# Greatest Military Leader elimination game (setup thread)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [August 5, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293 "2010-08-05T17:08:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/1 "2010-08-05T17:08:51Z")
Who was the greatest military leader?
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.
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### Author:  [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/2 "2010-08-05T17:16:14Z")
[Subutai](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subutai), general to Genghis Khan, conquered more territory than any other military leader in the history of the world.
> [@Wikipedia](#):
>
> He is most remembered for devising the campaign that destroyed the armies of Hungary and Poland within two days of each other, by forces over five hundred kilometers apart.
That’s one bad ass motherfu-
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/3 "2010-08-05T17:24:04Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#):
>
> [Subutai](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subutai) …That’s one bad ass motherfu-
Is that your five-word description? :dubious: 😉
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/4 "2010-08-05T17:27:49Z")
**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.
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### Author:  [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/5 "2010-08-05T17:31:37Z")
[Alexander the Great](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great) conquered the known-world and thensome
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/6 "2010-08-05T17:40:27Z")
I’ll be happy to participate in the voting rounds, but don’t really have any leaders to suggest.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/7 "2010-08-05T17:45:27Z")
I lied:
[John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Churchill,_1st_Duke_of_Marlborough) master of early modern war
[Gustavus Adolphus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavus_Adolphus_of_Sweden) Made Sweden a great power
[Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9bastien_Le_Prestre_de_Vauban) Great military engineer
[Mehmet the Conqueror](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmet_the_Conqueror) Took Constantinople
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/8 "2010-08-05T17:47:01Z")
The only one I can think of that might not be mentioned:
Vo Nguyen Giap - Won Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/9 "2010-08-05T17:48:27Z")
**Julius Caesar** - Rome’s most brilliant commander.
**Khalid ibn al-Walid** - Architect of the Arab conquests.
**Genghis Khan** - Built the perfect war machine.
and what the heck…
**Timur-e-Lang** - The scourge of Western Asia.
Only five? Jeez…
😉
ETA: Argh. **Tom Scud** slipped in and stole Marlborough. Okay, replace him with **Belisarius** - Justinian’s hammer.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/10 "2010-08-05T17:51:29Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#):
>
> **Khalid ibn al-Walid** - Architect of the Arab conquests.
Thanks. I had the name “Khaled” in the back of my mind but couldn’t be arsed to look him up.
> [@](#):
>
> **John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough** - Arguably Britain’s greatest general.
Nyah, got there first. So I guess you get another pick.
ETA: obviously Tamerlane snuck in with his edit.
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### Author:  [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/11 "2010-08-05T17:52:04Z")
[Tito](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josip_Broz_Tito)kicked the Germans out Yugoslavia
3 more if I can think of them
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/12 "2010-08-05T18:03:21Z")
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](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Dowding): won Battle of Britain.
My choice of admiral, Nelson, has already been stolen so I’ll offer
[Themistocles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Themistocles): Marathon, Artemisium, Salamis.
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### Author:  [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/13 "2010-08-05T18:21:49Z")
Oh just so we get to vote him off the island
Curtis LeMay:reorganized the Strategic Air Command
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### Author:  [@Staver808](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staver808)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/14 "2010-08-05T18:51:58Z")
[Sun Tzu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Tzu)-Wrote the book Eastern warfare
[Carl von Clausewitz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz)-wrote the book Western warfare
[Scipio Africanus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scipio_Africanus)-Stopped Carthage and Hannibal
[Kong Ming/Zhuge Liang](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuge_Liang)-Greatest tactician Three Kingdoms China
[Akbar the Great](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akbar)-Mughal emperor that conquered [most of] India.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/15 "2010-08-05T19:22:38Z")
**George McClellan** , inventor of the strategy of not taking casualties by not taking the offensive.
**Eisenhower** That whole victory thing
**Grant** For being what McClellan was not
**Ho Chi Minh** Took on a superpower and walked away
**John Paul Jones** First of the great admirals
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/16 "2010-08-05T19:31:13Z")
Some great suggestions so far - thanks! A word of caution: those who cannot limit themselves to five words will have it done for them.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/17 "2010-08-05T21:00:31Z")
> [@Sailboat](#):
>
> **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.
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.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/18 "2010-08-05T22:05:04Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/19 "2010-08-05T22:38:19Z")
I’ve been beaten to Julius Caesar. So I’ll substitute someone next week.
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-military-leader-elimination-game-setup-thread/549293/20 "2010-08-06T00:25:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> 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.
Philip “Little Phil” Sheridan: Grant’s troubleshooter. Indian fighter extraordinaire.
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