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List of military commanders
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See also: Military History
Antiquity
Albania
- Agron (250 BC-230 BC) The first king to unite the Illyrian tribes together and form a kingdom. During his rule Illyria was a strong kingdom which had a strong military force, especially naval. He successfully stopped the attacks of the Roman Empire and the Aetolians by keeping his kingdom free till his death.
Armenia
Barbarians
Berbers
Carthage
China
Egypt
Gaul
Greece
- Miltiades the Younger (550 BC–489 BC), athenian general during the Persian Wars
- Callimachus, athenian general during the Persian Wars
- Themistocles (525 BC–460 BC), athenian admiral during the Persian Wars
- Leonidas (d. 480 BC), Spartan king, leader of the 300 Spartans in the Battle of Thermopylae
- Eurybiades, spartan general during the Persian Wars
- Pausanias (Spartan general during the Persian Wars)
- Mardonius (Persian general during the Persian Wars)
- Cimon (Athenian general)
- Callias (Athenian general)
- Pericles (Athenian politician and general during the Peloponnesian War)
- Pyrrhus of Epirus (king of the Greek tribe of Molossians(from ca. 297 BC), Epirus (306-301, 297-272 BC) and Macedon (288-284, 273-272 BC))
- Demosthenes (Athenian general during the Peloponnesian War)
- Cleon (Athenian general during the Peloponnesian War)
- Nicias (Athenian general during the Peloponnesian War)
- Thucydides (Athenian general during the Peloponnesian War)
- Brasidas (Spartan general during the Peloponnesian War)
- Alcibiades (Athenian general during the Peloponnesian War)
- Phormio (Athenian admiral during the Peloponnesian War)
- Thrasybulus (Athenian admiral during the Peloponnesian War)
- Lysander (Spartan admiral during the Peloponnesian War)
- Xenophon – Elected Commander of the Ten Thousand Greek mercenaries against Artaxerxes II of Persia
- Epaminondas (Theban general)
- Philip II of Macedon (Macedonian king and father of Alexander the Great)
- Alexander the Great (King of Macedon who conquered the Achaemenid Empire and the Punjab and Indus)
- Ptolemy I Soter, One of Alexander the Great's generals, founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, he was the first king
- Demetrius I of Bactria, a Greek-born king who conquered much of what is now Iran, Pakistan and northern India. He was nicknamed "The Invincible"
- Memnon (Greek mercenary in Persian service)
- Xanthippus Greek Mercenary General, fought for carthage against Pyrrhus of Epirus
- Antigonus I Monophthalmus Founder of the Antigonid Dynasty.
- Seleucus I Nicator Founder of the Seleucid Dynasty.
- The Diadochi
Huns
India
- Sudas (circa 15th century BC), Indian king who defeated the ten Rigvedic tribes in the Battle of the Ten Kings
- Chanakya (Kautilya) (c. 350-283 BC), Prime Minister of the Maurya Empire and author of the Arthashastra
- Chandragupta Maurya (Sandrocottus) (c. 340-293 BC), Maurya King who conquered the Nanda Empire and northern Indian subcontinent, and defeated Seleucus I Nicator of the Seleucid Empire and other former generals of Alexander the Great
- Ashoka the Great (c. 304 BC–232 BC), Maurya King who conquered Kalinga
- Samudragupta (a.k.a. the Napoleon of India) (4th century), Gupta king who conquered over 20 Indian, Scythian and Kushan kingdoms
- Chandragupta II (a.k.a. Vikramaditya or Raghu) (4th century), Gupta king who conquered 21 Indian, Greek, Persian, Huna, Kamboja, Kirata and Transoxianan kingdoms
Israel
Korea
Mesopotamia
- Hammurabi King of Babylon conquered many native peoples
- Nebuchadrezzar II King of the Chaldeans and conqueror of Judah.
- Tiglath-Pileser III King of Assyria. Conqueror of Israel, Syria, other lands that became Assyria, force Judah to pay tribute.
- Sargon King of Akkad. Created strong Akkadian kingdom.
- Ben-hadad King of Aram. Often fought Israel and, on occasion, Judah.
