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History's Greatest Generals: 10 Commanders Who Conquered Empires, Revolutionized Warfare, and Changed History Forever
From the #1 bestselling author of The Crusades and the Soldiers of the Cross comes an exciting new book on the greatest minds of military leadership in history.
Whether it is Hannibal of Carthage marching elephants across the Alps and attacking the heart of Rome, Khalid ibn al-Walid boasting an undefeated military career and destroying the Persian Empire while subduing the Byzantines, or Russian General Alexander Suvurov and his elevation of the bayonet to a work of art that could cut down any European army, great military leaders have exerted tremendous influence on society.
This book will look at the lives of the ten greatest military commanders in history. Some conquered the fullest expanse of the known world, as did Alexander the Great. Still others were master statesmen and capable of translating military victory into long-term political gains, such as Julius Caesar, whose vanquishing of the Gauls and his political opponents laid the groundwork for several centuries of unmatchable Roman imperial might.
It will also look at the tactics they used to bring down stronger armies and befuddle them at every turn; whether it is Napoleon, who nearly conquered Europe through his deadly manoeuvre sur les derrieres and marching unexpectedly away from the enemy's main strength and concentrating on a weak but vital enemy point; or Hannibal's double entrapment maneuver, which has been the envy of military strategists for the last 2,000 years.
Whatever their background, these rulers show that the right military commander at the right time in history can destroy an empire, change civilization, and alter the course of world history forever.
Whether it is Hannibal of Carthage marching elephants across the Alps and attacking the heart of Rome, Khalid ibn al-Walid boasting an undefeated military career and destroying the Persian Empire while subduing the Byzantines, or Russian General Alexander Suvurov and his elevation of the bayonet to a work of art that could cut down any European army, great military leaders have exerted tremendous influence on society.
This book will look at the lives of the ten greatest military commanders in history. Some conquered the fullest expanse of the known world, as did Alexander the Great. Still others were master statesmen and capable of translating military victory into long-term political gains, such as Julius Caesar, whose vanquishing of the Gauls and his political opponents laid the groundwork for several centuries of unmatchable Roman imperial might.
It will also look at the tactics they used to bring down stronger armies and befuddle them at every turn; whether it is Napoleon, who nearly conquered Europe through his deadly manoeuvre sur les derrieres and marching unexpectedly away from the enemy's main strength and concentrating on a weak but vital enemy point; or Hannibal's double entrapment maneuver, which has been the envy of military strategists for the last 2,000 years.
Whatever their background, these rulers show that the right military commander at the right time in history can destroy an empire, change civilization, and alter the course of world history forever.
152 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 16, 2013
28 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Michael Rank
37 books37 followersMichael Rank is a doctoral candidate in Middle East history. He has studied Turkish, Arabic, Persian, and Armenian, but can still pull out a rural Midwestern accent if need be. He also worked as a journalist in Istanbul for nearly a decade and reported on religion and human rights.
He is the author of the #1 Amazon best seller “From Muhammed to Burj Khalifa: A Crash Course in 2,000 Years of Middle East History,” and “History's Worst Dictators: A Short Guide to the Most Brutal Leaders, From Emperor Nero to Ivan the Terrible.”
He is the author of the #1 Amazon best seller “From Muhammed to Burj Khalifa: A Crash Course in 2,000 Years of Middle East History,” and “History's Worst Dictators: A Short Guide to the Most Brutal Leaders, From Emperor Nero to Ivan the Terrible.”
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 9, 2015
Our landscapes both geographic and political have been drawn and redrawn according to the whims of statesmen and soldiers. Death and destruction are rampant during wars and yet life does not come back to 'as usual' and so is history changed in the process. For me, a lot of what I read up as history is mostly military history. A book whose title purportedly hailed it as the greatest generals of all time was to me a hard one to pass by and that too with Bonaparte on the cover ! But then there was this nagging little voice at the back of my mind that said ’Hey isn’t that a cheesy title ? Let’s try something else…hey I am talking to you ! What ? What are you doing picking that book up ? No..darn you !’ and I chose to ignore that voice and started reading the book. Now that I am done with it, I must say I am sorry I ignored you little voice !
