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The Greatest Military Commanders in History

History · 11 commanders · ~32 min read · Updated October 2026

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A collage of six paintings of great commanders and their battles, from Alexander the Great in the Issus mosaic through Belisarius, Gustavus Adolphus at Lützen and the relief of Vienna to Napoleon at Austerlitz and Nelson's Victory at Trafalgar

Composite of six public domain works: the Alexander Mosaic (photo Gary Todd); Jacques-Louis David, Belisarius (1781); Carl Wahlbom, Lützen (1855); Frans Geffels, Vienna (Wien Museum); François Gérard, Austerlitz (1810); J. M. W. Turner, Trafalgar (1822 to 1824). Public domain.

At a glance
RankCommanderLivedGreatest victoryRecord
1Alexander the Great356 to 323 BCGaugamela, 331 BCWon all his great pitched battles
2Napoleon Bonaparte1769 to 1821Austerlitz, 1805About 60 battles, 7 lost
3Julius Caesar100 to 44 BCAlesia, 52 BCBeaten at Gergovia and Dyrrachium
4Genghis Khanc. 1162 to 1227Conquest of Khwarazm, 1219 to 1221Took Beijing, Bukhara, Samarkand
5Horatio Nelson1758 to 1805Trafalgar, 1805Repulsed only at Santa Cruz de Tenerife
6Duke of Wellington1769 to 1852Waterloo, 1815Never lost a major battle; checked at Burgos
7Scipio Africanusc. 235 to 183 BCZama, 202 BCNever lost a battle he commanded
8Hannibal247 to 183 BCCannae, 216 BCLost only at Zama, 202 BC
9Georgy Zhukov1896 to 1974Moscow, 1941 to 1942Won Moscow and Berlin; Operation Mars failed
10Yi Sun-sin1545 to 1598Hansan Island, 1592Never defeated at sea; some battles drawn
11Khalid ibn al-Walidc. 585 to 642Yarmouk, 636Unbeaten as a Muslim commander, by tradition
Quick answer

Who are the greatest military commanders of all time?

Alexander the Great is the greatest military commander of all time in our ranking, winner of every one of his great pitched battles from the Granicus to the Hydaspes. Napoleon Bonaparte ties him on points and comes second as the younger man, followed by Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan and Horatio Nelson. Hannibal, whose tactics at Cannae are still studied, is eighth.

This list ranks eleven commanders on the battles they fought in person, on land or at sea, from Alexander in the fourth century BC to Zhukov in 1945. Each one is scored from 1 to 5 on recognition, battlefield record, consequence, legacy and the certainty of the sources, and the list is ranked by total score, not by date or by one famous battle. That is why Scipio Africanus, who never lost a battle he commanded, stands below Napoleon, and why Saladin, Frederick the Great and Jan III Sobieski are among the close calls. Every entry says why the commander ranks where he does; see how we chose and scored them.1

1 Alexander the Great, 356 to 323 BC

Lived
356 to 323 BC; died at 32
Served
King of Macedon, 336 to 323 BC; campaigned from Greece to the Punjab
Greatest victory
Gaugamela, 331 BC: 40,000 foot and 7,000 horse by Arrian’s count, against a Persian army he put at a million foot and 40,000 horse
Record
Won the Granicus (334 BC), Issus (333), Gaugamela (331) and the Hydaspes (326)
Legacy
His empire was divided among his generals and opened the Hellenistic age

Alexander became king of Macedon in 336 BC, after his father Philip was murdered. Two years later he crossed into Asia Minor to attack the Persian Empire, with an army that Diodorus puts at 32,000 infantry and 4,500 cavalry and Arrian at a little over 30,000 foot and more than 5,000 horse.2

He beat the Persian satraps at the Granicus in 334 BC and King Darius III himself at Issus in 333. At Gaugamela, on 1 October 331 BC, Arrian gives Alexander 40,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry and Darius a million foot and 40,000 horse. Darius, Arrian says, was the first to turn and flee; that autumn Alexander reached Babylon and Susa, and he spent the next winter in Persepolis. In 326 BC Alexander defeated the Indian king Porus on the Hydaspes. Myth vs fact: he did not conquer the known world; that same year his exhausted soldiers refused to march further east, and he turned back. When he died at 32, his generals fought over the empire and divided it between them.3

Everything we know about his battles comes from later writers. The main one, Arrian, was born between 85 and 90 AD and worked from the lost accounts of two of Alexander's officers, Ptolemy and Aristobulus.4

Why it ranks here: He is the only commander on this list with full marks for recognition, battlefield record, consequence and legacy at once; only certainty, 3, holds him back, because every account was written centuries after his death. He ties Napoleon on points and is level with him on recognition and consequence too, so the older commander goes first.

Read the full story of Alexander the Great ›

Ancient mosaic detail of a bareheaded young commander in armor riding a horse into battle
Alexander the Great on Bucephalus, detail of the Alexander Mosaic from the House of the Faun at Pompeii, made around 100 BC after a Hellenistic painting. Naples National Archaeological Museum. Public domain

2 Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769 to 1821

Lived
1769 to 1821
Served
French army; brigadier general from 1793, Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814 and again in 1815
Greatest victory
Austerlitz, 1805: about 73,000 French against some 85,000 Russians and Austrians
Record
About 60 battles, 7 lost, by Andrew Roberts's count; won Austerlitz, Jena-Auerstedt, Friedland and Wagram; lost Aspern-Essling, Leipzig and Waterloo
Legacy
His campaigns have been studied ever since; the Napoleonic Code still shapes European law

Born in Ajaccio, Corsica, in 1769, Napoleon was made a brigadier general at 24 after the siege of Toulon in 1793. His Italian campaign of 1796 to 1797 forced Austria into the peace of Campo Formio, and on 18 May 1804 the Empire was proclaimed, with Napoleon as Emperor of the French. By Andrew Roberts's count he fought sixty battles and lost seven.5

At Austerlitz, on 2 December 1805, about 73,000 French routed some 85,000 Russians and Austrians in a day; the Allies lost about 27,000 men, against about 8,000 to 9,000 French. The battle broke the Third Coalition, and Austria made peace at Pressburg. He smashed Prussia at Jena-Auerstedt in October 1806 and the Russians at Friedland in June 1807.6

He was defeated at Aspern-Essling in May 1809, though he won at Wagram that July; in 1812 he led about half a million men into Russia, and only a small fraction of them came back; he was crushed at Leipzig in October 1813 and beaten for the last time at Waterloo on 18 June 1815. Myth vs fact: Napoleon was not short. Measured at 5 French feet 2 inches, about 1.67 to 1.69 m, he was a little above the average Frenchman of his day; the tiny “Little Boney” was largely the work of the British cartoonist James Gillray.7

Why it ranks here: He has full marks for recognition, consequence, legacy and certainty, since few careers are better documented, but his record scores 4 because he lost at Aspern-Essling, Leipzig and Waterloo. He ties Alexander on points and matches him on recognition and consequence, so the older man goes ahead of him.

