Your Top Five Military Leaders

[HitRed]

The bible is mostly bullshit. A few of the events in it did happen, like the Babylonian Captivity, but the vast majority are made up stories.

Duka

[Dukasaur]

The bible is mostly bullshit. A few of the events in it did happen, like the Babylonian Captivity, but the vast majority are made up stories.

Duka

Yes?

[jusplay4fun]

I do not have Joshua in my Top Five or even my Top Ten Military Leaders. The same for Muhammed (or Mohammed), too.

I did give an honorable mention to a Sikh and to a Mongol. Does that earn me any points?

[riskllama]

just call him "Moe" or "Hammy" for short - that's what i do.

[jusplay4fun]

4. Attila the Hun

Few names in history illicit such a fearful response as Attila the Hun. The leader of the barbarian Huns, the fourth greatest conqueror on this list plundered and pillaged everything in his path.

Attila lived in the 5th century. With an empire that stretched from Central Asia right across to modern Germany, he was one of the most fearsome enemies of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. Attila was well known for his cruelty and took no mercy on his enemies, making him an often-vilified military leader, but an exceptional one nonetheless.

[HitRed]

[jusplay4fun]

5. Julius Caesar

It is hard to talk about great military conquerors and not talk about the man who holds the fifth place on our list: Julius Caesar. As the most famous ruler of history’s most famous empire, Julius Caesar led the armies of the Roman Republic to victories across Africa and Europe.

The subject of a Shakespeare play, the respected military and political leader was eventually assassinated by Brutus in 44BC. But in the years before Caesar had used his military nous to extend the reaches of the Roman Empire to territories far and wide.

[jonesthecurl]

Also possibly the only man ever to have his name itself come to mean "ruler" - Caesar/Kaiser/Czar.

[ConfederateSS]

5. Julius Caesar

It is hard to talk about great military conquerors and not talk about the man who holds the fifth place on our list: Julius Caesar. As the most famous ruler of history’s most famous empire, Julius Caesar led the armies of the Roman Republic to victories across Africa and Europe.

The subject of a Shakespeare play, the respected military and political leader was eventually assassinated by Brutus in 44BC. But in the years before Caesar had used his military nous to extend the reaches of the Roman Empire to territories far and wide.

-------One more thing about this Leader....We know alot about him....Why?... Because ,he is the 1st Military Leader to write about his Military activities... ....You have do be awesome...To have a salad named after you...
------- My favorite battle of His....Is Alesia...For he would build a wall to surround the Guals...in Alesia...The using the one thing that made the Roman Army famous ,other than their fighting...There engineering skills...He would... surround his forces with a wall of his own...Trapping himself ,and protecting from Help ,coming to Alesia's...aid....Also ,he built a bridge across the Rhine...just to smack the Germanic Tribes,just to show them...He could get to them,if he wants to...That is what Made Caesar ,awesome...His ,unorthodox way of fighting... ConfederateSS.out!(The Blue and Silver Rebellion)...

[jusplay4fun]

5. Julius Caesar

It is hard to talk about great military conquerors and not talk about the man who holds the fifth place on our list: Julius Caesar. As the most famous ruler of history’s most famous empire, Julius Caesar led the armies of the Roman Republic to victories across Africa and Europe.

The subject of a Shakespeare play, the respected military and political leader was eventually assassinated by Brutus in 44BC. But in the years before Caesar had used his military nous to extend the reaches of the Roman Empire to territories far and wide.

-------One more thing about this Leader....We know alot about him....Why?... Because ,he is the 1st Military Leader to write about his Military activities... ....You have do be awesome...To have a salad named after you...
------- My favorite battle of His....Is Alesia...For he would build a wall to surround the Guals...in Alesia...The using the one thing that made the Roman Army famous ,other than their fighting...There engineering skills...He would... surround his forces with a wall of his own...Trapping himself ,and protecting from Help ,coming to Alesia's...aid....That is what Made Caesar ,awesome...His ,unorthadox way of fighting... ConfederateSS.out!(The Blue and Silver Rebellion)...

