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#4006426 - 09/07/14 08:15 PM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: Vitesse]  
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PanzerMeyer Online centaurian
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Originally Posted By: Vitesse
Nelson and Wellesley.
Absolutely. I'd also add the Duke of Marlborough, Oliver Cromwell and Henry V.


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
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#4006430 - 09/07/14 08:18 PM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: toonces]  
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Originally Posted By: toonces
I don't know that that event constitutes influencing military thinking, though... Not that what he did wasn't significant.


True, but the OP specified simply winning or losing decisive battles that changed the course of history or development, not influencing military thinking. Gettysburg was the Midway of the Civil War, and the case can be made that Chamberlain & the 20th Maine holding the line on Little Round Top is what prevented the Confederates from winning.

Last edited by NH2112; 09/07/14 09:53 PM.

Phil

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#4006442 - 09/07/14 08:49 PM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Quote:
I'd also add the Duke of Marlborough, Oliver Cromwell and Henry V.


PM; You, Sir, are a man of culture.

#4006459 - 09/07/14 09:26 PM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Colonel Birger Eriksen, commander of Oscarsborg fortress at the narrowest part of the Oslo Fjord, who held off the Germans when they invaded on April 9, 1940. The Norwegian political and military leadership was a complete and utter farce during the invasion, and without any orders he fired at the German battlecruisers Blcher and Ltzow, sunk Blcher and forced the invasion fleet headed for Oslo to withdraw initially, allowing the King and the government to escape.

General Carl Gustav Fleischer, the first Allied commander to stop the Germans in WWII. At the battle of Narvik he commanded Norwegian, French and Polish troops who re-took the city; The first Allied re-taking of captured territory during WWII.


In all my years I've never seen the like. It has to be more than a hundred sea miles and he brings us up on his tail. That's seamanship, Mr. Pullings. My God, that's seamanship!
#4006468 - 09/07/14 09:38 PM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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I'm going to go with:

Henry V - apparently the French didn't like him much hahaha
Sir Francis Drake - defeated the Spanish Armada
Oliver Cromwell - English Civil War and all that
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough - picked the winning side in the Glorious Revolution, won at Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet in the War of Spanish Succession. Basically had a very big hand in setting the stage for what was to follow in Europe.
James Wolfe - if it wasn't for him our American friends here might possibly be speaking French now
Duke of Wellington - the Peninsular War, Waterloo, putting Boney in his place
Lord Nelson - Battle of the Nile, Battle of Trafalgar, putting an end to Boney's nautical ambitions
Hugh Dowding - Battle of Britain
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein - turned the tide in North Africa and ultimately in Europe
William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim - beat the Japs in SE asia.
Sir Max Kennedy Horton - commanded the Western Approaches from November 1942 and oversaw the turning of the tide against the U-Boats.


Not a single leader as such, but I'd also have to pick out the Plantagenets as the kings who laid the foundations of the United Kingdom... and the Tudors as the kings and queens who put us on the trajectory of becoming a global empire.

Last edited by Pielstick; 09/07/14 10:03 PM.
#4006470 - 09/07/14 09:42 PM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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David Stirling
Hugh Dowding
George, Lord Gordon
Henry V
Harold II
Thomas Fairfax
Willaim Slim

(influential doesn't mean they won!)

#4006487 - 09/07/14 10:23 PM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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You all have covered US persons pretty well.

I would put forward Alfred Thayer Mahan, except that he had no real effect during battle. Great thinker, but a pretty poor doer. His writing " The Influence of Sea Power on History" was a pretty influential work.

Likewise George C Marshal of The Marshal Plan.


Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

Someday your life will flash in front of your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.
#4006497 - 09/07/14 10:45 PM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Lieutenant Thomas Macdonough, USN


A little known American, whose exploit's had a large impact during the War of 1812.
Commanded the American naval forces that defeated the British Navy at the Battle of Lake Champlain, which was part of the Battle of Plattsburg, which helped lead to an end to the War of 1812. By defeating the British Navy, the British Army, which was heading south into NY was forced to retreat back to Canada, as they would have no source of supply.
While a tactical victory, it also had international implications as it denied the British the right to any demands for exclusive use of Lake Champlain and the Great Lakes at the Treaty of Ghent and gave exclusive use of Lake Champlain to the United States. I guess you could say the victory also helped define the northern boundaries of the United States.
As a side note, it finally brought Vermont into the war.
The Navy thought him important enough to name 3 Destroyers and a Frigate after him. That's 2 more than Halsey.

