My Favourite General

Following the lead from Nate at Natholeons Empires and his link to Matts blog Waterloo to Mons, here is my contribution on the subject of my favourite general from history.

I didn't have to think about this for very long and going with the concept that first impressions are usually right, the first person I thought of as I was reading Nates piece on the Duke of Marlborough was.......drum roll......Oliver Cromwell.

Now Matts concept for this was that it should be a piece of fun and I don't have to convince anyone that Cromwell was a tactical or strategic genius, perhaps he wasn't...all I have to do is tell you he is my favourite!

I will give some thoughts on why Cromwell immediately came to mind though. Firstly, that great  1970 film starring Richard Harris...I must have watched it half a dozen times at least, and it's still a cracking story! I know a lot of what is in there is a mish mash of history and important, even pivotal, events, are completely ignored EG the Battle of Marston Moor, but it's still one if my favourite British historical epics.

Secondly, in my opinion, Cromwell was on the right side of history in taking the side of parliament against the autocracy of Charles the First, albeit he was not a believer in universal suffrage and clearly demonstrated that later in the heavy handed way he dealt with Levellers and their like causing trouble and disent in the army.

Thirdly, I do think he was a pretty talented field commander...he won some very important victories , including his involvement in the aforementioned Marston Moor, which effectively smashed the last hopes of a Royalist victory, and also destroyed the myth of Prince Ruperts invincibility and the superiority of the Royalist horse. The battle of Dunbar, which it gives me, as a Scot, no pleasure at all to bring up, saw his weakened, sick, out numbered and out manoeuvred force round on the Covenant army and inflict an astonishingly one sided defeat on them....1-3000 scots killed and 10000 taken prisoner for the loss of 20 killed and 58 wounded in the Parliamentarian army...even allowing for a level of propaganda and hyperbole, this was obviously a crushing defeat and a remarkable feat of generalship. Likewise his later victories in the Second Civil War, again against the hapless Scots, showed his outstanding tactical and strategic abilities.

By all accounts, he was not really in favour of executing the King, but the latters constant double dealing in the end left him exasperated and he allowed himself to be convinced it was the only way to resolve things. Likewise, many may criticise him for disbanding the Long Parliament and becoming to all intents and purposes a military dictator, but again, it seems to me to have been a typically British dictatorship with a very light hand...what might be described as a benign dictatorship as we see today in the likes of Singapore.

So that's my choice and some of the reasons behind it...now, it's your turn, so please, put your thinking caps on and let's hear who your favourite historical general was!