There wasn’t much that the contents of this book added on to my overall knowledge about these men. It picks up some extremely well known generals including : Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Genghis Khan and Napoleon and relatively lesser known men including : Khalid ibn-al Walid, John Chruchill (Duke of Marlborough), Fredrick II of Prussia, Alexander Suvorov and Robert.E. Lee. The overall approach is to go over a brief bio of each of these warriors, go over their key battles and then give out key takeaways. While it sounds interesting at the first glance, there isn’t much meat in the book beyond what can be found on the Wikipedia pages of these personalities. There is certainly a lack of original thought here.
In addition, the author makes it clear that he is head over heels for flanking manoeuvres in battle strategies. In simple terms this means that you avoid meeting the opponent head on and box them up nice and tight through attacks on either flank. This has proved to be a very effective methodology over time as proven right from Napoleon’s campaigns down to Desert Storm in Iraq. But focussing on this one approach alone narrows down the field of great commanders to very few in number. After all this was not the only effective manoeuvre that won wars over all these centuries.
Another contention of mine was with the choice of the title ‘greatest’ for there isn’t much of a solid justification as to why these men were the greatest and the others whose military records were equally stunning were ignored. Off the top of my head some of the names that I could think of who find little or no mention in this book were : Scipio Africanus, Attila the Hun, Charlemagne, Timurlaine, Suleiman the Magnificient, The Duke of Wellington, The Mughals and Ulysses . S. Grant. In addition, the book gives the entire Crusades era of history a miss and we lose out the colourful military conquests of Saladin, Fredrick Barbarossa and Richard the Lionheart. Also missing is the entire history of Japan and of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Oh and also, there is not a word of WWI or WWII either. How could you call this history’s greatest generals and miss out on all those men who took command during these great wars ? Since I have written so much that I perceived as what is lacking in the book, I do not want to go much into the editorial and typographical errors that rankled me incessantly.
The intended audience could be someone who is entirely new, naïve and in awe of military history. If you do not fall into this category, you can safely give this a miss.
There wasn’t much that the contents of this book added on to my overall knowledge about these men. It picks up some extremely well known generals including : Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Genghis Khan and Napoleon and relatively lesser known men including : Khalid ibn-al Walid, John Chruchill (Duke of Marlborough), Fredrick II of Prussia, Alexander Suvorov and Robert.E. Lee. The overall approach is to go over a brief bio of each of these warriors, go over their key battles and then give out key takeaways. While it sounds interesting at the first glance, there isn’t much meat in the book beyond what can be found on the Wikipedia pages of these personalities. There is certainly a lack of original thought here.
In addition, the author makes it clear that he is head over heels for flanking manoeuvres in battle strategies. In simple terms this means that you avoid meeting the opponent head on and box them up nice and tight through attacks on either flank. This has proved to be a very effective methodology over time as proven right from Napoleon’s campaigns down to Desert Storm in Iraq. But focussing on this one approach alone narrows down the field of great commanders to very few in number. After all this was not the only effective manoeuvre that won wars over all these centuries.
Another contention of mine was with the choice of the title ‘greatest’ for there isn’t much of a solid justification as to why these men were the greatest and the others whose military records were equally stunning were ignored. Off the top of my head some of the names that I could think of who find little or no mention in this book were : Scipio Africanus, Attila the Hun, Charlemagne, Timurlaine, Suleiman the Magnificient, The Duke of Wellington, The Mughals and Ulysses . S. Grant. In addition, the book gives the entire Crusades era of history a miss and we lose out the colourful military conquests of Saladin, Fredrick Barbarossa and Richard the Lionheart. Also missing is the entire history of Japan and of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Oh and also, there is not a word of WWI or WWII either. How could you call this history’s greatest generals and miss out on all those men who took command during these great wars ? Since I have written so much that I perceived as what is lacking in the book, I do not want to go much into the editorial and typographical errors that rankled me incessantly.
The intended audience could be someone who is entirely new, naïve and in awe of military history. If you do not fall into this category, you can safely give this a miss.
February 12, 2015
Poor editing kills this book..
A very concise listing of ten of history's greatest generals that is absolutely butchered by editing, spelling, and grammatical errors too numerous to list. Some interesting facts and a good concluding chapter join to give it two stars.
A very concise listing of ten of history's greatest generals that is absolutely butchered by editing, spelling, and grammatical errors too numerous to list. Some interesting facts and a good concluding chapter join to give it two stars.