Persia
- Cyrus the Great (590 BC–529 BC), king of Persia who conquered the Median Empire, Neo-Babylonian Empire, Lydian Empire and Asia Minor
- Darius I of Persia (Darius the Great) (549 BC–486 BC), conquered all the territories between Asia Minor, Egypt, northern Greece and the Danube
- Xerxes I of Persia (519 BC–465 BC), conqueror of several Greek cities, including the mighty Athens
- Artaphernes, Persian general, brother of Darius I
- Mithridates the Great,expanded Parthia's control eastward by defeating King Eucratides of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. During his reign the Parthians took Herat (in 167 BC), Babylonia in (144 BC), Media in (141 BC) and Persia in (139 BC). In Persia in 139 BC, Mithridates I captured the Seleucid King Demetrius II, and held him captive for 10 years while consolidating his conquests. Demetrius II later married Mithridates I's daughter Rhodogune and had several children with her.
- Phraates II,defeated and killed Antiochus VII Sidetes in a battle in Media in 129 BC, which ended the Seleucid rule east of the Euphrates.
- Mithridates II,Parthia reached its greatest extent during his reign. He saved the kingdom from the Saka tribes, who occupied Bactria and the east of Iran and killed two of his his predecessors in battle. He defeated King Artavasdes I of Armenia and conquered seventy valleys, making the heir to the Armenian throne, prince Tigranes, a political hostage. In 123 BC and 115 BC he received Chinese ambassadors sent by the Han emperor Wu Di to reopen the Silk Road through negotiations.
- Surena, Parthian general who defeated the Romans at the Battle of Carrhae despite being outnumbered four to one.
- Phraates IV,initially lost territory to Roman general Mark Antony in 36 BC but quickly recovered Media Atropatene and drove Artaxes, the son of Artavasdes, back into Armenia when Mark Antony's war with Octavian broke out.
- Artabanus II, after a civil war with his predecessor Vonones I he succeeded to the throne and under him Parthia was no longer a Roman vassal.
- Vardanes I,In 43 he forced the city of Seleucia on the Tigris to submit.Civil war with his brother Gotarzes II of Parthia resulted in his assassination.
- Vologases IV,he reunited the two halves of the empire.He also reconquered the kingdom of Characene,he also might have been the king who began compiling the writings of Zoroaster.In about 155 BC with a dispute over the kingdom of Armenia war began with Rome which Parthia lost in 166
- Artabanus IV, defeated the Roman Empire under Marcus Opellius Macrinus at the Battle of Nisibis (217) after which the Romans gave up all their ambitions in the region, restored the booty, and paid a heavy contribution to the Parthians.
- Ardashir I,established the Sassanid Persian Empire by defeating the Parthian King Artabanus IV after several years of brutal warfare.Artabanus IV was killed in 226.Thus the 400-year rule of the Arsacid Dynasty came to an end.He conquered the provinces of Sistan, Gorgan, Khorasan, Margiana (in modern Turkmenistan), Balkh, and Chorasmia. Bahrain and Mosul were also added to Sassanid possessions later as well.He defeated Roman Emperor Alexander Severus in 232 at the Battle near Ctesiphon.
