You may nominate up to five noteworthy leaders, be they generals, admirals or military officers of any rank, as well as monarchs, warlords or chieftains actually commanding on the battlefield, describing each in no more than five words. Define “greatest” as you see fit. Military leaders on the land, at sea or in the air are eligible for nomination. Even just a single noteworthy triumph is sufficient for nomination, if you wish.
To avoid contemporary political disputes, your nominees must have been either retired or dead before 2000.
Nominations will close at noon EST a week from today, Thurs. Aug. 12. After the deadline, I’ll arrange the nominees alphabetically, and we’ll vote them out much as we did in the U.S. President, greatest American and greatest national leader elimination games.
My nominees:
Henry V: Warrior-king; won at Agincourt.
George Washington: Trenton, Princeton, Yorktown victor, hero.
Napoleon Bonaparte: Conquered most of Europe.
Frederick the Great: Prussian king and battlefield genius.
Lord Nelson: Royal Navy admiral; Trafalgar victor.
Robert E. Lee – beloved, aggressive underdog T. J. “Stonewall” Jackson – embodiment of maneuver and offense Marc Mitscher – master of operational carrier warfare William Tecumseh Sherman – logistics, maneuver as strategic warfare Hannibal – greatest tactical genius?
I really want to add Alexander the Great – small state to world-conqueror – but I’m confident someone will pick him up, and I wanted to make sure the others get on.
I really think you should separate land, sea, and air.
Wellington: Successes in India, thrashed Napoleon.
Julius Caesar: Hispania, Gallia, Cleopatra.
Cortez: conquered South America. Hugh Dowding: won Battle of Britain.
My choice of admiral, Nelson, has already been stolen so I’ll offer
Lee and Jackson, yes, absolutely. Also John Mosby, J.E.B. Stuart, and Nathaniel Bedford Forrest.
As for General William Tecumseh Sherman May-he-rot-in-Hell, absolutely not. That fucking arsonist was a war criminal, and should have been hung.
A point of eligibility: Does Archimedes qualify? So far as I know, he never stepped foot on the battlefield himself, but his inventions were sufficient to hold off the greatest military in the world at the time.
