most powerfull general ever

[Pellaken]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5949

 

[DingBat]

Most powerfull or most skilled. Many, if not most, skilled generals never acrue much personal power.

For powerfull I guess it would have to be one of:

Alexander
Napolean
Augustus

For most skilled, hands down:

Manstein


/bruce

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Most Powerful (Ancient): Caesar
Most Powerful (Medieval/Renaissance): Saladin
Most Powerful (Colonial/Industrial): Napoleon
Most Powerful (Modern): Eisenhower

Most Skilled (Ancient): Hannibal
Most Skilled (Medieval/Renaissance): Rodrigo Diaz
Most Skilled (Colonial/Industrial): Napoleon
Most Skilled (Modern): Gulderian

 

[Le Petit Prince]

for skill...name and favorite battle

1.Zoukov (Stalingrad by far...stalin feared him)
2.Rommel (Everywhere. BlitzKrieg!!!)
3.Napoleon (austerlitz and strategy)
4.Alexander ( rising a so small country and built an entire empire)
5.Epimondas (Leucra:his opponent has 2x more men)

 

[Giorgicus]

Agreee with most of Kahran Ramsus's choices above.

Naval counterparts as far as skill was concerned:

Ancient/Colonial Era: Nelson (Trafalgar)
Modern Era: Nimitz (Midway)

 

[animepornstar]

1 ho chi min (the japanese, the french and the americans...)
2 nelson
3 napoleon
4 zoukov
5 scipio (i don´t rember who was the greatest)
6 genghis khan
7 gustav II adolf (created an army that almost took wienna in the 17th century)
8 alexander

 

[The Balrog]

Well wouldnt you like to know ! ? !

 

[Alcibiaties of Athenae]

Originally posted by SpaceCow
Well wouldnt you like to know ! ? !

No more of this, Space Cow.
This is a serious forum, no spamming.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by animepornstar
1 ho chi min (the japanese, the french and the americans...)

That's Ho Chi Minh BTW. But the military brains behind the Viets was Giap (something). He was the mastermind behind Dien Bien Phu (which broke the French attempted return to power in colonial Indo-China) among other things. Ho was more like a political master, sort of like Mao in China.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Originally posted by Le Petit Prince
2.Rommel (Everywhere. BlitzKrieg!!!)

The blitzkrieg tactics were really by Mainstein, Guderian and co. Rommel got his start in North Africa, I think, when the German blitzkrieg tactics were beginning to run out of steam.

 

[Achinz]

Originally posted by Knight-Dragon
That's Ho Chi Minh BTW. But the military brains behind the Viets was Giap (something). He was the mastermind behind Dien Bien Phu (which broke the French attempted return to power in colonial Indo-China) among other things. Ho was more like a political master, sort of like Mao in China.

It was General Vo Nguyen Giap, the hero of Dien Bien Phu. The French were really caught by surprise because Giap had been able to transport the parts of heavy artillery and other military hardware through the thick jungle and had them reassembled outside the perimeters of the French "impregnable" fortress. All it took was sheer muscle power and determination.

 

[knowltok]

Ever notice how anyone who goes through what was considered impassable terrain wins? Germans through the Ardennes in 1940, Japanese through the jungle to Singapore in 1942, Vietnamese with artillery through the jungle to Dien Bien Phu.

Rommel was great at making do with what can kindly be called a less than perfect supply situation.

Patton deserves mention IMHO for his ability to drive his troops. Husky and Cobra are two good examples. The battle of the Bulge is another.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Patton does deserve mention as does Grant.

 

[Thuloid]

I'm just going to list off a few of my favorites, and give a few reasons why. Definitive "greatest" is a bit silly, as generals in vastly different circumstances hard to measure against one another. Most powerful defaults to whomever controls the best army.

I like and agree with all previous suggestions, so here are some either not mentioned or that deserve further mention:

Henry V of England- Unlike the Rocky series, the Henry series peaked with V. Nearly winning the throne of France with a severely undersized and undersupplied force is rather difficult.

Phillip 2 (the Revenge of Phillip) of Macedonia, and his rather more famous son. If I were going to try and conquer the known world, I probably wouldn't pick Macedonia as a starting point. These guys did (they didn't have much choice) and it worked. Go figure. Phillip built the force that Lil' Alex put to such fine use.

T. J. (Stonewall) Jackson- I don't know if this guy could have directed a war, but on the field he was a minor deity. Consistently embarrassed his opponents.

Gen. George C. Scott/Patton - Could do more than just drive his troops. He had a pretty fair grasp of how to play offense on a modern battlefield.

MacArthur- Inchon was a rather clever move. He also really looked the part.

Oliver Cromwell- Might've been a bit of a jerk, but one can't argue with the results he got.

David - The historical record's a bit sparse on this guy, but he has arguably the most famous upset victory and single combat as well as a spectacular record in building a minor, threatened kingdom into a respectable regional power.

 

[DingBat]

Originally posted by Le Petit Prince
for skill...name and favorite battle

1.Zoukov (Stalingrad by far...stalin feared him)
2.Rommel (Everywhere. BlitzKrieg!!!)
3.Napoleon (austerlitz and strategy)
4.Alexander ( rising a so small country and built an entire empire)
5.Epimondas (Leucra:his opponent has 2x more men)

I gotta argue with #'s 1 and 2.

1) Zukhov was good, but there's only one problem with your reasoning: Zukhov wasn't in command at Stalingrad. While Operation Saturn (the Soviet counterattack at Stalingrad) was going on Zukhov was involved in a little mess near Rhzev called Operation Mars. There he managed to get his ass seriously kicked by Model (to the tune of several hundred thousand casualties).

Zukhov's reputation was largely manufactured by the Soviets.

2) Rommel wasn't the architect of the Blitzkrieg, merely one of it's practitioners. The real blitzkrieg pioneer was Guderian.

Rommel was a good divisional commander, but less successful as an army commander. As commander in North Africa he was constantly out of contact with his staff, to the point of endangering his command. Also, his decision to proceed into Egypt instead of backing Kesselrings plan to neutralize Malta could possibly be considered a serious blunder.

/bruce

 

[redtom]

Napoleon, no arguments

 

[The Balrog]

Originally posted by Alcibiaties of Athenae
No more of this, Space Cow.
This is a serious forum, no spamming.

Sowwy.....

 

[Bob]

Originally posted by redtom
Napoleon, no arguments

Absolutely. A real genius. The country's youngest general, and one of the world's best tacticians.

 

[Sayhueque]

Originally posted by Knight-Dragon
The blitzkrieg tactics were really by Mainstein, Guderian and co. Rommel got his start in North Africa, I think, when the German blitzkrieg tactics were beginning to run out of steam.

Rommel was made famous by North Africa. But he commanded one of the Panzer divisions (VII I think?) in the Ardennes in 1940.

 

[Sam_Catchem]

New to this forum...but I think Eisenhower is underrated. Sure he was more the organizational leader, but he made extremely good decisions.

The formation of NATO was rather genius too. Although, it wouldn't necessarily count in this forum cuz he did it when he was President.