I created a TIER LIST of the GREATEST GENERALS in History 

If you want more Historical Tier Lists (tell me what you want to see lmao) here's me ranking the "GREATS" of History - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wSFGpRExj5w.html

Honourable mention to Helmuth von Moltke the elder who beat the French so hard he captured everyone important and had nobody to negotiate peace with.

I think Suvorov earned an honorabl mention, the man never lost a battle he personally commanded and he fought in 63 battle throughout his life. Also crossed the Alps, so there's the Hannibal reference.

Something very important to keep in mind about Napoleon, Wellesley (Wellington), and all the officers of this era, is the overall level of the opposition. France faced the likes of Wellington, Souvorov, Kutuzov, Alcinvzy, and all the greatest powers of the world by herself. And the Coalition had to face the likes of Napoléon obviously, but also his marshalls like Davout, Lannes, Soult, Masséna or Ney. All of them were incredible (I don't even include Berthier who made a huge impact on military logistics or Suchet). It's not even comparable with other great generals who didn't have to face such opponents. The Napoleonic era was the Champion's League of War.

Since you mentioned Admiral Yi, it might be an idea to make such a tier list for naval commanders, which could include admirals such as The Ruyter, Barbarossa, Nelson, Dönitz, etc.

As a Czech i have to say that Jan Žižka is horribly underrated even in Czechia where he is a national hero. Also worth mentioning the Hussite choral the song that they would sing and it was said that enemies fled once they heard it before the battle. And i just have to say that when i saw that this video came out i was happy as i knew that Laith knows žižka. I am happy that some attention Is brought to him.

If Napoleon is not the GOAT, I'll be exclusively watching Red Hawk videos from now on.

You could create a whole list on romans alone, but I think there are some highly underrated ones like Titus Labienus, Aurelian, Publius Ventidius Bassus (quite obscure but he reconquered all of Roman Syria from the parthians with like 2 legions), Marius, Sulla, Agrippa, Flavius Stillicho etc.

I will add to the criteria that winning loads of battles outnumbered isn’t necessarily the indicator of a great general. Perhaps a greater general wouldn’t get himself into a situation where he was outnumbered so greatly, Napoleon was good at doing this.

I think Marcus Agrippa should be on here considering all of his achievements and the fact that he had a modern military brain back in the Roman era which was unheard of.

Napoleon is literally on another level. I don’t even think he lost because of probability, he just lost because he was only one man and he couldn’t be everywhere at the same time. The entire strategy of his opposition was DO NOT FIGHT NAPOLEON because if you do fight him he will absolutely destroy you. The 6 days campaign is one of my favourite parts of history

Once again proving Nader Shah is the most underrated military genius of all time. He's not even on this list, but he should be at the highest tier. Single-handedly changing Iran from a failing state surrounded by more powerful enemies, with an outdated army and endless religious crisis, to arguably the most powerful military stare in the world, with a modernised army of more than 300,000 that smashed the Afghans, the Mughals, the Ottomans three times, the Central Asian tribes (expanding the Persian empire further into Central Asia than any other dynasty past) and the endless minor tribes and vassals rebelling against crumbling Safavid authority. Battles like Damghan, where Nader singlehandedly defeats hundreds of years of military tradition in Asia, or Yeghevard, where he beats almost 80,000 Ottoman soldiers with only around 15,000, are easily up there with the achievements of Alexander, or the old nomadic conquerors that Nader idolised. (not to sound too biased. Nader's decline into insanity doomed Iran even after his revival of its power. His army was impressive, but it relied on crippling taxes, to a point where Nader was almost deliberately provoking rebellions just to have someone to fight.) this turned into an essay. The Sword of Persia by Michael Axworthy is a great book on Nader if you want to learn more about him, which I'd really recommend! He's a man I knew nothing about, that now I would consider one of the greatest generals of all time.

