What is a General? | Iain Dale

On Thursday, my new book, THE GENERALS was published. It seeks to give the reader an introduction to 69 of the most significan Generals in world history, through the eyes of 69 different authors. As a taster, I thought I would reproduce my introduction to the book here.

If you like what you see, do feel free to order a signed copy from Politicos.co.uk HERE, or an unsigned one from Amazon HERE. It’s also available as an Audiobook HERE.

The one theme that runs through the history of virtually every country in the world, right from the dawn of time, is war. Military history continues to be one of the most thriving genres in our non-fiction literature. Military strategy continues to fascinate, and yet for many it remains a mystery.

This aim of this book is to introduce 69 of the most important practitioners of the art of ‘generalship’ to an audience which may be familiar with many of the names and may know something of the wars and conflicts they took part in, but that is extent of their knowledge.

We may think we know what the world ‘General’ means and what a General actually does. But do we really?

The word General is defined in the Cambridge English Dictionary as

Noun: “an officer of very high rank, especially in the army”

This seems overly simplistic. Clearly it denotes the title and rank of a senior army officer, usually one who commands units larger than a regiment. However, a General can also be a staff officer who does not command troops but who plans their operations in the field.

Wikipedia tells us “that in the United States the rank of general ranks above a three-star lieutant-general and below the special wartime five-star ranks of General of the Army or General of the Air Force. Since the higher ranks of General of the Army and General of the Air Force have been reserved for significant wartime use only (in modern times were recreated for World War II), the rank of general is usually the highest general officer rank in the modern forces.”

Since General Bradley died in 1981 the United States hasn’t appointed any five-star generals.

Different countries’ armies have different ranks below General, and it is rare for someone to reach the rank with less than twenty years’ service. In the United States and the United Kingdom you must become a brigadier general then a major general then a lieutenant general before reaching the ultimate rank.

In the British Army the supreme rank is that of Field Marshal. The last Field Marshall to be appointed to the rank was Sir Michael Walker in 2003.

This is the eleventh book in the series, which started when I was at Biteback with THE HONOURABLE LADIES, two volumes of biographies of all the women elected to the House of Commons between 1918 and 2017. These were followed by THE PRIME MINISTERS, THE PRESIDENTS and KINGS & QUEENS, THE DICTATORS, BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGNS 1830-2019 (Biteback), BRITISH BY-ELECTIONS (Biteback), THE TAOISEACH (Swift Press) and US PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS 1789-2024 (Biteback).

In the end you judge a book by its contents and I think every single one of the 70 contributors to this book has done a brilliant job. There is a consistency of style among the vast majority of essays, but I did give some latitude to those who had had some personal experience of the particular General they were writing about.

The 69 Geners featured in this book do not comprise a list of the 69 greatest Generals of all time. Such a list is almost impossible to compile. How do you compare the achievements of a commander in ancient Rome to those of a Second World War General? I venture to suggest it is impossible. That doesn’t mean people haven’t tried.

If you base the list purely on battles won, this would be the Top Ten General of All Time

1. Napoleon Bonaparte 56

2. Duke of Wellington 29

3. Khalid ibn al-Walid 26

4. Julius Caesar 23

5. Alexander the Great 23

6. Takeda Shingen 22

7. Oda Nobunaga 21

8. Maurice of Nassau 21

9. Cao Cao 20

10. Bernard Montgomery 19

Blake Stillwell published a Top Ten list based on statistical analysis on the WE ARE THE MIGHTY website in 2024,

1. Alexander the Great

2. Georgy Zhukov

3. Frederick the Great

4. Ulsysses S Grant

5. Hannibal Barca

6. Khalid ibn Walid

7. Takeda Shingen

8. Duke of Wellington

9. Julius Caesar

10. Napoleon Bonaparte

Within these pages you will find Generals from all around the world, although I do not pretend it is representative. Fourteen are from the World War II era, eight from World War I. Thirteen are from the United States, with 15 hailing from Britain. Four lived before the birth of Christ, with a further five living in the first millennium. Eight are from Asia, three from Africa. Eleven are from Prussia/Germany, with four each from Italy and France.

I started by compiling a shortlist of around 130 Generals, and intended to cut it down to fifty. This proved impossible, hence we end up with a list of 69. The selection was certainly more of an art than a science. I took advice from several expert military historians and some living Generals. I fully appreciate that I could have picked any number of other Generals, or left out some of those I did end up choosing. The selection is mine alone.

I selected the 69 Generals included in this book nearly four years before its publication. Are there Generals I now regret not including? Of course. Khalid abn Walid and Takeda Shingen, certainly. Although Alexander the Great was in THE DICTATORS, in hindsight I should have included him here too.

I won’t presume to impart my views on what makes a ‘good General’ as I am not qualified to do so.