The Top 100 Generals of History

[DSMyers1]

VERSION 7

[B]Orig.	Ver 5	Ver 6	Rank	Name						Born	[/B]Died	Era		Country/People	Region
1	1	1	1	Alexander the Great				356 BC	323 BC	Ancient		Macedonia	Middle East
6	3	3	2	Temujin (Genghis Khan)				1167	1227	Medieval	Mongols		Asia
3	2	2	3	Napoleon Bonaparte				1769	1821	Imperial	France		Europe
2	4	4	4	Hannibal Barca					241 BC	183 BC	Ancient		Carthage	Mediterranean
21	12	9	5	Timur						1336	1405	Medieval	Turks		Middle East
44	17	19	6	Khalid ibn al-Walid				584	642	Medieval	Arabs		Middle East
23	9	6	7	Aleksandr Suvorov				1729	1800	Imperial	Russia		Europe
24	7	7	8	Jan Žižka					1370	1424	Gunpowder	Bohemia		Europe
12	10	8	9	Belisarius					505	565	Medieval	Byzantines	Mediterranean
17	13	15	10	Subotai						1176	1248	Medieval	Mongols		Asia
8	5	5	11	John Churchill (Duke of Marlborough)		1650	1722	Gunpowder	England		Europe
4	11	10	12	Gustav II Adolf					1594	1632	Gunpowder	Sweden		Europe
14	18	11	13	Scipio Africanus the Older			237 BC	183 BC	Ancient		Rome		Mediterranean
15	15	12	14	Gaius Julius Caesar				100 BC	44 BC	Ancient		Rome		Mediterranean
5	16	18	15	Frederick II of Prussia				1712	1786	Imperial	Prussia		Europe
20	23	17	16	Sir Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington)	1769	1852	Imperial	England		Europe
11	6	13	17	Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne de Turenne		1611	1675	Gunpowder	France		Europe
16	14	14	18	Eugene of Savoy					1663	1736	Gunpowder	Austria		Europe
7	8	16	19	Heraclius					575	641	Medieval	Byzantines	Middle East
22	22	23	20	Cyrus the Great					590 BC	529 BC	Ancient		Persia		Middle East
18	24	24	21	Maurice, comte de Saxe				1696	1750	Gunpowder	France		Europe
13	20	21	22	Raimondo Montecuccoli				1608	1680	Gunpowder	Austria		Europe
9	29	30	23	Philip II of Macedon				382 BC	336 BC	Ancient		Macedonia	Mediterranean
68	28	29	24	Selim I						1470	1520	Gunpowder	Ottomans	Middle East
33	27	28	25	Heinz Wilhelm Guderian				1888	1954	Modern		Germany		Europe
10	21	22	26	Gaius Marius					157 BC	86 BC	Ancient		Rome		Mediterranean
	32	34	27	George Kastrioti (Skanderbeg)			1405	1468	Gunpowder	Albania		Mediterranean
58	35	35	28	Nadir Shah					1688	1747	Gunpowder	Persia		Middle East
	131	25	29	Robert Clive					1725	1774	Imperial	England		Asia
27	25	26	30	Erich von Manstein				1887	1973	Modern		Germany		Europe
26	19	20	31	Louis Nicholas Davout				1770	1823	Imperial	France		Europe
	34	31	32	Hán Xìn							196 BC	Ancient		China		Asia
		36	33	Stefan cel Mare (Stephen III)			1433	1504	Gunpowder	Moldavia	Mediterranean
28	38	40	34	Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (El Gran Capitán)	1453	1515	Gunpowder	Spain		Europe
63	40	42	35	Robert E. Lee					1807	1870	Imperial	Confederate	Americas
19	43	46	36	Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke		1800	1891	Imperial	Prussia		Europe
	80	89	37	Shapur I						272	Ancient		Persia		Middle East
92	50	43	38	Chandragupta Maurya					298 BC	Ancient		India		Asia
43	30	32	39	Maurice of Nassau				1567	1625	Gunpowder	Netherlands	Europe
34	31	33	40	Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé		1621	1686	Gunpowder	France		Europe
45	46	51	41	Tiglath-Pileser III					727 BC	Ancient		Assyria		Middle East
32	26	27	42	Thutmose III						ca 1540 BCAncient	Egypt		Middle East
	36	37	43	Trần Hưng Đạo					1228	1300	Medieval	Vietnam		Asia
		38	44	Shivaji Bhosle					1627	1680	Gunpowder	Maratha		Asia
31	37	39	45	Winfield Scott					1786	1866	Imperial	United States	Americas
30	41	44	46	Lucius Cornelius Sulla				138 BC 	78 BC	Ancient		Rome		Mediterranean
	53	50	47	Yue Fei						1103	1142	Medieval	China		Asia
77	47	52	48	Babur						1483	1530	Gunpowder	Mughal		Asia
	45	49	49	Tokugawa Ieyasu					1543	1616	Gunpowder	Japan		Asia
