AUSTERLITZ
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2008
- Messages
- 6,025
- Reaction score
- 175
- Country
- Location
This is a great topic with endless amount of material we can talk about.so i'm going to do just that.
On the overall topic anyway-
I think there was a poll on armchair generaL magazine.There were 3 sets of polss and napoleon won all 3.The cumulative results were more less agreed to be 1]napoleon bonaparte
2]alexander the great
3]julius caesar
my personal list is napoleon,alexander,hannibal.
Now,for my explanation of choices and a list of the greatest generals which is the title i have taken this approach.If we divide human history into the accepted 3 parts .ancient age ,middle ages and modern age i think a better comparison can be made.
ancient age basically can be divided into 3 parts.
1]early bronze age-this is basically the era of the trojan wars and the hittite empire,through the egyptian empire,the assyrians,and finally cyrus the great's persian empire.
2]hellenistic era-from the battle of marathon 490 bc ,through the greco persian wars,the peloponnesian wars,the spartan and theban hegemony,xenophon,
the rise of macedon and philip's reforms,the age of alexander,the wars of the diadochi,,in the indian subcontinent the mauryan expansion, pyrrhus of epirus his campaign in italy in 280 bc.this is roughly the date of the rise of rome.
3]The roman era-the punic wars,hannibal and hamilcar barcas campaigns.scipio africanus and aemilinus and the destruction of carthage.The greco-roman wars.gaius marius his victories and more importantly reforms.sulla's campaigns.pompey the great.gallic wars and age of julius caesar.agrippa's victories under augustus.the parthian empire followed by the sassanid' empire.the gupta empire,trajan's campaigns ,to attila the hun,aetius the last roman,constantine the great, to the fall of the western roman empire in 476 ad.
Now,if we list the great generals from each era of the ancient era,in my opinion the list would be.
1]THUTHMOSES of egypt and RAMSES II.More conquerors than generals.agamemnon.the hittie emperor MURSILIS. NEBUCHANDNEZZAR.But the best general of this era is clearly CYRUS the great and his succesor DARIUS the great.
2]the hellenistic era beckons the true start of strategy rather than quantitative superiority.
candidates in my book-[in chronological order]
1]athenian MILITIADATES
[victor of marathon]
2]THEMISTOKLES
[athenian admiral at salamis]
3]EPAMINONDAS
[theban genius,victor of leuctra and mantinea,first use of oblique formation later copied by macedonians and frederick the great]
4]XENOPHON,
walked into the persian empie with 10000 greek mercenaries ,won a battle then walked out.his book was alexander's inspiration.a great strategic manueverer.
5]PHILIP 2 of macedon
[inventor of the companion cavalry,macedonian phalanx,made macedon the most feared state in europe out of a tribal nation,victor at crosus field and charonoea.]
6]PARMENION
[macedonian general under philip and alexander.
7]ALEXANDER THE GREAT[later],
SELEUCAS NICATOR 1
8]PYRRHUS OF EPIRUS
[the last of the great greek warrrior kings] beat both romans and carthiginians]
9]CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA
[set up and conquered most of ancient india,defeated seleucas and annexed the eastern part of the seleucid empie from seleucas,founder of mauryan dynasty]
[i have not included ashoka because though he ruled the largest empire in the world at his time his military achievements are limited.]
3]
1]HAMILCAR BARCA
2]HANNIBAL BARCA
3]SCIPIO AFRICANUS
4]SCIPIO AEMILINIUS
5]GAIUS MARIUS
6]SULLA
7]CLEOMENES OF SPARTA
8]SHIHOR;[parthian general at carrhae]
10] JULIUS CAESAR
11]AGRIPPA
12]SAMUDRAGUPTA
13]chinese emperor qi something [l'll look up the name]
there are a lot of chinese conquerors in this era.