Read the full story of Napoleon Bonaparte ›

3 Julius Caesar, 100 to 44 BC

Lived
100 to 44 BC; assassinated
Served
Roman general; conquered Gaul 58 to 50 BC, won the civil war 48 to 45 BC
Greatest victory
Alesia, 52 BC: by his own count 80,000 Gauls besieged and a relief army of 250,000 foot and 8,000 horse
Record
Won Alesia (52 BC), Pharsalus (48), Thapsus (46) and Munda (45); beaten at Gergovia (52) and Dyrrachium (48)
Legacy
His rise ended the Roman Republic; his own Commentaries are still read

Julius Caesar, born in 100 BC, conquered Gaul between 58 and 50 BC and then fought Pompey and the Senate for control of Rome, a struggle that, in the words of Livius.org, changed the Roman republic into a monarchy. He was murdered on 15 March 44 BC.8

The decisive year in Gaul was 52 BC. Beaten by Vercingetorix at Gergovia, Caesar trapped him in the hill town of Alesia, where by Caesar's count 80,000 Gauls held out. By his own figures he ringed the town with a line of works eleven Roman miles round and an outer line of fourteen, and held both against a relief army he put at 250,000 foot and 8,000 horse. Vercingetorix was handed over, and after Alesia only mopping-up operations remained. The cost was terrible: Plutarch claims Caesar fought three million men in Gaul and killed a million of them, a number no one can check.9

At Pharsalus in 48 BC his 22,000 men beat Pompey's 45,000, a month after Pompey had driven him from his siege lines at Dyrrachium. Thapsus followed in 46 BC and Munda in 45, where, Suetonius says, Caesar thought the battle lost and considered suicide before it turned. Myth vs fact: Caesar was not born by caesarean section; his mother Aurelia ran his household as an adult and lived until 54 BC.10

Why it ranks here: Full marks for recognition, consequence and legacy, but his record scores 4 because Gergovia and Dyrrachium were real defeats, and certainty 4 because his own Commentaries are the main account of his wars. That leaves him one point behind Alexander and Napoleon.

Read the full story of Julius Caesar ›

Black and white map of the hill of Alesia ringed by Roman siege works
The siege of Alesia in 52 BC: Caesar's double ring of siege lines around the Gallic hill town, with the camps of the Gallic relief army outside. Map from Theodore Ayrault Dodge's Caesar, 1892. Public domain

4 Genghis Khan, c. 1162 to 1227

Lived
c. 1162 (some scholars prefer 1167) to 1227
Served
Khan of the Mongols, 1206 to 1227
Greatest victory
The conquest of Khwarazm, 1219 to 1221: Bukhara and Samarkand fell in 1220
Record
Took Beijing from the Jin (1215), Bukhara and Samarkand (1220); beat Jalal al-Din on the Indus (1221); no reliable count of battles survives
Legacy
Founded the empire his heirs made the largest contiguous land empire in history

Temujin was born around 1162, or 1167 by some scholars' reckoning, and united the steppe tribes until, in 1206, an assembly of the Mongol nobility proclaimed him Genghis Khan. He relied on gifted generals: the historian Morris Rossabi calls Jebe and Subutai two of his ablest commanders.11

He then turned on the settled empires. In 1211 he invaded the Jin empire of northern China, and in 1215 Beijing was captured and sacked. When the Shah of Khwarazm had his envoys killed, Genghis set out against Central Asia in 1219; Bukhara fell in March 1220 and Samarkand a month later, and in 1221 he caught the Shah's son Jalal al-Din on the Indus, where the prince escaped only by swimming across the river. These conquests were also massacres: Columbia University's Asia for Educators calls the war in Central Asia the most devastating of his campaigns, with mass slaughter on both sides, and Judson Knight writes in Science and Its Times that in his early conquests he simply killed everyone who stood in his way. His heirs built on his conquests the largest contiguous land empire in world history.12

Myth vs fact: the Mongols did not win by sheer numbers. At the Kalka in 1223 Jebe and Subutai were outnumbered, by Rossabi's estimate four to one, and won with horse archery and the feigned retreat, a tactic Genghis himself liked to use.13

Why it ranks here: Full marks for recognition, consequence and legacy, but his record scores 4 because many Mongol victories were won by his generals rather than by the khan in person, and certainty 3 because army sizes come from chronicles that cannot be checked.

Read the full story of Genghis Khan ›

5 Horatio Nelson, 1758 to 1805

Lived
1758 to 1805; killed at Trafalgar
Served
Royal Navy, 1770 to 1805
Greatest victory
Trafalgar, 1805: 27 British ships of the line against 33 French and Spanish
Record
Fought at Cape St Vincent (1797); won the Nile (1798), Copenhagen (1801) and Trafalgar (1805); repulsed at Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797)
Legacy
Trafalgar began a century of British naval supremacy

Born in 1758 at the rectory of Burnham Thorpe, Horatio Nelson joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman in 1770. At Cape St Vincent in February 1797 he captured two Spanish ships, the San José and San Nicolás; that July his night attack on Santa Cruz de Tenerife failed, and a shot cost him his right arm.14

At the Nile, on 1 August 1798, his fleet attacked 13 French ships of the line at anchor in Aboukir Bay. Only two of them escaped, the flagship L'Orient blew up, and Napoleon's army in Egypt was cut off. At Copenhagen, on 2 April 1801, he ignored a signal to break off, then pushed the Danes into an armistice. Myth vs fact: the telescope raised to his blind eye is a story Royal Museums Greenwich calls only alleged, though it records his remark that with one eye he had a right to be blind sometimes.15

At Trafalgar, on 21 October 1805, his 27 ships attacked 33 French and Spanish. His own column smashed through the center of the enemy line; 17 enemy ships were taken and another burned, for 449 British sailors killed. A bullet fired from the rigging of the French ship Redoutable struck Nelson at about 1:15 p.m., and he died at 4:30 p.m.. The battle ended Napoleon's plans to invade Britain and began a century of British naval supremacy.16

Why it ranks here: Full marks for consequence, legacy and certainty, but recognition 4, because an admiral is named less often on lists of great generals, and record 4 for the failure at Santa Cruz de Tenerife. He ties Wellington on points and is level with him on recognition and consequence, so Nelson goes first as the older man.