Romans were indeed GREAT engineers, and their military engineering exploits are amazing. Yes, I know about that battle where he built a wall around his troops who were in a siege. THAT was really unorthodox. I mentioned his troops building that bridge over the Rhine, too. AND many of their structures (aqueducts, the Coliseum, roads, many buildings) are still standing.

And yes, JC had a great publicist, himself...!

Here are a few tidbits from Wikipedia:

Caesar was an accomplished author and historian as well as a statesman; much of his life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns. Other contemporary sources include the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. Later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also important sources. Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history.[5] His cognomen was subsequently adopted as a synonym for "Emperor"; the title "Caesar" was used throughout the Roman Empire, giving rise to modern cognates such as Kaiser and Tsar. He has frequently appeared in literary and artistic works, and his political philosophy, known as Caesarism, inspired politicians into the modern era.

In 55 BC, Caesar repelled an incursion into Gaul by two Germanic tribes, and followed it up by building a bridge across the Rhine and making a show of force in Germanic territory, before returning and dismantling the bridge. Late that summer, having subdued two other tribes, he crossed into Britain, claiming that the Britons had aided one of his enemies the previous year, possibly the Veneti of Brittany.

....but Caesar's elaborate siege-works at the Battle of Alesia finally forced his surrender.

[jusplay4fun]

Yes, what he started was an amazing military set of conquests, but he died too young to get the MILITARY credit as the guy on the actual BATTLEFIELD. It also amazes me how soon after his death that his movement splintered into 2 major factions.

Alexander the Great was 32. Muhammad was 66.
Alexander the Greats empire split into 4 factions.

As I said, I intended this to be a FUN discussion of military Leaders and not a policy debate where we argue over facts or numbers or stats and get mired in minutia.

HItRed accused my changing the rules and adding criteria. NOTE that he is the one to start to quote the following stats:

by HitRed on Wed May 12, 2021 8:23 am

Alexander the Great was 32. Muhammad was 66.
Alexander the Greats empire split into 4 factions.

From there he goes on to accuse me of changing the rules.

by HitRed on Wed May 12, 2021 5:53 pm

It seems you are adding a rule that is not in the op. First mentioning age and now length of service.

Muhammad lead troops for 10 years per Wikipedia.

I do not recall citing age or length of service, (Duk did later, after HitRed first did so). Then HitRed accuses me of doing what HE DID INSTEAD.

[jusplay4fun]

Anyway, I am re-reading much of this thread and it was a FUN discussion. I was considering adding more here; I am not sure I will at this time.

I did learn somethings and there was lots of different set of opinions. This is what I was seeking when I started this thread.

[riskllama]

[aad0906]

You guys are all forgetting the man who was the last person to successfully invade England... From a tiny nation that was fighting the English, the Spanish, the French and the Prussians. A small republic against a few mighty Kingdoms.

[jusplay4fun]

You guys are all forgetting the man who was the last person to successfully invade England... From a tiny nation that was fighting the English, the Spanish, the French and the Prussians. A small republic against a few mighty Kingdoms.

Do you want to clarify your statement? The last person to "successfully invade England" was William the Conqueror. I do not recall him fighting the Prussians. Were there people called the Prussians in 1066 A.D.?

The Last Invasion of Britain
by Ben Johnson
The annals of history record the name of Hastings as the site of the last invasion of mainland Britain by Norman forces in 1066. True, this was the last successful invasion. However, little is reported about the French invasion of Fishguard, which took place in southwest Wales in 1797, nor of the brave resistance offered by Jemima Nicholas, also known as “Jemima Fawr” (Jemima the Great), who single-handedly captured twelve of the invading soldiers.

In 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte was busy conquering in central Europe. In his absence the newly formed French revolutionary government, the Directory, appears to have devised a ‘cunning plan’ that involved the poor country folk of Britain rallying to the support of their French liberators. Obviously the Directory had recently taken delivery of some newly liberated Brandy!

