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A Poll on the Best Roman Generals


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I'm not necessarily claiming he is the best, but I'd hate to see him go unmentioned. Just imagine if Sertorius would have had the entire resources of Rome behind him, rather than just those of Hispania. He literally ran rings around Metellus and Pompey until treachery did him in. It would've been interesting to see what he could've done in an offensive campaign.

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Good call with Sertorius, if it had'nt been for the opposition of Sulla he could possibly have become one of the greatest Romans of his time, he had it all, he was a great statesman and a great general, it's just a shame that he came up against the powerful Sulla.

 

This is slightly off topic but was Sertorius a distant relative of Gauis Marius or is that just from the imagination of Colleen Mccullough?, i can't seem to find any evidence to support it.

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@Bryaxis Hecatee - Lucullus it's one of my favorites also.

Lucius Licinius Lucullus? The 'real' conqueror of Mithridates? He's up there for me too. :P

 

But as I've said in many threads like this; Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus is the finest in my eyes.

 

He may well have been a good strategist, but he was unable to secure the hearts and minds of his troops; their mutiny against him was an obvious indication of this.

Edited by WotWotius
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Julian. His successes at Strasbourg against the Allemanni were outstanding, as were his successes against the Persians. Pity that a disgruntled Christian contravened one of his own commandments and stabbed him in the back.

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I like Julian II the Apostate very much and indeed consider his operations in Gaul as a very good campaign as difficult if not more difficult than those of Germanicus and other leaders of the high empire but he did make great mistakes during the Persian including the burning of his fleet and before that missing the capture of Ctesiphon because of a lack of discipline of his force. These doomed his campaign and his death ( to a sarracen whose services had been paid by either the persians or the christians and whose's spear was able to do the damages it did because in his haste Julian had forgotten to put his armor before going to the battle ) only meant that he did not see the consequences of his errors.

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Flavius Aetius was a brilliant general from the Later Roman Empire. Considering that he had a broken army of border troops and barbarian allies under his command, and that most of the Western Empire was already overrun by Vandals, Burgundians and Goths. He managed very well under terrible conditions (lack of resources, legions that were not at full strength and no areas for recruiting other men , fighting against numerous enemies with larger armies).

He was remembered as 'the Last True Roman' who saved Europe from the Huns. It's a shame that there isn't much books about him. The only thing I can find on amazon is a novel about him, where he has a love affair with Galla Placidia. Yikes.

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  • P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus, for the conquest of Spain and the defeat of Hasdrubal and Hannibal
  • M. Curius Dentatus, for defeating Pyrrhus as well as the Samnites, Lucanians, and Bruttians
  • L. Quintus Sertorius, for defeating every Roman who faced him (including the vaunted Pompey) on a mere shoestring

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  • P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus, for the conquest of Spain and the defeat of Hasdrubal and Hannibal
  • M. Curius Dentatus, for defeating Pyrrhus as well as the Samnites, Lucanians, and Bruttians
  • L. Quintus Sertorius, for defeating every Roman who faced him (including the vaunted Pompey) on a mere shoestring

 

Oh my... I forgot Dentatus, he is high on my list too!

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