78	52	56	50	Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson			1824	1863	Imperial	Confederate	Americas
46	49	54	51	Janos Hunyadi					1387	1456	Gunpowder	Hungary		Europe
47	51	55	52	Duke of Parma (Alessandro Farnese)		1545	1592	Gunpowder	Spain		Europe
35	33	48	53	Leo III the Isaurian				685	741	Medieval	Byzantines	Mediterranean
	42	45	54	Hamilcar Barca					270 BC	228 BC	Ancient		Carthage	Mediterranean
			55	Gazi Evrenos						1417	Medieval	Ottomans	Mediterranean
	112	63	56	Nurhaci						1558	1626	Gunpowder	Manchu		Asia
36	60	64	57	Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck			1870	1964	Modern		Germany		Africa
53	64	69	58	Charles XII					1682	1718	Gunpowder	Sweden		Europe
51	55	58	59	Oda Nobunaga					1534	1582	Gunpowder	Japan		Asia
		65	60	Francesco I Sforza				1401	1466	Gunpowder	Milan		Mediterranean
	56	59	61	Stanisław Koniecpolski				1590	1646	Gunpowder	Poland		Europe
52	62	67	62	Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars			1653	1734	Gunpowder	France		Europe
	70	75	63	Simeon I the Great				864	927	Medieval	Bulgaria	Mediterranean
	57	60	64	Louis Joseph de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme		1654	1712	Gunpowder	France		Europe
59	68	73	65	Georgy Zhukov					1896	1974	Modern		Russia		Europe
56	58	61	66	Aurelian (Lucius Domitius Aurelianus)		214	275	Ancient		Rome		Mediterranean
42	39	41	67	Epaminondas					418 BC	362 BC	Ancient		Greece		Mediterranean
48	65	70	68	Toyotomi Hideyoshi				1536	1598	Gunpowder	Japan		Asia
57	67	72	69	Jan III Sobieski				1629	1696	Gunpowder	Poland		Europe
	92	103	70	Alp Arslan					1029	1072	Medieval	Turks		Middle East
50	69	74	71	Qi Jiguang					1528	1588	Gunpowder	China		Asia
40	61	66	72	Alexius I Komnenos				1048	1118	Medieval	Byzantines	Mediterranean
75	87	98	73	Constantine I the Great				272	337	Ancient		Rome		Mediterranean
			74	Murad IV					1612	1640	Gunpowder	Ottomans	Mediterranean
37	66	71	75	Albrecht Wallenstein				1583	1634	Gunpowder	Austria		Asia
			76	'Amr ibn al-'As					583	664	Medieval	Arabs		Middle East
	82	124	77	Gerd von Rundstedt				1875	1953	Modern		Germany		Europe
		68	78	Aleksandr Vasilevsky				1895	1977	Modern		Russia		Asia
62	72	78	79	Robert Guiscard					1015	1085	Medieval	Normandy	Mediterranean
65	73	79	80	Erwin Rommel					1891	1944	Modern		Germany		Europe
	74	80	81	Emperor Taizong of Tang (Lĭ ShìMín)		599	649	Medieval	China		Asia
			82	Muhammad of Ghor				1162	1206	Medieval	Ghorids		Asia
25	59	62	83	Suleiman I					1494	1566	Gunpowder	Ottomans	Middle East
81	94	93	84	Shaka Zulu					1787	1828	Imperial	Zulu		Africa
		81	85	Baibars						1223	1277	Medieval	Mamluke		Middle East
			86	Vo Nguyen Giap					1912		Ancient		Vietnam		Asia
			87	Erich Ludendorff				1865	1937	Modern		Germany		Europe
67	77	85	88	Charlemagne					742	814	Medieval	France		Europe
73	85	95	89	François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville 	1628	1695	Gunpowder	France		Europe
			90	Uqba ibn Nafi					622	683	Medieval	Arabs		Middle East
79	93	117	91	Jebe							1225	Medieval	Mongols		Asia
	86	96	92	David							965 BC	Ancient		Israel		Middle East
		83	93	Lautaro (toqui)						1557	Gunpowder	Mapuche		Americas
60	71	77	94	André Masséna					1758	1817	Imperial	France		Europe
69	78	86	95	Ulysses Simpson Grant				1822	1885	Imperial	United States	Americas
70	79	87	96	Kangxi						1654	1722	Gunpowder	China		Asia
	109	132	97	Carl Gustav Mannerheim				1867	1951	Modern		Finland		Europe
94	113	136	98	Robert the Bruce				1274	1329	Medieval	Scotland	Europe
	136	150	99	Mustafa Kemal					1881	1938	Modern		Turkey		Mediterranean
90	99	118	100	James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose		1612	1650	Gunpowder	Scotland	Europe

Hey, I finally figured out how to format this! Unfortunately, it is an absolute pain to get all the tabs in there.

Anyway, enjoy and discuss!

 

[Enewald]

Constantinus I is ancient, but Belisarius already medieval?
Do you consider 476 he beginning of medieval?
Some say that it was 325, when christianism was adopted as state religion, or 641, when Heraclius' death ended the late roman peroid.

Where does the border go?

 

[DSMyers1]

Constantinus I is ancient, but Belisarius already medieval?
Do you consider 476 he beginning of medieval?
Some say that it was 325, when christianism was adopted as state religion, or 641, when Heraclius' death ended the late roman peroid.

Where does the border go?

Based on death date--the breaks are:
500 for Ancient
1423 for Medieval
1770 for Gunpowder
1900 for Imperial
to present for modern

 

[unmerged(94570)]

Sobutai was born 1176

 

[DSMyers1]

Sobutai was born 1176

Thanks--added!

 

[unmerged(94570)]

I strongly recommander that you should add Sanada Yukimura, when his cavalary charged, they felt earthquake, look at the sieging of Osaka 1615.
During the war 1598, his father led an army of 1000 to prevent an army of 38000 to march to the west for serval days..


Tokugawa can't be a good generall, he was so easy defeated by Takeda.
And "ue sugi ken shi"(The Dragon) is also the best generall of Japan(He has many names), he defeats Takeda.

And I do really want to know why is Zizka in this place?

 

[unmerged(59077)]

Zizka? The man was pretty undefeatable. Even while blind.

 

[DSMyers1]

I strongly recommander that you should add Sanada Yukimura, when his cavalary charged, they feel earthquake, look at the sieging of Osaka 1615.


Tokugawa can't be a good generall, he was so easy defeated by Takeda.
And "ue sugi ken shi"(The Dragon) is also the best generall of Japan(He has many names), he defeats Takeda.

And I do really want to know why is Zizka in this place?

Thanks for the input. What do you think of Chinese generals?

 

[unmerged(47288)]

Robert E. Lee should be higher than Scott and up in the top 30 or 20. He may not have won the Civil War, but he performed greatly considering the South were never going to win in the first place.

 

[unmerged(94570)]

Thanks for the input. What do you think of Chinese generals?

You can read this post
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showpost.php?p=8265110&postcount=226

I change and upgrade it sometimes to keep it more relative reasonable.
I've asked many chinese for this.They recommander too more.
And Hulaoguan will help you too.

The Chinese Infomations will come later.
The most Chinese books indicate the born year of Han Xin was unknown, but I've only seen one with bc 160.

 

[unmerged(94570)]

Post for the even best Japanese generalls

I'll remember here and keep to upgrade it.

Tokugawa Ieyasu should be placed below Takeda because Takeda Shingen
defeated him in the battle of "Three-ways plateau"
Takeda should be placed below Uesuki Kenshin because he was defeatd by Uesugi Kenshin in "The fourth battle of the Island inner the River"(Kawanakajima)

Oda got to be the largest warlord is thank to Toyotomis political exploits.
His sneak attack against Imagawa was successful only due to his luck that it rained.

Toyotomi can't defeat Odas generall Sabada(he won because his best friend Maeda served Sabada and made way for him), Uesugi defeated Sabada very easily.

 

[DSMyers1]

I'll remember here and keep to upgrade it.

Tokugawa Ieyasu should be placed below Takeda because Takeda Shingen
defeated him in the battle of "Three-ways plateau"
Takeda should be placed below Uesuki Kenshin because he was defeatd by Uesugi Kenshin in "The fourth battle of the Island inner the River"(Kawanakajima)

Oda got to be the largest warlord is thank to Toyotomis political exploits.
His sneak attack against Imagawa was successful only due to his luck that it rained.

Toyotomi can't defeat Odas generall Sabada(he won because his best friend Maeda served Sabada and made way for him), Uesugi defeated Sabada very easily.

Do remember, please, that just because somebody loses a battle to another general doesn't mean that they are a worse general than the other. For example, Napoleon lost to Wellington but Napoleon is ranked higher. You must look at the overall performance. Also, Hannibal is above Scipio Africanus. Again, look at everything a general did.

 

[unmerged(37697)]

Timur in the top five. Excellent news, and well deserved.

 

[DSMyers1]

Timur in the top five. Excellent news, and well deserved.

I'm glad you're happy, mandead.

 

[DSMyers1]

I've put my spreadsheet online for this Top 100 Generals stuff... you can get it at http://www.godismyjudgeok.com/Paradox/Generals for Web.xls

It makes it easy to sort and categorize the generals for easier analysis.

Now, of course, I will be spammed by alternate lists. :wacko:

 

[unmerged(94570)]

DSMeyer,
They have became great warlords(Daimyou), there are a heavier reason for their political exploits than their militantly genius..


And I've asked many Chinese, they all say that the westen are most stupid, and the middle ranked Chinese could be the top of the world,which I can never believe them.
They listed me a rather long list, which are mostly subjective.


Now I know why we can't agree with each other, I just see what they've done on the battlefield and prepared for the war, but you see the whole thing. But you write "General", what they've done as a warlord in the political sector should be counted?

If Oda Nobunaga doesn't have Toyotomi, he would be only a tiny warlord all his time.
He was so lucky.

 

[DSMyers1]

DSMeyer,
They have became great warlords(Daimyou), there are a heavier reason for their political exploits than their militantly genius..


And I've asked many Chinese, they all say that the westen are most stupid, and the middle ranked Chinese could be the top of the world,which I can never believe them.
They listed me a rather long list, which are mostly subjective.


Now I know why we can't agree with each other, I just see what they've done on the battlefield and prepared for the war, but you see the whole thing. But you write "General", what they've done as a warlord in the political sector should be counted?

If Oda Nobunaga doesn't have Toyotomi, he would be only a tiny warlord all his time.
He was so lucky.

It is hard to tell how good the Chinese generals were because mostly they only fought other Chinese. It's hard to compare.

What they do on the battlefield and in the campaigns is the most important, but what I meant was that generals can lose to someone but still be better than them. They may win 50 battles and lose 1 to the other general that won 3 and lost 10. Sometimes random or other factors overtake the skill of the generals and the not-as-good general wins.

But also we must consider other than the battlefield and campaign--innovation, logistics, and (importantly) winning the war. Winning the war is the objective anyway... That is what a general should do.

 

[unmerged(94570)]

I've seen your work, a really hard one.

The Chinese recommander Yu Jie(? 1252), who built a system with castles to defend the invasion of the Mongol and thank to this system it killed the Moengke Khan 1259,(The leader of defender was called Wang Jian).
At that time, both sides sent their reinforcements to the castle Diaoyu Cheng.

They also recoomander Murong Ke (322-366)was said as one who neven been defeated. Prince of Qianyan, one of the 16 kingdoms, a genius cavalary leader, non Han-Chinese(not Beifangren/Nanfangren), he used a little army of cavalary to defeat the Houzhao kingdom(2000 vs 100000), killed 30000(all the number are not true,but,,), and defeated Korea.
One of the Chinas best general Ran Min was defeated by him.


Xu Da was the best general of the first Mings emperor.

Li Mu was the general of the Kingdom Zhao of the Zhanguo era(battling kingdoms).He did his best to defeat all the enimies.You get him in Wikipedia, which I can't visit.

 

[unmerged(94570)]

To your list, Wanya Agudas Jurchen is the formal Manchu.

