Military Strategists
Sengoku Japan
Hōjō Sōun
The man who invented the Sengoku period's model of conquest (1432-1519). Hojo Soun rose from obscure
Date Masamune
The 'One-Eyed Dragon' of northern Japan who carved out a powerful domain through audacious military
Mōri Motonari
A Sengoku-era daimyo who transformed a single province into western Japan's dominant power through d
Kuroda Yoshitaka
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's chief strategist and the architect of his greatest victories (1546-1604). Kurod
Uesugi Kenshin
The 'Dragon of Echigo' — a Sengoku-era warlord whose devotion to righteous warfare and Buddhist fait
Sanada Yukimura
Called 'the greatest warrior in Japan' by his enemies, Sanada Yukimura made his last stand at the Si
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
The peasant who became ruler of all Japan (1537-1598). Toyotomi Hideyoshi completed the unification
Takeda Shingen
The 'Tiger of Kai' who transformed his landlocked mountain domain into one of Sengoku Japan's most f
Tokugawa Ieyasu
The founder of Japan's Tokugawa shogunate, who achieved through patience what others sought through
Oda Nobunaga
The revolutionary warlord who dismantled feudal Japan's medieval order and launched the country towa
Bakumatsu Japan
Ōkubo Toshimichi
The ruthlessly effective architect of modern Japan who built the Meiji state's institutions while hi
Takasugi Shinsaku
The radical samurai who created Japan's first modern militia and ignited the revolution that ended f
Saigō Takamori
The charismatic giant who led Japan's Meiji Restoration through force of personality and moral autho
Sakamoto Ryōma
The visionary who brokered the alliance that overthrew Japan's feudal government and launched the co
Tōgō Heihachirō
The admiral who destroyed the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima (1905) — the most decis
Ancient China
Wu Qi
A 4th-century BCE Chinese general and military theorist who authored 'The Wuzi' — one of the Seven M
Han Xin
The greatest military mind of early imperial China, whose campaigns established the Han dynasty (c.
Zhuge Liang
The legendary chancellor and military strategist of the Shu Han kingdom during China's Three Kingdom
Cao Cao
The dominant warlord of China's Three Kingdoms era (155-220 CE), who unified the war-torn north thro
Xiang Yu
The 'Hegemon-King of Western Chu' whose raw military genius made him the most feared commander of an
Sun Tzu
A 5th-century BCE Chinese military theorist whose treatise 'The Art of War' remains the most influen
Ancient West
Leonidas I
The Spartan king who led 300 warriors in a suicidal last stand at Thermopylae (480 BCE), buying Gree
Scipio Africanus
The Roman general who defeated Hannibal at Zama (202 BCE) and ended the Second Punic War. Scipio Afr
Alexander the Great
The Macedonian king who conquered the known world before his thirtieth birthday (356-323 BCE). Alexa
Julius Caesar
The Roman general, statesman, and dictator whose conquest of Gaul and crossing of the Rubicon transf
Hannibal
The Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps with elephants and brought Rome to its knees (247-183
Medieval West
Edward, the Black Prince
The greatest English military commander of the Hundred Years' War, whose victories at Crecy and Poit
Richard I of England
The Lionheart — England's warrior-king who spent his reign on crusade and battlefield rather than in
Joan of Arc
The peasant girl who reversed France's fortunes in the Hundred Years' War and was burned at the stak
Modern West
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
The 'Lion of the North' who revolutionized European warfare through combined-arms tactics and transf
Frederick II of Prussia
The Prussian king whose oblique order and disciplined army made a small northern kingdom into a Euro
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
The British general who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo and proved that defensive mastery, coalition m
Horatio Nelson
Britain's greatest naval hero, whose victory at Trafalgar (1805) secured British maritime supremacy
Napoleon
The French emperor whose military genius reshaped Europe and whose innovations in warfare, law, and
Carl von Clausewitz
The Prussian military theorist whose 'On War' became the most influential work of strategic theory i
20th Century
Nogi Maresuke
The Japanese general whose siege of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War became synonymous with
Erwin Rommel
The 'Desert Fox' whose North African campaigns made him the most respected German general of World W
Douglas MacArthur
The American general who commanded in the Pacific War and oversaw Japan's postwar occupation (1880-1
George S. Patton
America's most aggressive World War II general, whose Third Army's lightning advance across France i
Isoroku Yamamoto
The Japanese admiral who planned the Pearl Harbor attack and commanded the Combined Fleet during the
Winston Churchill
The British prime minister whose leadership during World War II embodied national defiance against N
Asia & Middle East
Timur
The Turco-Mongol conqueror who built an empire from Central Asia to India, the Middle East, and Anat
Baibars
The Mamluk sultan who stopped the Mongol advance at Ain Jalut (1260) and systematically eliminated C
Saladin
The sultan who recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, earning respect from both Muslim and
Yi Sun-sin
The Korean naval commander who defeated the Japanese navy in every engagement during the Imjin War (
Genghis Khan
The founder of the Mongol Empire who created history's largest contiguous land empire through revolu
Others
Shaka Zulu
The Zulu king who transformed a minor southern African tribe into a military superpower through revo
Belisarius
The Byzantine Empire's greatest general, who reconquered North Africa and Italy with hopelessly inad
Alexander Suvorov
The undefeated Russian generalissimus whose three principles — speed, surprise, and attack — made hi
Minamoto no Yoshitsune
The brilliant young commander whose daring raids destroyed the Taira clan and ended Japan's first gr
Epaminondas
The Theban general who shattered Sparta's military supremacy at Leuctra (371 BCE) by inventing the o