Name some of the Best/Worst military Commanders.

[Makarov]

Seeing as how I have become interested in ancient Roman generals, and since this is a miniwargaming site. List some of the best/worst generals you can think of. Also please don't let this become a political bitch fest.

Scipio Africanus


He helped defeat the famous general Hannibal, and later on Carthage. Thus cementing Rome rise to power in Europe/North Africa.

[Ome99]

WW2 Imperial Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita:

He looks Badass, and so was his invasion of Singapore and Malaya.

[Makarov]

Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion
Father of both the US Rangers, and guerrilla warfare.
Francis Marion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Francis Marion is known for his daring raids on the British troupes surrounding Charleston during the Revolutionary War. Although originally commissioned as a Captain, Marion became the leader of a small band of fighters after the surrender of Charleston in 1780. His moniker of the "swamp fox" was given to him by Colonel Banastre Tarleton because his abilities to disappear into the swamps made him impossible for the British to catch. Marion ended his military service at the rank of Brigadier General. After the war Francis Marion served as a senator for the state of South Carolina from 1782-1790.

[mr.hanky]

Ahmad Shah Massoud
He led a guerrilla war against the soviets and fought against the Taliban.

[Qaiex]

Alexander the Great.
He's not called great for nothing. He kicked some serious ass.

[mitchverr]

Bill Slim


Claude Auchinleck


Archibald Wavell


Orde Wingate

All badass approved imo and undernoticed leaders of ww2, arguably some of the most important and best british officers of the war (i would argue better then the well known Monty) and some of the rare breed of those that would think outside the box and/or also not care what colour skin their soldier has or what language or food they ate but also join them in it (iirc Auchinleck spoke all languages spoken by the troops of the indian army and ate the same food they had which "could" be argued as a reason he didnt go higher up as Churchill was a bigot and didnt like indians).

[Pvt.LHeureux]

Any "worst" commanders yet?

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by Pvt.LHeureux

Any "worst" commanders yet?

Yup



One of the worst military commanders ever:




While many say he shouldn't have invaded the Soviet Union the problem was that the Soviet Union was equipping its army with new technology and intended to attack Germany within a year. With its size in manpower and industry, it was necessary for Germany to attack Russia before it was ready. Looking at the losses for the Russians, the strategy almost worked. IMHO he could have won the war against the Soviets (the main conflict of WW2 was the Eastern front of Europe), but thankfully due to his stupidity on so many levels he failed.


Here are some reasons:
-One of the many things Hitler did wrong when he invaded the Soviet Union. Was to kill of the locals that liked him. He was initially seen as a liberator by the Ukrainians, Cossack, and? other groups that the Soviet controlled (and tried to kill off). He could have easily raised a more than a million troops from these areas. They were willing to work and fight for the Reich (many did), but Hitler being Hitler? Tried to kill them off too. Thus creating a hostile environment that gave birth to many anti Nazi partisan movements, thus more anti partisan units were need. Not to mention all the men and material he needed for his "final solution" .
-Hitler did not disclose information about the new T-34 tank, which outnumbered and outgunned all of Germany's tanks.?
-Also, Hitler decided upon plans to focus on other cities instead of Moscow, the nerve center that connected the eastern and western portions of the country.
-He just had good generals working for him in the German army, but eventually he started asking them to do the impossible. When they weren't able to deliver he took over and micromanaged.

And a metric crap ton more.

[mitchverr]

Mussolini

Some say 1 man cant cause the defeat of an entire alliance from the beginning...
This guy had a bloody good go at it

(not so much a military commander, but still, his moronic behaviour is arguably 1 of the best things to happen to the allies)

[crot]

Generalissimo Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov



'Suvorov is one of the few generals in history (along with Alexander the Great, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and Genghis Khan) who never lost a battle. He was famed for his military manual The Science of Victory, and noted for several of his sayings, including "What is difficult in training will become easy in a battle", "The bullet is a mad thing, only the bayonet knows what it is about", and "Perish yourself but rescue your comrade!". He taught his soldiers to attack instantly and decisively: "attack with the cold steel–push hard with the bayonet!" He joked with the men, called the common soldiers 'brother', and shrewdly presented the results of detailed planning and careful strategy as the work of inspiration.'

The worst: Stalin. lol.