Read the full story of Horatio Nelson ›

Period print of two columns of sailing warships cutting through a curved enemy line
Robert Dodd's Plan of the Attack by Lord Nelson on the Combined Fleet, a print issued soon after Trafalgar, showing the two British columns driving into the Franco-Spanish line. Public domain

6 Duke of Wellington, 1769 to 1852

Lived
1769 to 1852
Served
British Army in India, the Peninsular War and the Waterloo campaign; later prime minister
Greatest victory
Waterloo, 1815, with Blücher’s Prussians
Record
Won Assaye, Salamanca, Vitoria and Waterloo; failed at the siege of Burgos in 1812
Legacy
Ended Napoleon’s rule; prime minister 1828 to 1830 and in 1834

Arthur Wellesley was born in Dublin in 1769 and learned his trade in India, where he won his first major victory at Assaye on 23 September 1803. From 1808 he spent six years fighting the French in Portugal and Spain, and he later served twice as prime minister.17

In the Peninsula he made his name as a defensive general, checking French columns with what the National Army Museum calls his trademark, the reverse-slope defense, until his victory at Salamanca on 22 July 1812 showed that he could also attack in the open field. At Vitoria on 21 June 1813 he routed King Joseph's army, and the victory effectively ended French control of Spain. Then came Waterloo. On 18 June 1815, by the National Army Museum’s figures, his 68,000 men held the ridge against Napoleon’s 72,000 until 48,000 Prussians under Blücher came up; the French lost nearly 40,000 killed, wounded or captured, and Napoleon abdicated and died in exile on St Helena.18

Myth vs fact: “he never lost a battle” is, as Stephen Roberts writes in The Past, an oft-repeated myth. As a young officer he shared the retreat from Boxtel in 1794, he was driven back at Redinha and El Bodón in 1811, and his failure to take Burgos in 1812 forced a retreat to Portugal; the fair claim is that he never lost a major battle.19

Why it ranks here: No one on the list has a cleaner record in great battles, and Waterloo ended Napoleon’s rule, so top marks for record and consequence. He is less famous worldwide than the rival he beat, so recognition 4, and Waterloo was a joint victory with Blücher; he ties Nelson on 45 with the same recognition and consequence and comes after him as the younger man.

Read the full story of the Duke of Wellington ›

7 Scipio Africanus, c. 235 to 183 BC

Lived
c. 235 to 183 BC
Served
Roman Republic, Second Punic War, in Spain and Africa
Greatest victory
Zama, 202 BC, over Hannibal
Record
Took New Carthage; won Ilipa and Zama; lost no battle he commanded
Legacy
Ended the Second Punic War; Carthage gave up all but ten warships and owed 10,000 talents

Publius Cornelius Scipio learned war from Hannibal. As a teenager, in his first campaign, he fought in the cavalry action near the Po in which his father was surrounded, and after the disaster at Cannae, Livy says, the survivors at Canusium gave the command to him and Appius Claudius, though he was barely nineteen. Myth vs fact: the story that he charged in alone to save his father comes from his friend Laelius, as Polybius reports it, so it may flatter him.20

Sent to Spain, he took the Carthaginian base of New Carthage by sending men across a lagoon at low tide. At Ilipa in 206 BC, by Polybius’s figures, his 45,000 foot and 3,000 horse beat 70,000 foot, 4,000 horse and 32 elephants under Hasdrubal son of Gesco, and the Carthaginians were driven out of Spain. Then he carried the war to Africa. At Zama in 202 BC he faced Hannibal himself. He left lanes in his line so that Hannibal’s eighty or more elephants ran through harmlessly, and when Laelius and Masinissa returned with the cavalry and fell on the Carthaginian rear, Hannibal lost more than 20,000 killed and nearly as many captured, against, by Polybius’s count, about 1,500 Romans. Carthage gave up all but ten warships and paid 10,000 talents over fifty years. As the publisher of Dexter Hoyos’s biography puts it, in ten years of command he never lost a battle.21

Why it ranks here: He beat the greatest general of his age and won the war that made Rome master of the western Mediterranean, so top marks for record and consequence. He is far less known than the man he defeated, so recognition 4, and legacy 4, which leaves him alone on 44.

Read the full story of Scipio Africanus ›

8 Hannibal, 247 to 183 BC

Lived
247 to 183 BC
Served
Carthage, Second Punic War (218 to 202 BC); invaded Italy over the Alps in 218 BC
Greatest victory
Cannae, 216 BC: 40,000 foot and 10,000 horse against 80,000 Roman foot and more than 6,000 horse, by Polybius’s figures
Record
Won the Trebia (218 BC), Lake Trasimene (217) and Cannae (216); lost Zama (202)
Legacy
Cannae is still studied as the model battle of encirclement

Hannibal invaded Italy in 218 BC by crossing the Alps. By Polybius's count he led 50,000 infantry and 9,000 cavalry over the Pyrenees, and after fifteen days in the Alps came down into the valley of the Po with 20,000 foot and no more than 6,000 horse.22

Three great victories followed: the Trebia in 218 BC, Lake Trasimene in 217, where Polybius and Livy both put the Roman dead at about 15,000, and Cannae in 216. At Cannae, by Polybius's figures, about 80,000 Roman infantry and more than 6,000 cavalry faced 40,000 Carthaginian foot and 10,000 horse. Hannibal let the Romans push into his center, then closed infantry on both flanks and sent his cavalry into their rear; Polybius puts the Roman dead at about 70,000 and Livy at 45,500 foot and 2,700 horse, and Polybius counts about 4,000 Celts, 1,500 Spaniards and Africans and 200 horsemen dead on Hannibal’s side. Myth vs fact: no elephants fought at Cannae. Polybius says all but one died after the Trebia, and both he and Livy have Hannibal riding that last one through the marshes of Etruria.23

Rome fought on. In 202 BC Scipio Africanus beat Hannibal at Zama in Africa, more than 20,000 of his men were killed, and he told the Carthaginian senate that the war was lost and urged it to accept Rome's terms. Cannae outlived the defeat: Alfred von Schlieffen built his “Cannae concept” on it, and in 1914 the younger Moltke told his son to “Study Cannae.”24

Why it ranks here: Full marks for recognition and legacy, but his record scores 4 because he lost Zama and with it the war, the same mark as Napoleon and Caesar for their defeats, and consequence only 3 because Rome survived. He ties Zhukov and Yi Sun-sin on points and goes ahead of both on recognition.

Read the full story of Hannibal ›

Battle map of Cannae showing Carthaginian forces in blue encircling the Roman army in red beside the Aufidus river
The double envelopment at Cannae, 216 BC: Hannibal's African infantry and cavalry close around the Roman army (red). Map after the US Military Academy history atlas. Public domain (US government work). After the Department of History, US Military Academy, via Wikimedia Commons.

9 Georgy Zhukov, 1896 to 1974

Lived
1896 to 1974
Served
Red Army; Marshal of the Soviet Union from 1943; minister of defense until 1957
Greatest victory
Moscow, 1941 to 1942
Record
Won Khalkhin Gol, Moscow and Berlin; Operation Mars failed in 1942
Legacy
Four times Hero of the Soviet Union; accepted Germany’s surrender on 8 May 1945

Georgy Zhukov, born in 1896, made his name in August 1939, when he defeated the Japanese at Khalkhin Gol on the Mongolian border. When Germany invaded two years later he became Stalin’s troubleshooter: in September 1941 he raced to Leningrad to halt the German threat, then returned to save Moscow.25

The counteroffensive before Moscow, opened on 5 December 1941, handed the German army what the Encyclopedia of Russian History calls its first real setback of the war. Not every blow landed. Operation Mars, the offensive against the Rzhev salient late in 1942, failed; Soviet figures compiled by Krivosheev count 215,674 casualties out of 545,070 men, 70,373 of them killed, missing or captured. In 1945 his 1st Belorussian Front, 908,500 men by the same count, attacked the Seelow Heights on 16 April, Berlin’s garrison surrendered on 2 May, and he accepted the German surrender on 8 May. Myth vs fact: Berlin was not his alone. Three Soviet fronts and Polish troops, about 2.5 million men in all, took part, Konev’s front attacked beside his, and the Seelow Heights alone cost the Red Army nearly 40,000 killed and wounded. After the war Stalin, wary of his fame, sent him to command the Odessa and Ural military districts.26

Why it ranks here: Moscow and Berlin changed the war and the map of Europe, so consequence 5, but the failure of Mars holds his record to 4. He ties Hannibal and Yi Sun-sin on 43: he follows the better-known Hannibal and goes ahead of Yi on recognition.