Rome
- Fabius Maximus (275 BC–203 BC), Roman general remembered for intimidating Hannibal with a stalking technique still known today as Fabian strategy
- Scipio Africanus (Scipio Africanus Major) (235 BC–183 BC), defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in Second Punic War)
- Lucius Aemilius Paullus, known as "Macedonicus" for subduing and annexing the Greek province of Macedonia
- Scipio Asiaticus (2nd century BC), he was a brother of Scipio Africanus Maior, he got his nickname "Asiaticus" when he defeated Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid Empire
- Titus Quinctius Flamininus (228 BC–174 BC), Roman general
- Scipio Aemilianus Africanus (Scipio Africanus Minor) (185 BC–129 BC), adopted grandson of Scipio Africanus, he was active during the Third Punic War
- Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus (d. 115 BC), Roman Consul, conqueror of Macedon
- Gaius Marius (157 BC–86 BC), Roman general, reorganized the Roman Legion
- Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138 BC–78 BC), Roman general and dictator
- Quintus Sertorius (122 BC–72 BC), Roman general
- Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106 BC–48 BC), Roman general, Ceasars greatest rival and leader of the S.P.Q.R army during the civil war
- Julius Caesar (100 BC–44 BC), Roman military leader and dictator, conquered Gaul and defeated his rival Pompey in a civil war
- Mark Antony (83 BC–30 BC), Roman general and triumvir, served under Julius Caesar as his Master of Horse
- Augustus Caesar (63 BC–14 AD), the first Roman Emperor, successor of Julius Caesar, defeated Mark Antony in a civil war
- Marcus Agrippa (63 BC–12 BC), Roman general that was Augustus' leading general
- Trajan (53–117), Roman Emperor, extended the empire to its greatest extent
- Stilicho (359–408), a late Roman general
- Aurelian (215–275), Roman Emperor, Regain its power during the latter part of the third century and the beginning of the fourth
- Aëtius (396–454), Roman general, defeated Attila
- Constantine I (272)–337, Roman Emperor, Best know for being the first Christian Roman Emperor.Helped to put an end to institutionalized persecution of Christians in the Empire.
Middle Ages
Albania
- Scanderbeg (Albanian prince and general against the Ottoman encroachement in Europe 1443-1468)
Franks
Chinese
Korean
Bulgarian
Byzantine
Arabs
- Abu Bakr (First Caliph of Islam)
- Umar ibn al Khattab (Second Caliph of Islam)
- Uthman (Third Caliph of Islam)
- Ali ibn Abi Talib (Fourth Caliph of Islam)
- Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah- was Commander in Chief of the Rashidun army and the areas of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Southern Turkey.He defeated the Byzantine army in the Battle of Maraj-al-Rome and Yarmouk.He appointed Khalid ibn al-Walid as commander of his Mobile guard.
- Amr ibn al-Aas- defeated Byzantine forces in Egypt, under Theodore at the Battle of Heliopolis and the subsequent capitulation of Alexandria in November 641, Arab troops had taken over what was Roman Egypt.Later he defeated Manuel at Battle of Nikiou.
- Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas- defeated the Persian Sassanid Empire at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah.
- Yazid ibn Abu Sufyan
- Muawiyah I - sacked Caesarea Mazaca in 647 AD,Salamis of Cyprus in 650 AD and re-invaded the island in 654 AD and taking Rhodes as well.His initial naval campaigns were very successful defeating the Roman navy off the coast of Lycia (655).
- Shurhabil ibn Hasana
- Qa'qa ibn Amr
- Abd-Allah ibn al-Zubayr - under leadership of Abdullah ibn Saad marched to Sbeitla,Tunisia, the capital of exarchate of Carthage, King Gregory. Gregory was defeated and killed in the Battle of Sufetula in 647 CE.
- Zirrar ibn Azwar
- Walid ibn Uqba - quelled a rebellion in Azerbaijan
- Asim ibn Amr
- Hakam ibn Amr - conquered Makran in 644 after defeating Hindu King of Sind Raja Rasal at a battle near River Indus.
- Majasha ibn Masood - In 652, Balochistan (Iran) was re-conquered during the campaign against the revolt in Kermān.
- Abdul Rehman ibn Samrah - crushed a revolt in Zarang, Afghanistan.He conquered Kabul and Ghazni. At the same time another column moved towards the Quetta District in the north-western part of Balochistan (Pakistan) and in 654 conquered an area up to the ancient city of Dawar and Qandabil today known as Bolan.
- Abdullah ibn Aamir
- Khalid ibn al-Walid- won numerous battles for Arab Muslims in the Roman Syria,Roman Egypt and Persian fronts.He helped defeat the Byzantine forces at the Battle of Yarmouk.This battle is also considered to be one of Khalid ibn al-Walid's most decisive victories, and cemented his reputation as one of the greatest military strategists and cavalry commanders of the Medieval Ages.
