Great Commanders in History

[adsH]

Re: The Greatest Captains of Military History

Excellent post, adsH. But did Umar I lead his men in battle?
They were great as administrators. Umar Bin Abdul Aziz, for example, [size=+1]paid special attention to the prison reforms. He instructed for there to be frequent inspections of jails The jail wardens were admonished not to maltreat the prisoners. Every prisoner was given a monthly stipend and proper seasonal clothing. He advised the jail authorities to inculcate love for virtue and hatred for vice among the prisoners. This education of the prisoners led to their reformation. [/size]

Prophet Muhammad and Omar Bin Khatab were Leaders even on the battle field, Omar was Second in command to the Prophet, I think he was regarded as the Most ruthless warrior of the queresh (Makah'ein Elite) Prophet Muhammad's tribe. They were responsible to lead on the battle feild. Your reading part of the history that has highlighted greatest achivements but never the less they were Califs and they had a dynamic Role at war time and peace time. Omar was in no way a plain Beurocrat he was feared and respected as one of the most ruthless fearless warrior in the battle field.

In one of the Omar's Sermons, He Asked HIs people I have one of the most powerful Armies at my command ready for Battle. I fear this fact, Who will stop me if i go Stray. An old man Stood up wrinkled and Frail holding his Walking stick pointing it at him. Said. I will.

 

[adsH]

Re: Great Commanders

MUGHAL MONARCHS
An Introduction to the Mughal Dynasty and Mughal Agra



The Mughal Dynasty is a line of Muslim emperors who reigned in India from 1526 to 1858. Babur, the first mughal emperor, was a descendant of the Turkish conqueror Timur on his father's side and of the Mongol (in Persian, mughal) conqueror Genghis Khan on his mother's side, Invaded India from Afghanistan and founded the Mughal Empire on the ruin of the Delhi Sultanate. From 1526, when Babur defeated Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, the ruler of Delhi and established himself in neighbouring Agra, until 1638, when his great-great-grandson Shah Jehan built a new capital city in Delhi again, Agra was a repository for all the wealth and talent of one of the most extensive empires in the medieval world.
The many elements that led to the creation of the Taj Mahal had their roots in the reigns of earlier monarchs : 1) Babur, 2) Humayun, 3) Akbar, 4) Jehangir, 5) Shah Jehan, 6) Aurangzeb, each of whom contributed his particular aesthetic interests and endeavours to the establishment of what we have subsequently called the Mughal Style, a style which blended the Persian patterns brought by the Mughals with the indigenous genius for fine craftsmanship.

The amazing achievements in the Mughal architectural tradition owe much to the great talent of Indian artisans and the wealth of material found in India, including the abundance of stone. Each emperor used local materials and indigenous forms and craftsmanship to nurture and bring to fruition a unique enduringly beautiful architectural tradition. The Mughal style found triumphant fulfilment in the building of the Taj Mahal, the most splendid expression of the centuries of Mughal rule in India. The Taj Mahal was the last and greatest architectural flowering of the Mughal period in Agra, before its builder, Shah Jehan (1592-1658) shifted the imperial centre of power and administration to what is now called Delhi.

Babur
Although Babur, the founder of the Mughal empire, ruled only for four brief years, he left his impress on all that was to follow. His love for nature led him to create gardens of great beauty on the formal charbagh (four quarters) plan. His Arambagh in Agra set the pattern for the gardens which became an intrinsic part of every Mughal fort, palace and tomb in the centuries that followed.

Goto : Humayun, Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jehan, Aurangzeb

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Humayun
Babur's son Humayun succeeded him in 1530, but was defeated by Sher Shah, an Afghan who ruled north India for 15 years, in 1540. Humayun only just managed to regain his father's territories before his death and the accession of his 13 year old son, Akbar, whose 49 year reign laid the foundation of empire, and the development of a new style of architecture.

Babur, Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jehan, Aurangzeb

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Akbar
Humayun's son Akbar, who reigned from 1556 to 1605, decisively defeated the Afghans and firmly established Mughal supremacy in northern India. One of India's greatest rulers, he extended a sound administrative system, and won the loyalty of his Hindu subjects by abolishing the personal tax on them and by appointing them to high civil and military posts. Akbar was receptive to all creeds and doctrines, and he tried to found an eclectic religion.

Nine years after he became emperor, Akbar, ordered the construction of a fort beside the river Yamuna in what is now called Agra. The construction proceeded at a hectic pace and within eight years, most of the five hundred buildings within the fort were complete.

By the time he was 26 years old, Akbar had power, prestige and great wealth, but despite a large number of wives, he had no heir. A mystic, by the name of Salim Chisti prophesised that the emperor would have not one but three sons. When the prophesy came true, Akbar decided to build a new capital city (Fatehpur Sikri) on the rocky ridge outside Agra upon which Salim Chisti had his hermitage, using the red sandstone of the ridge itself. Fatehpur Sikri consists of a number of highly individual structures united by the unvarying use of red sandstone and the intricate ornamentation that characterises them. Akbar employed local masons and craftsmen and allowed them the freedom to use their traditional skills to create a style which has been called Akbari.