Read the full story of Georgy Zhukov ›

10 Yi Sun-sin, 1545 to 1598

Lived
1545 to 1598
Served
Navy of Joseon Korea against the Japanese invasions of 1592 to 1598
Greatest victory
Hansan Island, 1592
Record
Won Okpo, Hansan and Myeongnyang; never defeated at sea, though some battles were drawn
Legacy
Korea’s national hero; his war diary is on UNESCO’s Memory of the World register

Yi Sun-sin, born in 1545, commanded the navy of Joseon Korea against the Japanese invasions of 1592 to 1598. His near-daily war diary of 1592 to 1598 is on UNESCO’s Memory of the World register.27

He won his first battle at Okpo in 1592 and went on winning. Off Hansan Island, by Korean records, the combined fleet of 55 warships that he led lured 73 Japanese ships into open water, closed around them in a crane-wing formation and burned or took 59 without losing a ship; the defeat wrecked the Japanese plan to advance by land and sea together. In 1597, after the fleet had been all but destroyed under another commander at Chilcheollyang, he blocked the Myeongnyang strait with 13 ships against 133 by the Korean count, which other accounts raise to about 330, and broke 31. He was killed by a stray bullet at Noryang in 1598, in the last sea battle of the war.28

Myth vs fact: the turtle ship was not his invention, since the royal annals mention one in 1413, and nothing confirms that it was an ironclad; his own 1592 report describes iron spikes on its back, not armor plate. According to a 2021 Insight report, the popular tally of “23 battles, 23 victories,” spread by a 2004 television drama, has no basis, and the Korean Naval Academy historian Je Jang-myeong counts 45 battles, 40 won and 5 drawn, with no defeat.29

Why it ranks here: His victories saved Joseon and he is Korea’s national hero, so top marks for record, consequence and legacy, but he is little known outside East Asia, so recognition 3, and the Japanese losses he reported are disputed. He ties Hannibal and Zhukov on 43 and comes after both on recognition.

Read the full story of Yi Sun-sin ›

Black and white woodcut of a Korean turtle ship with a curved covered deck, a dragon head at the bow, a row of oars and a flag on a mast
The turtle ship of the Naval Command (Tongjeyeong), a woodcut from the Yi Chungmugong jeonseo, the collected works of Yi compiled by royal order in 1795, joined here from two facing pages of a copy scanned by the National Digital Library of Korea. Drawn some two centuries after the war, it is a reconstruction, not a plan of Yi's own ships. CC0. Yi Chungmugong jeonseo, 1795, via Wikimedia Commons.

11 Khalid ibn al-Walid, c. 585 to 642

Lived
c. 585 to 642 (some sources give c. 590 for his birth)
Served
Mecca against Muhammad, then the caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar in Arabia, Iraq and Syria
Greatest victory
Yarmouk, 636
Record
Won the Yarmouk (636); by tradition never beaten as a Muslim commander
Legacy
Called Sayf Allah, “the Sword of God”; Syria and Iraq opened to the caliphate

Khalid ibn al-Walid first fought against Muhammad. The Gale Encyclopedia of World History: War says that he led the Meccan counterattack at Uhud that won the day, and that after he converted to Islam, in 627 or 629, he came to be known as “the Sword of God”. Abu Bakr, the first caliph, relied on him as his best general.30

Under Abu Bakr he crushed the Hanifa tribe of the self-proclaimed prophet Musailima at Aqraba, the same encyclopedia says, and then campaigned in Iraq. Ordered to Syria, he crossed the desert, which the Byzantines thought impassable, to join the Muslim armies fighting them there. At the Yarmouk in August 636 the Arabs won the battle that opened Syria to them; in Bart Talbert’s account Khalid led the field army and struck the Byzantine flanks with his mounted reserve. The Arab and Byzantine sources for these campaigns are sketchy and were written down long afterwards, so the size of both armies is guesswork. Umar, the new caliph, gave the command in Syria to Abu Ubaidah and demoted Khalid.31

Myth vs fact: “he never lost a battle” is a tradition, not a checked record; it comes from Arabic accounts written down from the late eighth century onward, more than a century after his death.32

Why it ranks here: Yarmouk and the Iraqi campaign opened Syria and Iraq to the caliphate, so top marks for record and consequence, but the Arabic accounts were written long after and their numbers are unreliable, so certainty 2. He ties Saladin on 42 with the same recognition and consequence and goes in as the older man.

Read about Khalid at the Yarmouk ›

How we chose and ranked these commanders

We judged each commander on the battles he fought in person, on land or at sea, in any era and on any continent. Rulers count only for the battles they commanded themselves, and a thinker such as Sun Tzu, whose battles cannot be pinned down, does not qualify. Influence on history beyond the battlefield is ranked in our guide to the most influential military leaders in history, and commanders of one era or nation in the greatest commanders by era, the greatest British commanders and the greatest Polish commanders.

We considered 25 candidates and scored each one from 1 to 5 on five criteria. Recognition counts three times, because this page answers the question of who the greatest commanders of all time are; battlefield record, consequence and legacy count twice, and certainty once:

The list is ranked by total score, not by date. Ties go to the better-known commander, then to the one whose victories changed more, then to the older one. The scores are our editorial judgment, made on the evidence in the sources below, and the table shows every one of them. It explains, for example, why Hannibal, whose tactics are still studied more than two thousand years after Cannae, is only eighth: he lost at Zama and with it the war, which costs him a point on record as defeats cost Napoleon and Caesar, and Rome survived Cannae, so his victories changed less than those of the seven above him.

The scores behind the ranking
RankNameRecognition
×3		Battlefield record
×2		Consequence
×2		Legacy
×2		Certainty
×1		Total
1Alexander the Great5555348
2Napoleon Bonaparte5455548
3Julius Caesar5455447
4Genghis Khan5455346
5Horatio Nelson4455545
6Duke of Wellington4554545
7Scipio Africanus4554444
8Hannibal5435443
9Georgy Zhukov4454543
10Yi Sun-sin3555443
11Khalid ibn al-Walid4554242

Close calls

Five commanders came close and did not make the eleven:

Saladin, 1137 to 1193. At Hattin in July 1187 he destroyed the field army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and by the end of the year Jerusalem had fallen to him. But he was defeated at Montgisard in 1177 and beaten by Richard the Lionheart at Arsuf in 1191, so record 3. He ties Khalid on 42 with the same recognition and consequence and misses out as the younger man.33 › Battle of Hattin, 1187

Frederick the Great, 1712 to 1786. At Rossbach in 1757 his 22,000 Prussians routed an allied army of about 45,000 for 549 casualties, and a month later he beat the Austrians at Leuthen. Prussia kept Silesia at the peace of 1763, but he was beaten at Kolin and Kunersdorf, so record 4, and he finished one point short.34 › Battle of Rossbach, 1757

