And Ferdinand and Isabella kicked them out of Spain. That counts for at least an Honorable Mention.

true and they sent Columbus on his way as well.

I left that part out because I felt that it owed less to good leadership than to greed, or at least international competition.

Napoleon, in an epic win FTW.

http://epicwinftw.files.wordpress.co...2aede7c089.jpg

And that's why I chose him!!! Right guy at the right time made all the difference.

Hmm, great leaders through history, let's see.

1. Alexander the Great
2. Gaius Marius
3. Augustus
4. Charles Martel
5. Charlemagne
6. Genghis Khan
7. Jogaila, I think
8. Charles V
9. Maurice of Orange
10. Gustav Adolphus
11. Oliver Cromwell
12. Louis XIV (Maybe, a lot of what happened during his reign is directly or indirectly responsible for the French Revolution)
13. Frederick the Great
14. Napoleon
15. Bismarck

These are the ones I can think of, I'm probably forgetting quite a few important ones. Also disregarded military-only leaders, though I would consider quite a few of those as great leaders.

By the end of the 19th century it becomes hard to find leaders who would go into this list; though there were good leaders, things became way more decentralized.

Louis XIV is also important since he established the french language as the working language of europe for the next 250 years until it was replaced by english.

I was reading a book recently about the Austrian army during the Seven Years War. Austria-Hungary was a very multi lingual state at that time, but most of the officers were german speaking Austrians. However, in almost every military conference, french was used as the working language since every officer had at least a working knowledge of french.

What was James T Kirk doing on the list? :doh:

http://rickoshea.files.wordpress.com...nal-poster.jpg

Oh I see :smug:

:har: At Jim.
I vote Peter the Great. I'll add maybe Robert E Lee (except for Gettysburg:haha:).

@ Jim: you can question the inclusion of someone named Jim? I wouldn't have thought it of you. :D

@ McBee: We've argued about Lee before. Say what I want about generalship, I don't think there is any doubt about his leadership quailities. The man was a born leader, and one of the true greats in that department.

The whole 'build me my city no matter the cost' thing really puts me off.

Set goals accomplished - 0/1

Any other comments - Nobody died!

:O:

My high opinion of Shackleton is based solely on the latter fact, lol.

I think what he ended up accomplishing, under the circumstances, was far more impressive than what he would have accomplished had the initial goal of the expedition been achieved.

However IMO much credit must also be given to Frank Worsley, who managed to get the James Caird from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island with nothing more than a sextant he couldn't use most of the time due to the weather. Incidentally he was also captain of a Q-ship during WWI and was decorated for his services in that conflict. He also volunteered for service in the merchant fleet during WWII and had secured a position but lost it when somebody did the math and realized how old he was. :D

Mithridates VI the Great of Pontus.

Though he screwed up killing 80,000 Romani living in his lands and provoking the full wrath of the senate...

No matter which 15 I pick it still excludes many more equally great leaders.