Phares Sarjeant Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 For all you military history buffs out there.Just wondering who some of your favorite Great Military Leaders are and what books to read on them out there. Also if there were any in particular individuals that seemed more SL relevant than others. I haven't done much reading of russian leaders yet so that would be very interesting. I've read Vegetius, -very applicable to the ORDO setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agares Tretiak Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus - Beat the crap out of Hannibal, Roman General and politician during the Republic Marcus Ulpius Nerva Trajanus Augustus - Roman Emperor and military leader - Also known as Trajan Publius Aelius Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus - Roman Emperor and military leader - Also known as Hadrian Mikołaj Bołtuć - Polish General in World War II, was the only Polish commander to bring the fight to German held territory, and harried them for several days, before being forced to withdraw. Died with nearly all of his men (who refused to abandon him) and tried to also breakthrough the siege of Warsaw. If you want to study Russian Generals, there's two you must know: General Winter and General Zukhov. Winter is one of the greatest weapons the Russians have against invading armies. It kicked the shit out of Napolean and the German push for Moscow (right on the outskirts, no less). Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov - Led Russian forces during WW II and was their supreme commander. Was later stripped of his influence and post by Stalin, because Stalin was paranoid about how massively popular and well liked he was. He was also a brutal and uncompromising commander, but this made him very formidable against the Germans and was one of many reasons the Germans would much rather be captured by the Allies, than the Russians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phares Sarjeant Posted September 9, 2011 Author Share Posted September 9, 2011 One of Napoleans Strengths was used against him when he invaded Russia. Napoleans army was the best at foraging for supplies. This allowed him to have much smaller logistical supply lines than other militaries, and move much quicker. But when he invaded Russia, it was pretty much his downfall and the russians operated a scorched earth policy where they burned everything as they retreated... Hitler also had logistical problems in Russia because he believed the war would be over before the Russian General Winter could influence the outcome and his men were not equipped with winter gear. Plenty of lessons there on ego, cutting off the enemies source of supplies. If i recall correctly Scipio first invaded Portugal/Spain in an effort to undercut Hannibals supply line (Hannibal had established his supply lines through spain and then continued on over into Italy. Scipio then attacked Carthage and defeated their military, which forced Hannibal to leave Italy and defend Carthage, where he had to scramble in some untenable situations, and then suffered defeat against Scipio's Brilliant command using strategies he may well have learned from Hannibal. Best defense is a good offense. Guard your lines of travel. I haven't read about Trajan or Hadrian yet.. Currently i'm making my way through J.F.C. Fullers military history. Which has covered Alexander the Great, (took on 1million with 40K and won.. at the age of about 32.. Aryte still has time. Heh heh.) along with several of the great roman generals, Macedonians, Greeks. Interesting reading. I'll try to look up more info on General Zhukov. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agares Tretiak Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 Zhukov won, because if he didn't, Stalin would have had him shot. And once he started winning, he had to keep winning. The lesson here is that you never win with Stalin as your leader. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reinhardt Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 To say you never win if Stalin is your leader leads into a political debate.. as individuals never win yes. BUT the ideals of his regime were that each person was part of the greater whole, and no single persons influence could be allowed to threaten the whole.... and the whole endured long after the individuals (in many cases). So you won... if you were part of the whole and fighting for the whole. But if you were in it for yourself as an indvidual, you could never win, I concur. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agares Tretiak Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 My comment is more related to the fact that Stalin brutally destroyed threats, real and imagined. I see no reason to try to even defend or define his political vision, but more in interest to his treatment of his military commanders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phares Sarjeant Posted September 10, 2011 Author Share Posted September 10, 2011 (edited) Russian leadership is very much based on popularity. Stalin wanted Zhukov to beat back the Germans but didn't like Zhukov's popularity. Considering the Germans had just been incredibly brutal to the Russians, when Zhukov became the tool of retribution against the Germans, those suffering from the German invasion would obviously see him as their savior.. Zhukovs popularity increased tremendously, thence becoming a threat to Stalin.- a vicious cycle indeed. \ ~master of the obvious.. thank you thank you. As far as politics, that's best left to the authorities. The individual has to place 'What works' above ones' self. That's the great thing about war. Only what works succeeds. Failure is final. Edited September 14, 2011 by Phares Sarjeant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