Erwin Rommel, 1891 to 1944. The Desert Fox is as famous as any general of World War II, and in 1942 he beat the British at Gazala and took Tobruk. At El Alamein that autumn his 116,000 Germans and Italians met more than 190,000 men of the Eighth Army and suffered a decisive defeat. His victories changed little, so consequence 2.35 › El Alamein, 1942

Jan III Sobieski, 1629 to 1696. As grand hetman he stormed the Ottoman camp at Khotyn in 1673, and as king he commanded the allied army of some 65,000 to 69,000 that relieved Vienna in 1683, where about 20,000 horsemen charged down the hills. Vienna began the Ottoman retreat from Europe, but outside Poland and Austria he is far less known than the eleven, so recognition 3.36 › Battle of Khotyn, 1673

Ulysses S. Grant, 1822 to 1885. He took Vicksburg and its 30,000 defenders on 4 July 1863, broke the stalemate at Chattanooga and in 1864 and 1865 wore down Lee’s army until it surrendered at Appomattox. But he was surprised at Shiloh, and the road from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor cost horrific casualties, so record 4, and he is little known outside the United States.37 › Siege of Vicksburg, 1863

Who is the greatest military commander of all time?

In our ranking it is Alexander the Great, by the narrowest of margins: he and Napoleon both score 48 points out of 50, and Alexander goes first because a tie goes to the older commander. Julius Caesar is one point behind them. Most published lists draw on the same few names, and which one comes first depends on what you choose to measure.

Measure the record, and Alexander is hard to beat. From the Granicus in 334 BC to the Hydaspes in 326 BC he won every one of his great pitched battles. Measure influence on later soldiers, and Hannibal has the strongest case: his tactics were studied by military leaders long after him, and more than two thousand years after Cannae German generals were still building their plans on it. Measure the sheer amount of hard fighting won against first-rate armies, and Napoleon pulls ahead.38

People have tried numbers too. In 2017 the data analyst Ethan Arsht borrowed the idea of "wins above replacement" from baseball statistics. He scored thousands of generals from Wikipedia's list of battles, adjusting for the size of each army. Napoleon came out far ahead of everyone, with Caesar second. In Arsht's data Napoleon won 38 of 43 battles and was often outnumbered, including in all of his defeats. Arsht called the project a fun way to practice coding, not serious scholarship, and his model ignores terrain and strategy.39

So the honest answer is a short list, not one name. If you want a single pick, Alexander has the cleanest record and Napoleon the deepest, and our scores separate them only by the tie rule. Cast your own vote in the poll below this article.

How the great captains have been ranked

The idea of a canon of "great captains" is old, and the soldiers who wrote it down mostly agreed on the core. Napoleon gave his own list. One of the maxims collected from his writings tells officers to read again and again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne, Eugene and Frederick, and to model themselves on them, because this is the only way to learn the secret of the art of war. Napoleon did not put himself on the list.40

In January 1889 the American soldier and historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge gave six lectures in Boston on the great captains. He chose Alexander, Hannibal and Caesar from the ancient world, then Gustavus Adolphus, Frederick the Great and Napoleon, and wrote that these six stood "in a class by themselves." He admitted that some would rank Marlborough or Prince Eugene beside Gustavus, but kept the Swedish king because, in his view, Gustavus had created the modern system of war.41

Not everyone accepted that canon. In 1927 the British military writer B. H. Liddell Hart published Great Captains Unveiled, with an almost entirely different cast: Genghis Khan and his general Subutai, Marshal Saxe, Gustavus Adolphus, Wallenstein and James Wolfe. Only Gustavus appears on both his list and Dodge's.42

Two lessons come out of these lists. First, Alexander, Hannibal and Caesar, together with Gustavus Adolphus and Frederick the Great, sit on both Napoleon's list and Dodge's, so their place is about as safe as anything in military history. Second, a list says as much about its author as about the commanders. Napoleon and Dodge looked mostly at Europe. Liddell Hart went looking for the Mongols. Our own list scores every candidate on the same five criteria and reaches beyond Europe, to Genghis Khan, Yi Sun-sin and Khalid ibn al-Walid.

Which commanders never lost a battle?

Very few, and every such claim needs small print. On this list, Alexander the Great won every one of his great pitched battles, and Scipio Africanus, in the words of the publisher of Dexter Hoyos's biography, never lost a battle in ten years of command. The Duke of Wellington never lost a major battle, Yi Sun-sin was never defeated at sea by the count of the Korean naval historian Je Jang-myeong, and Khalid ibn al-Walid is unbeaten by Muslim tradition. Outside the eleven, the Encyclopedia of Russian History says the Russian field marshal Alexander Suvorov never lost a battle.43

Alexander's record covers all the great set pieces of his career: the Granicus in 334 BC, Issus in 333 BC, Gaugamela in 331 BC and the Hydaspes in 326 BC, plus hard campaigning in Bactria and Sogdiana in which, as Livius.org puts it, he rooted out all opposition. What finally stopped him was not an enemy army. After the Hydaspes his own exhausted troops refused to march further east.44

Suvorov, who lived from 1730 to 1800, is far less known in the West. He won crushing victories at Focșani and Rymnik in 1789, stormed the fortress of Izmail in 1790, and in 1799 led Austrian and Russian armies to victories in Italy on the Adda, on the Trebbia and at Novi. When the campaign turned against the allies, he brought his army out of northern Italy across the Swiss Alps.45

Khalid ibn al-Walid is the hardest case to judge. Muhammad gave him the title Sword of God, and he led decisive victories over the Byzantines, among them the Yarmouk in 636. His career is more complicated than the legend, though. At Uhud in 625 he fought against Muhammad and won. At Mu'tah in 629 he took command after the appointed leaders were killed and led a safe withdrawal. The caliph Umar later relieved him of supreme command.46

Everyone else on the list lost at least once, or, like Genghis Khan, has no reliable count of battles at all. Hannibal was beaten at Zama in 202 BC by Scipio Africanus. Caesar was defeated by Vercingetorix at Gergovia in 52 BC, the same year he won at Alesia.47

Napoleon was defeated at Aspern-Essling in May 1809, then won at Wagram that July after preparing a better crossing of the Danube. His last battle was Waterloo, on 18 June 1815. Nelson was repulsed at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1797, and Zhukov's Operation Mars failed with heavy losses in 1942. A spotless record often means a short career or careful choice of fights. How a commander recovers from defeat can tell you more.48

How do Alexander, Caesar, Genghis Khan and Napoleon compare?