Because you asked. The Habsburg solders are mostly Austrians. But often there were over trops to. In this specific case it should be Germans and Bohemians. If you want some numbers for Eugenes campaigne of 1718 the Habsburgs recruted 20000 soldiers. 8000 from Bohemia, 4000 from Schlesia, 7000 from Austria and 1000 from slovenia. (Sorry for my bad english)

About Gustavus Adolphus.. Or shall I say Gustavus Adolphus The Great per parlament decree of 1633.. I dont remember if he was on your "The Great" list but he should have been, it actually says "Gustaphus Adolphus Magnus" on his grave at Riddarholm-church in Stockholm. And about the armor thing, he used to wear armor but sustained a injury (a bullet to the collarbone or sholder I belive) that prevented him from wearing a proper harness, hence he wore toughen leather shirt at Lützen. Also, his horse got stuffed and mounted after the battle to be seen at the royal museum "Livrustkammaren" in Stockholm. ^^

Grant was an amazing general. He was an amazing strategist. Look at the Vicksburg campaign to see his skill.

Okay, this thumbnail is on another level, i firmly believe you can sneak that picture of him into a historical museum and no one would notice for quite some time

Subutai is the goat. The man , the legend conquered Russia.... during the winter... the germans and french are still touchy on that xp. No but for real , subutai is one of the few if not the only one who conquered Russia during the winter and went futher west. Europe was lucky that he was so traditional and that he convinced his leader to turn back for the election of a new khan. He is one of the 4 dogs of war of djenghis khan and is one of the greatest of all time. Respectfully

The amount of troops is an important factor, but the quality of them is very very important also. I have noticed that people tend to oversimplify and just look at the amount of soldiers. Then if the smaller army wins everyone is always "Oh, the general must have been A STRATEGIC GOD!"

For the US civil war, you are somewhat correct in that there were plenty of generals who just threw men at problems until the battle was over. Though if you look on a tactical level, Lee or Grant could probably have made this list. They were some of the only generals in the conflict (besides maybe Stonewall Jackson or William T Sherman) who used some very skilled maneuvers to win battles.

Wellington is often overshadowed in military history, he was a very bookish man who kept learning about Napeol. His approach to trying to shift the Spanish perception of the British away from being occupiers by executing and lashing any man who r*aped, stole or murdered a Spaniard was brutal, but helped placate Spanish guerrilla forces.

Honorable mention as a GOAT - Bai Qi: dude started with the rank and file, and rose up to be Qin's greatest Great General and unified China during the Six Warring States for Qin Shi Huang. Kingdom - the anime/manga does his feats great justice, albeit with the typical exaggeration. If anyone's interested in Cao Cao, there's a chinese movie trilogy (I think) called Red Cliff which nicely encapsulates some of his largest battles. Edit: How DARE you not rank Ney as a GoAT, that bastard alone brought up Napoleon's rear so heroically and tactically that Napoleon named him the bravest of braves (but I get it)! Also, special shoutout to the Dandy King Murat - his beautiful charging face with his cavalry was frickin cool to read!

I think it would be a better idea to make a separate one for naval commanders, since the latter differs wildly from land warfare.

In the American Civil War, I recommend looking up General Lee, who while not necessarily an innovator in tactics, was very good at figuring out what his opponent was thinking.

Im quite proud as a swede that we have 2 kings on the list. But Gustavus adophus deserved to higher he is the father of modern warfare after all.

The one thing I hate about great general lists is the fact that if you do not limit the scope you realistically have a few hundred ppl who have a shout at the list and can be rated so variably

Since Laith made a Generals Tier list. Then should we expect the statesmen tier list ? Note: Otto von Bismarck is definitely the Goat

Maurice on Nassau is more known for the way he managed and trained his army. Creating a well oiled fighting machine with a small number of men, and being seen as a military reformer and the father of efficiënt use of firearms in a line as we know from the time of Napoleon

With Charles XII I think it’s a mistake to separate statesmanship/politics from military ability, they go hand in hand when considering the strategic level. He was a brilliant tactician, but it was poor strategic move to keep going into Russia (obviously it’s easy to say this with hind sight). I think Clausewitz makes this point in ‘On War’.

