Best 10 campaigns in history

Joined Mar 2011
437 Posts | 2+
Let's add a western Allied WWII flavor to this thread.

1) Central Pacific campaign made up of the Gilbert and Marshall islands campaign, August 1942 - February 1944 and the Marianna Palau islands campaign, June - September 1944.

2) SW Pacific campaign:
a) Guadalcanal and Solomom islands campaign, August 1942 - Novemeber 1943

b) New Guinea campaign, May 1942 - September 1944

c) Philippines campaign, October 1944 - August 1945

3) Strategic Air campaign against Japanese islands 1944 - 45

4) Naval interdiction campaign against Japanese shipping, 1942 - 45

5) Allied North African campaign, June 1940 - May 1943

6) Allied Western European campaign, June 1944 - May 1945

7) Allied Strategic Bombing campaign, June 1942 (?) - May 1945

8) Allied North Atlantic campaign, September 1939 - May 1943

9) Allied Italian campaign, July 1943 - April 1945

A good perspective. I'm gonna have to look into these specific campaigns. Especially the naval operations against the Japanese, which is often difficult to get past because its largely a statistical flood.
 
Joined Nov 2010
152 Posts | 0+
Cali
In no particular order:

Winfield Scott's campaign against Mexico

Caesar's Gallic Wars

Napoleon's Ulm Campaign

Napoleon's Six Days Campaign (arguably the greatest)

William Slims campaigns in South East Asia

Scipio Africanus Spanish and African campaigns
 
Joined Mar 2011
1,367 Posts | 2+
Florida
A good perspective. I'm gonna have to look into these specific campaigns. Especially the naval operations against the Japanese, which is often difficult to get past because its largely a statistical flood.

The German U-Boat campaign in the Atlantic against Allied shipping always gets the ink but it was the mainly US submarine camapign in the Pacific that truly achieved remarkable results. The later coastal anti-shipping against the Japanese home islands by land and carrier based planes added further to the destruction of Japanese shipping that established an airtight blockade.
 
Joined Apr 2010
719 Posts | 3+
Amazing to note napoleon has 4 campaigns that can all be in the top 10.
1805,1806,six days campaign and italian campaign.

The others can mostly claim one great campaign and maybe some other good ones.
 
Joined Aug 2010
8,654 Posts | 844+
VA
In no particular order.

1. Napoleon's Austrian Campaign, 1805.

2. Scipio Africanus' Spanish Campaign, 210-206 BC.

3. Marlborough's Bouchain Campaign, 1711.

4. Von Manstein's Kharkov Operation, 1943.

5. Ulysses S. Grant's Vicksburg Campaign, 1863.

6. William Slim's Burma Campaign, 1945.

7. The Soviet Union's destruction of Army Group Center, 1944.

8. Belisarius' Italian Campaign, 536-540.

9. Nicephorus Phokas' Cicilian-Syrian Campaign, 962-63 AD.

10. William S. Rosecrans' Tullahoma Campaign, 1863.

I threw in a couple of lesser-known ones and no repeats of a single commander. It'd probably be easy to name another 20 just as worthy as well. I'll thrown in an honorary mention to Robert E. Lee's Second Manassas Campaign as well.
 
Joined Apr 2010
719 Posts | 3+
In what sense?

In the sense that it failed its objective in stretching the empire to the ganges.[the assumed end of the world]
He beat a border king then turned back.Wasted men pointlessly on the gerdosian desert.
Did he retreat because of the army of magadha[megasthenes view] or because his troops mutinied[arrian view] is debated ,but the objective of the campaign was not achieved.

And for alcibiades post,no it hasn't anything do with my nationality.
Alexander was kinda my childhood hero,but now reading up on others such as khalid,subutai,caesar,napoleon.I realize some of his decisions were pretty stupid.
 
Joined Sep 2010
10,810 Posts | 50+
Serbia
In the sense that it failed its objective in stretching the empire to the ganges.[the assumed end of the world]
He beat a border king then turned back.
Was Porus the only Indian prince he beat,or were there other "small" nations and groups of tribes?How big do you think Porus's realm was,and do you know how much bigger the territory in India Alexander subdued was?C'mon,you should know,at least.

Did he retreat because of the army of magadha[megasthenes view] or because his troops mutinied[arrian view] is debated ,
What if it was neither?Hypothetically speaking,what then with your theory?

