RCL ExclusiveThe Greatest Tactical General in History by the Numbers
A data analyst turns "Moneyball" metrics on historical wartime figures to surprising results.
Military By Lee Ferran
2 weeks ago
The family has gathered for the holidays, and everyone is merry, but your smile is halfhearted because you know better. You know that sooner or later your relatives will be fiercely divided, as all families are this time of year, by that age-old question: Who was the greatest military general in history?
Granddad sticks with the classic: Caesar. Aunt Kathy, feeling clever: Saladin. Uncle Bill, after some lengthy, awkward qualifying preamble: Robert E. Lee. Your 7-year-old little brother Tyson, shouting from the kids' table with some pretty solid name-based logic: Alexander the Great.
Soon battles are reenacted in mashed potato fields — gravy for rivers, rice for infantry, peas for cannons and, a bit unnecessarily, cranberry sauce for blood. Then the actual food fights start over how much the rain impacted the outcome of the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Every. Time.
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