkarakottam and Dhandabhukti


So let us see what is covers

1. More than 1/2 of modern day India
2. Srilanka
3. Bangladesh
4. Thailand
5. Indonesia
6. Cambodia


Isn't this a significant achievement in itself? So my question is why not he is a candidate for one of the greatest generals if not the greatest? We can't help it if the current day Indian education boards ignore this history.

 

[Bhairava]

Isn't this a significant achievement in itself? So my question is why not he is a candidate for one of the greatest generals if not the greatest? We can't help it if the current day Indian education boards ignore this history.

This is the greatest lacunae of the Indian civilization. Damn idiots -by and large- thought it was not worth their time to record any of their exploits, something the Chinese dutifully did.

But records of the Chola exploits, especially under the father-son duo can be found in the stone inscription in Gangai konda cholapuram and also in the Big temple. The Mahavamsa also gives a sketch of their exploits - albeit with a negative touch since these Shaivite kings were not particularly good to the Sinhalas.

BTW I dont agree that they could come out as "greatest generals"..There are simply too many others for that post. But they would certainly come out as two of the greatest kings India has ever produced. Not only because of their military exploits, but also for their indulgence in the finer aspects of life - like art, architecture, music etc. And it is certainly disgraceful that Indian history books which "glorify" the Mughal rule for more than 60 page did not find it fit to give even 2 pages worth to these sons of the soil.

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

That is very difficult to understand.

We do not know a single detail of Rajendra Chola's campaigns. We know every small detail about Nelson. Why do you think Rajendra Chola was a great strategist? How do you know he was?

We know every small details about Nelson, we are educated by western thoughts !!
We have documented many things in our temples and even built grant cities.. But sadly they r not preserved !!
However Rajendra Chola's campaign are documented in temples even in South Indian Temples and South Asian countries !!

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

This is the greatest lacunae of the Indian civilization. Damn idiots -by and large- thought it was not worth their time to record any of their exploits, something the Chinese dutifully did.

But records of the Chola exploits, especially under the father-son duo can be found in the stone inscription in Gangai konda cholapuram and also in the Big temple. The Mahavamsa also gives a sketch of their exploits - albeit with a negative touch since these Shaivite kings were not particularly good to the Sinhalas.

BTW I dont agree that they could come out as "greatest generals"..There are simply too many others for that post. But they would certainly come out as two of the greatest kings India has ever produced. Not only because of their military exploits, but also for their indulgence in the finer aspects of life - like art, architecture, music etc. And it is certainly disgraceful that Indian history books which "glorify" the Mughal rule for more than 60 page did not find it fit to give even 2 pages worth to these sons of the soil.

Greatest 'indian' generals would certainly be at least one chola,chandragupta maurya,samudragupta and hari singh nalwa.Shivaji if u take assymetric warfare.

 

[Joe Shearer]

The details are sketchy but I will not agree about not a single detail was known about Rajendra Chola's campaigns. There are inscriptions and even a city which exists even today to celebrate the reach of Chola kingdom upto Ganges - Gangai Konda Cholapuram. Some of the inscriptions are found in what is called Tiruvalangadu Cheppedu(means pages made of copper) and there are other places where inscriptions has been discovered including a place called Uthiramerur in Northern Tamilnadu. And there are Tanjore inscriptions which talks about Khmer king requesting Chola assistance in his war with Ankor. Some tamil incriptions have been found in Indonesia itself which was the seat of the Srivijaya Kingdom. And Chinese inscriptions are there quoting his father and him but not so extensive.


Assuming what is depicted of him is true, here are the list of countries/empires he conquered.

1. Cheras
2. Pandhyas
3. Srivijaya kingdom under Sailendras
4. Khymer kings and Thai kings paid tributes
5. Kalinga
6. Pala
7. Srilanka
8. Western Chalukyas
9. Eastern Chalukyas
10. Mathura
11. And some countries which I could not figure out - Sakkarakottam and Dhandabhukti


So let us see what is covers

1. More than 1/2 of modern day India
2. Srilanka
3. Bangladesh
4. Thailand
5. Indonesia
6. Cambodia


Isn't this a significant achievement in itself? So my question is why not he is a candidate for one of the greatest generals if not the greatest? We can't help it if the current day Indian education boards ignore this history.

Sashan, Indian education nowhere neglects this history, especially at undergraduate level. What is taught at school level is so generic that it is pointless asking for this, that or the other. Asking to see what is said in college is far far mor relevant

You outlined a list of countries that he conquered, or through which he campaigned. This, unfortunately, is about military history. Did he use infantry? Cavalry? Did he have a siege train? Did he have a commissariat system? Did his soldiers live off the land? How were the wounded treated? Do we know about his battles? How did he win them? By sheer numbers, by putting a numbing excess of force into the field? what weapons systems did the soldiers use? Spear and shield? Sword and shield? Pikes? Did he have archers? How were they deployed? In a corps or within a larger infantry formation?

Frankly, if I was writing a tourist brochure, this list would be most encouraging. For a history, this is inadequate.

 

[Joe Shearer]

This is the greatest lacunae of the Indian civilization. Damn idiots -by and large- thought it was not worth their time to record any of their exploits, something the Chinese dutifully did.

But records of the Chola exploits, especially under the father-son duo can be found in the stone inscription in Gangai konda cholapuram and also in the Big temple. The Mahavamsa also gives a sketch of their exploits - albeit with a negative touch since these Shaivite kings were not particularly good to the Sinhalas.

BTW I dont agree that they could come out as "greatest generals"..There are simply too many others for that post. But they would certainly come out as two of the greatest kings India has ever produced. Not only because of their military exploits, but also for their indulgence in the finer aspects of life - like art, architecture, music etc. And it is certainly disgraceful that Indian history books which "glorify" the Mughal rule for more than 60 page did not find it fit to give even 2 pages worth to these sons of the soil.

Your point about great king vs. Great general sums up the situation.

A minor quibble. I have on my hands An Advanced History of India, by R. C. Majumdar, H. C. Raychaudhuri and Kalikinkar Datta. It is a standard compendium type of history text that students of history keep with them to ensure complete coverage, getting specialist books for specific subjects. It has 261 pages for ancient Indian history, 340 pages for mediaeval Indian history. This roughly corresponds to the so-called Hindu and Muslim periods.

I have always said that the problem is with people who are not students of history recounting their lack of knowledge of history, and displaying their poor knowledge of the subject based on reading the wrong kind of textbook. It is not proper of those of you who have not studied the subject commenting on the way it is taught.

Please be sure that this is not intended to be offensive. If it were, I would lose not a moment's time to say it.

We know every small details about Nelson, we are educated by western thoughts !!
We have documented many things in our temples and even built grant cities.. But sadly they r not preserved !!
However Rajendra Chola's campaign are documented in temples even in South Indian Temples and South Asian countries !!

As I have explained before, a panegyric to a king does not substitute for an historical narrative.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Greatest 'indian' generals would certainly be at least one chola,chandragupta maurya,samudragupta and hari singh nalwa.Shivaji if u take assymetric warfare.

Before getting on to the point I really wish to make, what do you mean 'Indian' general?