A Poll on the Best Roman Generals

[Gloria Exercitus]

For me, I would have to say Germanicus. He was loved by the army and possessed fine attributes in being a soldier and a leader. He was responsible for putting down the tribes east of the Rhine River and he later turned on the Asian provinces and defeated the various kingdoms such as Commagena and Cappadocia. He was a general who fought for Rome and conquored lands in her name.

[Tobias]

Hmmm, an ever difficult and controversial question. First of all, are you extending your poll to include Byzantine generals? There are quite a few there worthy of recognition...

 

But for me, the best Roman general award is a toss up between Scipio Africanus and Julius Caesar. Both brilliant generals, both prolific advocates of circumvallation , both master strategists and tacticians. Rather difficult!

 

In the later Empire, we have many candidates; Constantine, Belisarius, Heraclius, Basil II "Bulgaroctonous" etc etc.

 

Nope. Too difficult

[Antiochus of Seleucia]

Publius Decius Mus.

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

Gauis Marius has got to be up there with the best, he was responsible for the 'modernisation' of the army, his reforms changed the the Roman army for the better and turned them into an even more formidable force than they already were.

 

He also won some pretty important wars like against Jugurtha in Numidia but more notably against against the Cimbri and the Tuetones where he overcame a much greater force and possibly saved Rome from another barbarian invasion.

[Julius Ratus]

I like all of the options given so far. I am still partial to Caesar but Scipio the Elder was pretty amazing. In the Late Empire I definately vote for Belisarius.

[Gloria Exercitus]

Yeah go ahead and mention your favorite Byzantine generals as well

[Caesar CXXXVII]

Publius Decius Mus.

 

 

There were 3 of them .

[Kosmo]

Dentatus for wining against an army superior in generalship, training, cavalry and elefants.

I'll say Scipio because he defeated the best foreign general and did a lot to improve the army.

Caesar for defeating large armies with similar equipament, training, officer corps etc.

Trajan for his brilliant use of the clasical imperial army living no chance to worthy and dangerous opponents.

Aurelian for the speed with wich he defeated barbarians and usurpers alike.

Heraclius for sheer stuberness and will against overwhelming odds.

Alexios Commnen for his ability to win major battles and, even more impresing, to recover after defeates.

And Constantin Dragasses for his decision to die fighting at the gates of his city.

Narrow enough?

[Antiochus of Seleucia]

Publius Decius Mus.

 

 

There were 3 of them .

Sorry for my lack of clarification-

 

All of them. All distinguished themselves valiantly.

[Caesar CXXXVII]

Publius Decius Mus.

 

 

There were 3 of them .

Sorry for my lack of clarification-

 

All of them. All distinguished themselves valiantly.

 

 

OK .

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

Publius Decius Mus.

 

 

There were 3 of them .

Sorry for my lack of clarification-

 

All of them. All distinguished themselves valiantly.

 

The first Publius Decius Mus - certainly

 

The second PDM - maybe

 

The third PDM - not so sure

 

All were very brave and heroic of that there's no doubt but good generals ? IMO the jurys out on that one.

Edited November 29, 2006 by Gaius Paulinus Maximus

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

We often think about the independant generals or the Emperors leading their armies, but one must remember that during the imperial period many generals did many great acts without getting much publicity and without the ressources of a Caesar or a Trajan. One such exemple on which we are quite well documented ( when compared with other generals ) and who seems to have been a very competant general is Cnaeus Domitius Corbulo who lead, under Claude and Nero, armies in both the west ( retaliation campaing in modern Netherlands at the time of the invasion of Britain ) and in the east ( campaign in Armenia and Parthia ). He could contend in this poll.

 

Another general who could certainly be a serious contender is Lucius Licinius Lucullus, whose campaign in the east led further north-east than any other general of Rome and who was able to crush Mithridates VI with limited ressources in a rather small amount of time. His reputation was tarnished by political manoeuvring from Clodius but he must be considered one of the best generals of the late republic despite his unability to retain the fidelity of his men.

 

Finally a third name comes to my mind, that of Sertorius the rebel general who was able to best Pompey for years with very limited ressources too, in a campaign of a kind never seen before in roman history.

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

I have many favorite generals. However, I want to make known lesser known generals that were pivotal to Rome's existence, particularly, such as Claudius II Gothicus (One of Constantinus' great ancestor).

Edited November 30, 2006 by FLavius Valerius Constantinus

[Caesar CXXXVII]

Publius Decius Mus.

 

 

There were 3 of them .

Sorry for my lack of clarification-

 

All of them. All distinguished themselves valiantly.

 

The first Publius Decius Mus - certainly

 

The second PDM - maybe

 

The third PDM - not so sure

 

All were very brave and heroic of that there's no doubt but good generals ? IMO the jurys out on that one.

 

 

Out of topic - The story of the Muses is another example for the roman's love of legends and distortion of history . All scholars recognized that the first and second muses commited themselfs and the enemy to the gods . The Romans had to invent that mus the third did the same and died in battle , alas , we can find him in the siege of Vulsinii in 265/4 some 14 years after his death....

 

Edit - Btw , IMHO the second Mus was the best of the three but less successful than Rullianus .

Edited November 30, 2006 by Caesar CXXXVII

[WotWotius]

Publius Quinctilius Varus.