Suppose this:He never actually intended to reach Ganges,and he wanted to make Porus' realm a buffer zone(once he defeated him,of course),hence not only giving him back his throne,but doubling his realm.But since he did not want to give the orders for retreat out of India himself,he manipulated his men into thinking it was their call,by forcing them to "mutiny" (it was,as Kenneth W. Harl rightly said,more like a sit-down strike,than a real mutiny).

I can point you to at least 1 serious and well respected scholar (one of the most eminent scholars of Alexander living today)who holds such a view.

Would you say he succeded in all these objectives,then(and not taking into account things he could not have possible foreseen,like the rise of Mauraya)?

but the objective of the campaign was not achieved.
Then every single foreign endevour Napoleon "achieved" was a failure,since none of it (or almost none) lasted for much more than a decade,which is approximately how much Macedonians held onto (at least some) Indian domains.So why do you give Napoleon the slack,but not Alexander? *

*This is actually a rhetorical question,you dont need to answer.I am well aware its plain,old-fashined double standard, and/or not thinking things through or thoroughly.
Alcibiades
 
Joined Sep 2010
10,810 Posts | 50+
Serbia
I realize some of his decisions were pretty stupid.
That he made a fair share of mistakes (even big ones),is only natural,and to be expected (shall I start listing the major blunders Hannibal,Caesar and Napoleon made?).No one is perfect.

But during my years as a passionate (amateur) student of history,I had ample opportunities to learn one very important lesson,which was confirmed numerous times.And that is,that more often than not,when people start describing such giants of military history as Alexander,Caesar,Scipio,Hannibal,Belisarius and Genghis as ignorant or stupid,it is actually the case of those people revealing their own ignorance,and in some extreme cases,stupidity (doesn't refere to you).It is the classic case of "looking in the mirror" type of historiography.
Alcibiades
 
Joined Feb 2010
3,362 Posts | 1+
St. Louis
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You are stretching the word campaign a bit i feel.Ur describing whole wars like all of belisarius's conquests.
Belisarius had many very good campaigns but no outstanding single one.
Iforgot to add napoleon's six days campaign in honorable mentions.

You are indeed welcome for my taking the time to contribute to your thread.

I did leave out Marlborough because of some of the mixed results and also he had to share command. But the Brits came out way ahead in that conflict, including the possession of Gibraltor. In regard to Belisarius, the record speaks for itself. Pick a campaign by Belisarius. There'd been no one like him since Scipio Africanus. He also won a war without having to risk a battle. Seems like the best sort of campaign to me.

In regard to Napoleon, from 1805 to 1814 he seemed to forget everything he knew about conducting military campaigns. He became arrogant. He apparently decided to hammer his enemies on the battlefield rather than seek his old skillful means of outmaneuring them, to much loss of life for his soldiers. He got completely and totally chased out of Germany (as well as everywhere else in Europe.)
 
Joined Apr 2010
719 Posts | 3+
Was Porus the only Indian prince he beat,or were there other "small" nations and groups of tribes?How big do you think Porus's realm was,and do you know how much bigger the territory in India Alexander subdued was?C'mon,you should know,at least.


What if it was neither?Hypothetically speaking,what then with your theory?

Suppose this:He never actually intended to reach Ganges,and he wanted to make Porus' realm a buffer zone(once he defeated him,of course),hence not only giving him back his throne,but doubling his realm.But since he did not want to give the orders for retreat out of India himself,he manipulated his men into thinking it was their call,by forcing them to "mutiny" (it was,as Kenneth W. Harl rightly said,more like a sit-down strike,than a real mutiny).

I can point you to at least 1 serious and well respected scholar (one of the most eminent scholars of Alexander living today)who holds such a view.

Would you say he succeded in all these objectives,then(and not taking into account things he could not have possible foreseen,like the rise of Mauraya)?


Then every single foreign endevour Napoleon "achieved" was a failure,since none of it (or almost none) lasted for much more than a decade,which is approximately how much Macedonians held onto (at least some) Indian domains.So why do you give Napoleon the slack,but not Alexander? *

*This is actually a rhetorical question,you dont need to answer.I am well aware its plain,old-fashined double standard, and/or not thinking things through or thoroughly.
Alcibiades

Ok his indian campaign is usually divided into his campaign on the ophen valley to take fortresses to secure his lines of communication.The hydaspes campaign against porus and the mallian campaign.The mallian campaign is strategically excellent.After this he turned back.

Second his intentions are made very clear in these words.

'Now if anyone desires to hear where our warfare will find its end and limit, let him know that the distance from where we are to the river Ganges is no longer great; and this you will find is connected to the Hyrcanian sea; for the great sea surrounds the entire earth. I will also demonstrate to the Macedonians and their allies not only that the Indian gulf is confluent with the Persian, but the Hycranian gulf is confluent with the Indian.'