At the summit of the ridge, Emperor Akbar built an enormous congregational mosque, the Jami Masjid. Later, he added a massive triumphal gate, called the Buland Darwaza at the southern entrance to the mosque. The dominant, aggressive dimensions of the Buland Darwaza provide a perfect foil to the other addition to the mosque; the single storeyed, daintily decorated tomb built for Salim Chisti.

Akbar's own palace was a double storeyed structure located behind a pool of water. Spectacular accompanying buildings include the Turkish Sultana Begum's palace, the Diwan-i-khas, the Panch Mahal, the Hawa Mahal, Mariam's palace and Birbal's house. The entire palace complex is adorned with exquisite carvings, lattice and pierced stone screens, wall paintings, canopied roofs, carved brackets and pilasters.

Akbar chose the site for his own tomb himself, at a place called Sikandra, near Agra. Sikandra, in a sense, marks the transition between the strong, square, earthbound buildings that characterise the Akbari style and the delicate airy marble structures that Shah Jehan built two generations later. The beginning of inlay work that was so much a part of Shah Jehan's buildings are visible at Sikandra in the bold patterns that decorate the gateway.

Babur, Humayun, Jehangir, Shah Jehan, Aurangzeb

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Jehangir
Thanks to Akbar's organising genius, the Mughal administration functioned well under his son Jehangir from 1605 to 1627. There was not a great deal of architectural activity during Jehangir's reign, with one exception. This was the tomb Jehangir and his wife Nur Jahan built for Nur Jahan's father, Itimad-ud-Daulah, who was Jehangir's most important courtier. While the structure itself is fairly simple, the manner in which it has been carved and inlaid with semi-precious stones demonstrates the mastery over this craft which was to find such perfect expression in the Taj Mahal. Lapis lazuli, onyx, jasper, topaz, and carnelian have been combined with marble of various hues to create designs of unsurpassed elegance, interspread with finely carved screens.

Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Shah Jehan, Aurangzeb

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Shah Jehan
Jehangir's son and successor, Shah Jehan ruled from 1628 to 1658. He was a great patrons of the arts, and Mughal painting and architecture, blending Persian and Indian traditions, reached their zenith at this time.

With the accession of Shah Jehan to the throne, came a flowering of architecture both in Agra and Delhi. The profusion of white marble buildings raised during the period of Shah Jehan, led one scholar to characterise it as the reign of marble. Red sandstone and brick remained major building materials, but the use of marble is expressive of the very high standards of elegance and luxury that governed all aspects of an architectural project throughout Shah Jehan's reign. The innovations seen in the buildings created during Shah Jehan's reign are striking demonstrations of the effect of particular aesthetic and political concerns. In addition to a greater use of marble, which was a textural quality quite distinct from the red sandstone favoured by his predecessors, there was refinement of the architectural vocabulary. Among specific changes were the introduction of cusped arches and of pillars with tapering shafts and baluster detailing. Many developments can be directly related to a desire to articulate more forcefully paradisiacal and imperial theme, drawing on sources that included European motifs.

Shah Jehan had many earlier structures in the Agra Fort dismantled in order to make room for his own marble pavilions. It seems that immediately upon his accession in 1628, Shah Jehan ordered palace additions to the existing forts at Agra and Lahore. The most notable complex of white marble palace structures is situated on the eastern edge of the fortified walls built by Akbar bordering the Yamuna river. Among these is Muthamman Burg (Jasmine Tower), built at a point where the main north-south wall of the fort takes a turn towards the east. The octagonal room, which offers an exceptional view of the Taj Mahal, is supposed to be the place where Shah Jehan died in 1666. The Muthamman Burg is connected with a series of other marble pavilions forming the east side of a large courtyard that once contained a garden. Only the structure and not the flora survives today. To the north of the palace quarters bordering the garden are additional rooms including the Hall of Private Audience, which is a marble pillared hall decorated with profuse inlay. The Shish mahal which is located close to the royal apartments, has hundreds of small mirrors embedded in stucco decorations, in intricate floral and geometrical designs. Some distance away is the magnificent Moti Masjid, the Pearl Mosque built at an elevation so that its ethereal domes and kiosks are visible above the walls of the fort.

Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jehangir, Aurangzeb

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Aurangzeb
Shah Jehan's son Aurangzeb was the last Great Mughal. Reigning from 1658 to 1707, he was a stern puritan and a religious bigot who sought to impose orthodox Islam on all of India. He dismissed Hindus from public service, reimposed tax on them, and destroyed their temples. Aurangzeb spent the latter half of the reign trying to conquer southern India. Although he brought the Mughal Empire to its greatest extent, his wars helped weld the Marathas into a powerful enemy and exhausted imperial resources.

Although patronage declined after the reign of Shah Jehan, elaborate architectural projects were undertaken for later Mughal rulers. The Badshahi Mosque in Lahore and the Pearl Mosque in the Delhi fort are but two examples built for Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb chose to be buried in a simple open-air grave, but the tomb of his wife (Bibi-ka-Maqbara) at Aurangabad, is quite elaborate. Although small, the Pearl Mosque in particular, represents a continuation not only of the architectural vocabulary established during the reign of Shah Jehan but also of the use of expensive building materials such as white marble, though the elongated shape of domes and arches signals a change in taste.