Men, arms and gunpowder were unloaded and by 2 am on the morning of Thursday February 23rd, the last invasion of Britain was completed. The ships returned to France with a special despatch being sent to the Directory in Paris informing them of the successful landing.

Upon landing, the French invasion force appear to have run out of enthusiasm for the ‘cunning plan’. Perhaps as a result of years of prison rations, they seem to have been more interested in the rich food and wine the locals had recently removed from a grounded Portuguese ship. After a looting spree, many of the invaders were too drunk to fight and within two days, the invasion had collapsed: Tate’s force surrendered to a local militia force led by Lord Cawdor on February 25th 1797.

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/The-Last-Invasion-of-Britain/

[jonesthecurl]

Later successful invasion - Henry VII.

[aad0906]

You guys are all forgetting the man who was the last person to successfully invade England... From a tiny nation that was fighting the English, the Spanish, the French and the Prussians. A small republic against a few mighty Kingdoms.

Do you want to clarify your statement? The last person to "successfully invade England" was William the Conqueror. I do not recall him fighting the Prussians. Were there people called the Prussians in 1066 A.D.?

The Last Invasion of Britain
by Ben Johnson
The annals of history record the name of Hastings as the site of the last invasion of mainland Britain by Norman forces in 1066. True, this was the last successful invasion. However, little is reported about the French invasion of Fishguard, which took place in southwest Wales in 1797, nor of the brave resistance offered by Jemima Nicholas, also known as “Jemima Fawr” (Jemima the Great), who single-handedly captured twelve of the invading soldiers.

In 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte was busy conquering in central Europe. In his absence the newly formed French revolutionary government, the Directory, appears to have devised a ‘cunning plan’ that involved the poor country folk of Britain rallying to the support of their French liberators. Obviously the Directory had recently taken delivery of some newly liberated Brandy!

Men, arms and gunpowder were unloaded and by 2 am on the morning of Thursday February 23rd, the last invasion of Britain was completed. The ships returned to France with a special despatch being sent to the Directory in Paris informing them of the successful landing.

Upon landing, the French invasion force appear to have run out of enthusiasm for the ‘cunning plan’. Perhaps as a result of years of prison rations, they seem to have been more interested in the rich food and wine the locals had recently removed from a grounded Portuguese ship. After a looting spree, many of the invaders were too drunk to fight and within two days, the invasion had collapsed: Tate’s force surrendered to a local militia force led by Lord Cawdor on February 25th 1797.

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/The-Last-Invasion-of-Britain/

Raid on the Medway...

[jusplay4fun]

I think you quoted the wrong battle:

The Raid on the Medway
Main article: Raid on the Medway
The Raid on the Medway, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in June 1667, was a successful attack conducted by the Dutch navy on English battleships at a time when most were virtually unmanned and unarmed, laid up in the fleet anchorages off Chatham Dockyard and Gillingham in the county of Kent. At the time, the fortress of Upnor Castle and a barrier chain called the "Gillingham Line" were supposed to protect the English ships.

The Dutch, under nominal command of Willem Joseph van Ghent and Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, over several days bombarded and captured the town of Sheerness, sailed up the Thames estuary to Gravesend, then sailed into the River Medway to Chatham and Gillingham, where they engaged fortifications with cannon fire, burned or captured three capital ships and ten more ships of the line, and captured and towed away the flagship of the English fleet, HMS Royal Charles.

The Glorious Revolution
Main article: Glorious Revolution
In 1688 the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau landed an army in Devon at the invitation of a group of Protestant nobles who were dissatisfied with what they perceived as the absolutist tendencies of the reigning Catholic King James II. After a brief campaign culminating in the Battle of Reading, William's army successfully forced James into exile in France. After securing French military backing, James attempted to re-invade by mustering troops in Ireland, but was defeated decisively at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. After Parliament legitimized William's invasion it became known as the Glorious Revolution.

It was the last successful invasion of the British Isles to date

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasions_of_the_British_Isles