Thirdly i meant failure as only the immediate objective of the campaign which seems to be the above,not that the man was a failure or talking about long lasting effects.

As to napoleon,sure he made a number of disastrous mistakes.More than alexander,but he also had enemies who could make him pay for them.
 
Joined Apr 2010
719 Posts | 3+
You are indeed welcome for my taking the time to contribute to your thread.

I did leave out Marlborough because of some of the mixed results and also he had to share command. But the Brits came out way ahead in that conflict, including the possession of Gibraltor. In regard to Belisarius, the record speaks for itself. Pick a campaign by Belisarius. There'd been no one like him since Scipio Africanus. He also won a war without having to risk a battle. Seems like the best sort of campaign to me.

In regard to Napoleon, from 1805 to 1814 he seemed to forget everything he knew about conducting military campaigns. He became arrogant. He apparently decided to hammer his enemies on the battlefield rather than seek his old skillful means of outmaneuring them, to much loss of life for his soldiers. He got completely and totally chased out of Germany (as well as everywhere else in Europe.)

Belisarius had several very good campaigns,but u name a single outstanding campaign.As for winning without fighting that counts as a diplomatic triumph and nothing to do with military skill as a commander.He often did suffer bad defeats too. Was also badly surprised at ad decimum.

Also u seem to not know too much about napoleon.
The 1806 jena campaign[called the original blitzkreig,destruction of prussia's army in 2 weeks]
1807 campaign against russia and prussia in poland.
1809 campaign against spain first.Then austria.

His major disaster was the russian campaign.
After that he fought brilliantly severely outnumbered with young boys and a few veterans in 1813 in germany and 1814 in farnce.Ever heard of six days campaign.
In waterloo campaign he outmanuevred both blucher and wellington but lost the battle.

So i disagree with your assumption he 'forgot' campaigning.
 
Joined Dec 2009
19,936 Posts | 25+
That he made a fair share of mistakes (even big ones),is only natural,and to be expected (shall I start listing the major blunders Hannibal,Caesar and Napoleon made?).No one is perfect.

But during my years as a passionate (amateur) student of history,I had ample opportunities to learn one very important lesson,which was confirmed numerous times.And that is,that more often than not,when people start describing such giants of military history as Alexander,Caesar,Scipio,Hannibal,Belisarius and Genghis as ignorant or stupid,it is actually the case of those people revealing their own ignorance,and in some extreme cases,stupidity (doesn't refere to you).It is the classic case of "looking in the mirror" type of historiography.
Alcibiades
Yup, because this humble enlightened commentary leaves little doubt where any stupidity may be.

epic-fail.jpg


The relevant point being of course that the Indian campaign of Alexandros II was indeed a failure; under any excuse, the man ought to return leaving undefeated enemies and unconquered land against his explicit will, losing in the process the bulk of his army; not one his brightest moments indeed.
 
Joined Dec 2009
19,936 Posts | 25+
Last edited:
Somebody recently wrote this to Sargon of Akkad:



Now,would YOU like ME to PM you where I will post next?
Alcibiades
It would be a good chance to avoid unnecessarily utterly distorted information; not a bad option indeed, thanks. Let me think about it :) :) :cool:

Now, if you may eventually post anything about Alexandros III, being yours truly a well known enthusiastic fan, chances are that we may have the infinite pleasure of finding each other caring together for the right study of this fascinating universal conqueror wannabe :cool:.

For one, rest assured you will never find me in any critical "Cleopatrah vs. Jar Jar Kinks vs. Paris Hilton" poll :).
 
Joined Feb 2010
3,362 Posts | 1+
St. Louis
Belisarius had several very good campaigns,but u name a single outstanding campaign.As for winning without fighting that counts as a diplomatic triumph and nothing to do with military skill as a commander.He often did suffer bad defeats too. Was also badly surprised at ad decimum.

Also u seem to not know too much about napoleon.
The 1806 jena campaign[called the original blitzkreig,destruction of prussia's army in 2 weeks]
1807 campaign against russia and prussia in poland.
1809 campaign against spain first.Then austria.

His major disaster was the russian campaign.
After that he fought brilliantly severely outnumbered with young boys and a few veterans in 1813 in germany and 1814 in farnce.Ever heard of six days campaign.
In waterloo campaign he outmanuevred both blucher and wellington but lost the battle.

So i disagree with your assumption he 'forgot' campaigning.