- Abdullah ibn Saad - Tripolitania was taken, followed by Sufetula, 150 miles south of Carthage. Abdallah's booty-laden force returned to Egypt in 648 AD.He defeated Constans II at the Naval Battle of the Masts in 655 AD.
- Al-Ahnaf Ibn Qays - helped complete the conquest of Khurasan by bringing Tustar and Marwir-Rawdh into the fold of Muslim Arab Empire and pushed Yazdgerd III all the way to Merv in Turkmenistan where he died bringing the Persian Sassanian Imperial family to an end.
- Al-Nu'man ibn Muqarrin al-Muzani defeated the PersianYazdgerd III at the Battle of Nihawānd.
- Salman ibn Rabiah
- Abd ar-Rahman ibn Rabiah
- Ayadh ibn Ghanam - raided Armenia
- Habib ibn Muslaimah - was sent for a full-scale invasion up to the Black sea. He conquered Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia during Caliph Umar's reign the territories emerged as an autonomous principality within the Muslim Arab Empire. During Caliph Uthman ibn Affan's reign, a revolt broke out, and Uthman commissioned Habib ibn Muslaimah again to re-conquer Armenia and Georgia.
Mashriq Muslim Dynasties Generals
Zengid dynasty 1127-1250
Ayyubid dynasty 1171-1246
Mamluks 1250-1517
Maghreb Muslim Dynasties Generals
Afghan Generals
Ghaznavid empire
Durrani Empire
Turkic Muslim Generals
Seljuks
Ortoqids
- Murad I - defeated Lazar of Serbia at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 CE.
- Bayezid I - defeated Allied Europe at the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 CE.
- Murad II - took Thessaloniki, from the Venetians in 1423 CE.He defeated Władysław III of Poland and János Hunyadi at The Battle of Varna in 1444 CE and Battle of Kosovo (1448).
- Mehmed II- he conquered Constantinople, bringing an end to the medieval Byzantine Empire in 1453 CE.
- Gedik Ahmet Pasha - conquered the Principality of Theodoro and Genoese colonies in Cembalo, Soldaia, and Caffa in 1475 CE
- Kemal Reis - defeated the Venetians first at Battle of Zonchio in 1499 CE and at Battle of Modon in 1500 CE.
- Selim I - marched to Iran in 1514 CE and defeated Shah Ismail at the Battle of Chaldiran.He attacked and destroyed the Mamluk Sultanate at the Battle of Marj Dabiq and Battle of Ridanieh in 1517 CE.
- Suleiman the Magnificent- Belgrade fell in August 1521 CE.He defeated Louis II of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács in 1526 CE.He also defeated Habsburg Monarchy at the Battle of Szigetvár in 1566 CE.
- Hayreddin Barbarossa - In February 1538, Pope Paul III succeeded in assembling a Holy League (comprising the Papacy, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Republic of Venice and the Maltese Knights) against the Ottomans, but Barbarossa defeated its combined fleet, commanded by Andrea Doria, at the Battle of Preveza.
- Piyale Pasha - defeated the Holy League at Battle of Djerba in 1560 CE.
- Mehmed III's armies conquered Erlau and defeated the Habsburg and Transylvanian forces at the Battle of Mezőkeresztes in 1596 CE.
- Murad IV captured Baghdad in 1638 CE.
- Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha - conquered Heraklion and ended the Cretan War (1645–1669).
- Baltacı Mehmet Paşa - won a major victory at the Battle of Prut against the Russians in 1710-1711 CE.
- Silahdar Damat Ali Pasha - conquered the Morea in the Turkish-Venetian War (1714–1718).
- Mahmud Dramali Pasha - fought in the Greek War of Independence.
- Reşid Mehmed Pasha - fought in the Greek War of Independence and the Egyptian-Ottoman War.
- Omar Pasha - fought in the Crimean War.
- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk - defeated Allies of World War I at the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915 CE.