14]TRAJAN
14]HADRIAN
15]AETIUS
16]CONSTANTINE THE GREAT
17]ATTILA THE HUN
18]ARIMINIUS THE GERMAN
now i want to talk about these 3 eras of the ancient age in detail.and explain my choices before moving to the middle and modern ages.
feel free to add ur choices if i have missed out any.and ur own lists.
p.s-[it might look like i'm showing off,but i LOVE talking military history]
On the overall topic anyway-
I think there was a poll on armchair generaL magazine.There were 3 sets of polss and napoleon won all 3.The cumulative results were more less agreed to be 1]napoleon bonaparte
2]alexander the great
3]julius caesar
my personal list is napoleon,alexander,hannibal.
Now,for my explanation of choices and a list of the greatest generals which is the title i have taken this approach.If we divide human history into the accepted 3 parts .ancient age ,middle ages and modern age i think a better comparison can be made.
ancient age basically can be divided into 3 parts.
1]early bronze age-this is basically the era of the trojan wars and the hittite empire,through the egyptian empire,the assyrians,and finally cyrus the great's persian empire.
2]hellenistic era-from the battle of marathon 490 bc ,through the greco persian wars,the peloponnesian wars,the spartan and theban hegemony,xenophon,
the rise of macedon and philip's reforms,the age of alexander,the wars of the diadochi,,in the indian subcontinent the mauryan expansion, pyrrhus of epirus his campaign in italy in 280 bc.this is roughly the date of the rise of rome.
3]The roman era-the punic wars,hannibal and hamilcar barcas campaigns.scipio africanus and aemilinus and the destruction of carthage.The greco-roman wars.gaius marius his victories and more importantly reforms.sulla's campaigns.pompey the great.gallic wars and age of julius caesar.agrippa's victories under augustus.the parthian empire followed by the sassanid' empire.the gupta empire,trajan's campaigns ,to attila the hun,aetius the last roman,constantine the great, to the fall of the western roman empire in 476 ad.
Now,if we list the great generals from each era of the ancient era,in my opinion the list would be.
1]THUTHMOSES of egypt and RAMSES II.More conquerors than generals.agamemnon.the hittie emperor MURSILIS. NEBUCHANDNEZZAR.But the best general of this era is clearly CYRUS the great and his succesor DARIUS the great.
2]the hellenistic era beckons the true start of strategy rather than quantitative superiority.
candidates in my book-[in chronological order]
1]athenian MILITIADATES
[victor of marathon]
2]THEMISTOKLES
[athenian admiral at salamis]
3]EPAMINONDAS
[theban genius,victor of leuctra and mantinea,first use of oblique formation later copied by macedonians and frederick the great]
4]XENOPHON,
walked into the persian empie with 10000 greek mercenaries ,won a battle then walked out.his book was alexander's inspiration.a great strategic manueverer.
5]PHILIP 2 of macedon
[inventor of the companion cavalry,macedonian phalanx,made macedon the most feared state in europe out of a tribal nation,victor at crosus field and charonoea.]
6]PARMENION
[macedonian general under philip and alexander.
7]ALEXANDER THE GREAT[later],
SELEUCAS NICATOR 1
8]PYRRHUS OF EPIRUS
[the last of the great greek warrrior kings] beat both romans and carthiginians]
9]CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA
[set up and conquered most of ancient india,defeated seleucas and annexed the eastern part of the seleucid empie from seleucas,founder of mauryan dynasty]
[i have not included ashoka because though he ruled the largest empire in the world at his time his military achievements are limited.]
3]
1]HAMILCAR BARCA
2]HANNIBAL BARCA
3]SCIPIO AFRICANUS
4]SCIPIO AEMILINIUS
5]GAIUS MARIUS
6]SULLA
7]CLEOMENES OF SPARTA
8]SHIHOR;[parthian general at carrhae]
10] JULIUS CAESAR
11]AGRIPPA
12]SAMUDRAGUPTA
13]chinese emperor qi something [l'll look up the name]
there are a lot of chinese conquerors in this era.
14]TRAJAN
14]HADRIAN
15]AETIUS
16]CONSTANTINE THE GREAT
17]ATTILA THE HUN
18]ARIMINIUS THE GERMAN
now i want to talk about these 3 eras of the ancient age in detail.and explain my choices before moving to the middle and modern ages.
feel free to add ur choices if i have missed out any.and ur own lists.
p.s-[it might look like i'm showing off,but i LOVE talking military history]
Last edited:
