User Panel
User Panel
User Panel
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:24:51 AM EDT
[#1]
Kenobi
Oh, wait, US History? knee-jerk reaction says Patton. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:25:03 AM EDT
[#2]
No doubt, hands down, Patton!!!!!!
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:31:39 AM EDT
[#3]
George Marshall may not have been one of the best, but he was one of the most important...
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:32:58 AM EDT
[#4]
Washington
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:36:02 AM EDT
[#5]
Charisma above skill? |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:36:29 AM EDT
[#6]
This subject really has to be done century by century.
I vote for Grant for 19th Century Ike for 20th Century. Grant did what had to be done to win the war. Ike had all sorts of political junk to wade through |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:37:23 AM EDT
[#7]
You forgot Curtis LeMay
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:38:13 AM EDT
[#8]
Yeah, all he managed to do was keep an outnumbered, poorly trained and equipped army in the field against the superpower of his day, and eventually defeat it. |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:38:39 AM EDT
[#9]
Grant probably.
Sherman and Patton were good too, and had similar styles. Better at moving that fighting. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:39:12 AM EDT
[#10]
Leadership is a skill. |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:41:39 AM EDT
[#11]
On sheer talent for tactics:
Nathan Bedford Forrest No one else is really in the ballpark. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:41:49 AM EDT
[#12]
Lee was one of the best, if not the best, IMO. But you guys are talking about army generals, some of the best have Marine generals like Victor Krulak, Lew Walt, Thomas Holcomb and Chesty Puller. You guys need to get out more....
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:43:03 AM EDT
[#13]
Hmmm. Forgot about Sherman. Well you know these polls. You only get 5 choices. Sherman was a mean son of a gun, but he sure kicked some ass. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:45:20 AM EDT
[#14]
William Tecumseh Sherman
 The first 'modern' General, and the first General who understood the art of logistics and 'total war'. ANdy |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:47:13 AM EDT
[#15]
Patton was batshit crazy but it worked for him.
most of his men would have followed him straight to hell and they likely would have conquered it. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:47:33 AM EDT
[#16]
Sherman was a badass. As long as winning is the main criteria, he scores well.
"War is the remedy they have chosen, and I intend to give it to them." |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:48:01 AM EDT
[#17]
You can't really discuss WW2 AAF without Hap Arnold either. I would say Sherman, or Grant. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:51:05 AM EDT
[#18]
+1; Why the hell is Sherman not in the poll? He was the baddest SOB there ever was. Most of those other generals didn't have balls (well, Patton did). Sherman didn't give a flying fuck. He burnt cities to the ground just for the hell of it; a true balla  Not to mention he looked badd with that full beard. I wish modern military people had facial hair; they could look so much cooler - presidents too, they could look like Lincoln.
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:53:24 AM EDT
[#19]
Agreed |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:54:39 AM EDT
[#20]
IBTLC In Before The Lost Cause Apologists |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:58:00 AM EDT
[#21]
Chesty Puller.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:58:25 AM EDT
[#22]
Sherman?
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 10:59:05 AM EDT
[#23]
Gen. Robert E. Lee
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:00:16 AM EDT
[#24]
Above and beyond all others. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:00:36 AM EDT
[#25]
General Tso's chicken
ETA George Washington, damn we need a time machine to bring him here for a while. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:01:25 AM EDT
[#26]
Ding Ding Ding |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:03:43 AM EDT
[#27]
gotta be GW.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:03:44 AM EDT
[#28]
Benedict Arnold's name is usually mentioned in Revolutionary War discussions. Before he switched sides, he was the most effective field commander of the war. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:04:30 AM EDT
[#29]
There are many different types of generals for both wartime and peacetime periods. I guess since you voted for Patton, you are really asking who is the best battlefield commander? But you also listed a thearter commander and a general of the army. These are all different roles where it is common to find generals not being as successful moving into another role. Thus, it is probably impossible to pick an overall best general. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:07:09 AM EDT
[#30]
My God...I'm going to Agree with Vito.
Sherman. My vote for most under rated for the dirty little job he got handed. Would be "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell in China during WWII. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:08:51 AM EDT
[#31]
What kind of general? You know we have five levels
 Patton was a great field leader and tactican at all levels up to army level. He was kinda weak on logistics and didn't have the personality to successfully maintain a coalition force. He was like Halsey, great bulldog, but every now and again he got baited or bit off more than he could chew-like the Thunder Run to rescue a prison camp 100 miles behind german lines that wiped the entire force out. IIRC his son in law was reported to be in that prison. The details escape me. Ike was probably one of the best leader in terms of high level strategy and politics; I'd rank Washington higher tho. He was a great planner. Patton was a great executor. Mac.....should have been canned after losing the PI. Nothing stellar about him. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:09:21 AM EDT
[#32]
All British troops in Afghanistan have been told to grow beards to make themselves look more 'butch' to the locals…  ANdy |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:09:58 AM EDT
[#33]
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:10:57 AM EDT
[#34]
Stonewall Jackson
Vulcan94 |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:12:45 AM EDT
[#35]
No question about it, Robert E. Lee was the best general America ever had. I am surprised that he is not 1st on the list or at least on the list. The Army of Northern Virginia was his creation.
