Quote Originally Posted by Quillan View Post
You missed one small detail. The general comes back only if another unit in the army/fleet exists. Assassinate the general in a 2 unit army, the next turn it'll again be a 2 unit army. Assassinate a general off by himself, and it's arrivaderci.
If you've taken all the enemy's territories and their army is down to one stack of several units, then you can eliminate the faction by assassinating their general in their last stack. I sent an agent to assassinate the general before I attacked, and the whole stack just disappeared.