Soon after Aurangzeb's death the empire broke up. The 19th. and last Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah II was deposed by the British in 1858.

Mughals were impressive too, Coming back to one of them Babur the First Mughal.

http://rubens.anu.edu.au/student.projects/tajmahal/mughal.html

 

[Sparapet]

Re: The Greatest Captains of Military History

Impressive list Spartan, yet I do see some omissions.

1) Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov, 1802-1855 - Russian admiral, distinguished during the Crimean War, having defeated the Ottoman navy at Sinope, and as the commander of land and naval forces during the Siege of Sebastopol.

2) Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov, 1729-1800 - Russian Field Marshall, never defeated, was victorious agains the ottomans in both Russo-Turkish wars, and at the age of 70, led the Russian and Austrian armies against Napoleon, defeating the french at Cassano, Trebia and Novi.

3) Finally, I realize that the discussion so far has centered on sucessful conquerors and commanders, however I would like to add to the list those commanders who displayed courage, skill and foresight in the mountains and valleys of Artsakh (aka Nagorno-Karabakh). I would like to add those like Arkady Ter-Tadevossian, Shahen Meghryan, Hemayag Haroyan, Monte Melkonyan, Ashod Ghoulian, who stood their ground, fought and defeated an enemy who was better equipped, better financed and had numerous mercenaries in addition to its own troops. Here is how "Combat and Survival" put it: "How a mountain-based guerilla army of 40,000 men - and a few women - with hunting rifles, supplemented by captured weapons, defeated forces armed with MIG fighters, attack helicopters and Grad rocket batteries is an extraordinary story of tactics and courage." (Vol 11 Iss 5). (Full article can be found at http://www.geocities.com/master8885/Forces/combat.html)

 

[Joseph]

Re: The Greatest Captains of Military History

Does FM Sam Manekshaw come anywhere near?

 

[Spartan JKM]

Re: Great Commanders

Umar ibn Al-Khatteb was a great man, but maybe you could convince me more so that he was a military commander as well as a brilliant reformer who undertook many administrative changes. He oversaw public policy, establishing a very viable administration for newly conquered lands etc. Again, a brilliant man, but the great battle victories at Ajnadain, Pella, Damascus, Yarmuk, Kadisiyah, Aleppo, and Nihawand (all during his reign) for example, he was not in direct command. They were his armies, as Elizabeth had authoritarian control over the English fleet in 1588, but I do not merit her a battle victory. I'm sure he was indeed a soldier in his younger days, and I have no right to lay down parameters as to whom gets to be a 'commander'. He was the boss.

Thanks Sparapet. Suvorov was one of the greatest; he's on TIER 2. Nakhimov should have been on TIER 3, but got 'lost in translation' from my notes to the keyboard.

Thanks for the additions of the Armenian heroes. I added them. Men such as these do not possess any less courage or zeal than the more prominent ones. The great patriots Andranik and Gevork Chavoush are on TIER 3.
I couldn't find any infomation about Haroyen and Melkonyan. Was Bekor Ghoulian the same man as Ashod Ghoulian? The leader who was killed while storming into Shoushi?

Joseph, I believe Manekshaw was the architect of India's heroic victory in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War. I don't know much about him.

Thanks, Spartan JKM

 

[adsH]

Re: Great Commanders

Umar ibn Al-Khatteb was a great man, but maybe you could convince me more so that he was a military commander as well as a brilliant reformer who undertook many administrative changes. He oversaw public policy, establishing a very viable administration for newly conquered lands etc. Again, a brilliant man, but the great battle victories at Ajnadain, Pella, Damascus, Yarmuk, Kadisiyah, Aleppo, and Nihawand (all during his reign) for example, he was not in direct command. They were his armies,

Haha !! I know its confusing. But Omer bin Khatab Was a Leader, his Powers not purely administrative or Symbolic in any nature. His First Job was to lead the Muslims. He Was always at the Battle field in direct command. Traditionally in those Days Leader used to be out in the battle Feild (Believe it or not). Taking inn the whole Feeling of battle first hand. Thats probably why there aren't many Commanders listed from that era.
Its a weird concept But worth researching, If you read up on the Roles of Calif they have changed dramatically After the First Four. Corruption had Swept inn spoiling the whole concept of worthy Califs. Frankly the Whole Concept has been Traditionally shakey !!

 

[mysterious]

Re: Great Commanders

What Spartan should research is the conquests and battles in which Umer did personally take part. I'm sure that will give him some idea of the might of Umer as a warrior and mind as a commander on the field.

 

[Sparapet]

Re: Great Commanders

Thanks Sparapet. Suvorov was one of the greatest; he's on TIER 2. Nakhimov should have been on TIER 3, but got 'lost in translation' from my notes to the keyboard.

Thanks for the additions of the Armenian heroes. I added them. Men such as these do not possess any less courage or zeal than the more prominent ones. The great patriots Andranik and Gevork Chavoush are on TIER 3.
I couldn't find any infomation about Haroyen and Melkonyan. Was Bekor Ghoulian the same man as Ashod Ghoulian? The leader who was killed while storming into Shoushi?

