The Greatest Commander/Leader [Imperial Rome and the period of Late Antiquity]

[Conrad_Jalowski]

In this poll, I voted for the Roman general Flavius Belisarius [505-565 CE].

[Reasoner]

I picked Attila the Hun, a ruthless barbarian, who never ceased to stopped pillaging the city's of rome.

[John Adams]

I would chose Atilla the Hun. I think his leadership is evident in the fact that he reunited all the Mongol tribes into one, and then went on to wage war against other civilizations.

~John

[Heraclius]

I think you have Atilla and Gengis mixed up there John...

Anyway, I selected Herakleios on the grounds that he took hold of the Eastern Roman Empire during a period of great tragedy. Not only was he able to, with the help of his father Herakleios the Elder, overthrow the usurper Phocas but he was able to retake the regions of Anatolia and beyond from the Sassanids. He went so far as to capture their capitol city and left the remnants to the rising Arab powers in the south.

If he had a flaw, it was that he lived too long, so to speak. After winning both a civil war and a war with an Empire that had existed for almost as long as the Eastern Empire itself, his forces were weakened. The same Arabs that felled the Persian Empire took Egypt and other southern provences from the Empire. At the end, the only remaining holding in Africa was Carthage, ironically the region that Herakleios's father had ruled prior to staging the rebellion.

[John Adams]

I think you have Atilla and Gengis mixed up there John...

Anyway, I selected Herakleios on the grounds that he took hold of the Eastern Roman Empire during a period of great tragedy. Not only was he able to, with the help of his father Herakleios the Elder, overthrow the usurper Phocas but he was able to retake the regions of Anatolia and beyond from the Sassanids. He went so far as to capture their capitol city and left the remnants to the rising Arab powers in the south.

If he had a flaw, it was that he lived too long, so to speak. After winning both a civil war and a war with an Empire that had existed for almost as long as the Eastern Empire itself, his forces were weakened. The same Arabs that felled the Persian Empire took Egypt and other southern provences from the Empire. At the end, the only remaining holding in Africa was Carthage, ironically the region that Herakleios's father had ruled prior to staging the rebellion.

Thank you, I did.

~John

[King Dylan]

I chose Constantine I 'the Great' for many reasons. Unfortunatly, all those reasons have to do with religion, so...

[Gnerphk]

Not a fan of Constantine, despite the religious reasons. His reforms, while likely the acts of a good man, led directly to the Empire's fall. Sometimes, a bad person is the best ruler.

I'm a Belisarius man at the moment, though I see a couple of names that I'm going to need to research. I doubt there's anyone there of sufficient pith and moment to alter my opinion, but it's happened before.

[BrotherhoodUK]

Where is Flavius Aetius? He beat the Huns in a decisive battle at Chalons! For me, that's worthy of a place in the poll....

If I had to choose someone from the poll, it would be Belisarius. He reconquered most of the Roman Empire and turned the Byzantines into a truly mighty empire, instead of just a successor to the Roman Empire.

[Gnerphk]

*snif* Would-be successor, IMO.

...but I've said my piece on that elsewhere. Yeah; his development of heavy cavalry combined with his moves to restore the lands around Rome are enough to make me choose him. The rest... well, Ravenna's nice and all, but I'm old-fashioned. I like Rome.

Incidentally: Why are Probus and Carus here? Admittedly, they were both clever and effective; their careers make for interesting reading. Carus did one of the most impressive political moves ever, changing his own name to match that of the man assassinated by his supporters... but that doesn't make him great, merely clever.