Brooks - Military Historys Most Wanted: the Top 10 Book of Improbable Victories, Unlikely Heroes, and Other Martial Oddities

Military Historys Most Wanted

The Top 10 Book of Improbable Victories, Unlikely Heroes, and Other Martial Oddities

M. Evan Brooks

Copyright 2002 by M. Evan Brooks

Published in the United States by Potomac Books, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brooks, M. Evan.

Military historys most wanted: the top 10 book of improbable victories, unlikely heroes, and other martial oddities / M. Evan Brooks. 1 st ed.

p. cm. (Brasseys most wanted series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-57488-509-X

1. GeneralsBiography. 2. AdmiralsBiography.

3. Military biography. 4. Naval biography. 5. Military

history. 6. Naval history. I. Title. II. Series.

U51 .B66 2002

355.00922dc21

2002003952

Printed in Canada
paper that meets the American National Standards
Institute Z39-48 Standard

ISBN 978-1-57488-509-5 (paperback)
22841 Quicksilver Drive
Dulles, Virginia 20166

Designed by Pen & Palette Unlimited.

First Edition

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Dedication

In loving memory

Eugene Irwin Brooks, CPT, VC, AUS (April 14, 1921August 27, 1996)

Audentes Fortuna Juvat

Joan of Arc

Flying Tigers

Erwin Rommel

Bernard Montgomery

Hindenburg, Ludendorff, and the Kaiser

Douglas MacArthur

Benedict Arnold

The Price of Collaboration

Four Chaplains Stamp

Napoleon at Waterloo

Washington at the Battle of Trenton, December 1776

Bob Hope in Vietnam

Dont Give Up the Ship

Adolf Hitler in Paris

All photos courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration

I would like to thank the following persons for their assistance, suggestions, and advice concerning this book (of course, any errors are entirely my own):

My agent and friend, Fritz Heinzen, whose lively discussions concerning the inclusion and exclusion of particular personages were always interesting and hopefully added to the usefulness of this book;

My editor, Rick Russell, who was responsible for the concept, and whose appreciation, encouragement, and suggestions were most appreciated;

Michael Markowitz, Center for Naval Analyses, for his willingness to share his esoteric knowledge of Byzantine and other neglected areas of history;

Dr. Peter Perla, Center for Naval Analyses, for his willingness to act as a sounding board;

Samuel Wallace Kent Miller, III, CW4 (USARNG, Ret.), for his suggestions in American military history;

Matthew B. Caffrey, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force, Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama, for his assistance on air force history, gaming, and general history;

Flint Dille, Ground Zero Productions, for his interest in providing alternate hypotheses;

Nancy Ehlke and the rest of the staff at the George Mason Regional Library, Fairfax County Public Library System, Virginia, for their assistance in verifying facts and data;

Barbara L. Krieger, Dartmouth University, who, unlike most representatives of the Ivy League institutions, proved capable of providing willing and generous assistance;

My wife, Suzanne, who was willing to offer suggestions and criticisms about what people would and would not know;

My son, Jason, who was willing to offer some criticism and occasional support;

And to my daughter, Jessica, who insisted that I would not remember her in the dedication or acknowledgmentsHI!

A book of the most wanted requires certain choicesof both inclusion and exclusion. It was sometimes extremely difficult to restrict the list to only ten; occasionally, an honorable (or dishonorable) mention can help delineate the choices.

For the most part, these are personal choices, supported by argument and buttressed by fact. Attempting to define the overrated, underrated, or incompetent commanders is a task guaranteed to provide a lively discussion.

And that is largely the point of this bookit encourages frank and open discussion as to what the military has meant in a historical perspective, who has excelled, who has not.

The reader will note that there is a Western bias in the selections. This has been intentional, because the West has largely determined the shape of the world since 1500. For example, numerous Asian leaders could be named in many of Chinas wars over its 3,000-year history, but the impact beyond that nations borders has been largely transitory. Similarly, the Huns and later the Mongols produced much history but little in permanent records. A tome of military leaders that would be totally unfamiliar to most readers would be a meaningless exercise.

It was particularly interesting to delve into the background of military leaders with an Ivy League education. Some schools were quite helpful (e.g., Brown, Dartmouth), while others (e.g., Harvard, University of Pennsylvania) thought that the mere question of military involvement demonstrated poor taste. As an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania (class of 1970), I found it shameful that the university was reluctant to address any military matterspolitical correctness has run amok.

The movie selections have elicited more personal comments than any other section from pre-publication readers. The war movies are lists that elicit fighting words; everyone has his favorite movie. Some of them may have been mentioned here.

And for those of you who cant believe that I omitted your favorite commander or that famous general of the fifteenth century B.C. who drove the Hyksos out of Egypt, believe it (actually, it was Amosis)! Feel free to write or email me (evan.brooks@pressroom.com) with your comments. In a future edition I might even concede that you were right.

Overall, this was a task that was more difficult than I initially anticipated. But it was also a task that reacquainted me with some periods of history that I had neglected and hope to pay more attention to in the future.

Eminent military historians (e.g., Liddell Hart, Dodge) as well as military leaders (e.g., Napoleon) have written detailed volumes on the Great Captains of History. As will be seen, victory does not always make a Great Captain (although it certainly helps!). Often, a Great Captain must endure the Chinese curse of living in interesting times; mediocre enemies do not contribute to Great Captains. The criteria I have used are based on the leaders accomplishments given the means available as well as an integration of technology and warfare. In choosing only ten, I have had to omit many worthy leaders; cest la guerre (and writing). References to works by Liddell Hart, Dodge, and Napoleon are noted.

Beginning as a relatively impoverished junior officer, he rose to become Emperor of France by the age of 36. Promoted from captain to brigadier general for his conduct at the Siege of Toulon (September 4December 19, 1793), he later saved the civilian government from the Parisian street radicals (with the whiff of grapeshot) (October 5, 1794). As commander of the Army of Italy (1796), he showed how strategic planning coupled with tactical initiative could defeat a more numerous enemy. In the Egyptian Campaign (179699), his military successes on land were not sufficient to counter the British successes at sea, but by 180001, he was the dominant leader in France, had secured a temporary peace with Frances enemies, and had been elected consul for life (May 1802). When war began anew, he defeated his European opponents (Austria, Prussia, and Russia) and established domination over the continent, with only Great Britain remaining as an enemy. However, his failure to subdue Spain (1808) and his later invasion of Russia (1812) began his downfall. Other European generals learned his lessons of war, and at the Battle of Nations (Leipzig, October 1619, 1813), the French were soundly defeated. Napoleon the general showed that his expertise had not waned; his retreat to Paris evidenced his old skill and he inflicted several defeats on the allies. The defense, while admirable, cannot win a war, and he was forced to abdicate on April 4, 1814, but returned for the Hundred Days Campaign (1815), until finally defeated by a British-Prussian Alliance at Waterloo (June 18, 1815). His strategic insights were coupled with tactical initiative; his administrative skills in both military and civilian sectors were exemplary (the Code Napolon remains the basis of the French legal system to this day). While one cannot point to any radical innovations he devised in the art of war, his synthesis of past lessons made him one of the greatest generals in history. (Dodge,