A Poll on the Best Roman Generals

[Fergalus Carolanii]

Caesar in my opinion was probably the best not just because of his achievements but his sheer presence seemed to be unrivaled by any general. however my personal 2 favorites are Flavius Belisarius and i think Agrippa because he was so young when he first defeated Mark Antony.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, guys! This question can't be solved and any answer must be subjective for a number of reasons.

A couple of them:

- Most of the time, the Roman army was much more proficient than any of its enemies. Therefore, even bad commanders could get plenty of victories. It is very difficult to evaluate the evolution of the quality of the Army.

- We simply don't have reliable figures. The accounts that we get are typically one-sided and tend to inflate the numbers of the enemy and decrease that of the hero (whoever he is) precisely to highlight his heroic qualities, sometimes getting to really absurd extremes.

I consider the best general is the one that gets the best achievement with the lesser resources in the harder conditions.

With my limited knowledge of the matter, I think this could very well have been Aetius.

[VeniVidiVici]

Gaius Marius

[Carthago delenda est]

My personal favorite is Gaius Suetonius Paulinus. Nero should have let him finish what he started.

[Maty]

Ptellius Cerialis. 5/10 for ability. 10/10 for style.

[Vibius Tiberius Costa]

Scipio Africanus for bringing strategy into the fray against Carthage.

Grachus in the second Punic war

Macedonicus and Mummius(I don't really know why, they weren't particuarly brilliant in the same breath of Caesar but they should get mentions)

Gaius Marius

Julius Caesar

Even Brutus, Marc Antony, Octavian and Pompey

i heard about this gr8 general called Vibius Tiberius Costa he led his roman army of ancient lego men and obscure posts in at Perth. Oz.

 

vtc

[G-Manicus]

I have a number of faves:

 

1) Julius Caesar - His siege at Alesia was simply brilliant. One of my favorite moments in all of history. Throw in the Rubicon, the bridge across the Rhine, Civil War against Pompey, etc., and he's clearly at the top of my list.

 

2) Marcus Agrippa - From virtual nobody to Augustus' top general who won the decisive battle at Actium, signaling the end of the Republic. Throw in his engineering / architectural work to boot.

 

3) Cincinnatus - The farmer general who surrendered Dictatorial power voluntarily, setting the example which would later be followed by Washington.

 

4) Gaius Marius - His campaigns against Jugurtha and later the Germanic tribes helped to save Rome. His comprehensive military reforms and Civil War with Sulla were a contributing factor in Rome's shift from Republic to Empire

 

5) Scipio - The dude beat Hannibal. 'Nuff said!

[longshotgene]

Sorry guys, but I can't agree with Scipio Africanus. Scipio dealt with the tattered remains of Hannibal's army. Germanicus was good, but we really never got to see he blossom fully due to his mysterious death. I would have to say Julius Caesar. The odds he faced with only a handful Romans. That takes tact and ability. And the key is that he did it over and over. Not only did he beat Gauls repeatedly, but he wiped out an entire German Army. Plus, don't forget the bridge he built in no time! What other General can boast this, other than possible Constantine.

[P.Clodius]

Sorry guys, but I can't agree with Scipio Africanus. Scipio dealt with the tattered remains of Hannibal's army. ....

Wow. And his campaigns in Spain that are much admired and studied in military colleges the world over count for nothing? And these tattered remains led by the master strategist were maneuvered into an unfavourable position by whom?

Edited September 20, 2007 by P.Clodius

[longshotgene]

I am not saying they count for nothing, but how many movies were made about Scipio? Caesar's tactics are taught all over as well. I just think Caesar was better. Besides, Scipio's dealing with Hannibal was like Grant's dealing with Lee in the American Civil War. How many generals were sent against Lee? He out-foxed general after general with little reinforcement much like Hannibal. I would have to say that Hannibal was the better general in that case. Scipio was there for the glory after everyone else had chipped away at Hannibal. I still think Caesar was the better man.

[Diocles]

Sorry guys, but I can't agree with Scipio Africanus. Scipio dealt with the tattered remains of Hannibal's army. ....

Wow. And his campaigns in Spain that are much admired and studied in military colleges the world over count for nothing? And these tattered remains led by the master strategist were maneuvered into an unfavourable position by whom?

 

I agree, when people think of Scipio Africanus they always think primarily of Zama, however his campaign in Spain is where the majority of his skill actually shined.

 

I am not saying they count for nothing, but how many movies were made about Scipio?

 

Do you have any titles of the movies on Scipio? I'd love to check one out.

[Centurion89]

Caesar hands down. Caesar was brilliant, and had a military that loved him. And for crying out loud. He conqured all of Gaul and Britania. Also all his soldiers loved him along with the people making him the perfect General.

[Julius Ratus]

Ptellius Cerialis. 5/10 for ability. 10/10 for style.

 

Who is Ptellius Cerialis? I can't find him on wikipedia and have never heard of him. Please enlighten me.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Ptellius Cerialis. 5/10 for ability. 10/10 for style.

 

Who is Ptellius Cerialis? I can't find him on wikipedia and have never heard of him. Please enlighten me.

 

Salve, JR!

 

Here goes to an excellent article by Jona Lendering about Quintus Petillius Cerialis Cesius Rufus, with many links to the Batavian revolt and related issues.

 

BTW, there's also this nice article on en.wikipedia.

 

I hope this may be useful.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, guys! This question can't be solved and any answer must be subjective for a number of reasons.

A couple of them:

- Most of the time, the Roman army was much more proficient than any of its enemies. Therefore, even bad commanders could get plenty of victories. It is very difficult to evaluate the evolution of the quality of the Army.

- We simply don't have reliable figures. The accounts that we get are typically one-sided and tend to inflate the numbers of the enemy and decrease that of the hero (whoever he is) precisely to highlight his heroic qualities, sometimes getting to really absurd extremes.

I consider the best general is the one that gets the best achievement with the lesser resources in the harder conditions.

With my limited knowledge of the matter, I think this could very well have been Aetius.

 

Extending on the same issue, I would think that most of the time, the outcome of the Roman campaigns against external enemies (vg, the Carthaginians) was mostly the consequence of a complex interaction between the actions of the Roman army, state and people (not to talk about the obvious influence of the adversary's initiatives and sheer luck).

 

If you add the one-sided information we have about most of this wars, I find virtually impossible to fairly compare and grade the Roman commanders. At the Empire, we have the additional problem that each emperor always "deserved" the merit (of the victories, of course).

 

Then, I would conclude it's only during civil wars (Romans against Romans) that we found relatively comparable conditions.

Considering such limitations, I would think the following generals were virtually invincible during their respective epochs:

Lucius Cornelius Sulla;

Caius Julius Caesar;

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa;

Lucius Septimius Severus;

Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus;

Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (I);

Flavius Theodosius (I);

 

This list does not pretend to be exhaustive. Once again, I find no way to make an objective gradation among them.

 

And about Flavius Aetius, even if I still get the same conclusions as in my previous post, I must admit that at his most famous battle (Chalons or Catalaunian Fields against Attila's Huns) he shared his command with his Germanic allies (Theodoric and Sangiban) to an undetermined degree.

Edited September 24, 2007 by ASCLEPIADES