Look, I know that it would be just for me but a vid where Laith collabs with Mr Beat (the us presidents guy) to do a fun tier list would definitely scratch an itch

Karl XII. Very interestning character in Swedish history. Perfect placement on him. Good video 👍

>when the going gets tough you bail on your army and leave it to die >twice Nappy doesnt rate in the top 5 for that alone.

A super underrated general Is Koniecpolski. He went toe to toe with Gustavus Adolphus and technically won. He managed to outmaneuver him in multiple campaigns (tho also himself got outmaneuvered in one case but didn’t suffer a defeat as a polish scout shot Gustavus Adolphus). He ended the war by fully defeating Gustavus Adolphus in Royal Prussia and forcing him to abandon it. He would have also most likely retake Livonia, but didn’t due to the governmental system of the Commonwealth (nobles held all the power so they kept taxes as low as possible and didn’t like waging war). It’s actually due to Koniecpolski that Gustavus Adolphus adopted more aggressive cavalry tactics, which he used during the 30 years war. He also had other great success mainly, against the Ottomans and Crimean Khanate. He only struggled to fight against Cossacks, but still won against them.

Tbf it's beyond me how Phillip II (Alexander the Great's dad) doesn't have the name "The Great" when all of Alexander's conquests would have been impossible without any less competant of a predecessor

I must say that I really enjoy this type of videos from ya Laith!

One incredible thing about the Battle of Narva was that the army of Karl XII was exhausted afther a long journey from Denmark where they had forced dainsh to sue for peace

Classy. I love this video since I most definitely do not know all these historical figures so it will supply me with topics to research down the road. Also, I appreciate the change in background music.

Goated video idea love watching you talk about history, one of my favourite parts of your channel

Man, couldn't you have talked about Nelson at least a bit? I love that guy even though he was an admiral and not a general but I doubt you will make a video about admirals so you definitely should've included him because he was the greatest admiral of all time. And you did include Admiral Yi...

US Grant was a great tactician. Just look at his Vicksburg Campaign.

Interesting that youve got Ney on the list. Seems like the odd one out. He was one of Napoleons Marshals that wasn't given alot of independent command (he performed best under his supervision), and probably ranks lower than other marshals. For example, Davout is often quoted as a genius in his own right, Suchet was undefeated in Spain- where other marshals were failing, Lanne and even Massena was probably better in his prime. I recommend epic history's series on Napoleons Marshals for a quick summary, but an interesting tier list overall (there are plenty of generals I havent heard of).

I think the G-GOAT must have been Subotai. I mean, running a coordinated military campaign through central asia in 11th century and pulling it off? the logistics, the concerted effort, holy hell!

Best faints and bamboozles or Best modern day term named after historical people - We have a modern day term (Tordenskjold's soldiers) named after a faint Admiral Tordenskiold pulled of marching his soldiers in a circle throughout Marstrand to convince the enemy that he had many more soldiers than he had. The modern day term refers to a group of people who appear in many different instances together, such as politicians or board members who have a tendency to work together with the same people in every context

Great video, man! 57:18 On this point, Napoleon listed 7 great generals to study and Eugene was one of them. Read and reread the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus Adolphus, Turenne, Eugene, and Frederick. Model yourself on them. This is the only means of becoming a great captain, and of acquiring the secret of the art of war. Your own genius, enlightened by this study, will learn to reject all maxims contrary to the ones held by these great men.

Biased pick as a Romanian: Stefan cel Mare (Stephan III the Great) of Moldovia. A contemporary of Vlad Tepes, but he was a FAAAR better general (and ruler). Fought wars against all his neighbors, from Poland, the Mongols, Hungary, and the Ottomans, and won almost every battle. Fought 40 battle total, won 38 of them. His most famous victory is the Battle of Vaslui, where his army of 40k beat an Ottoman army of 120k, killing as many enemies as he had troops. Given how small his country and total military power, that certainly ranks among the most impressive generals of all time. Honorable mention to Mihai Vitezul (Micheal the Brave) as well.

