Last year the National Army Museum ran a poll to decide Britain’s greatest general. The result was a tie between Field Marshal Slim, of the Burma campaign, and the Iron Duke — Wellington, of the Peninsula campaign and Waterloo. This year the discussion is who was Britain’s greatest foe?
Friend or foe, a successful commander needs certain attributes. Most critically, he needs an understanding of the differences demanded of him at the strategic, the operational and the tactical levels of war, and the confidence to make his decisions based on that understanding.
His experience and training must have taught him that the strategic level is where the government of the day decides what must be done, that the operational level is where he, the general, decides how it is to be done in his campaign, and that the tactical level is where the leadership that he inspires persuades the individual soldier that the whole enterprise is worth risking his life. The soldiers will look at the general and ask: is this someone I want to follow? Is this someone I can trust? The answers to those questions will be critical.
In judging who was the greatest of our foes I would add one further criterion: the degree of success that was achieved against us.
General the Lord Dannatt was Chief of the General Staff 2006-09
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Vote for the greatest Enemy Commander at nam.ac.uk. A speaker event on the subject will be held at the National Army Museum on April 14
Michael Collins (1890-1922):
Turned the Irish Republican Army into an effective force that secured the separation of Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom — a humiliating reduction in British sovereignty
George Washington (1732-1799):
Guided the rebel American forces against the British and secured the independence of the American colonies — a disaster for Britain
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Louis Botha (1862-1919):
Inflicted terrible losses on the British Army in the Boer War, nearly securing the independence of South Africa
William the Conqueror (1028-87):
An invader who came, saw and conquered, and we live today as the consequences of his audacity. He has my vote as Britain’s greatest foe. But perhaps I am biased — William the Conqueror began the building of the Tower of London and was appointed its first Constable; I am the 159th
Tomoyuki Yamashita: (1885-1946):
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Led the Japanese attack that captured Singapore in 1942, which punctured for ever our credibility in the Far East and India as a colonial power — an historic reversal of our fortunes
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938):
Commanded the Turkish armies in Gallipoli, defeated the British-Anzac offensive in 1915 — a major embarrassment for Britain — and became the father of modern Turkey