Thanks, Spartan JKM

Zoravar Andranik and Gevork Chavoush did make their mark in history defending their people from the Turkish butchers. One more name that must be mentioned in the same breath is Garegin Nzhdeh. His troops were among the finest of his time, disciplined and fierce. They defended Zangezur from the Turks for over a year, and succeeded.

In regards to the modern heroes, you are correct, Ashods full name is Ashod Bekor Ghoulian, and more info on fim, his men and the liberation of Shushi can be found at http://www.panarmenian.net/library/eng/?id=63.

There isnt much out there on the net about Monte Melkonyan, but he was an American Armenian, who was involved with ASALA in the Middle East, and after serving some time in a French prison, went to Karabakh to fight for Armenia. He quickly rose in rank and became the commander of the Martuni district forces. This is the best article I could find in English http://www.hetq.am/eng/society/h-0603-monte.html.

 

[Spartan JKM]

Re: Great Commanders

Thanks you everybody; I indeed stand corrected regarding Umar ibn Al-Khattab.

I did dig up some information at the library, among other things, and found he began to bring the Umma, the Muslim tribes who seemed to think their allegiance no longer existed with the death of Muhammed, under better control, and he started to organize the Ghazu raids and conducted attacks against non-Muslims in the surrounding areas. The Umma were willing to recognize Umar ibn al-Khattab as a military leader and followed his orders during military campaigns. Under the ideal of Islam, Arab tribes who longed maintained their independence were now uniting with one another under one ruler. Thanks for your help adsH and Mysterious - this is how one learns great material.

However, I found a chatroom discussing the greatest Muslim military leaders, and Umar doesn't seem to be very prevalent. But our discussion wasn't labeling him as the greatest of the Muslim leaders. Again, thanks for your apprising.

http://www.ummah.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-36860.html


Thank you as well, Sparapet for the information.

Spartan JKM

 

[adsH]

Re: Great Commanders

However, I found a chatroom discussing the greatest Muslim military leaders, and Umar doesn't seem to be very prevalent. But our discussion wasn't labeling him as the greatest of the Muslim leaders. Again, thanks for your apprising.

Anytime !! Thanks for bringing up the Topic !!.

Umar may not be Prevalent simply because Most of his Conquest was based on a Tiny Population of Muslims. Muslims Became well Known after the Ummayed Periods . the Time of Damascus !! the And then Eventually Baghdad the Scientific era !! House of Widome (Bait-al Hikma) World Libraries The Spanish and Baghdad Courts. the Spanish Medical treatments. Etc


I did some digging up!!! found these lying the History

In 900, Rhazes, chief physician of a Baghdad hospital, makes the first distinction between measles and smallpox, establishing criteria to diagnose smallpox that will be used until the 18th century.

Arbaic Numerals as Many would know who Are into Maths!!

In 975, Arabs introduce modern arithmetical notation to Europeans, making calculations much easier than they had been with Roman numerals. (has any one seen the Movie the 13th Warrior).

1000-1009
The Umayyad caliphate begins to decline under Hisham II.

the Fatimid caliph of Egypt, al-Hakim,


In 1402, at the Battle of Angora, Tamerlane's army defeats the forces of the Ottoman sultan Bayazid I.

In 1405,Emperor Yung Lo launches the first Chinese sea expedition. It is led by a Muslim eunuch, Ma, who calls himself Cheng Ho.

In 1408, the Chinese explorer Cheng Ho begins a second sea expedition, during which he captures the King of Ceylon and the Sinhalese royal family.




The timeLine of the Jerusalem conquests, Omer bin Khatab is apart of it, i think he continued his Battle with the benetzine Empire. During Muhammad The Muslims never took control of the Jerusalem even tho they had the capability. It was simply an understanding, I suppose so the Bentizines weren't Ready to Battle Muhammad i think the First war costed Muslims 40 thousand Men and the Bentizines about 100,000 and clearly No one had achieved an upper hand. so in the next war Muhammad Had 100,000 men and Bentizine wern't prepared for that so they never showed Up. Muhammad ordered settlements Outside the Walls of Jerusalem.

