Help me choose a general.

[Insigna]

I need to pick a general for my Early Military History Class. I was thinking about picking a Goth, Burgundian, Vandal, Frank, Herule or other European who fought the Huns or perhaps another group.
I am anxious to hear any sugestions.

 

[Plexus]

How about Flavius Aetius?

 

[Xen]

Xenophon, Alciabiades, Alexandros,Pyrhus- grrece has a HUGE bounti to choose from! I personally suggest the Roman general Scipio Africans- one of the most interesting stories in history, the enemy of Hannibal, his vituous deeds were well known in the Roman world- whatdeeds? things like not taking a beautiful Spanish princess, andeventually re-uniteing her with herfiancee, winning over to Rome the fanatical support of a great deal of Iberian tribes, or the fact that he was -relativelly- lenent in exacting out the senates terms for Carthaginian surrender, considering both his father, and grand father had been killed by them... he's an interesting guy, and a military genious, the man who beseted hannibal, and helped set Rome on course for mediterranean world empire

 

[pawpaw]

how about:

alaric the goth-sacked rome

stilicho -a vandal for fought for rome

geiseric the vandal-built an small vandal empire

clovis--founder of frank kingdom

 

[Xen]

Belisarius, and narses are also great choices- they are very likelly the two best generals of the dark-early middle (or even up to the mid-middle!)ages

 

[Insigna]

Thanks for all the advice evryone. I have, however, settled on Otto I aka Otto the Great to write about.

 

[onejayhawk]

Originally posted by Xen
Belisarius, and narses are also great choices- they are very likelly the two best generals of the dark-early middle (or even up to the mid-middle!)ages

I second Belisarius. He acheived wonders with badly equipped, largely untrained troops, plus you get to talk about the cataphracts, everyone's favority cavalry from the ancient period. Actually the Persians were probably even better cavalry, though IIRC Belisarius was one of the few late Roman generals to defeat them in a major battle.

J

 

[Xen]

at the time, the Byzantine Cataphract cavalry was one of, if not the best on earth- formed from an amaglimation of many cultures heavey cavalry, including that of Persia, Parthia, Sarmatia, and if what information I have recentlly found is correct, and early cataphract, known as a "Contatiorum" was present since early imperial times (so named after the Kontos lance, tha same lance that cataphracts would use, it also appears as thouse these troopers wore a good amount of armouf, but rode unarmoured horses)

The Byzatine foot troops, although little more then might be recognized as the most back water of provincial auxilla in early imperial times, were indeed still some of the best foot troops around

 

[Xen]

that said, it still took a mighty general like belisarius to defeat odds heavilly outside of his favor...

 

[test_specimen]

Originally posted by Insigna
I need to pick a general for my Early Military History Class. I was thinking about picking a Goth, Burgundian, Vandal, Frank, Herule or other European who fought the Huns or perhaps another group.

What school do you go to, to have a class specifically for "Early Military History"?

 

[Hamlet]

I was going to recommend someone that interested you and who you could acquire sufficent avalible info on, but you've already picked...

 

[ss3goku]

Originally posted by Hamlet
I was going to recommend someone that interested you and who you could acquire sufficent avalible info on, but you've already picked...

But i still think we should keep giving suggestions, since this is a good topic.

I say that you choose Sun Tzu, he might not have fought many battles, but his Art of War still outlines modern military warfare. Or you could go with Asoka, the powerful and brutal Indian general who conquered most of India, nearly unheard of back then. But he converted to Buddhism and preached peace, so i don't know.

 

[Insigna]

Originally posted by ss3goku


But i still think we should keep giving suggestions, since this is a good topic.

I say that you choose Sun Tzu, he might not have fought many battles, but his Art of War still outlines modern military warfare. Or you could go with Asoka, the powerful and brutal Indian general who conquered most of India, nearly unheard of back then. But he converted to Buddhism and preached peace, so i don't know.

I am reading the Art of War right now for another class so that would have been a good choice.

However I will have to write about another general in a month or so. It has to be someone who lived from 1000 AD- 1870 so there are plenty of choices if you want to keep giving me sugestions.

In responce to Hamlet, I have, indeed, found a suprising lack of military info on Otto the Great, at least in english.

 

[pawpaw]

try the great khan's " 4 dogs of war " subedei,chepe,jelme and khubilai. they were the ones who put genghis khan's plans into reality

 

[sabo]

How about tigleth piliser III although 'tilly' was more like a King than a general,

excerp -
Founder of the second Assyrian empire, Tiglath Pileser III adopted for his throne name the name of an illustrious king who ruled Assyria from c. 1115-c. 1077 B.C

 

[ss3goku]

How about Maharaj Ranjit Singh? Do some research, you'll like him for sure.

 

[Caesar Sam]

I don't think you would find any shortage of information on Oliver Cromwell.