By area, Genghis Khan ruled by far the most: about 13.5 million km² at his death in 1227, against about 5.2 million for Alexander and 2.1 million for Napoleon’s France with the lands it controlled. Alexander won every one of his great pitched battles and died youngest, at 32. Napoleon fought the most battles: about 60 by Andrew Roberts's count, seven of them lost.49

LivedAge at deathRealm at its heightBattle record
Alexander the Great356 to 323 BC503251About 5.2 million km² (2.0 million mi²) in 323 BC, on Rein Taagepera’s estimate52Four great pitched battles, none lost53
Julius Caesar100 to 44 BC5455, “in the fifty-sixth year of his age”55Gaul, conquered for Rome; no estimate in km² for his own conquests56Won at Alesia 52, Pharsalus 48, Thapsus 46 and Munda 45 BC; beaten at Gergovia 52 and Dyrrachium 48 BC57
Genghis Khanc. 1162 to 1227; some scholars prefer 1167 for his birth58About 65, or about 60 if born in 1167About 13.5 million km² (5.2 million mi²), give or take 1.5 million km², at his death in 122759No reliable count survives
Napoleon1769 to 18216051About 2.1 million km² (0.8 million mi²) for France and the lands it controlled in 181361About 60 battles fought, 7 lost62

The figures do not measure quite the same thing. Taagepera’s estimate for Napoleon counts France together with the lands it controlled in 1813, while Caesar conquered Gaul for the Roman Republic rather than building a realm of his own, so no comparable figure exists for him. For head-to-head verdicts, see Napoleon vs Alexander, Genghis Khan vs Alexander, Alexander vs Caesar and Genghis Khan vs Napoleon.63

Who was the greatest general of World War II?

Georgy Zhukov is the most common answer. Britannica calls him the most important Soviet military commander of the war: he directed the defense of Moscow in 1941, helped plan the encirclement of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad and commanded the final assault on Berlin in 1945. The choice still depends on which theater you weigh most.64

On the German side, Erich von Manstein devised the plan for the armored thrust through the Ardennes that defeated France in 1940. After the war a British military court in Hamburg convicted him of war crimes in December 1949 and sentenced him to 18 years in prison; the sentence was cut to 12 years and he was released in 1953.65

For the Western Allies, the usual choice is Dwight D. Eisenhower, for a different kind of skill. As Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, he commanded the American, British and Canadian forces that landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944. Field commanders who fought on a smaller stage, such as Erwin Rommel in North Africa, are weighed against each other in Patton vs Rommel.66

Who was the greatest female commander in history?

Joan of Arc is the name given most often. Nine days after she reached Orléans at the end of April 1429, the English siege was lifted, and in June the English army was routed at Patay. Historians still debate how far she commanded and how far she inspired, so any ranking of women commanders needs caution.67

A stronger claim to command at the head of a state belongs to Zenobia of Palmyra. She ruled as regent for her young son Vaballathus from 267, and her general Zabdas took Roman Egypt around 270. In 272, Zosimus writes, the emperor Aurelian defeated her armies near Antioch and at Emesa and took Palmyra, and Zenobia was caught trying to escape across the Euphrates. Many more women fought, from Boudica to the Rani of Jhansi, and our guide to women warriors in history keeps record and legend apart.68

The greatest commanders by nation and empire

Many readers want the commanders of one country: the greatest French generals, the best Ottoman commanders, the finest Polish hetmans. Each of these has its own guide on this site, with the battles behind every name.

For the ancient world, start with the commanders of ancient Greece, from Miltiades and Themistocles to Alexander, and with those of ancient Rome, where Scipio and Caesar compete for first place. The story of Carthage's commanders is largely the story of one family, Hannibal, his father Hamilcar and his brothers. The Persian Empire was founded by Cyrus the Great and carried to its height by Darius the Great, and Xerxes led its great invasion of Greece.

Later empires had their own masters. The Byzantine Empire had Belisarius. The Mongol Empire had Genghis Khan and Subutai. The Ottoman Empire was led into battle by its sultans, among them Mehmed II, who took Constantinople, and Suleiman the Magnificent. In Japan three warlords, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, unified the country one after another, as told in the commanders of feudal Japan.

For modern nations, the greatest French commanders run from Napoleon back to Turenne, whom Napoleon admired. Britain's list, in the greatest British commanders, is led by the Duke of Wellington and Nelson. Poland's greatest commanders include Sobieski and the hetmans Jan Karol Chodkiewicz and Stanisław Żółkiewski. For the United States, see the greatest American commanders, the commanders of the American Civil War and the commanders of the Pacific War.

