Alexander the Great was antiquity\'s greatest commander

[Macedon]

Replying to Robert's and Paul's objections, why isn't the assurance of supplies a virtue attributed to the commander?

I wasn't speaking about the virtue of the commander, but rather against the remark that "Alexander had to overcome many more challenges than Hannibal and Pyrrhus put together", which i think is hardly fair to say.

Sure, you could say that, had Hannibal been a better commander, he could have overthrown the Carthage state, have become king and then have destroyed Rome.
But carthage was no kingdom, as macedon was, and where Alexander could inherit a position, power and prestige of a royal house, Hannibal could not.

Again, I don't think that this reflects on either of them as a commander, but it's unfair to say that Alexander had more challenges. Different, but by no means more.

Now Phyrros.. wasn't he a despot?

If you think that Alexander did not have to face as many challenges in his career as a commander as Hannibal or Pyrrhus, do make an analogous post. I think that you will find that the word "challenges" is very broad and in order to talk about how many there were you have to find how many diverse conditions he had to manage. Alexander's career is only more filled with challenges because he covered many more miles, crossed more mountains, deserts and rivers than both and had to fight against more kinds of enemies (not necessarily sronger, just more). You can argue that managing to overcome one huge problem is more important than overcoming three less difficult ones, but I only discussed number not difficulty, which would be extremely hard to judge objectively. And Alexander may have inherited a kingdom, but Hannibal also enjoyed almost total control over Hispania. I doubt that anyone would disagree with the fact that Hannibal's dominion was certainly more rich and populous than the Macedonia of Alexander. Hannibal assembled a huge army.. it was a pity he inly could get through the Alps with a fraction of it. So, again,we see Hannibal starting his war with a terrible disaster he alone was responsible of. Don't get me wrong, I truly admire Hannibal and consider him a better tactician than Alexander himself, but a commander has to have many more virtues and merits than just being able to marshal his armies on the field of battle.