Who is the the greatest military commander??
Personally I'd pick Hannibal. He conquered spain, fought a long drawn out 10 year campaign on another countries soil with no assistance and would likely have won if his government hadn't stopped sending reinforcements and supplies.
Frankly, the question is too vague.
Temujin (Genghis Khan) conquered most of Asia, the Middle East and parts of Europe, but does he compare to Napoleon, who conquered most of Europe? Or what about Alexander the Great? He personally led his troops in conquering most of the Middle East and defeated a Persian Army many times his own.
Where does someone like Rommel/Patton fit in? They might not have conquered huge parts of the world, but were extremely influential in campaigns they fought in. Where does Eisenhower fit in? After all, he commanded the largest naval invasion in history.
I think it needs to be broken down into historical periods, maybe something like this;
Ancient - before 1 AD
Dark Ages - 1 AD - 800 AD
Middle Ages 800 AD - 1600 AD
Modern Era 1600 AD - Present
Or something along those lines...
My votes would be;
Ancient - Alexander the Great
Dark Ages - Attila the Hun
Middle Ages - Temujin
Modern - Napoleon
Ancient - Julius Caeser
Middle Ages - I'll toss out Charlamagne
Pre-Modern - Nelson
Modern - Kitchener
Post Modern - Eisenhower
Interesting post: I love the tactics of "Stonewall" Jackson in the Civil War. He was the only man who'd realized the day of the bayonette charge was obsolete. James Longstreet tried to prevent the Gettysburg disaster; he was pretty sharp as well. But I'm gonna vote for my great great uncle, Lord Lovat MacShimmie Fraser, chief of the British Comandoes on D-Day.
Well where does one begin.....
Ancient has to be a toss up- Hannibal, hell not only did he have to Romans terrified to the point that even after defeated he had to commit suicide in his 70's because the were still coming after him. I only took the Romans the loss of 70,000 men and 80 senators IN A SINGLE DAY for them to fear him. The other has to be Alexander the Great, in my opinion, not only for his conquesting but just for his sole battle against the persian army and the complete route that he dealt them, while outnumbered at a minimum 2 to 1.
Middle Ages- Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (Saladin)Not only did he raise up armies and settle internal civil war he then managed to drive out the Christian armies, that were better armed/armoured, plus managed to use the environment to his advantages forcing armies to march to him then fight on his ground (I'm not talking Kingdom of Heaven here I'm talking real history).
Pre-Modern-Stonewall Jackson, if he hadn't of been jerked around by some of the other generals and had his unfortunate accident the civil war could of had a different ending?
As for modern and post modern I think the list is pretty long there was quite a few major wars and quite a few distinguished commanders.
How about General Brock?
Don’t take it the wrong way. But my vote for the modern commander goes to Ben Laden. He, with a handful of volunteers made the great US tremble. And now when he is most likely dead, he still has an influence on daily American life.
Cap'n Crunch.
Cause he conquered the seven seas and defeated the Count Chocula and the Lucky Charms Leprechaun.
Mother Nature, she can stop ANYONE!
In light of these breakdowns;
Ancient- up to 500AD - Alexander the Great
Middle Ages- up 1300 - Genghis Khan
Pre-Modern - 1800 - Gustavus Adolphus
Modern-1914 - Napoleon
Post modern - Arthur Currie
Idi Amin Dada..
With a self proclaimed handle like this one...how could he not be the greatest in history.....