#4006498 - 09/07/14 10:56 PM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Netherlands
Only commanders from my country?
I'm not that very familiar with my countries warfare history so I will give it a try.

1) Willem van Oranje/Nassau

He is basically our founding father, altough the eighty years war didn't start out as a succession war but as a protest for equal rights and religious tolerance.

2) Maurits van Oranje/Nassau

He was a lot more effective against the armies of Spain than his father, he transformed the army to a smaller more profesional unit and used scout cavalry before moving his army (don't know if that was common practice then), also he standardized cannonball calibres.

3) Frederik Hendrik van Oranje/Nassau

Very capable siege commander, achieved to take strongholds deemed untakeble.

4) Michiel de Ruyter

What needs to be said, probably the best known admiral of his age.

There are a lot of lesser known Dutch admirals but I'm not very familiar with them.
I don't really know any more commanders. frown

Last edited by Priceyplanecrasher; 09/07/14 10:57 PM.
#4006499 - 09/07/14 10:56 PM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Henry V?

Crcy --> copy --> paste --> rename: Agincourt. neaner


Why men throw their lives away attacking an armed Witcher... I'll never know. Something wrong with my face?
#4006530 - 09/08/14 12:26 AM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Love 'im or hate 'im....Douglas MacArthur. He certainly influenced the war in the Pacific.


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#4006533 - 09/08/14 12:33 AM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: Pooch]  
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Originally Posted By: Pooch
Love 'im or hate 'im....Douglas MacArthur. He certainly influenced the war in the Pacific.



Absolutely, the landing on Inchon was simply briliant.

#4006534 - 09/08/14 12:36 AM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Yi Soonshin

How good was he? Imagine the Spartans winning at Thermopylae.


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#4006544 - 09/08/14 01:33 AM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Robin Olds, Operation Bolo. May have changed the course of a war. NV/China didn't have many MiG-21's afterwards.

#4006550 - 09/08/14 02:18 AM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: oldgrognard]  
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Originally Posted By: oldgrognard
You all have covered US persons pretty well.

I would put forward Alfred Thayer Mahan, except that he had no real effect during battle. Great thinker, but a pretty poor doer. His writing " The Influence of Sea Power on History" was a pretty influential work.

Likewise George C Marshal of The Marshal Plan.


Beat me to it.


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#4006551 - 09/08/14 02:21 AM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Phoenix - Ft. Carson
I can't stand Hasley. He messed up the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He was asked to keep the battleships back, and he took them. It would have been the greatest surface clash in history and would have actually hurt the Japanese more than going after some empty carriers.


Keep Calm and Check Canopy

There are no ex-paratroopers, only ones off jump status

Learn Economics at:
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Carthago delenda est
#4006600 - 09/08/14 09:15 AM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Naunton Beauchamp Worcestershi...
To the Brits I would add:
Keith Park,
Bomber Harris, (controversial, I know,)
Tedder,

Montgomery,

Admiral Cunningham,

Surorised that Eisenhower hasn't been mentioned.



#4006614 - 09/08/14 10:32 AM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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PanzerMeyer Online centaurian
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Eisenhower was never a battlefield commander for a major battle. He was always at the strategic level of running a war.


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4006627 - 09/08/14 11:19 AM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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#4006628 - 09/08/14 11:22 AM Re: The most influential military commanders of all time [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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New Zealand:


WWI:
Andrew Russell (he was knighted for his actions at Gallipoli and also served on the Western Front).

WWII:
Keith Park

Howard Kippenberger

Bernard Freyberg

Nancy Wake (most decorated servicewomen)


Rabbits, break right and climb.
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