THE FIRST COMMONWEALTH (ca. 1004 - 586 BCE)
ca. 1004 King David captures Jerusalem from the Jebusites. Makes Jerusalem the capital.
(As some scholars point out, King David did not found Jerusalem, but conquered an already-inhabited city that had been in existence for 2,000 years.)
1010 - 970 Reign of King David.
ca. 960 King Solomon begins to build the First Temple.
928 Division of Kingdom into Israel (north) and Judah (south).
722 Assyrians conquer northern Kingdom of Israel.
701 Hezekiah successfully withstands Sennacherib's attack on Jerusalem.
597 Babylonians capture Jerusalem.
586 Nebuchadnezzar destroys city and First Temple and exiles Jews to Babylon.
THE PERSIAN PERIOD (539 BCE - 332 BCE)
539 Fall of Babylon.
538-37 Cyrus allows Jews (about 50,000) to return to Jerusalem from Babylon
520 Works begins on the building of the Second Temple under Zerubbabel.
515 Completion and rededication of the Second Temple.
445 Nehemiah appointed governor of Judea by Artaxerxes and rebuilds city walls.
397 Ezra the Scribe initiates religious reforms.
THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD (167 BCE - CE 63)
332 Alexander the Great conquers Palestine.
323 Death of Alexander in Babylon - Wars of Succession begin.
320 Ptolemy I captures Jerusalem.
320 - 198 Rule of Egyptian Ptolemies.
198 - 167 Rule of the Syrian Seleucids.
167 Antiochus IV of Syria outlaws Juda and desecrates the Second Temple.
THE HASMONEAN PERIOD (167 BCE - CE 63)
167 - 141 Maccabean War of Liberation.
164 Judah Maccabee recaptures Jerusalem and restores Temple.
166 - 160 Rule of Judah the Maccabee.
160 - 143 Rule of Jonathan.
143 - 135 Rule of Simon Maccabeus.
ROMAN PERIOD (63 BCE - 324 CE)
63 General Pompey and his Roman legions conquer Jerusalem.
63 - 37 Hasmonean rules continue but under protection of Rome.
40 Rome appoints Herod King of Judea.
40 - CE 4 Reign of Herod the Great.
37 King Herod captures Jerusalem.
18 Herod commences rebuilding of Temple.
ca. 7 BCE - ca. 31 CE Life of Jesus of Nazareth
4 BCE Jerusalem is governed from Caesarea by Roman procurators.
Herod dies.
New Testament Period under Roman Rule (First Century CE)

26 - 36 Pontius Pilate, Roman procurator of Judea.
27 - 31 The ministry of Jesus.
31 Crucifixion of Jesus.
63 Temple completed.
66 Jews revolt against the Romans.
70 Jerusalem is demolished by Titus; survivors are exiled or sold into slavery.
132 Bar Kochba leads a doomed revolt against Rome.
135 Emperor Hadrian rebuilds Jerusalem; builds new walls and renames the city Aelia
Capitolina and country Palestine; bans Jews from Jerusalem.
BYZANTINE PERIOD (324 - 638)
313 Emperor Constantine legalizes Christianity.
324 Constantine becomes sole ruler of the empire.
326 Queen Helena discovers Gologotha and other holy sites; her son, Constantine, builds the Anastasis (Church of the Holy Sepulchre).
438 Empress Eudocia allows Jews to live in Jersualem.
614 Persian conquest of Jerusalem.
628 Emperor Heraculis recaptures the city.
EARLY MUSLIM PERIOD (639 - 1099)
638 Six years after the Mohammed's death, Caliph Omar captures Jerusalem; Jews readmitted.
691 Dome of the Rock is built by Caliph Abd al-Malik.
715 Al-Aqsa Mosque is completed by al-Walid al-Malik.
750 Power shifts from the Umayyards of Damascus to the Abbasids of Baghdad; Abbasids continue to enhance Jerusalem.
969 Fatimid conquest is soon followed by destruction of churches and synagogues.
1071 Seljuks devastate Jerusalem.

CRUSADER PERIOD (1099 - 1187)
1099 Crusaders led by Godfrey de Bouillon, capture Jerusalem; Baldwin I declared king; Jews and Muslims are slaughtered.
1187 Kurdish general Saladin captures Jerusalem from Crusaders; permits Jews and Muslims to return and settle in the city.

WATCH "KINGDOM OF HEAVEN" The FILM, this is the PArt of the history the Film Presents.


AYYUBID and MAMLUK PERIOD (1187-1517)
1229 Treaty returns Jerusalem to the Crusaders.
1244 Mamluk Sultans defeat the Ayyubids and rule Jerusalem; city again in Muslim hands.
1260 Mamluks of Egypt rule Jerusalem from Cairo.
1267 Rabbi Moshe Ben Nahman arrives from Spain, revives Jewish congregation.
1275 Marco Polo stops in Jerusalem on his way to China.
1291 Acre, the last Crusader stronghold in the Holy Land, is captured by the Mamluks.
1348 Black Death Plague hits Jerusalem.
1492 Jews arrive following Spanish Exile.
OTTOMAN PERIOD (1517 - 1917)
1517 Palestine and Jerusalem become part of the Ottoman Empire.
1537 - 1541 Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilds the city walls.
1799 Napoleon invades Palestine but does not try to conquer Jerusalem.
1831 Mohammed Ali of Egypt rules the country for nine years.
1838 First consulate (British) opens in Jerusalem.
1849 Consecration of Christ Church, first Protestant church in the Near East.
1860 First Jewish settlement outside walls of the city.
1892 Railroad connects the city to the coast.
1898 Visit by Dr. Theodor Herzl, founder of the World Zionist Organization.
THE BRITISH MANDATE PERIOD (1917 - 1948)
1917 British conquest and General Allenby's entry into Jerusalem.
1920 The Mandate for Palestine is conferred on Britain.
1921-29 Arab-Jewish disturbances.
1936-39 Arab-Jewish disturbances.
1925 Hebrew University buildings are inaugurated.
1947 United Nations Resolution to create a Jewish and an Arab state in Palestine.
1948 British withdraw from Palestine; the country is invaded by armies from neighboring states; the State of Israel is declared on May 14.
THE ISRAELI PERIOD (1948 - )
1948 - 49 Israel War of Liberation (also known as the "1948-1949 War").
1949 Israel-TransJordan Armistice Agreement signed; Jerusalem divided between two countries.
Jerusalem proclaimed capital of Israel; East Jerusalem is ruled by Jordan.
1967 Israelis capture Old City during Six-Day War.
1973 The Yom Kippur War.
1979 Egypt and Israel sign peace treaty.
1987 Beginning of Intifada.
1993 Israel and the PLO sign the Declaration of Principles.
1995 Israel and Jordan sign peace treaty.