I think you need another teir honestly between generational talent and Goat. Also something you should have mentioned is carolus Rex was 15 when he took the throne, and 18 at narva. I think that gives him a leg up over a lot of the others on the generational talent teir, but agreed he’s not on the same level as Alexander (interestingly, Peter the great, his main enemy, compared him to Alexander in a quote)

Oh to see a direct tactical confrontation between Napoléon Bonaparte and Khalid bin Walid.

Hey Laith! Fantastic content! Would love to keep seeing more purely historical stuff like this in future. One personal request: could you pronounce every Muslim/Arabic persons name in both the more accurate way and the "English" way. I have a hard time understanding what it is they're called when you don't but you doing both helps me learn and able to hear the native/correct way! Thanks again!

BRUH please love that you put in žižka but there was not just 80 man there was also 3 woman but love the content and enjoyed the vid a lot of thanks for it

I would probably have raised Sir Arthur Wellesley into the top tier because of his handling of his army in Spain. He was outnumbered and outgunned most of the time, yet was able to convicne Napoleon's generals to attack him with almost equal numbers on several occasions. He kept is much smaller army intact and in the field for 5 years, preventing the French from engaging him with superior forces and finally defeating them and driving the French out of Spain. During the Waterloo campaign he fought Napoleon to a standstill with an inferior polyglot army (containing many units consisting of new recruits) for an entire day, holding him in place until Blucher showed up. So I would say that Wellington was almost on a par with Napoleon as a strategist, and almost as good as Napoleon as a tactician. Not quite his equal, but close.

Can’t believe there’s no mention of my boy Pharisees ll of Pontus, who had the greatest understanding of his military mind for all time

Good list. A little sad yiu cut off at napoleon as ww2 in particular had some greats like zhukov, rommel and Patton. And of course guderion who came up with the tactics for blitzkrieg

I really like these kind if videos cann you do something similar with english Kings. I really like english history and would like hear what your opinion of the english monarchs is Kings (especially yoir honest opinoin of Lionheart)

my top picks: Gustav Adolphus, Skanderbeg and Cao Cao. For me it takes more than winning loads of battles, you need to achieve some level of notability.

If you had Eugene of Savoy in here, you should have also rated John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough. Eugene of Savoy deferred to him during the Blenheim campaign, which says a lot about his generalship.

Laith has such great hair, I’ve finally got to say it. It’s been bugging me for years now lol

Honourable mention to Khan Krum of the Bulgarian Empire. One among the many great Bulgarian generals but in his very brief reign he basically doubled the state, took over some of the hardest to conquer fortresses on the balkans including ones next to the sea without a navy that gave up simply due to his reputation. And of course, his brilliant Battle of Pliska in which he basically put end to an entire Byzantine dynasty on the spot, even turning the Emperors skull into his own drinking cup. All in a brief 11 year rule, he basically turned Bulgaria from a country that was struggling to survive some years ago to a medieval great power in Europe, while setting the stage for his dynasty to eventually dominate the Balkans. Theres also others like Tsar Simeon or Samuel or Kaloyan but Krum is the most infamous when it comes to the military side of history out of them all.

Greatest monuments in history; - buildings and towers also allowed; think of Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, Porcelain Tower etc,... - ranked on recognition, engineering, history, influence - allowed to use more than 1 monument per country like Eiffel Tower & Versailles or Taj Mahal & Agra Fort

from the amount of times the schools in america have shoved it down our throats. the civil war was a whole lot of nothing when it came down to the wars. the only thing i remember was Antietam was one of the deadliest one day battles in american history and Gettysburg was one of our most horrific battles. ive found myself in love with a lot of things history but the civil war is prolly one of the dullest ive ever had to learn (every damn year). ofc the war itself is major for the history of america but if i could replace the amount of lessons ive had on civil wars with anything else, i would in a heartbeat

The fact that Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba aka The Great Captain is not in this list is insane, the best general of one of the biggest and most powerful empires (spanish) and it is not even in the list. He should be generational talent, at least.

Laith what are some educational history channels you would reccomend?