Grant won because he was persistent and had all the cards in his hand. Sherman was a murderer. Patton was brilliant but does not compare all around with Lee. Robert E. Lee, America's greatest general and one of its greatest men. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:13:02 AM EDT
[#36]
There are several ways to evaluate Generals.
Who was the best war strategist w/ their style of warfare? Who was the best leader of men? Who won against the greatest odds? Not to say that Washington was the best at all three, but without him, we would not have won the Revolutionary War. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:15:27 AM EDT
[#37]
You need to qualify that rather extreme statement…  ANdy |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:16:48 AM EDT
[#38]
If he was so great hows come he LOST! He is a loser, Americans only like winners... |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:17:42 AM EDT
[#39]
Wahington, Chesty Puller, Max Taylor, Creighton Williams Abrams Jr, George C. Kenney
Oh I picked other. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:24:49 AM EDT
[#40]
Grant. He had the coolest hat.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:27:57 AM EDT
[#41]
I think at the battlefield level Stonewall Jackson is hard to beat (at least in the Valley campaigns and Manassas,though not on the Peninsula). He did so much with relatively few numbers of poorly equipped men. So many other US generals have had superior logistics systems backing them up.
At a strategic level, while Eisenhower,Marshall and Grant knew how to use the power of superior logistics against the enemy, Lee and Washington made the most of poor logistics support.So I have to go with Washington,who won despite poor logistics. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:30:22 AM EDT
[#42]
General Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
Despite the fact that he had to walk witha cane due to arthritis from WWI injuries (for which he probably could have gotten out of service in WWII altogether) he insisted upon being in the first wave to go ashore at Utah beach on D-Day. He literally saved the landing on Utah beach and thereby saved the invasion of Normandy. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:40:44 AM EDT
[#43]
General William T. Sherman.
 EDIT: General Andrew Jackson deserves an honorable mention. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:41:22 AM EDT
[#44]
Big +1. John Keegan calls Jackson's Valley Campaign "perhaps the greatest example of manuever warfare in history," or something like that. Too bad he didn't have an inexhaustible supply of muskets and immigrant cannon fodder. Bobby Lee, of course. Longstreet was also a visionary. Unfortunately, all of these folks are DQ'd. The question asks about the US military. Washington. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:41:53 AM EDT
[#45]
Tactically and strategically, Sherman wins hands-down, because in typical ARF.com fashion, he did both at the same time
Not only did he understand the art of maneuver in his March to the Sea, he also understood the enemy's center of gravity better than any other Union (or, for that matter, Confederate) general. While other generals on both sides were concentrating on the enemy's fielded forces, Sherman understood that the REAL heart of the Southern will was the plantation OWNERS. Not your small-town farmer, not your city dweller, but the plantation owners. During his march to the sea, he only burned towns that resisted him--those that surrendered he basically left alone. He did not burn every farm & crop, just the cotton and the plantations. He actually showed remarkable restraint in the way he controlled and used his army. His campaign devastated the economic and material heart of the South, and while individual battles were important, the strategic battle was fought down South from Atlanta to Savannah in 1864. That campaign dramatically affected the South's ability to wage war as a nation in a way that no other campaign could, instead of simply eliminating the Confederate forces. ETA: Check out the book, "Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime" by Eliot A. Cohen. Cohen does a much better job of analyzing Sherman's operational intent than I can. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:49:37 AM EDT
[#46]
Uh no… with an inferior force and massive problems and he won in the end. He did exactly what was needed to win with the circumstances he was given… that is the true measure of a commander. |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:55:46 AM EDT
[#47]
Washington did a great job of not engaging the enemy. His job was to keep an army in presense and not become involved in decisive battles until all favor was on his side.
Jackson, Forrest and Lee were all CSA. Sherman has a shot but never had the verve and audacity of an outstanding field commander. Patton's 3rd Army in the relief of Bastogne is to my mind among the most brilliant actions by a military unit in the history of US warfare. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:57:16 AM EDT
[#48]
Yes and no. Strategically yes… but from a battlefield command point of view Sherman didn’t have to work very hard a monkey could have handled the tactics for his troops and won… for much of the campaign Sherman was virtually unopposed. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 11:58:10 AM EDT
[#49]
+1 |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/5/2006 12:02:10 PM EDT
[#50]
For the 20th Century
Patton! He saw the cold war coming before anyone else For the 19th Century There were many whom I consider equals. Grany was good but so was Lee, and many of his generals like Longstreet |
|
|
Win a FREE Membership!
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.
