I saw this on Yahoo Answers a while ago, and I was surprised at the range of opinions on this. What are yours ?
For a start, here are my candidates. I will plead ignorance beforehand that I know only a little about some of the legendary oriental figures, but they sound remarkable. The main criteria should be what they achieved on campaign, with extra points for beating the odds, and leaving a legacy.
1. Alexander the Great - creative and daring. Left a big cultural influence in his tracks, with many emulators. He had several close scrapes that could have ended his career as a footnote, but the lucky ones make it on the list...
2. Hannibal - took a motley army through the Alps that handed Rome its most humiliating defeats, and sustained himself for almost 20 years in Italy with no help from his mother city, as a soldier in the field.
3. Julius Caesar - more victories and reckless escapes to his credit than anyone except Napoleon, and most of them against bigger armies to both ends of the empire and back again. Not even he could survive mafia politics, but his nephew did.
4. Khalid ibn-al Walid - Arab leader with honour who conquered the middle east in the first wave of Moslem expansion after daring exploits against veterans of the Sassanid Persians and Byzantine Empire. Dismissed and restored twice for his popularity by 50 victorious battles without a defeat.
5. Genghis Khan - I don't know if the credit is due his generals, but he was the visionary who led the Mongols from a clan society into a city taking army that overran China and central Asia.
6. Frederick the Great - fought 2 wars on multiple fronts against the bigger empires of the day and came out on top.
7. Napoleon - his presence made a difference in more battles than anyone in history, even after the disastrous retreat from Moscow. 'nuff said.
8. Horatio Nelson - performed beyond the call of 'his duty' on several occasions without hesitation against powerful foes, even if it meant disregarding orders, and Britannia continued to rule the waves for a long time.
9. Georgi Zhukov - this was a tough one, but what other modern figure staged and won as many crucial campaigns from 1938 to 1945 ? Settled the Japanese border question in his favor, stalled the Germans in the 1941 winter offensive, tied the noose at Stalingrad, and anticipated Citadelle. Even Stalin had to wait till Zhukov was in Berlin before having him removed, as did Kruschev, after he returned by popular acclaim, and survived both of them. Maybe a little too crude and won by the loss of too much Russian blood to be one of the 10 greatest.
10. Another tough one, but I think Mao Zedong has to get serious consideration. Began the Worker's Revolt, the Long March was an epic in itself, isolated from the west, maintained resistance to Japan, and developed the doctrine and organization of his regional peasant army that took over the country against numerous better armed government forces.
Some honorable mentions who beat the odds:
Themistocles - as much for his persuasive manipulation of both the Greeks and Persians, committing everything to his fleet and intuition of how both would react, when he staged one of history's most decisive battles.
Judas Maccabaeus - Not sure, but seemed to win a lot of longshot victories in the most brutal circumstances, and the tradition was passed on. Joshua, also stands out in the Old Testament, as a figure with guile who faced big challenges, with the religious fervor of that near genocidal conquest.
Does Geiseric's odyssey to Africa with the Vandals, and transformation into a pirate empire rate as one of the greatest barbarian sagas ? Did not leave much of a legacy, other than the word vandal.
There must be viking leaders who had as amazing a career. What about Robert Guiscard ?
Francisco Pizarro and Hernando de Cortez - hey you gotta hand it to them. How often in Civilization do you get to conquer big empires with Explorers ? They were the first Europeans in an unknown world with difficult terrain.
Gustavus Adolphus - proof that you gotta be lucky to make the top ten. Last posthumous victory ended a career prematurely when he was already a legend. Then what about the boy king Charles XII, survived the winter and Poltava, to fight again, after he blitzed every power in northern Europe. Fame or folly ?
I think Richard the Lionhearted, Belisarius, and the Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin are in the same league, as leaders of legendary courage and ability who often had troubles from home but enjoyed a long string of military successes. Read their stories on Wikipedia, and there must be others.
For a start, here are my candidates. I will plead ignorance beforehand that I know only a little about some of the legendary oriental figures, but they sound remarkable. The main criteria should be what they achieved on campaign, with extra points for beating the odds, and leaving a legacy.
1. Alexander the Great - creative and daring. Left a big cultural influence in his tracks, with many emulators. He had several close scrapes that could have ended his career as a footnote, but the lucky ones make it on the list...
2. Hannibal - took a motley army through the Alps that handed Rome its most humiliating defeats, and sustained himself for almost 20 years in Italy with no help from his mother city, as a soldier in the field.
3. Julius Caesar - more victories and reckless escapes to his credit than anyone except Napoleon, and most of them against bigger armies to both ends of the empire and back again. Not even he could survive mafia politics, but his nephew did.
4. Khalid ibn-al Walid - Arab leader with honour who conquered the middle east in the first wave of Moslem expansion after daring exploits against veterans of the Sassanid Persians and Byzantine Empire. Dismissed and restored twice for his popularity by 50 victorious battles without a defeat.
5. Genghis Khan - I don't know if the credit is due his generals, but he was the visionary who led the Mongols from a clan society into a city taking army that overran China and central Asia.
6. Frederick the Great - fought 2 wars on multiple fronts against the bigger empires of the day and came out on top.
7. Napoleon - his presence made a difference in more battles than anyone in history, even after the disastrous retreat from Moscow. 'nuff said.
8. Horatio Nelson - performed beyond the call of 'his duty' on several occasions without hesitation against powerful foes, even if it meant disregarding orders, and Britannia continued to rule the waves for a long time.
9. Georgi Zhukov - this was a tough one, but what other modern figure staged and won as many crucial campaigns from 1938 to 1945 ? Settled the Japanese border question in his favor, stalled the Germans in the 1941 winter offensive, tied the noose at Stalingrad, and anticipated Citadelle. Even Stalin had to wait till Zhukov was in Berlin before having him removed, as did Kruschev, after he returned by popular acclaim, and survived both of them. Maybe a little too crude and won by the loss of too much Russian blood to be one of the 10 greatest.
10. Another tough one, but I think Mao Zedong has to get serious consideration. Began the Worker's Revolt, the Long March was an epic in itself, isolated from the west, maintained resistance to Japan, and developed the doctrine and organization of his regional peasant army that took over the country against numerous better armed government forces.
Some honorable mentions who beat the odds:
Themistocles - as much for his persuasive manipulation of both the Greeks and Persians, committing everything to his fleet and intuition of how both would react, when he staged one of history's most decisive battles.
Judas Maccabaeus - Not sure, but seemed to win a lot of longshot victories in the most brutal circumstances, and the tradition was passed on. Joshua, also stands out in the Old Testament, as a figure with guile who faced big challenges, with the religious fervor of that near genocidal conquest.
Does Geiseric's odyssey to Africa with the Vandals, and transformation into a pirate empire rate as one of the greatest barbarian sagas ? Did not leave much of a legacy, other than the word vandal.
There must be viking leaders who had as amazing a career. What about Robert Guiscard ?
Francisco Pizarro and Hernando de Cortez - hey you gotta hand it to them. How often in Civilization do you get to conquer big empires with Explorers ? They were the first Europeans in an unknown world with difficult terrain.
Gustavus Adolphus - proof that you gotta be lucky to make the top ten. Last posthumous victory ended a career prematurely when he was already a legend. Then what about the boy king Charles XII, survived the winter and Poltava, to fight again, after he blitzed every power in northern Europe. Fame or folly ?
I think Richard the Lionhearted, Belisarius, and the Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin are in the same league, as leaders of legendary courage and ability who often had troubles from home but enjoyed a long string of military successes. Read their stories on Wikipedia, and there must be others.
and they won in the same way.