Which of them fights the way you would? Find out in Which Commander Are You?, or name them from a few clues in Guess the Commander.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. Livius.org, “Alexander the Great”; Encyclopedia.com, “Alexander the Great”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle for Berlin”. ↩
  2. Livius.org, “Alexander the Great”; Encyclopedia.com, “Alexander the Great”; Diodorus Siculus, “Diodorus Siculus, Library, Book 17”; Arrian, “The Anabasis of Alexander, Book I, Chapter XI”. ↩
  3. Livius.org, “Alexander the Great”; Encyclopedia.com, “Alexander the Great”; Diodorus Siculus, “Diodorus Siculus, Library, Book 17”; Arrian, “The Anabasis of Alexander, Book III, Chapter XII”; Arrian, “The Anabasis of Alexander, Book III, Chapter VIII”; Livius.org, “Gaugamela (331 BCE)”; Arrian, “The Anabasis of Alexander, Book III, Chapter XIV”; Arrian, “The Anabasis of Alexander, Book III, Chapter XVI”; Arrian, “The Anabasis of Alexander, Book V, Chapter XXVIII”; Arrian, “The Anabasis of Alexander, Book VII, Chapter XXVIII”; Livius.org, “Alexander's successors”; Zosimus, “Zosimus, New History, Book 1”. ↩
  4. Livius.org, “Arrian of Nicomedia”; Livius.org, “Aristobulus of Cassandrea”. ↩
  5. Encyclopedia.com, “Napoleon I”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)”; Fondation Napoléon, “Timeline”; Kirkus Reviews, review of Andrew Roberts, Napoleon; Fondation Napoléon, “Napoleon the Great”. ↩
  6. HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Austerlitz, 2 December 1805”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Battle of Austerlitz”; Fondation Napoléon, “Timeline”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)”. ↩
  7. HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Aspern-Essling, 21-22 May 1809”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)”; Fondation Napoléon, “Timeline”; Encyclopedia.com, “Napoleon I”; Fondation Napoléon, “La taille de Napoléon”; HISTORY, “Was Napoleon Short? Origins of the 'Napoleon Complex'”. ↩
  8. Livius.org, “Julius Caesar”; Suetonius, “The Life of Julius Caesar”; Livius.org, “Alesia (52 BCE)”; Livius.org, “Pharsalus (48 BCE)”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Battle of Munda”. ↩
  9. Livius.org, “Alesia (52 BCE)”; Suetonius, “The Life of Julius Caesar”; Julius Caesar, “Gallic War, Book 7, chapter 69”; Julius Caesar, “Gallic War, Book 7, chapter 71”; Julius Caesar, “Gallic War, Book 7, chapter 74”; Julius Caesar, “Gallic War, Book 7, chapter 76”; Julius Caesar, “De Bello Gallico 7.89”; Plutarch, “The Life of Julius Caesar”. ↩
  10. Julius Caesar, The Civil War; Julius Caesar, The Civil War; Livius.org, “Pharsalus (48 BCE)”; Suetonius, “The Life of Julius Caesar”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Battle of Munda”; Plutarch, “The Life of Julius Caesar”; HISTORY, “5 Things You Might Not Know About Julius Caesar”. ↩
  11. Columbia University, “Key Figures in Mongol History”; Encyclopedia.com, “Jenghiz Khan”; Columbia University, “Mongol Unity under Chinggis Khan”; Morris Rossabi, Natural History; Encyclopedia.com, “Genghis Khan”. ↩
  12. Encyclopedia.com, “Genghis Khan”; Encyclopedia.com, “Jenghiz Khan”; Columbia University, “Three Invasions Led by Chinggis”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of the Indus, 24 November 1221”; Columbia University, “Mongols in World History”; Morris Rossabi, Natural History. ↩
  13. Morris Rossabi, Natural History; Columbia University, “Chinggis's Mastery of Organization and Military Tactics”. ↩
  14. Royal Museums Greenwich, “Research guide N1”; Diario de Avisos, “El mayor fracaso de Nelson”; Royal Museums Greenwich, “Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, 1758-1805”. ↩
  15. Royal Museums Greenwich, “The Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Battle of the Nile”; Royal Museums Greenwich, “The Battle of Copenhagen, 2 April 1801”; Royal Museums Greenwich, “Research guide N1”. ↩
  16. National Museum of the Royal Navy, “Trafalgar Day”; Royal Museums Greenwich, “Battle of Trafalgar timeline”. ↩
  17. National Army Museum, “Wellington”; GOV.UK, “Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington”. ↩
  18. National Army Museum, “Wellington”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Salamanca, 22 July 1812”; National Army Museum, “Peninsular War”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Vittoria, 21 June 1813”; National Army Museum, “Battle of Waterloo”. ↩
  19. National Army Museum, “Wellington”; The Past, “Wellington’s lessons in failure”. ↩
  20. Polybius, “Polybius”; Livy, “Livy, History of Rome, Books 21 and 22”; University of Chicago Press, “Scipio Africanus”. ↩
  21. Polybius, “Polybius”; Livy, “Livy, History of Rome, Book 30, chapter 35”; Polybius, “Polybius”; Polybius, “Polybius”; University of Chicago Press, “Scipio Africanus”. ↩
  22. Polybius, Histories; Livy, “Livy, History of Rome, Books 21 and 22”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Hannibal”. ↩
  23. Polybius, Histories; Livy, “Livy, History of Rome, Books 21 and 22”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Hannibal”. ↩
  24. Polybius, “Polybius”; Livy, “Livy, History of Rome, Book 30, chapter 35”; HistoryNet, “The Enduring Mystique of Cannae”. ↩
  25. Encyclopedia.com, “Zhukov, Georgy Konstantinovich”; Encyclopedia.com, “Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov”. ↩
  26. Encyclopedia.com, “Zhukov, Georgy Konstantinovich”; Encyclopedia.com, “Moscow, Battle of”; The National WWII Museum, “Moscow Harbor”; G. F. Krivosheev, “Rossiya i SSSR v voynakh XX veka”; Encyclopedia.com, “Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle for Berlin”; dzieje.pl, “70 lat temu rozpoczęła się operacja berlińska”. ↩
  27. Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, “이순신 (Yi Sun-sin)”; UNESCO Memory of the World, “Nanjung Ilgi”. ↩
  28. Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, “이순신 (Yi Sun-sin)”; Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, “Hansando daecheop (한산도대첩)”; Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, “Myeongnyang daecheop (명량대첩)”; MediaToday, “1700만 흥행 '명량'의 10가지 역사적 허구와 의문 (Ten historical fictions and questions in Myeongnyang)”; UNESCO Memory of the World, “Nanjung Ilgi”. ↩
  29. Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, “거북선 (Turtle ship)”; Weekly Kyunghyang, “거북선이 세계 최초의 잠수함? (The turtle ship, the world’s first submarine?)”; Insight, “이순신 장군의 ‘23전 23승’ 신화는 근거 없는 거짓...사실은 이랬다 (Admiral Yi’s “23 battles, 23 victories” myth has no basis)”. ↩
  30. Encyclopedia.com, “Expansion of Islam (600-1200)”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Battle of Yarmūk”. ↩
  31. Encyclopedia.com, “Expansion of Islam (600-1200)”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Battle of Yarmūk”; The Medieval Review, “94.10.06, Kaegi, Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquests”. ↩
  32. The Medieval Review, “94.10.06, Kaegi, Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquests”. ↩
  33. Encyclopedia.com, “Saladin”; Encyclopedia.com, “Hattin, Battle of”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Saladin, 1137/8-1193”. ↩
  34. EBSCO Research Starters, “Battle of Rossbach”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Frederick II (the Great) (1712-1786), king of Prussia (1740-1786)”. ↩
  35. National Army Museum, “The Battle of El Alamein, 1942”. ↩
  36. Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, “Battle of Chocim, 11 November 1673”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Defeat of the Ottomans at Vienna”; Museum of King Jan III’s Palace at Wilanów, “Battle of Vienna”. ↩
  37. American Battlefield Trust, “Ulysses S. Grant”. ↩
  38. Appian, “Appian on Caesar and Alexander”; Justin, “Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, Books 11 to 20”; Livius.org, “Alexander the Great”; Encyclopedia.com, “Alexander the Great”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Hannibal”; HistoryNet, “The Enduring Mystique of Cannae”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Alexander the Great’s Achievements”. ↩
  39. InsideHook, “The Greatest Tactical General in History, by the Numbers”. ↩
  40. Napoleon Bonaparte, Project Gutenberg. ↩
  41. Theodore Ayrault Dodge, Project Gutenberg. ↩
  42. B. H. Liddell Hart, Internet Archive; Hachette Book Group, “Great Captains Unveiled”. ↩
  43. Appian, “Appian on Caesar and Alexander”; Justin, “Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, Books 11 to 20”; Livius.org, “Alexander the Great”; Bruce W. Menning, Encyclopedia.com; Encyclopedia.com, “Alexander the Great”; University of Chicago Press, “Scipio Africanus”; The Past, “Wellington’s lessons in failure”; Insight, “이순신 장군의 ‘23전 23승’ 신화는 근거 없는 거짓...사실은 이랬다 (Admiral Yi’s “23 battles, 23 victories” myth has no basis)”. ↩
  44. Livius.org, “Alexander the Great”; Encyclopedia.com, “Alexander the Great”; Arrian, “The Anabasis of Alexander, Book V, Chapter XXVIII”. ↩
  45. Bruce W. Menning, Encyclopedia.com. ↩
  46. EBSCO Research Starters, “Battle of Yarmūk”; Encyclopedia.com, “Expansion of Islam (600-1200)”; Ibn Ishaq, The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, trans. A…; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Khālid ibn al-Walīd”. ↩
  47. Polybius, “Polybius”; Livy, “Livy, History of Rome, Book 30, chapter 35”; Suetonius, “The Life of Julius Caesar”; Livius.org, “Alesia (52 BCE)”. ↩
  48. HistoryOfWar.org, “Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)”; Fondation Napoléon, “Timeline”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Aspern-Essling, 21-22 May 1809”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Waterloo, 18 June 1815”; Diario de Avisos, “El mayor fracaso de Nelson”; Encyclopedia.com, “Zhukov, Georgy Konstantinovich”; G. F. Krivosheev, “Rossiya i SSSR v voynakh XX veka”. ↩
  49. Appian, “Appian on Caesar and Alexander”; Justin, “Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, Books 11 to 20”; Livius.org, “Alexander the Great”; Encyclopedia.com, “Alexander the Great”; Arrian, “The Anabasis of Alexander, Book VII, Chapter XXVIII”; Fondation Napoléon, “Napoleon the Great”; Rein Taagepera, “Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities”; Peter Turchin, “East-West Orientation of Historical Empires and Modern States”; Kirkus Reviews, review of Andrew Roberts, Napoleon. ↩
  50. Livius.org, “Alexander the Great”; Encyclopedia.com, “Alexander the Great”. ↩
  51. Arrian, “The Anabasis of Alexander, Book VII, Chapter XXVIII”; Livius.org, “Alexander the Great”. ↩
  52. Peter Turchin, “East-West Orientation of Historical Empires and Modern States”. ↩
  53. Appian, “Appian on Caesar and Alexander”; Justin, “Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, Books 11 to 20”; Livius.org, “Alexander the Great”; Encyclopedia.com, “Alexander the Great”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Alexander the Great’s Achievements”. ↩
  54. Livius.org, “Julius Caesar”; Suetonius, “The Life of Julius Caesar”. ↩
  55. Suetonius, “The Life of Julius Caesar”. ↩
  56. Suetonius, “The Life of Julius Caesar”; Livius.org, “Alesia (52 BCE)”. ↩
  57. Livius.org, “Alesia (52 BCE)”; Livius.org, “Pharsalus (48 BCE)”; EBSCO Research Starters, “Battle of Munda”; Suetonius, “The Life of Julius Caesar”. ↩
  58. Columbia University, “Key Figures in Mongol History”; Encyclopedia.com, “Jenghiz Khan”. ↩
  59. Rein Taagepera, “Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities”. ↩
  60. Encyclopedia.com, “Napoleon I”; HistoryOfWar.org, “Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)”. ↩
  61. Rein Taagepera, “Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities”. ↩
  62. Fondation Napoléon, “Napoleon the Great”; Kirkus Reviews, review of Andrew Roberts, Napoleon. ↩
  63. Rein Taagepera, “Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities”. ↩
  64. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Georgy Zhukov”. ↩
  65. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Trial of Fritz Erich Lewinski von Manstein”; HistoryNet, “World War II”. ↩
  66. Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Dwight D. Eisenhower”; Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, “Chronologies”. ↩
  67. EBSCO Research Starters, “Joan of Arc's Relief of Orléans”; Encyclopedia.com, “Joan of Arc”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Saint Joan of Arc”. ↩
  68. Livius.org, “Zenobia”; Zosimus, “Zosimus, New History, Book 1”; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Zenobia”. ↩

