Favourite All Time Leader(s)

[Riddlez]

Riddlez's fav; Probably Erwin Rommel.

[MazZ]

Gaius Julius Caesar

[Noodlenrice]

During the Nashville Campaign Cleburne succeeded to the command of Hardee's Corps.His sobriquet(nickname) was "Stonewall Jackson of the West". It would have been more accurate to call Jackson "Pat Cleburne of the East". Fighting on the western front Cleburne generally got less glory than generals in the east. Fighting under Braxton Bragg, Joseph E. Johnston, and John Bell Hood, arguably the most incapable succession of commanding officers, Cleburne repeatedly demonstrated his abilities. Fighting for the losing side he got less attention and coverage than the Union generals.One other event affected how he was viewed during and after the war. Stationed at Tunnel Hill, Ga. after the defeat at Chattanooga, Cleburne, leading a group of commissioned officers, proposed drafting Negroes into the Confederate Army in return for their emancipation. He reasoned that in one stroke they could increase the size of the army and eliminate a reason for the Federals to fight. While it is doubtful that the resolve of President Lincoln would have been altered (he was fighting to preserve the Union, not to end slavery), the proposal caused quite a backlash in the south and possibly affected the length of the war. When Jefferson Davis decided to remove Johnston from command during the Battle of Atlanta, he selected John Bell Hood over Pat Cleburne in part because of this proposal.

[Rival Ze GOD]

What about Geronimo of the Apache tribe, 200 warriors held off and evaded the Union army for about 10 years.

[Docm30]

And in doing so doomed his people. There's a reason Geronimo is pretty much universally hated by Apaches.

[DaMonkey]

     I would have to say that my undoubtedly favorite leader would have to be Frederick the Great. Not only was he an amazing military leader, resisting many world powers at the time of his kingship, but he was a really good king. He modernized many parts of Prussia, sympathized with the poor strata, and even wrote down the somewhat radical belief that "a king is a servant to his people, not his people a servant to their king."

[Audiate]

Aye, it seems Russia is the "Achilles Heel" of European military leaders. First, Napoleon's grand army, then Hitler's nazi force.

Go even further to Karl Gustav King Charles XII of Sweden and his attmepted campaign into Russia. He had 12000 musketeers, 20000 other infantry, 4000 cavalry, and 400 cannons. He lost 60% of his force in Russia, and another 30% to the Polish. But, he... he was a very stupid man.

 Everyone was always stupid against Russia. Everyone forgot where Russia begins. The more leaders would push, the further Russia would fall back, and so easily would Russia be able to surround them and shred them to dust.

 Empires always end at Asia Minor, though. Roman Empire, Persian Empire, Soviet Union, and so on. It's hard to settle there, I guess. Back to the topic at hand...

 I have to commend Charles XII, though. He alone managed to run around through Russia and Turkey, hiding in the Ottoman Empire and eventually provoking them into attacking Russia, before running to Vienna to make the long trip back to Sweden, which he arrived at right before they would elect a new ruler, after finding out he was in Turkey. They thought he would still be in Turkey by the time he appeared again in Sweden. What really gets me is that he immediately slept. He went to bed, and slept for a long while. No speeches, no apologies, no celebrations. The people were glad he was home, and so he slept.

 That doesn't make him one of my favorite commanders, though. I find that a very hilarious story, but that's about it. I do like generals from that time period... Prince Eugene of Savoy, Ivan the Terrible... but my favorite general of all time may just be Hannibal Barca. I don't like Carthage more than most nations during the ancient times, but he was a leader of a conquest unlike any other military conquest lead by anyone. Many generals get cocky when leading several thousands of soldiers around for weeks, but Hannibal and his brothers would cross men, horses, and bloody elephants across the Rhone river, while expecting combat from the Volcae on the other side, and then crossing the Alps by chiseling away at the rocks in order to quite practically move the mountains in order to walk massive beasts across it. The casualties would eventually reach tens of thousands, but the feat was hands-down damned impressive. Hamilcar would be proud to call him his son, if he could only have seen him do that.

[Joseph Graham]

Hannibal Barca.

I tend to swing back and forth between Hannibal and Scipio Africanus, however they were both impressive generals and certainly defined that period of history. As a personal interest I'd love to have been witness to the meeting they had prior to the Battle of Zama; I imagine some of those in attendance would have had the feeling that they'd be going down in history as a result.

Personally, I adore Bernard Montgomery. It may be because he's British and the stories surrounding him during the Western Desert Campaign are inspiring, but he was an incredibly intelligent man. Whilst his later life was marred by his lack of political savy he certainly defined himself to be an iconic military leader, at least in contemporary times.

[Viriathus]

Viriathus... The name says it all, he was a Lusitani tribe warlord and defeated the romans over and over again untill he got assassinated.

[DanyEle]

Ciceron: fought as ensign carrier against Julius Caesar and actually commanded a few soldiers in Pompeus' acies. Fled from the battle 20 minutes after the battle began and the whole of Pompeus' army was routed as soon as Caesar broke through the lines. Was later captured and then forgiven by Julius. That was the only battle of his whole life, but he's definitely the most amusing leader of all time in my opinion.

[Captain_Ageati]

Hmmm... I have a few It's hard narrowing it down.


Pyrrus of Epirus for a start. Ruddy nora he fought everywhere he went and did a lot of damage. If he never went to Sicily maybe it would have been a great Greek empire instead of Roman, eh?

Next would have to be.... Stonewall Jackson. Lee himself admitted that Gettysburg would have gone differently had Jackson been alive. Hell it's an argument all over the tinterwebs that the Confederates could have survived if Jackson lived.


Finally... I'd have to go with Josip Broz Tito. He had to fight EVERYONE in Yugoslavia during WW2. The Germans, the Cetniks, the Bulgars, the Ustase and, for the most past, he battered them all and managed to unify a bunch of slavic states ,who hated each other might I add, into a powerful republic that defied the Russians and had the trust of both sides of the Cold War. Simply incredible.

[Curtis]

I hope you dont judge me too quickly for this but...

Hitler. Say what you want about evil and what have you, but what he achieved and HOW he achieved it is just a huge fascination to me

Other then that. Horatio nelson, just out of patriotism and pride. he's a good English figure of pride. despite what he may have done or what he may have actually been like

EDIT: How could i forget, maybe even my favourite now that i think about it, but CROMWELL!. may have been a right boring cunt, but what a guy eh. watch the film Cromwell from 1970 and tell me that aint the most badass shit you've ever seen. once again here, despite what he may have done or how he may have been like, he's still awesome cromwell to me

[Duuring]

Hitler usually had people do stuff for him, then took all the credit.

[Curtis]

Im pretty sure the definition of leader is someone who has people do stuff for them...

[Duuring]

That's an intresting definition.