re: The Top 10 Greatest Generals of All-Time - According to Mathematics

Greene was indeed a very good General.

Back to Arnold. He had already suffered a year of indignity at the hands of politicians after the heroics at Ticonderoga and the navy battle of Lake Champlain that stalled Carletons goal of sacking New York from the North. The battle itself was miraculous seeing that he hastily constructed a tiny flotilla to hinder British ships of the line but even more heroic was his escape out of Valcour Bay when escape from his cut off position seemed virtually impossible.

Then in 77 came Saratoga. He had already rallied the American left at Bemis Heights to prevent the British flanking maneuver when General Gates relegated him to the sideline to promote a friend of a politician to command of the left position. As the battle raged, Arnold was stuck inside a home in the rear begging Gates to allow him to join the fight. While Gates sat in a parlor debating the merits of the American cause with a recently captured British officer, Arnold mounted a horse and galloped off alone to join the battle. Gates sent a man after him to bring him back but Arnold told him to pound sand.

Upon arrival at the fighting, Arnold rallied the American forces and took on aggressive tactics that eventually settled the issue and resulted in the total surrender of Burgyones army.

Gates took credit for this victory and raced couriers to Congress to set a narrative that diminished Arnold’s role. While he sat drinking cordials in a gentlemanly debate with an officer as the battle raged, Arnold defied his order and rode into battle to lead the troops to victory and took a second bullet to the same leg that had been busted up in the assault that he led in Quebec a year earlier.

Washington advocated his merits to the politicians numerous times but all military officer appointments were decided by the politicians at that stage of the war. Arnold proved time and again to be the best that they had, but that man was done as wrong as any military officer has ever been done wrong. Sucks that a man who loved the cause so much was done so wrong on so many occasions that he would build up enough animosity just to be recognized for his ability.

Vicksburg was a brilliant campaign. The Union gunships ran so close to the shore they were too close to fire the heavy artillery. Grant's Western Theater Campaign had an excellent strategy and execution.
His Eastern Theater was not nearly as well played but I think as Lincoln meddled and need some victories to secure his reelection this affected the battle plan

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7. Ulysses S. Grant

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Take that L pussies.

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Grant sustained 9,135 men killed or wounded during the Vicksburg campaign while the Confederates suffered 5,291 combat casualties. Grant only "inflicted more casualties" if you factor in surrendered enemies.

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That’s how a causality is defined by Francis Kennedy (and in general), as the Confederate forces were paroled on the condition that they could not take up arms against the Union again, denying the Confederacy of men. Surrounding Vicksburg, and forcing the surrender of an army of 30,000 men is no easy feat, and I don’t know why you would underrate it.

I’m glad this list didn’t put Saladin in the top 10. He was certainly good but he’s also overrated IMO. He couldn’t beat Richard and lost to Baldwin the leper too. He was saved by Richard’s constant feuding with Philip Augustus and he really dodged a bullet when Frederick died on the way with his army. That German army was dangerous.

[quote]What about Asian generals[

I’ll be honest here, I find Oriental history to be impenetrable. I don’t have much base of knowledge of the area or the history. I tried listening to an audiobook on Chinese history and I was quickly lost by the place names and people names. Especially in audio form, which is how I consume books, it’s a lost cause for me.

Doesn’t help that I’m an idiot.

Benedict Arnold is probably the most tragically misunderstood figure in American history.

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Benedict Arnold is probably the most tragically misunderstood figure in American history.

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There's not much to misunderstand. The dude wanted sex from a loyalist female and the British used that, as well as his disgruntled feelings toward the Continental Congress, to their advantage.

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Not as much room to maneuver in Virginia as there was in Tennessee and Mississippi. Virginia is ideal defensive terrain as the rivers flow east-west, unlike the Western Theater where they mainly flow north-south. He did about as well as you can against an entrenched foe with barriers such as the Rapidan and James Rivers to assist in defense.

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The quality of the opposition was much better in the East. Lee and his cohorts were much better than Pemberton and Johnston. The Rebel troops were battle toughened.
But he was fortunate to come East after Gettysburg and after the Rebs were exhausting their resources.

I think Lee was trying to win the war as fast as he could because the south couldn't keep up with the north in a prolonged war.

It was a numbers game and Lee understood the longer it went on, the less likely the south could win.