This is coolbert: What makes a "Great Captain"? Those war leaders who lead their troops to victory and do so with eclat. This is not something that seems to be easily understood. The normal modern progression for a military officer would be to graduate hopefully from a military academy, put in time as a commander at the lower ranks [platoon and company commander], attend a command and staff school, work as a staff officer and commander of units at the higher echelons [battalion and regiment], be selected for flag rank [general], attend or study at a "war college" the finer points of large unit maneuver [operational art] and the principles of war, etc. This would be the modern version of progression for the military officer aspiring to higher command.

When studying the backgrounds of many of the "Great Captains", we find little formal training, if any, and in many cases, little or no leadership at lower levels, culminating in higher command where greatness was achieved. The normal modern progression is not a model that has been followed in the past.

Some obvious exceptional "Great Captains" stand out in this regard.

Alexander the Great was only in his twenties when he set out to conquer the Persian Empire and the rest of the known world. Did have combat experience, albeit only limited. Did have exceptional education [his tutor was Aristotle] but not in the military sense. But did have exceptional generals that perhaps advised him. The chronicles of the time make specific mention that on many occasions Alexander ignored the advice of these men, and yet, he was successful.

Genghis Khan would have had combat experience from the almost continuous tribal warfare that existed among the Mongol tribes at the time [early 1200's]. Genghis could not have had any formal learning in the realm of military arts, as he was illiterate. That did not stop him from being a great organizer and leader. But nothing in his background suggest an ability to lead into battle armies of 200,000 Mongols and be successful, as he did.

Napoleon, was a military academy graduate. Yet nothing in his background either would suggest an overwhelming ability until he demonstrated his talent for generalship. Prior to ascending to command of the French armies, he did not have extensive combat experience, although I believe he had some experience as an artillery officer. And of course formal education for the military operational art did not exist at the time.

The American Civil War also produced some generals whose abilities could not have been anticipated at the start of the war.

Robert E. Lee had a long and distinguished military career, but limited combat experience, that being during the Mexican-American War of 1848. This experience was primarily in the fields of reconnaissance and engineering, not combat arms.

Ulysses S. Grant had a limited military career prior to the outbreak of war in 1861, had served in combat in the same war as Lee, the Mexican-American war of 1848, but only at lower echelons of command. Having been discharged for a number of years from the U.S. Army, it can not be said that Grant was in the loop prior to the outbreak of war, Grant's life being a mediocre one to that point.

Both Grant and Lee were West Point graduates. That would not have counted much toward mastering the operational art, as this term, and the study thereof, as it was for Napoleon, had not been conceived as a subject for study prior to that point.

The great Confederate General, Nathan Beford Forrest [Shelby Foote rates him as one of the two geniuses produced by the American Civil War, Lincoln being the other], had no military experience prior to the outbreak of war, was turned down for a commission, and enlisted as a private!! Nothing whatsoever in his background could have ever prepared him for leadership at any level, much less as a very successful general and an intuitive practitioner of the operational art.

I think the word intuitive is very applicable here. Each of these "Great Captains" seemed to possess an intuition that served them very well. Great leadership skills combined with this intuition to do the right thing at the right time enabled all these "Great Captains" to gain greatness.

coolbert.