That seems extreme. If a historian had been writing about Alexander’s impact on the “modern world” 200 years after his death, he would have ranked it as immense. The Hellenistic Age flowed primarily from Alexander and though it proved somewhat ephemeral in the long run, it was a very long-lasting ephemera, including real reverberations on the Roman polity which eventually supplanted it in the west.
That beside the fact that Alexander is the very archetype of the world-conqueror, then and now. Also, for a drunken, paranoid, violent, narcissitic asshole, he was one hell of a general :D.
Zhukov simply does not have that historical stature or impact. Not by a mile - Alexander radically re-shaped the international scene for centuries. Zhukov ( understandably, given the very different eras they lived in ) almost certainly will not be able to claim the same.
Yes, but the topic is the greatest military leader, not the greatest general. It’s a subtle difference. Don’t get me wrong: he’s right up there, but he’s beaten by better people.
Georgy Zhukov - 10
Alexander the Great - 5
Julius Caesar - 2 (again)
The boldfaced leader above is now gone, leaving:
Alexander the Great: Conquered the known world
Genghis Khan: Built the perfect war machine
Julius Caesar: Rome’s most brilliant commander
Georgy Zhukov: Led from Moscow to Berlin
Eliminated so far:
George B. McClellan
Charles the Bold
Hernan Cortez
Douglas MacArthur
Pompey Magnus
Carl von Clausewitz
Robert E. Lee
Josip Broz Tito
Zachary Taylor
John S. McCain Sr.
Titokowaru
Albert Kesselring
Curtis Le May
Sun Tzu
Gabriel Dumont
Charles Upham
Richard H. O’Kane
Charles de Gaulle
Paul von Hindenburg
Marc Mitscher
Flavius Aetius
Mehmet the Conqueror
Pyrrhus
Orde Wingate
Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck
Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban
Tsao Tsao (also Cao Cao)
Hugh Dowding
Yamamoto Isoroku
Sir Isaac Brock
Moshe Dayan
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter
Phil Sheridan
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Kong Ming/Zhuge Liang
Henry V
John Paul Jones
Vo Nguyen Giap
Attila the Hun
Togo Heihachiro
Bernard Montgomery
Erich von Manstein
George S. Patton
Philip II of Macedon
Gaius Marius
Akbar the Great
Arthur Currie
Yi-Sun Shin
George Washington
Oda Nobunaga
Erwin Rommel
Belisarius
U.S. Grant
Timur-e-Lang
Stonewall Jackson
Frederick the Great
Napoleon Bonaparte
Themistocles
Gustavus Adolphus
William T. Sherman
Lord Nelson
Subutai
Scipio Africanus
Duke of Marlborough
Khalid ibn al-Walid
Duke of Wellington
Hannibal
Same rules as the previous round.
The next round will conclude at noon EST on Mon. Oct. 25.
Alexander - 2. At this point in the game, the fact he couldn’t build anything that lasted beyond his death matters.
Zhukov - 1. I really hate to do this - the man killed Nazis, after all, and I don’t think there are a lot of finer accomplishments than that. (Yes, I know not all Wehrmacht were Nazis - but SS were, and Zhukov put a lot of them out of our misery as well.) But he wasn’t a head of state, he didn’t set top-level policy, and he didn’t play as fundamental role in his military as Caesar or Khan did. Time for him to go, with all the honors and respect due the man who burned the Nazi dream to ash.
Georgy Zhukov - 2. Not fit to carry Alexander’s jock. I mean we’re talking Alexander the Great here. He’s got Frosted Flakes-level cred! By comparison Zhukov is generic, unfrosted mini-wheats :D.
Alexander the Great - 1. That said, I’m going to give JC a slight nod over Alex :). If for no other reason, Julius seems to have been far less prone to murdering his own officers in fits of drunken rage.
After knocking off so many higher seeds to reach the Final Four, his run finally ends:
Georgy Zhukov – 2
If only because I have “experience” killing him, having played the role of Cassius in a truncated version of Shakespeare’s account of the great leader’s life:
Alexander the Great: Conquered the known world
Genghis Khan: Built the perfect war machine
Julius Caesar: Rome’s most brilliant commander
Eliminated so far:
George B. McClellan
Charles the Bold
Hernan Cortez
Douglas MacArthur
Pompey Magnus
Carl von Clausewitz
Robert E. Lee
Josip Broz Tito
Zachary Taylor
John S. McCain Sr.
Titokowaru
Albert Kesselring
Curtis Le May
Sun Tzu
Gabriel Dumont
Charles Upham
Richard H. O’Kane
Charles de Gaulle
Paul von Hindenburg
Marc Mitscher
Flavius Aetius
Mehmet the Conqueror
Pyrrhus
Orde Wingate
Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck
Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban
Tsao Tsao (also Cao Cao)
Hugh Dowding
Yamamoto Isoroku
Sir Isaac Brock
Moshe Dayan
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter
Phil Sheridan
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Kong Ming/Zhuge Liang
Henry V
John Paul Jones
Vo Nguyen Giap
Attila the Hun
Togo Heihachiro
Bernard Montgomery
Erich von Manstein
George S. Patton
Philip II of Macedon
Gaius Marius
Akbar the Great
Arthur Currie
Yi-Sun Shin
George Washington
Oda Nobunaga
Erwin Rommel
Belisarius
U.S. Grant
Timur-e-Lang
Stonewall Jackson
Frederick the Great
Napoleon Bonaparte
Themistocles
Gustavus Adolphus
William T. Sherman
Lord Nelson
Subutai
Scipio Africanus
Duke of Marlborough
Khalid ibn al-Walid
Duke of Wellington
Hannibal
Georgy Zhukov
New Rule: We’re now at the Final Three, so, as earlier announced, everyone gets one vote in each round.
The next round will conclude at noon EST on Weds. Oct. 27.
Just for grins, do people want to start posting who they’d like to see win?
Of the three remaining, I think I’d have to prefer that Genghis Khan prevail. He has the strongest claim to having built his military from the ground-up, and also for making the longest-lasting impact. The Roman Republic after Caesar fell into civil war, and it took Augustus to stabilize it. Khan’s structure lasted.