Sources

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Frequently asked questions

Who is the greatest military commander of all time?

In our ranking, Alexander the Great, tied on points with Napoleon Bonaparte and placed first as the older man. Alexander won every one of his great pitched battles; Napoleon won more great battles but lost at Aspern-Essling, Leipzig and Waterloo. Julius Caesar is third, one point behind.

Who was the greatest general of the ancient world?

Alexander the Great, first on our list, ahead of Julius Caesar (third), Scipio Africanus (seventh) and Hannibal (eighth). Scipio beat Hannibal at Zama in 202 BC, and losing that battle, and with it the war, is what keeps Hannibal below him despite Cannae.

What was Napoleon's greatest victory?

Austerlitz in 1805, often called his masterpiece: with about 73,000 men he routed about 85,000 Russians and Austrians in a single day, and the peace that followed took Austria out of the war.

How do you judge a great commander?

We score five things from 1 to 5: recognition, battlefield record, consequence, legacy and the certainty of the sources. Recognition counts three times and certainty once, and the list is ranked by the total, so a commander needs both a strong record in the battles he fought himself and victories that changed history.

Which commander never lost a battle?

On this list, Alexander the Great won every one of his great pitched battles and Scipio Africanus never lost a battle he commanded. The Duke of Wellington never lost a major battle, Yi Sun-sin was never defeated at sea by a Korean naval historian's count, and Khalid ibn al-Walid is unbeaten by Muslim tradition. Alexander Suvorov, outside the eleven, is also said never to have lost.

Who was the greatest naval commander?

On our list, Horatio Nelson, fifth overall, for the Nile in 1798, Copenhagen in 1801 and Trafalgar in 1805. Yi Sun-sin, tenth, was never defeated at sea by a Korean naval historian's count and saved Joseon Korea during the Japanese invasions of 1592 to 1598.

Why is Jan III Sobieski not in the top eleven?

Because outside Poland and Austria he is far less known than the eleven, and recognition is the criterion that counts three times. On record, consequence and certainty he scores well: he won at Khotyn in 1673 and led the relief of Vienna in 1683, which began the Ottoman retreat from Europe. His 40 points put him among the close calls, two behind Khalid ibn al-Walid in eleventh place.

Are any great commanders missing from this list?

Five came close: Saladin, Frederick the Great, Erwin Rommel, Jan III Sobieski and Ulysses S. Grant, each named in the close calls with the reason. Gustavus Adolphus, Marlborough, Subutai and Suvorov scored a little lower, and Sun Tzu does not qualify, because no battle can be safely credited to him.

Who are the top 10 military commanders in history?

Lists differ. In ours the top ten are Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Horatio Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, Scipio Africanus, Hannibal, Georgy Zhukov and Yi Sun-sin, with Khalid ibn al-Walid eleventh. Napoleon's own reading list named seven great captains, and the historian Theodore Dodge picked six in 1889.

Did Suvorov ever lose a battle?

The Encyclopedia of Russian History says Alexander Suvorov never lost a battle. He won at Rymnik in 1789, stormed Izmail in 1790 and beat the French in Italy in 1799 before leading his army out over the Swiss Alps.

Which commanders did Napoleon admire most?

One of Napoleon's maxims tells officers to study again and again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne, Eugene and Frederick, and to model themselves on them.

Who was the greatest general of World War II?

Georgy Zhukov is the answer given most often, and he is ninth on our list. Britannica calls him the most important Soviet commander of the war, from the defense of Moscow in 1941 to the final assault on Berlin in 1945. Erich von Manstein devised the German plan for the 1940 thrust through the Ardennes, and Dwight D. Eisenhower led the Allied landings in Normandy.

Who was the greatest female military commander?

Joan of Arc is the most common answer: in 1429 she helped lift the English siege of Orléans, and the French then routed the English at Patay, though historians debate how much she commanded in person. Zenobia of Palmyra, whose armies took Egypt before the emperor Aurelian defeated her in 272, also has a strong claim.

Battle honors of your homeland

The turning points of history

Marathon, Gaugamela, Cannae, Constantinople, Waterloo, Stalingrad: the days the world changed course.

The Battle of Marathon, 490 BCThe Battle of Gaugamela, 331 BCThe Battle of Cannae, 216 BCThe Fall of Constantinople, 1453The Battle of Waterloo, 1815The Battle of Stalingrad, 1942-1943

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