April 21, 2019
History's Greatest Generals was a random book that I found on Amazon and thought I might enjoy. It was a slow read. This book gives the author's top generals across countries of warfare and explains what made each of them excellent. What was interesting to me is there was no cookie cutter for brilliant generals. Each was different, and each had flaws. Genghis united the Mongols but was merciless. Churchill played the politics game but couldn't please everyone. Alex Suvorov was brilliant, but an egomaniac and Robert E. Lee was a gentleman. Each general had a niche or strategy that made them great, but none were the same.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 27, 2020
Learned so much
This was a fascinating read, particularly as an avid reader of military histories. I was not familiar or only slightly familiar with some of the 10 greatest commanders listed here.
This was a fascinating read, particularly as an avid reader of military histories. I was not familiar or only slightly familiar with some of the 10 greatest commanders listed here.
May 25, 2021
Great insight of these giants of warfare.
I’ve bought many books and still planing to get many more to deepen my understanding about these giants that walked among us. Thank you sir for this great work.
I’ve bought many books and still planing to get many more to deepen my understanding about these giants that walked among us. Thank you sir for this great work.
January 9, 2019
bit basic
March 8, 2025
I thank this book for giving me information on generals I had previously never known, for example both John Churchill and Alexander Suvorov were previously little known to me. However, this book, aiming for breadth in proving its thesis that the best generals are black sheep who adopt unorthodox tactic, lacks the depth to it that I would’ve preferred. It reads like the author came up with the conclusion first, and then went back in history to find examples that prove his point.
Also, some of the choices are strange; Robert E Lee was a far inferior general in the U.S civil war to Ulysses S Grant, and there’s no mention of George Zhukov or the Duke of Wellington, perhaps because these generals do not totally conform to the pre-established thesis.
Finally, I noticed several spelling and grammatical errors in this book, too many to let pass by and pretty unforgivable for a book that must’ve been edited umpteen times.
Also, some of the choices are strange; Robert E Lee was a far inferior general in the U.S civil war to Ulysses S Grant, and there’s no mention of George Zhukov or the Duke of Wellington, perhaps because these generals do not totally conform to the pre-established thesis.
Finally, I noticed several spelling and grammatical errors in this book, too many to let pass by and pretty unforgivable for a book that must’ve been edited umpteen times.
November 11, 2013
Amazon got me with this one. I was looking for something else and this showed up in the recommendations for $1. Normally, I browse my goodreads list before picking something to read, but goodreads was down at the time and I wanted something for my morning commute.
I enjoyed this, it's a nice overview of some of the worlds greatest generals. However, as expected for the price there were 2 defects, which left me a with an itch under my collar.
1. Lack of editing: Probably more than a dozen auto-correct errors.
2. No footnotes. I just finished "The Strangest Man", which had an over abundance of footnotes and references. This had zero, which makes this .... historical fiction? I don't know.
Oh well, I guess I just fell into it's target audience. Someone in a rush to find something somewhat interesting to read.
I enjoyed this, it's a nice overview of some of the worlds greatest generals. However, as expected for the price there were 2 defects, which left me a with an itch under my collar.
1. Lack of editing: Probably more than a dozen auto-correct errors.
2. No footnotes. I just finished "The Strangest Man", which had an over abundance of footnotes and references. This had zero, which makes this .... historical fiction? I don't know.
Oh well, I guess I just fell into it's target audience. Someone in a rush to find something somewhat interesting to read.
April 29, 2016
This is a fairly short bigraphical study of ten different generals throughout history. Most are fairly well known, but a coupple I wasnt that familiar with, and the information presented made me want to learn more. The book is presented with each Generals basic history, a quick primer on their time and culture, and their accomplishments, It is obviously well researched, and hits all the highlights and even lowlights, showing their efffect on their society. Kevin Pierce does a great job narrating, adding just the right touch of gravitas to the narration. Definitely a good listen for any person interested in Military history.
December 25, 2014
Written at a level more suited for teens or introductory history readers.
November 24, 2015
Interesting, but brief.
A potted history of great military leaders.
Don't expect too much detail.
A potted history of great military leaders.
Don't expect too much detail.
December 7, 2016
Some good perspectives on strategy. More history than analysis.
December 31, 2013
Very good summary.
Read
February 20, 2014useless book, complete lack of any originality
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews