Greatest Military Commander
New poll over at the Oxford Medievalist’s. It’s a killer.
Every one I know anything about on that list is great, did magnificent things. Some have obvious flaws offsetting military greatness, but it is still impossible to choose. I like Alexander and Nelson for boldness. Wellington and Washington for calmness. Julius Caesar for calm boldness. The Medievalist and I had a brief discussion about William the Bastard and Harold. He liked William, for pulling together fleeting, fickle resources and pulling it off. I liked Harold for pulling together fleeting, fickle resources, and facing two major enemies in two different places in a matter of weeks, defeating a Viking army and almost holding against the Normans, a loss not due to a blunder on his part but to his line’s momentary, exuberant, tragic lapse in discipline. Bonaparte and Wellington, well, Bonaparte was probably the superior except when it mattered in the end, when Bonaparte blundered. But Bonaparte was the wrong damn side, anyway. Maybe Wellington just for beating Bonaparte. Maybe Nelson just for being Nelson. And if for nothing else, that beautiful signal.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:17 am on Wednesday, July 11, 2007
One Response to “Greatest Military Commander”
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July 12th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
I figure it’s gotta be Saddam Hussein, seeing as how we’ve suffered the most disastrous defeat in recorded history in Iraq.