Norman
Persians
- Shapur I conquered the Mesopotamian fortresses Nisibis and Carrhae and advanced into Syria. But was defeated by Timesitheus at the Battle of Resaena in 243. He defeated Roman Emperor Philip the Arab (244–249) at the Battle of Misiche. In 253 he defeated Roman Emperor Valerian at the Battle of Barbalissos. This resulted in the conquest of Armenia and invasion of Syria, and he plundered Antioch. Roman Emperor Valerian marched against him, but was defeated and captured at the Battle of Edessa by Shahpur I. The outcome of the battle was an overwhelming Persian victory, with the entire 70,000-strong Roman force being slain or captured.
- Narseh, in 296, fed up with incursions made by the Armenian monarch Tiridates III, Narseh invaded Armenia.Surprised by the sudden attack, Tiridates fled his kingdom. The Roman Emperor Diocletian dispatched his son-in-law Galerius with a large army to Tiridates's aid. Galerius invaded Mesopotamia, which Narseh had occupied hoping to check his advance. Three battles were fought subsequently, the first two of which were indecisive. In the third fought at Callinicum, Galerius suffered a complete defeat and was forced to retreat. Later Galerius too would have his revenge and defeat Narseh.The result was a peace treaty.
- Shapur II,led an expedition through Bahrain, defeated the combined forces of the Arab tribes of "Taghleb", "Bakr bin Wael", and "Abd Al-Qays" and advanced temporarily into Yamama in central Najd. He resettled these tribes in Kerman and Ahvaz. Arabs named him, as Shabur Dhul-aktaf which means "The owner of the shoulders" after this battle.A twenty-six year conflict (337–363) began in two series of wars with Roman Empire, the first from 337 to 350 against Constantius II.Although often victorious, Shapur II made scarcely any progress.The second series of war began in 359 with Shahpur I conquering Amida and he took Singara and some other fortresses in the next year (360). In 363 the Emperor Julian defeated a superior Sassanid army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, but was killed during his retreat. His successor Jovian (363–364) made an ignominious peace, by which the districts beyond the Tigris which had been acquired in 298 were given to the Persians along with Nisibis and Singara, and the Romans promised to interfere no more in Armenia.The outcome was a Strategic Persian victory for Shahpur II.Shapur II invaded Armenia, where he took King Arshak II prisoner and forced him to commit suicide.Shapur II subdued the Kushans and took control of the entire area now known as Afghanistan and Pakistan.By his death in 379 the Persian Empire was stronger than ever before, considerably larger than when he came to the throne, the eastern enemies were pacified and Persia had gained control over Armenia.
- Yazdegerd II, defeated the Kidarites in 450 and drove them out beyond the Oxus River. Advancing his pro-Zoroastrian policy, he battled an uprising of Armenian Christians in the Battle of Vartanantz in 451 and killed Vartan Mamikonian the Armenian commander.
- General Sukra drove the Hephthalites out of Persia during the reign of Emperor Balash
- Kavadh I joined the Ephthalites and began the Anastasian War against the Byzantine Empire. In 502 he took Theodosiopolis in Armenia; in 503 Amida on the Tigris. In 505 an invasion of Armenia by the western Huns from the Caucasus led to an armistice, during which the Romans paid subsidies to the Persians for the maintenance of the fortifications on the Caucasus. Iberian War began with the defection of Iberian king Gourgen to the Romans after three major battles Kavadh I won the war against Byzantine Empire.
- al-Mundhir IV ibn al-Mundhir an Arab general helped Kavadh I defeat Roman general Belisarius at the Battle of Nisibis in 530 CE.
- Azarethes defeated Roman general Belisarius in the Battle of Callinicum in 531.This defeat led Byzantine Rome to pay heavy tributes in exchange for a peace treaty.
- Khosrau I aka Anushiravan the Just,invaded Syria and sacked the great city of Antioch, deporting its people to Mesopotamia, where he built for them a new city near Ctesiphon under the name of "Khosrau-Antioch".The Lazic War was fought between the Byzantine and Sassanid Empire for controlling the region of Lazica what is now western Georgia. Lazic war lasted for twenty years, from 541 to 562, with varying success and ended in the Byzantine victory and peace treaty. Khosrau I destroyed the Hephthalite Empire and in 567 he conquered Bactria.Khosrau I conquered the city of Dara on the Euphrates in 573, but after a largely unsuccessful incursion of Anatolia in 576 he was heavily defeated by the Romans in a battle near Melitene.