Now I've got a good list.They can fill yout top 200, but 5-9 of Chinese in the top 100 is enough, I personally think.
Bai Qi(But I don't think he is a good one), he just win the battle one after another with large numbers of captives and killed them, at that time all the Qins Armies wins, he just killed more. Almost all Chinese thought him a good one.
I don't want to list him because he is afraid of Lianbo and he tried to let the king of Zhao to replace Lianbo with another stupid one.
Lianbo A very old general who still fought at his 70 and can hold their line for the kingdom Zhao. He was replaced due to the stratagem of Bai Qi.
[ I find Li Mu the best one ]
Yue Yi(or Le Yi)? General of Yan who caputre 72 cities in one battle and recover the Yan kingdom from the conquere of Qi.
Xiang Yu a uprisings leader in the late Qin age, when the Qins army are sieging Julu, the reinforcements were afraid of the Qins army and don't dare to fight, but he led his army fo fight and won the battle, later he was the leader of all the uprising armies and the main foe of Liu Bang, but he was defeated as he has killed to many citizens.
Han Xin, Liu Bangs general who fight as Napoleon in a side sector but changed the whole campagne.
Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, they served in the Han-Dynasty and defeated the Hunnen invasors.
Caocao a warlord of the late (east)Han-Dynasty whol built up his own army like Wallenstein and defeated the yellow turban uprisingers, than he defeated a lot of strong eneimes like Lyu Bu, Yuan Shao, his fleet was burned by Zhouyu and Zhugeliang.
Zhuge Liang( I've written)
Chen Qingzhi(too)
Li Shiming(you know)
Guo Ziyi , a general who was very royality to the Tang-Dynasty who defeated the minor-raced invadors. His personlity and situation is almost the same as Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Di Qing I don't know
Yu Fei you know
Xu Da you know

I'll add someone.
Li Mu
Li Keyong
Yang Jiye(or Yang Ye)
Xue Yue
Yu Jie
Ran Min
Wei Wuji

 

[unmerged(94570)]

Bai Qi (-bc 257)
Lian Po(bc 310 bc 237)
Yue Yi unknown
Wei Qing(-bc 106)
Huo Qubing(bc 140 -bc 117)
Zhuge Liang 181-234
Chen Qingzhi 484-539
Guo Ziyi 696-781
Di Qing 1008-1057

And also some recommanders (I think candidates for 150-200)
Peng Dehuai(1898-1974), the leader of the Korean War.
Main opponents: KMT (Nat Chi) and McArther(his score is the even best of west point)

Wang Xuance(??early Tang) A diplomat who was sent to India, he borrowed some armies to defeat all enemies and has conquered a large land of India.

Li Jing(571-649) One of the most important general of Li Shiming, some say that the half ot the Tang was his exploit.

Li Mu(-bc 229)

Li Keyong(856-908) the emperor of the Houtang, one-eyed minor-raced.Served for the Tang to press the rebells of Huang Chao, as he was invited Zhu Wen(emperor of Houliang), Zhu planned to kill him, he managed to escape and regarded Zhu as his foe, his army has no discinple but on the battlefield he was the best in his age.

China has a larger population , a longer history, a larger territory, and a lot of cruel wars.(it only stops in the early Han , and Song Dynasty)
So it is very difficult to sort them.
[But they all have the same language]
Sorted by the timeI don't write the one who you already have)
before Han: Bai Qi, Li Mu, Xiang Yu,(Lian Po, Yue Yi, Wei Wuji)
before Sui:Zhuge Liang, Chen Qingzhi ,Murong Ke(Sima Yi, Ran Min)
before Song:Li Jing, Guo Ziyi, Li Keyong, Yang Jiye(Pan Mei)
until today:Yu Jie, Xu Da, Wang Yangming, Xue Yue,(Peng Dehuai, Zhang Linpu)

Now it's more clear to see who can be in top 100
Xu Da, Zhuge Liang, Chen Qingzhi
top 100-150
Murong Ke,Li Mu , Yu Jie,Yang Jiye,
150-200
Xue Yue, Bai Qi,Ran Min, Guo Ziyi, Wei Wuji

185-200
Peng Dehuai

But you know, I can't catch up your standard (for eg. the Japanese ones)
Takeda Shingen was a student of Sun Tzu...