Nicator...

[dio]

I knew that it would be controversial to not rank Alexander 1st in his own house!In so much as it is a fact that Sparta's male population had been steadily decreasing it's available military pool, this is still the same Sparta that but 20 years prior was campaigning in Asia and poised to do what Alexander later did. It appears in reading Xenophon's Hellenica that the Thebans were aware that they had a better cavalry to protect their flanks and knew that they could pick their arm of decision..."The Theban cavalry, as a result of the war with Orchomenus and with Thespiae, was in good training, but the Spartan cavalry at that time was in very poor shape...The Thebans, on the other hand, were drawn up in a massed formation of at least fifty shields deep. They calculated that, if they proved superior in that part of the field where the king was, all the rest would be easy." Now although Alexander had to contend with different 'odds' he by the same token had some advantages that Epaminondas did not have. When Alexander would crash into the Persian lines he must have known that the lightly armoured Persians could not withstand the shock of his heavy cavalry. He probably had a pretty good idea that the heavy infantry could 'anchor' the Persians in place for as long as needed until he decided the battle. Epaminondas, on the contrary, would not have a natural advantage in armour, weapons, training, but only in his generalship. Of course I won't change your opinion but nor will you change mine. It is a matter of what you feel is the quality which most stands out in a general. As much as a genius as Alexander was, I still get the feeling he was a master at using an already lethally efficient war machine and this in no small part to Epaminondas. When I consider Epaminondas what strikes me most is that his genius led to a real evolution in an art of war that had not evolved that much for a few hundred years and he did it by destroying an opponent not only similar, but by all accounts the most efficient at the time in their craft. To summarize, as much as I admire Alexander's natural battlefield genius (on a strategic and tactical level) I equally admire Epaminondas revolutionary brilliance. So although "one great victory, does not a great general make", Epaminondas influenced all of Greco-Roman warfare and even the great Philip and Alexander themselves!

[maciek]

That's true that Epaminondas had great importance because of his revolutional idea and that he influenced Philip so in some way also Alexander. Althrough Alexander made much better use of his (Epaminondas') ideas and developed it into much higher level. Well it's very hard to compare such things because we would never know what Epaminondas would do if he had to fight on so great scale as Alex but facts are that Philip defeated Thebians (with allyes) and Alex defeated all armies in their world. Also if Epaminondas made revolution in tactic wchich is obviouse true, so we have to see that Alex made even greater revolution in sieging techniques, he had fantastic level of strategy skills, and again developed tactic into much higher level then Thebians previouse. All those makes in my eyes Alex the best commander in history.Regards
Maciek

[Nicator]

Hello D M,You make some really good and no less compelling points. However, in spite of the fact that Epaminondas was the originator of the maneuver which bares his name "Epaminondas Maneuver", I am unconvinced that his abilities were in advance of ATG's. Alexander was truly a master general in his overall capabilities. Not to mention his overall scope of operations, which Epaminondas lacked. Few, if any, came close to Alexander's uncanny ability to foresee an enemy plan before the upcoming encounter. Never did a general overawe him in tactical brilliance, particularly when quick decisions were necessary. His ability to create victory on any terrain or type of battle encounter by split second creative maneuvering was what separates him him from all the others. In a hurry, so can't make this as complete as I'd like to...but just throwing in my two cents worth :)later Nicator