- Vahriz was a Sassanid Persian general who in 570 freed Himyarite Kingdom of Yemen from the Ethiopians of Axum under Khosrau I directive.
- Bahram Chobin, successfully defeated a large Göktürk army in the First Perso-Turkic War in 588 taking Balkh and Herat. He rebelled against Khosrau II and took the throne as King Bahram VI for about a year till he was ousted by Khosrau II with the help of his ally Maurice.
- Khosrau Pervez, despite early victories against Byzantine Empire he was defeated by Heraclius at the Battle of Nineveh.
- Shahin commanded forces invading Roman territory in the Transcaucasus, winning a battle near Theodosiopolis in 607/8. Following the expulsion of Roman forces from that region, in 611 Shahin led an advance into Anatolia, capturing Caesarea, but was driven out by Roman counter-attack led by the Emperor Heraclius in the summer of 612 and forced to withdraw to Armenia. In 613 the Roman offensive pressed on into Syria, but the combined Persian armies under Shahin and Shahrbaraz crushingly defeated Heraclius near Antioch and again near the Cilician Gates. As a result, in 614 Shahin was able to campaign all the way across Anatolia to Chalcedon on the shore of the Bosphoros opposite Constantinople, and over the following years mounted further invasions of Anatolia, causing severe and widespread devastation. In the spring of 618 CE, Iranian troops of Shahin and of Shahrbaraz entered Egypt and besieged Alexandria, which soon fell.
- Shahrbaraz took Damascus and Jerusalem from the Byzantine Empire in 613 and 614 respectively, and the Holy Cross was carried away in triumph.
- Rhahzadh, was defeated by Heraclius at the Battle of Nineveh
- Bahman, defeated the Abu Ubaid of the Rashidun Caliphate at the Battle of the Bridge in 634 CE. He was eventually defeated and killed at the Battle of Nihawānd.
- Rostam Farrokhzād, a powerful Sāsānian general and aristocrat from Armenia who in 631 CE conquered Armenia from its Byzantine governor Prince Varazdirot.He was defeated by Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas at the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah in 636 and Iraq annexed by Rashidun Caliphate.
- Ya'qub-i Laith Saffari, was the founder of the Saffarid dynasty in Sistan he defeated Ibrahim ibn Ilyas Samanid ruler of Herat in 867 who was sent by governor of Tahirid Khurasan, Muhammad ibn Tahir during the Abbasid Caliphate
- Isma'il ibn Ahmad, father of Tajiks took the city of Talas, the capital of the Karluk Turks in 893. Later established Samanid boundaries of Transoxiana and Khorasan by defeating the Saffarids.
- Ali 'Imad al-Daula, defeated the Turkish general Yaqut from AbbasidCaliphate at Baghdad in 934 establishing Buwayhid Confederacy of Persian revivalists within Abbasid Caliphate.
- Shah Ala ad-Din Muhammad, by 1205 had conquered all of eastern Great Seljuk and declared himself Shah In 1212 he defeated the Gur-Khan Kutluk and conquered the lands of the Kara-Khanid Khanate, now ruling a territory from the Syr Darya almost all the way to Baghdad, and from the Indus River to the Caspian Sea known as the Khwarezm Empire. It was he who brought the wrath of Genghis Khan to the Muslim world by killing his ambassadors
- Jalal ad-Din Minkbarny with a badly equipped army decisively defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Parwan which forced Genghis Khan to face Jalal himself at the Battle of Indus in 1221
- Ismail I, founded the Safavid Shia state in Azerbaijan in 1502, and had incorporated all of Iran by 1509
- Shah ‘Abbas I, defeated the Uzbeks after 10 years of constant warfare at the battle of Herat in 1597. In 1603 he took Baghdad and in 1605 Basra from the Ottomans and by 1611 Shirvan and Kurdistan as well. In 1602, he expelled the Portuguese from Bahrain. In 1615, he killed more than 60,000 Georgians and deported a further 100,000 in Tblisi after a rebellion. A united army of the Turks and Tatars was completely
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