Historic Dispays of Tactical Ingenuity

**Ludens** · 01-06-2005, 14:29

Originally Posted by BOTP

Alexander never really had an opponent of any skill as a general.

Hannibal's victories in Italy weren't against tactical geniuses (genii?) either. The one time he was up against a formidable opponent he lost (again, this doesn't mean he wasn't a great general: he just lost all the assets he normally relied upon when fighting a battle). Also, 'never' is a bit of an exageration. True, he never faced up against another great general, but then, the status of 'great general' is given with hindsight. What Alexander did do was fight a wide variety of enemies, including two whose way of fighting would normally spel doom upon the heavy infantry the Macedonian army relied upon: Scythian horse archers and Indian elephants. He also subdued several mountain tribes (in Macedon and Persia) who didn't do field battles either.

Gaugemela was a thought fight because Darius tried to envelop the Macedonians. Alexander anticipated that and lured away Darius' left flank cavalry. He proceeded to envelop Darius' left flank. However, things were quite hairy at Alexander's left because the Greek cavalry there was not strong enough to stand up against their Persian opponents. The phalanx was threathened and Alexander aborted his pursuit of Darius to save his flank. In the end the Persians routed before he got back to the battlefield, but Parmenion, Alexander's left-flank commander, felt the situation was dangerous enough to call for reinforcements.

And though Darius was incompetent, I think it is a bit far fetched to say all Alexander's opponents were bad.

**RedKnight** · 03-19-2005, 04:26

This is a great thread, folks!

Anybody got any particularly well-loved websites about great battles of tactical ingenuity?

**Deus Ex** · 03-21-2005, 19:01

One of the things I love about this Forum, learning interesting bits of history.

Does anyone have a list of recommended books on some of these battles?

DE

**Craterus** · 03-21-2005, 19:11

i like books about Alexander The Great and Hannibal but i haven't read much on the others, i've learnt a bit reading this forum though!

**Spartan117300** · 03-22-2005, 20:53

for thermopylea you could read "gates of fire" by steven pressfield, for cunaxa, "the ten thousand" by micheal curtiss ford. some other good ones are "gods and legions" and "Tides of war"

**Somebody Else** · 03-23-2005, 08:03

Salamis...

Didn't Scipio and Hannibal have a conversation about the best general ever... Scipio saying that he would have regarded Hannibal the best ever, had he beaten Scipio. As it was, he left it at Alexander.

**Azi Tohak** · 03-23-2005, 08:52

Humm...tactical... Most of the time I think that would be what we have used, the one battlefield, you can see me and I can see you (well, more or less), now lets smack each other around.

I really rather like the battle of Okehazama (Oda Nobunaga, 1560). Let them get drunk, then jump on them.

Battle of Mohi by Suebedi (yes, I know there are millions of ways to spell it) when he destroyed the strongest army in Europe. Faint to the front, flank them. But leave a gap? Could the Mongols really be so generous? Nope, it was a trap. What a perfect way to destroy the Hungarians.

But how about Erich von Manstein in WWII? First his attack through the Ardennes ripping the westerners apart. Got to love the use of impassable terrain. Tell me again how it was impassable in the winter of 44?

And his counter stroke against the Soviets in the first couple of months of 1943. The Germans had just lost some of their best troops in Stalingrad, and the Soviets were coming like a freight train. Well, great! Too bad they out ran their supports and supplies. Manstein knew it, and positioned what troops he had to take advantage of it. So much for the Soviet momentum! I don't know if any one else could have done that.

Azi

**Craterus** · 03-25-2005, 11:55

Originally Posted by Somebody Else

Salamis...

Didn't Scipio and Hannibal have a conversation about the best general ever... Scipio saying that he would have regarded Hannibal the best ever, had he beaten Scipio. As it was, he left it at Alexander.

i think scipio asked hannibal "Who were the greatest generals in history?"
and hannibal replied "Alexander, Pyrrhus, Hannibal, in that order"
scipio asked "And if you had won at Zama?"
hannibal replied "I would place myself first."

**Somebody Else** · 03-26-2005, 06:15

Originally Posted by Craterus

i think scipio asked hannibal "Who were the greatest generals in history?"
and hannibal replied "Alexander, Pyrrhus, Hannibal, in that order"
scipio asked "And if you had won at Zama?"
hannibal replied "I would place myself first."

Meh, it was a long time ago... memory fades.