who is the greatest military leader (other than thrawn!)

Open to your thoughts

 

To quote IAmTheDarkSide:

I must disagree about Thrawn. I found him to be a particularly awfully done villain, insulting to my intelligence. He constantly made leaps of logic that were so convoluted even those closest to him kept thinking, "I have no idea why he's doing it or how he came to these conclusions, but he's always right so this time he must be as well." I don't want to hear that it's just because he's such a smart guy. Studying a sample, even a large sample, of human art will NOT give you a psychological profile of the human race such that you can understand any strategy or tactic made by any human. And while I appreciate authors and by extension villains who are smarter than I, I find it hard to believe based on the textual events that Thrawn could be anything but omiscient. Neither he nor the text backs up how he reaches his conclusions, and we don't get inside his head. He just makes a statement or a "guess," and bang-poof, he's right and has outwitted the NR again.

Thrawn doesn't lead. He commands. Everyone is a better military leader. And, to answer your question, I'd say that probably Wedge is the greatest.

 

I believe it was DL(one of the mods) who said Rieeken. I find myself agreeing now

 

I personally think it was Garm Bel Iblis. Making snap decisions that has saved millions of allies and killed millions of enemies. He is a born leader and can make descisive maneuvers, eving making them up if he needs to. For instance the A-wing slash against Thrawn.

Miin Bodenna
Co-CEO of Massassi
department of defense

 

as well, Iblis thinks of the war itself, no emotions

 

Let's see... I'd say Robert E. Lee, Napolean, Ghengis Khan, Atila the Hun, not to for get George Washington!

 

I have to disagree with Mastage. If you look at the percentage of our brain normal humans use, something like 13%, in real-life and compare it to how people think in star wars, it's not that much different. If Thrawn had the same size of brain, but had the ability to open it up more and use say, 19%, he very may well have the ability to determine the characteristics of a species from their art. He could be well trained enough to say, these colors resemble this personalty, then average it to about how most of those types of species would be like. And then he pre-determines their moves. AND! You leaving out a major equation. Thrawn could have been force sensitive. He could feel it in the force saying, 'the enemy will move here.' He then kind of 'fakes it' and believes it's logic.

 

There's absolutely no textual support or even a hint at that...plus the fact that he was always surrounded by Ysalimiri kind of discounts that as a possibility.

 

Ahh, but if he was force sensitive, it would have been no use, considering that he was is his little force bubble created by the Ysalamari!! He would not be able to use it during battles because he was in the bubble so Joruus C'boath wouldn't take over him.

Miin Bodenna
Co-CEO of Massassi
department of defense

 

Derek, the idea that we only use 15% or so of our brains is a gross misunderstanding. We you use ALL of our brains merely in different portions at diffrent times. That is to say, if I was to be thinking about Natalie Portman,(which incidently, I happen to be doing a lot of the time)I would be using a certian 10% of my brain that does not mean that I'm incapable of using all 100%, merely that I cannot use it all at once.

 

Thrawn's key to miliary excellence was actually his mastery of psychological warfare.

True, he was a master at deploying all kinds of tactics and strategies but his secret was knowing exactly what tactic to deploy to cause the greatest amount of confusion and mental chaos to a given enemy.

Without a chance to psychoanalyse, Thrawn was forced to fall back on brute force just like the rest of the galaxy.

Actually, I feel that Pellaeon was an excellent Military Leader. He rallied a shattered Empire and fell back in a relatively ordered retreat to what is now the Remnant. And according to the EC, he managed to rally them enough to actually try nother major offensive campaign at Orinda.
Finally, he knew when to give up and still managed to find a way to salvage the honour and some of the power of the Empire. Its a testament to him that the Republic didn't impose a Treaty of Versailles sort of armistice on the Empire.

 

I'm with Pellaeon too. For the reasons stated above.

 

We can only use 15 or so percent of our brains becuase of oxygen flow. Our brains use 40% of our oxygen supply everytime we breath. The chiss could have larger lungs which enables them to think more clearly during stressed situations. More air=more brain usage. Therefor some species might be smarter than other due to the fact that they have larger lungs and can dedicate for oxygen to their brains. I hope this cleared up on Thrawn's total genius, but it problably didn't.

 

We can only use 15 or so percent of our brains becuase of oxygen flow. Our brains use 40% of our oxygen supply everytime we breath. The chiss could have larger lungs which enables them to think more clearly during stressed situations. More air=more brain usage. Therefor some species might be smarter than other due to the fact that they have larger lungs and can dedicate for oxygen to their brains. I hope this cleared up on Thrawn's total genius, but it problably didn't.

um... I think you guys are missing the point. No matter how much of your brain your using at one time, you can never exceed your potential. You cannot become "smarter" as you say, by merely accessing more of your brains functions at one time. If anything, it'd probably only make you seriously emotionally imbalanced!

 

For the Empire - Pellaeon

For the Republic - Bel Iblis

For the Rebels - Ackbar

 

Well, let's not forget about Karrde. So he wasn't a military leader for a government, but a military leader he is nontheless. So he only does things for the money, he's a business man. But, unless I'm mistaking, I believe every major star wars charecter owes their life to him, at one point or another.

He might not be a military leader like Iblis or Antillies, but he does have many weapons and a couple of ships with weapons modified on them.

Miin Bodenna
Co-CEO of Massassi
defense department

 

Oh BTW, that was just a theory I read somewhere...

 

I'm with LanceJade Although Lando isn't to bad either

 

Howzaboot....

General Balan?

Major-General Maximilian Veers?

Grand General Malcor Brashin?

Grand Admiral Teshik?

Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus?

Grand Admiral Il-Raz?

Grand Admiral Takel?

Grand Admiral Pitta?

Grand Admiral Grunger?

Grand Admiral Makati?

Grand Admiral Grant?

Grand Admiral Batch?

Grand Admiral Syn?

Admiral Ackbar?

Y'know, the Warlord Zsinj actually did a much better job than did Grand Admiral Thrawn. Zsinj controlled a third of the galaxy; he started with a single sector. Not bad for a vanilla admiral, eh?

 

If you think of all the categories that makes a good leader, I would say Antilles or Ackbar. Bel Iblis was disloyal, in my eyes. I like him, but he aint the best. Same with Lando and Han. Rieekan and Cracken are close behind.

 

Ackbar

 

A great military leader is one who is calm, and can easily rally his men, and sets a good example for his subordinates.

Grand Admiral Thrawn, General Veers, General Antilles, Admiral Ackbar, Admiral Kre'fey, and Admiral Pellaeon are all good examples.

 

Wedge Antilles

He showed the unique ability to command to completely different squadrons(Rogues and Wraiths) too the highest level of success.

He was put in charge of Rogue Squadron when the legendary unit was reformed.

He led the dangerous, but crucial missions that led to the liberation of Coruscant, and the bacta producing Thyferra.

He then led Wraith Squadron, and entirely different type unit than the Rogues. He led them to success against Warlord Zinj.

With his ability to lead, as well his willingness to fight on the front lines along with his units, Wedge is, to me, the best greatest military leader.

Besides, and commanding officer who has an Ewok pilot in his Squadron deserves consideration. Yub Yub!

 

Small units - Wedge
Fleet based - Ackbar