Best Army-Leader

[astibo]

I can say that the best soldiers where the Macedonians and in the time of Alexander, and not just becouse they have won many victories where thay where largely outnumbered, but also becouse of thear famous marches, like that throu the desert on thay way back from india (alexander heard that it is not posible to cross that desert and he just wannet to prove that he and his army can achive some thing that was considered as impossible at that time). Also the forced march for capturing the Persian king Darius, leed by Alexander and the elitte Agrians and companion cavalry.

[Spartan]

While Phillip may have been the better all around leader, there is no question(in my mind anyways) that Alexander was by far the better strategist on the battlefield.

Genghis kahn is another great leadert that rarely gets mentioned. His empire at its height was considerably larger than Alexanders.

Asfor the Macedonian army vs that of the Spartans, it would have been nice if they faced off in their prime. Unfortunately, Sparta was declining as Macedonia was rising when they eventually did meet in battle.

I would of liked to see Alexander and his Macedonians, against Leonidas and the full Spartan army sometime around 490 bc.
Alas, it was not meant to be.

[The LION will ROAR]

Army of Alexander The Great was unquestionably the greatest army of the ancient world. His army of just over 40,000 men were never defeated. In 333 BC he defeated the Persian army of over 200,000 men under the leadership of Persian King Darius. He was revered by other great military leaders such as Julius Caesar.
Roman Army, they almost conquered the known world.
Spartan Army, May have been the best trained Soldiers in ancient times.
The Mongols, they took China completely, and quite a bit of Russia, Turkey and Europe.


One can say the Spartan army was perhaps the most well trained army in the ancient Greek world; but whilst Athens controlled the sea they were unable to effectively use it
The Spartans weren't warriors, they were proper soldiers, which was one reason they were so formidable. But their combat record included many losses and never forget the real reason for Spartan militarism was to hold down the Helots at home; the Spartan army was kind of a mixture of the Gestapo, Einsatzgruppen and the Waffen SS.

In the end to hold up their rotten and corrupt system they were reduced to taking money from Persia to fight other Greeks and still they fell to the Thebans and revolt at home.

What are your thoughts Spartan..?

[The LION will ROAR]

List of largest Empires
http://www.tv.com/users/AllKnowingBe...m-100-25420981
List of largest empires :

1.)British Empire
2.)Mongol Empire
3.)Russian Empire
4.)Spanish Empire
5.)Umayyad Caliphate
6.)Qing Dynasty
7.)French Empire
8.)Portuguese Empire
9.)United States of America
10.)Rashidun Caliphate
11.)Empire of Brazil
12.)Achaemenid Empire
13.)Japanese Empire
14.)Ming Dynasty
15.)Han Dynasty
16.)Roman Empire
17.)Ottoman Empire
18.)MACEDONIAN EMPIRE
19.)Tang Dynasty
20.)Maurya Empire

[The LION will ROAR]

IN ALL MY YEARS OF WAR, I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE, SEEN ANYTHING MORE TERRIFYING, THAN THOSE MACEDONIANS ADVANCING ON THE BATTLEFIELD“ - Aemilius Paullus

[Spartan]

Originally Posted by The LION will ROAR

Army of Alexander The Great was unquestionably the greatest army of the ancient world. His army of just over 40,000 men were never defeated. In 333 BC he defeated the Persian army of over 200,000 men under the leadership of Persian King Darius. He was revered by other great military leaders such as Julius Caesar.
Roman Army, they almost conquered the known world.
Spartan Army, May have been the best trained Soldiers in ancient times.
The Mongols, they took China completely, and quite a bit of Russia, Turkey and Europe.


One can say the Spartan army was perhaps the most well trained army in the ancient Greek world; but whilst Athens controlled the sea they were unable to effectively use it
The Spartans weren't warriors, they were proper soldiers, which was one reason they were so formidable. But their combat record included many losses and never forget the real reason for Spartan militarism was to hold down the Helots at home; the Spartan army was kind of a mixture of the Gestapo, Einsatzgruppen and the Waffen SS.

In the end to hold up their rotten and corrupt system they were reduced to taking money from Persia to fight other Greeks and still they fell to the Thebans and revolt at home.

What are your thoughts Spartan..?

Good post LwR, really good. Not much I can disagree with here. I will though, if I may, elaborate on a couple points.

One can say the Spartan army was perhaps the most well trained army in the ancient Greek world; but whilst Athens controlled the sea they were unable to effectively use it

Actually the Athenian navy was the best of its time. The reason the Peloponesian war lasted so long was that Sparta could not defeat Athens on sea, which enabled athens to maintain a very lucrative 'naval' empire. After 28 yrs, and many loans from the Persian satraps of the times, the Spartans finally defeated the Athenian navy, and won the war.
Prior to this though, the Athenians had defeated the Spartan 'navy' many times, and being outnumbered very badly too.
Also, would just like to add that the Spartan army marched yearly on Athens, but the coward Athenians would stay behind their walls, refusing to be men, and meet the Spartans face to face. The Spartans would shout insults at them, pillage the attic countyside till their supplies ran out, and then march back home till next year.

The Spartans weren't warriors, they were proper soldiers, which was one reason they were so formidable. But their combat record included many losses and never forget the real reason for Spartan militarism was to hold down the Helots at home; the Spartan army was kind of a mixture of the Gestapo, Einsatzgruppen and the Waffen SS.

This is also true.
The reason for this was the Spartan law itself. It was against the law to retreat or surrender. Many of these losses could have been avoided if it wasnt for this.

I would recommend reading the 'laws of Lycurgus' for anyone interested in ancient military tactics.

[The LION will ROAR]

Thanks for the extra information Spartan...

[Spartan]

No, thank-you my friend for bringing such an interesting perspective to the topic!

[777Bitola]

As far as modern armies go. USA,Germany,UK,Russia, and Isreal are the most powerful. Macedonia spends quite alot of money on their army, and we have a good land force. Infantry is well trained, and they have nice IFC,APC vehicles.
Although our air force lacks alot, and our heavy armour could use a bit of improovement. We are probably more advanced then our Albanian neighbours and on par with Serbia and Bulgaria. But Greece has the strongest military in that region.

As far as pre modern military goes, Alexander the Great is one of the tops, George Washington, Napoelian, and Genghis Khan.

The ancient Macedonian army was bad ass fighting off armies 6 times larger and even what they thought were monsters but we know them as elephants today. What was so outstanding was that at the Battle of Guagemala even though he was outnumbered his army suffered only 100 casualties while the Persians lost close to 300,000.

[Bill77]

Originally Posted by 777Bitola

But Greece has the strongest military in that region.

Greece is quit strong militarily. Greece was well suported by the west to become a strong military in the regions Because it suited There own (The West) purpose.

But Claiming being "The Stongest" not acurate. Turkey takes the prize.