Grant and Lee were 2 very great generals from the Civil War. Stonewall a little less so but still was a good general

I think it’s a crime that you didn’t include the greatest general Rome had ever seen, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

The mention of Cao Cao and the Omission of Zhuge Liang is a crime.

I would disagree slightly with the Belisarius position as, especially in the Italy campaigns, he was constantly in need of more troops that Constantinople refused to send him. You mentioned the internal politics but I think you may have understated just how massive an effect they had on the support he (had not) received

I really feel like Gustavus Adolphus not being in GOAT is a little strange

Honourable mention to Alexander Suvorov!

great thumbnail

I admit that I am biased. For the American Civil War the south who was constantly out numbered pulled of some amazing victory's (Granted most of those end after the battle of Chancellorsville) Stonewalls Valley campaign is truly a thing of beauty that you should look up.

I wonder where would you place Stanisław Koniecpolski, he was the man that stopped Gustavus Adolphus while being outnumbered en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trzciana

need afonso de albuquerque or just any other 16th century portuguese one because they had some insane victories even with the technological advantages

Grant was actually good. He was an expert at harnessing chaotic situations and maximizing supply to his advantage

I disagree about putting Baybars as overrated, he defended against Mongols constantly throughout his regin and at least solid. Also Subutai must be among the GOATs, he was actually outnumbered nut could outmanouver to concentrate his forces many times. Also fought all ove the world and won.

I'm suprised Jan III Sobieski is not here. Battle of Vienna for example.

military theorists, be intrested on your thoughts on von Clausewitz

I guess there were lots of leaders but you didnt include lots of huge and very skilled leaders

You were doing so well until you reached the bloody Duke of Wellington. He didn’t win Waterloo, Blücher and dumb luck won Waterloo. And the peninsula war was almost entirely guerilla tactics and whenever Napoleon showed up, the French started winning again. Waterloo is a “can’t complain” at best

since this is leaning more towards rulers than generals i have my own imput, Axel oxenstierna swedish generall/stateman being the 3rd person to conquer Moscow almost succeeding to put both russia and commonwealth under a personal union of sweden. A real fucking badass

Actually, at the battle of Poltava Karl XII couldn't lead his troops as he had a nasty wound on his foot. His generals decided to storm the fortifications of the muscovites thus losing an enormous amount of manpower. Also, remember that at the start of the war he barely reached adulthood, imagine his tactical wit if he wouldn't be assassinated. The man who won the war against the Danes, Saxons, Poles and Lithianians with the very lacking amount of recources Sweden had, while surrounded by enemies and outnumbered on all fronts, is nothing other than the GOAT.

Some more modern great commanders are: Courtney Hodges: led some of the US Army's most effective actions against the Germans in France and Germany - had important roles at Paris and the Battle of the Bulge, defeated the Germans at Aachen and the Hurtgen Forest, captured the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine at Remagen before the Germans could destroy it, and finally encircled 300,000 Germans in the Ruhr. Tomoyuki Yamashita: one of Japan's best army generals, defeated 80,000 British Commonwealth soldiers at Singapore with an army of just 30,000. Georgy Zhukov and Konstantin Rokossovsky (not really separable): led the Soviet Union to victory in the bloodiest and most complex front of World War 2, surviving the devastating defeats of 1941 and 1942 and later turning the tables completely on the Germans. Uranus and Bagration are some of history's largest, most impressive and most consequential offensives. Vo Nguyen Giap: Vietnamese military leader who led the Viet Minh to defeat the French colonial forces in northern Vietnam despite a substantial disadvantage in firepower and in the air, then turned the People's Army of Vietnam into a modern fighting force capable of holding off and defeating the Americans. Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai (also hard to separate): the two generals behind the survival and later triumph of the Chinese Communist Party. Defended the surrounded and outnumbered Jiangxi Soviet for 3 years, survived the grueling Long March, fought off the Japanese, then swept Chiang's armies off the Chinese mainland and, while the remnants were being cleaned up, fought the Americans to a stalemate in Korea. Saad el-Shazly: Not an exceptionally great general, just seemingly the only man with common sense in the Egyptian general staff during the wars with Israel in the 60s and 70s. In 1973 he led the successful penetration of the Israeli fort line known as the Bar Lev line, an operation that took only two hours despite the Israelis being convinced that the line was impenetrable. This was one of the few major setbacks the Israelis would suffer during all their wars with the Arabs.

