Alexander the Great was antiquity\'s greatest commander

[conon394]

Yes, and what a battle....nearly everybody knows the names of Thermopylae and/or Leonidas ... whereas most could not tell you the name of the Spartan commander at Platea. I can't offhand...

Ahh but the thing is the original post is about best commanders, not just famous ones. That Leonidas is famous is a fact, but was he a good commander?

Given the limited evidence I think you can credibly argue that there is either simply not enough information to judge his abilities, or to support an argument of brave but unskilled and ineffective. What I don’t think you can argue is was a good as say Iphicrates.

Politically Spartan kings like Agesilaus and Cleomenes dominated the political field in Sparta; the same does not seem to be true for Leonidas.

Tactically everyone of course knew there were ways of turning the pass; I would tend to say a good general puts reliable troops with the covering force – the Tegeans or Thespians to support the Phocians.

If it were not for the bravery of Leonidas and the Spartans and Thespiaens under his command, who stood defiant against overwhelming odds, Greece would probably have fallen to Persia.

I disagree, Greece falls or not based on the success of the navy – all Leonidas had to do was hold up the Persian army in an ideal position, after Marathon had already shown that the mainland Greek hoplite phalanx was better than the best infantry the Persians had in a close fight (i.e. a frontal infantry fight, not some running battle).

it was Leonidas's stand that inspired them to fight and win...

His death was very inspiring, after the Greeks won, but at the time I don’t see the Greeks being all that cheerful about it. The navy at Artemisium was not exactly cheering when it left and Herodotus describes it as a disaster (8.27).

Compare the Lamian war - Nobody talks a lot about the battle of Crannon, except to mention in was somehow a ‘crushing’ defeat for the Greeks in 322 BC (and of course because there is no detailed report about the battle). The reality is that Crannon was not much of a defeat; the Athenian lead Greeks outnumbered by Antipater almost 2:1 fought Alexander’s veteran troops and marshals to a standstill and retired in good order. The Athenians were simply out resourced; they provided the bulk of the army and the entire Greek navy. With part of their fleet tied down watching Antipater’s fleet, the remainder (~170-180+) ships was overmatched by Kleitos and the 240 or so ships he brought from Asia in a series of 2 or 3 battles around Amorgos. Crannon was something of a dice roll by the Greeks with the Macedonian fleet victorious it was worth one last try to get lucky; if they could pull off a smashing victory and maybe kill another Macedonian general or two, than they might still have a chance. A close fought, even battle was not enough (unfortunately).

So what is my point … Basically just that had the Greeks won the naval battles around Amorgos, I suspect we would hear quite a bit more about Crannon the Greek ‘victory’ that cemented the autonomy of the Greeks from Thessaly southward.

Leonidas was in something of a similar situation at Thermopylae – he had virtually no chance of influencing the course of the war except by loosing (which he did). The naval fight was going to be decisive; either at Artemisium or the fall back position. If the Greeks had lost at Salamis, I think we would mostly just remember the related ineptitude of Leonidas and how he managed to get 300 Spartans and some other odd Greeks killed at Thermopylae to no effect (In a quixotic fight for Greek freedom in the face of overwhelming Persian superiority – funny that really, the usual narrative is all gushy positive about Greeks fighting Persians but then turns all realist about fighting Macedonian rule 180 years later, ‘lost cause’ and all that…).

So really for all that Leonidas is a heroic figure in hindsight after a Greek victory over Persia, what does he really bring to the table to compare with Iphicrates? Iphicrates enjoyed a long career, won several significant battles on both land and sea, and would seem to have been a recognized innovator in both equipment and tactics during the 4th century.

But in any case I’ll happily admit I am arguing a somewhat polemical anti CW point…