http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/jerusalem/jerutime.html



Sparton !! If you want more i can dig up more details about Omer Bin-Khatab and his conquest i have detailed Records of that era, this stuf won't be available on the net since most of it is recored by Muslim Scholars and you have to read there extensive text to read into the history. I'll compile something and Put it up. the History Channel is more Comprehensive but doesn't reach deep enough.

 

[mysterious]

Re: Great Commanders

No problem Spartan. Great information digging up by you and amazing contribution by adsh over here. Btw adsh, when you mention "Bentizines", are you referring to the Byzantines?

 

[adsH]

Re: Great Commanders

No problem Spartan. Great information digging up by you and amazing contribution by adsh over here. Btw adsh, when you mention "Bentizines", are you referring to the Byzantines?

yeup!! you KNow how i am with spelling. i do try to Proof read stuff to make sure its not too Hard for People to read but sometimes Spelling gets out of hand !!!

 

[mysterious]

Re: Great Commanders

Thats alrite pal, was just making sure. Didnt think this new faction (Bentizines) came out of nowhere!

 

[adsH]

Re: Great Commanders

On the civil war, yes the country was torn by rife. Pakistan was pumping
up the force to crush the rebellion. There were talk of mass murders and
such. But it is not the rebellion that done in the Pakistan army. It is
the war ... those 90,000 strong force had the capability to give a fight
to the invaders. 90,000 strong force would not lay down arms in 13 days
because of the rebellion. However as happened in Iraq, they already saw
the cause is lost and gave up.

I'll let you inn on a secret Larf!. It wasn't the Pak or indian Army that led to the Creation of Bangladesh it was the Political incompetence of the Politicians in Islamabad. They treated Bangladesh as a piece of territory. The 90,000 troops you talk off were held in conflict long before those 13 days you talk about. they were there to Stop a rebellion they were under-equipped had to deal with east Pakistani members of the forces defecting. there Food water arms supply Blocked. There is no way A modern Task force can hold up against two Larger numbered well equipped well supplied strategically in a better position forces. If they went onn further it was suicide for them. They had lost the battle when they had begun suppressing the uprising!! frankly India took too much credit for the war. Even tho PAF was still brining down better equipped and better supplied IAF Assets. Even tho East PAF at the end was annihilated to Nothing since they had not much to start with. All the credit for the war should go to the two political Parties ruling on the two sides one the West Pakistani and the other the Indian Political party.

 

[gf0012-aust]

Re: Great Commanders

Someone rapidly needs to identify a relevant Great Commander out of this little imbroglio or the thread risks getting locked.

 

[webmaster]

Re: Great Commanders

Since, people can't stay on the topic.

Locking.

If you need to discuss any further, the thread is open here:
http://www.globaltalknetworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12770

Also, when you QUOTE someone, please make sure you leave their name in the "quote" so we know who you are quoting.

Like this:

[QUOTE=name of the user] text [/quote]

Enjoy!

 

[Bordo-Bereli]

Re: Great Commanders

The bests are M.Kemal Atatürk,Yavuz Sultan Selim Khan and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Khan.They have changed the history.

 

[driftder]

Re: Great Commanders

ahem I came across this character while researching the Napoleonic Wars - Sir John Moore. It seems his most epic moment was at the Battle of Corunna. Any comments on him? Preferably non-political that is.

What I have dug out is quite astonishing. He joined the army at 15 years old! Wonder what I was doing when I was his age? Definitely not learning how to stand parade or bear muskets. Here's some snippets on him at this link: http://www.napoleonguide.com/moore.htm. What strikes my attention was the reference to light infantry - the forerunner of the commandoes I believe. BTW just to cure my curiousity, just who is the foremost commander during the Napoleonic Wars era? Desaix, Soult or Wellington?

 

[gf0012-aust]

Re: Great Commanders

ahem I came across this character while researching the Napoleonic Wars - Sir John Moore. It seems his most epic moment was at the Battle of Corunna. Any comments on him? Preferably non-political that is.

What I have dug out is quite astonishing. He joined the army at 15 years old! Wonder what I was doing when I was his age? Definitely not learning how to stand parade or bear muskets. Here's some snippets on him at this link: http://www.napoleonguide.com/moore.htm. What strikes my attention was the reference to light infantry - the forerunner of the commandoes I believe. BTW just to cure my curiousity, just who is the foremost commander during the Napoleonic Wars era? Desaix, Soult or Wellington?

I didn't think that Sir John was responsible for the creation of the tactics of the 95th. The 95th is regarded as the forerunner of modern infantry. I was under the clear view that it was Wellingtons initiative and mainly Beckwiths innovations. Moore developed tactics for the 43rd and 52nd, some of which were utilised by the 95th. But it was Beckwith who was the main tactician.