Where is Captain General Edgar Suffolk?

Napoleon had the skill to merge units in campagins, that's why with less troops in the region he often had more troops in battle. So in a sense numbers in battle don't matter, it's numbers in the campaign

a bit euro-centric? Maybe. A bit pre 19th-century-centric? Definitely

I understand leaving out the American Civil War cause it would definitely be weird to rank Confederate Generals high but they are the only reason the south lasted even 4 years. It was a lot more tactical than just a meat grinder and it is an extremely interesting war to research about all of the more modern battlefield tactics and technology almost like a weird mix between napoleonic and ww1 warfare.

I hope you have basil II

If you don't rank nappy as top tier you're objectively wrong 😂

I think id put another tier above, with Napoleon, Subitai, Hannibal, Aldophous , and Alexander and Kahlid. I think these six are a cut above the rest.

that list lacks Jose de San Martin from Argentina

Napoleon took inspiration on Ceasar who took inspiration on Alexander and the Peloponesian wars.

suprised shaka zulu wasnt part of the list.

Aurelian and Algirdas should have definitely been on this list. Aurelian united Rome and defeated all the barbarian/breakaway threats at the time. Algirdas defeated the Golden Horde and expanded Lithuania from the Baltics to Black sea

Nice video but you got a thing wrong, the reason he didn't wear any neck armour was because he had been previosly shot there and the bullet was left in there, he also had armour on the rest of his body, all of which was looted by the catholics

"The American Civil War is a leading example of attritional war. The Union's material superiority and control of public opinion, as well as tactical and organisational dominance, led to the surrender of the Confederacy, and its complete physical, moral, economic and financial collapse." this tends to happen when people are fighting for what they believe vs those fighting for greed. there were definitely genius tactical decisions used in the war on both sides, but nothing big enough to actually sway the course of the war.

Ulysses S Grant was GOATED.

Heres some of my input: Napoleon in my eyes was extremely important for the rise of Italy and Germany as he reformed alot and left it behind as he was defeated. In one battle (I think it was Leipzig) his own troops murdered each other as they (saxons and others) were fed up with shooting at other germans. Then Prussia could swoop in and demolish the army they sent. I would also recommend reading about the Confederacy of the Rhine as this region will lead to the liberalization of a whole country and also to its formation. Im guessing you also know about Code Napoléon, which was in parts was even adopted for the laws. Babur was great, as he had flaming camels that he would send at his enemy. Cool right? Im also wondering a bit why you didnt talked about Akbar the Great and his wife Jodhaa. They were responsible for reforming the Mughal Empire and bringing in a golden age. That was alot, but I hope it was informative 😁

No Nader Shah, also called the Napoleon of Persia, the Sword of Persia, the Second Alexander and the Last Great Conqueror? Except for that, great list :)

You have added three Turkic people which two of are Kipchak! (Baybars, Babur, Uzun Hasan)

Missing Wallenstein, when he got back from forced retirement he clapped Adolphus so hard that the king died and sweden was kicked off 30years war in single battle. Rose to supreme commander of imperial army on his own. Real mvp of thirty years war. And i would add Vauban, he turned siege warfare upside down now sieges didnt last 5years but 5months.

Takeda shingen suould be in the tier greatest of all time. You didn't tell ho many battles he won and was outnumbert. Oda nobunaga and uesegi kenshin should be in this tier.

So glad to see Žižka on this list! He definitely does not get the recognition he deserves. I was hoping though that you would talk about Joan d'arc, as her story is quite marvelous considering all of the obstacles she had to face even before getting onto the battlefield, and, obviously her tactical ingenuity. I learned quite a bit from this video, even about people I already knew about. Cheers for the great video!

I disagree with Alexander the Great's placement. Not because he was a bad general, i just don't like the man. Stole my socks once-I'll never forgive him for that.