OK, OK, I have no intention of getting into a spat about a dead military commander.:) I happen to be one of those folks who think Napoleon should be buried in the ground, along with other conquering "heroes" who cost the lives of so many people. I happen to think Alexander "the Great" was a tyrannical egomaniac. And Frederick "the Great" of Prussia started a huge war by trying to steal a province from Austria. A huge long-term problem with the east part of Germany was the development of Prussian militarism after the Thirty Years War. This would later become a problem for all of Germany and it would not become totally eradicated until 1945. I suppose the only reason why we don't refer to Herr Schicklegruber as "Hitler the Great" is because he lost.

As you are the OP person I'll abide by your wishes and select only one Belisarius campaign. A bit of background. Approximately 540 CE the Persian king Chosroes invaded Byzantine territory and sacked Antioch. He then returned to Persia and prepared to invade again, but with a much larger army, and his destination was Jerusalem, the next most affluent city since Antioch had been plundered. With such a large army he couldn't cross the desert again, but had to march along a route up the Euphrates and into Syria where he would then turn and proceed south. Justinian sent Belisarius to deal with the situation. Belisarius' forces were about one-tenth or even one-twentieth the size of the invading army.

Belisarius established his camp near where Chosroes would have to turn south. He then spread his best troops along Chosroes' flank to make it appear as though he had a very large and capable army. These troops conducted numerous maneuvers to make it seem there were many more than met the eye. A final cavalry demonstration persuaded Chosroes that to proceed farther was too much of a risk, and he took his army and returned to Persia.

What a phenomenal feat by the shrewd Belisarius. He defended the local people he was sent to protect from a huge invading army intending to kill and plunder them, and he did it without losing a single soldier in combat. I think it may be the most remarkable military campaign in history.

How many times in history have a people faced a threatening invasion (and guess how much it must have cost $ to Chosroes to move that big army over such a long distance) and defeated the invader without loss of life or destruction of property?

-----------------

Just because a campaign doesn't end in a battle doesn't mean it's not a military campaign. Clausewitz was wrong (and he admitted he hadn't reached a conclusion because he advised that all his papers be burnt on his death.) Instead, his papers were published and became a basis for standard European military doctrine. Such was very evident during the blood-soaked WW I battles and campaigns. Clausewitz's aborted conclusion was that the goal of a military campaign was to seek battle and defeat the enemy on the battlefield.

But the best military commanders know the worst thing is to risk a direct confrontation. They'll do anything to outmaneuver the enemy and will only seek battle when that enemy is in an untenable position. Hannibal once marched thru a swamp to avoid having a direct confrontation with a Roman army, even though he'd been defeating them consistently. Current US military strategy is based on his Canae battle. In a conventional war, the US will seek to destroy everything possible in the rears areas (especially electronic communications) before committing ground troops to an attack, and then that attack will be directed at the flanks rather than be direct.

This is what Nap forgot after 1805. Rather than his Italian or Austerlitz campaigns, he began seeking direct, frontal battle.

------------------

I'll list that bloodless campaign by Belisarius as #1. #2 is Sherman's march to the Sea.:)
 
Joined Apr 2010
719 Posts | 3+
I'm not sure what we are talking about.Clausewitz made his assumptions from observing napoleon's method,whom he called his 'god of war'.
For napoleon the annhilation battle was first priority.Infact this has been the top priority of all great commanders.Belisarius's was a one off it can't be taken as norm.
True it may be absolutely unique and as per sun tzu'
The greatest victory is to defeat the enemy without fighting'.But still one can't go to war based on this.
And yes they maybe called great,but none of them can be called 'good'.
If u take sherman's march then nappy's ulm,caesar's illerda are nice choices.
Another is france's spider king louis ix and his machinations.He crushed burgundy and england and ended the hundred years war without barely fighting himself.Always playing one against some other.Thats why he was called 'the universal spider'.
 
Joined Aug 2010
8,654 Posts | 844+
VA
#2 is Sherman's march to the Sea
Psychological effects aside (And they were still present in this campaign), I actually prefer Sherman's march through the Carolinas. The pace his troops made through difficult boggy terrain shows Sherman at his best as a capable logistician, and he was dealing with more stubborn resistance than in Georgia, where Wheeler's cavalry and scattered militia were the main threats. (Though his double feint at Augusta and Macon in Georgia was a impressive little bit of deception) The Carolinas did involve more bloodshed than Georgia though, as Johnston and Hampton pounced on an wing of Sherman's army at Bentonville.
 

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