A good history reference on the 95th and its history is Mark Urbans "Rifles"

 

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Re: Great Commanders

Admiral Lord Nelson

Admiral Lord Nelson, Someone I am reading about these Days, Ahem, it will give me something to talk about during the Admiralty Interview Board, when i'm asked about HIstory.

Every year on October 21, England commemorates Trafalgar Day. One cannot use the term "celebrates," for although this holiday does commemorate one of the greatest victories at sea, it also memorializes the death of England's most beloved admiral. In the years that have passed since the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 his reputation has not been surpassed, but rather has grown as the admirals of other navies have looked to his life for inspiration and tactical instruction. Although many admirals have been compared to him, none has ever been set above him. Even Raymond Ames Spruance, who won an overwhelming victory over a superior Japanese force at Midway and went on to win many other great battles of World War II in the Pacific, can never take better than second place to this extraordinary man.

Horatio Nelson was born on September 29, 1758, to Catherine (Suckling) Nelson, the wife of Edmund Nelson, rector of Burnham Thorpe, in the county of Norfolk. He was a sickly child from the start and grew up small and slender. His mother died on Boxing Day in 1767, when young Horatio was only nine years old.When the Falklands Crisis of 1770 arose, young Horatio saw this as an opportunity to contribute his effort to the problem and asked his older brother William to write a letter to their father asking him to have their uncle Maurice Suckling take him to sea.

Captain Suckling was dubious about this idea, but he agreed and Horatio entered the Navy on January 1, 1771. At the time he was only twelve years old, but this was common. Horatio's introduction to the Navy was singularly unpromising, for when he arrived at Chatham he was unable to find his ship and no one would direct him to it. The slender young boy wandered about the docks until someone finally took pity on him and delivered him to the Raisonnable, but his uncle (who was the ship's captain) was not aboard and would not arrive for days. Thus he spent several nights alone before his uncle finally arrived and welcomed him to the service.

In spite of this less than promising beginning, the young Nelson stuck it out and worked his way up the ranks. At the age of twenty he "made post," achieving the rank of captain. Always a romantic, the young Nelson was quick to fall in love with pretty young women, although his friends were able to warn him off the more unsuitable ones. But near the end of his duty as captain of HMS Boreas , he met a young widow by the name of Fanny Nisbet. Still trying to get over his hopeless passion for the beautiful Mary Montray and captivated by Fanny's little boy Josiah, he failed to notice that this woman was a total mismatch for his personality. However his marriage to her seemed to be happy enough for the next several years, mostly because he had nothing else to compare his marriage to, and because he was unhappily beached.

Only after the French Revolution did his efforts to gain a new sea command finally pay off, and he entered the phase of his life that would make him famous. However it also cost him dearly. While doing joint operations with the army ashore at Calvi he was wounded in the face, costing him the sight of his right eye (although the eye itself was not disfigured, contrary to popular belief). Shortly after his dramatic success at the Battle of St. Vincent he undertook an ambitious plan to capture a treasure ship supposedly anchored at Santa Cruz de Teneriffe in the Canary Islands. This ill-conceived and tactically meaningless campaign concluded with him badly wounded while storming the mole of Santa Cruz, his right arm so badly mangled that it could not be saved.

Any other admiral might well have hauled down his flag for good and retired ashore. However Nelson only took long enough to recover from his wounds before he got himself assigned a new flagship, H. M. S. Vanguard and was back to the Med. Here he chased the French fleet to Egypt and crushed them in the Battle of the Nile. Although it was a far larger victory than had ever been won before, he was not the area CinC, so the government saw fit to give him only the lowest title of nobility and he became Baron Nelson of the Nile.

In the course of the battle he was wounded in the head, which apparently caused him some minimal brain damage. Certainly his personality was unsettled and he was uniquely vulnerable to the temptations that he would find as he put in at Naples. There he would meet the beautiful Emma, Lady Hamilton. Recognizing the limitations of a one-armed admiral, she made herself indispensable to him through dozens of small assistances. She quickly discovered how susceptable he was to flattery and fed that. Soon he was hopelessly her captive, to the point that he came to actively detest his lawful wife.

All his Neapolitan campaigns went disastrously wrong and in time he was relieved of command. Instead of going straight home to England, he accompanied the Hamiltons through Germany, thus growing constantly closer and closer to his new mistress. By the time he got home, scandal had preceeded him. After a few disgusting scenes, the Admiralty decided that the only thing to do was to get him off to sea and away from Lady Hamilton.

His new command, in the Baltic and under the command of the utterly imagination-free Sir Hyde Parker, was not exactly his idea of an ideal posting. But he dutifully raised his flag and set himself to work planning to deal with the problem of the Northern Alliance. This was the Battle of Copenhagen, in which he created naval history. Midway through the battle Sir Hyde lost his nerve and sent out the recall signal. Nelson, knowing that this was no time to flee, put his blind eye to good use by putting his telescope to it and saying, "I really don't see the signal." Sticking out the fight, he crushed the Danish fleet. Subsequently he was made a viscount, the title he would take with him to his death.

After a brief stint of duty patrolling the English Channel, Nelson was permitted to go into a pleasant retirement which he fully believed to be permanent. He then joined Lady Hamilton, purchasing for her an estate at Merton, just outside of London. Together with elderly Sir William Hamilton, he and Emma enjoyed two of the happiest years in their lives, marred only by the fact that they could not make their relationship legitimate and thus provide for their daughter Horatia. Even when old Sir William died, there remained the matter of Fanny, and all of Emma's behind-the-scenes manipulations could not drive her to her grave.

Not long after Sir William's death, the political climate changed. Lord Nelson received orders to hoist his flag aboard H. M. S. Victory and patrol the Medeteranian, containing the French fleet at Tulon. He would remain aboard that ship for all but a month of the rest of his life. For the next two years he did not once stir himself from his flagship, although it wandered many nautical miles in its patrols. In a day before modern accomodation ladders it was simply too much work for a one- armed admiral to come and go, so he let everyone else come to him.

In August of 1805, sick with weariness after a fruitless chase to the West Indes and back, Nelson applied for and received a leave of absense. Immediately he went to Merton to join his beloved Lady Hamilton. But that leave would be cut short after problems in the fleet led the Admiralty to call him back. Although he misliked going to sea so quickly, duty was too much a part of his personality for him to refuse.

There is something of the cosmic in the unfolding of that last month as he proceeded toward the final battle. Even almost two hundred years after the fact, a well-written account of how Lord Nelson went into the Battle of Trafalgar can bring tears to a reader's eyes. Even as he was winning his greatest victory ever, he was struck down by a sniper's bullet. He lingered on in great agony for several hours, long enough to know that he had won a victory grander than he'd ever won before. However he would not live to reap its glory, which would go to his unworthy brother William. The true line, represented by his daughter Horatia, would be tormented by privation and obscurity while others would bask in the radiance of his legacy.



Links to Lord Nelson Sites

Visit The Nelson Room for books on Nelson and the Napoleonic Wars. There is both fiction and non-fiction here. Find out which of CS Forester's Hornblower books features a cameo appearance by Captain Hardy. Learn where Jack Aubrey of Patrick O'Brian's wildly popular Aubrey/Maturin series met Nelson, and what the admiral told him about maneuvers.

A number of the surrounding counties of England have also gone together with Norfolk to put together a very large and impressive site, England Expects -- Nelson.


Another excellent site is maintained by a commercial CD-Rom producer, Anglia Multimedia. This is actually a Web sampler of one of their CD-Roms, Admiral Horatio Nelson

The navy yard at Portsmouth has a page dedicated to HMS Victory, his final flagship, which is permanently berthed there and now serves as the flagship of the base commandant.

Broadside is a site dedicated to the Royal Navy in the time of the Napoleonic Wars. It includes a sizeable amount of information on Nelson.

The Historical Maritime Society has more information on Nelson's navy.

There is also a site on The Battle of St. Vincent, where Nelson had his first brush with fame.

The Topsail Group is a site for young people dedicated to Lord Nelson. The Topsail Group is a junior branch of The Nelson Society.

The Maritime History and Naval Heritage Homepage has a section of essays on Nelson.

You may also want to take a look at my own academic paper, Lord Nelson and Sea Power.

I also found a nice set of essays about his historical significance, written by a modern admirer.

Perhaps you have heard the sailors' expression of "tapping the admiral" for getting an unauthorized drink. According to legend, when Lord Nelson's body was brought back to England in a cask of spirits of wine, the liquid was found to be low. Supposedly the sailors were sneaking in to raid it, hence the expression. However this writer argues that the legend is completely misunderstood and that the story was conceived not out of spite, but out of love that transforms the whole legend into a strange parallel with the Eucharist . However one wonders why the writer failed to notice an even more powerful parallel -- the slang term "Nelson's blood" for rum would come not from a mistaken idea that his body was preserved in rum, but that the sailors' daily ration was a way of communing with their beloved admiral.

In his own lifetime Lord Nelson was the butt of vicious political cartoons attacking his relationship with Lady Hamilton. And here's a modern jokester who decides that the admiral still needs to be cut down a notch or two, with "Lord Nelson(Off. to prudes, and perhaps Nelson)."

There are also many more tidbits at sites not specifically dedicated to Nelson himself. At a military history site I found a small collection of his letters. Of course these are but a tiny sampling of the vast number of letters he wrote in his lifetime. Those that were saved fill eight volumes, and doubtless many more were thrown away by their recipients or otherwise lost. But even the few examples I found online illuminate some part of his character. As a historian, I recognize the importance of primary source materials such as these.

American Memory has a picture of him contemplating his plans just before the Battle of Trafalgar. Although this portrait wasn't done from life, the artist clearly knew his subject well enough to portray him properly. Like all the other contemporanous portraits, it puts to rest the false notion of his wearing a patch to hide his blind eye. (Anyone who'd studied his letters would have known how relieved he was at Calvi because his appearance would not be marred). Because it cannot be linked directly, use their search system to ask for "Horatio Nelson"

The Royal Naval Museum Trading Company has a wide selection of Nelson memorabilia available for purchase.

Here is a site dedicated to Nelson's opposite number on land, The Duke of Wellington
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/3682/lord_nelson.html