The greatest conquerors and generals

[Caelan Arendor]

Artur Hawkwing was, as is well known, one of the most renowned rulers, a so‑called “High King” who, in the tenth century NE, reigned over all the lands west of the Spine of the World. He dispatched a great fleet—under the command, I believe, of his son Luthair—across the Aryth Ocean, whose descendants would later return as the Seanchan.

In the history of humankind there have been many great generals and conquerors, a few of whom may be mentioned here: Alexander III of Macedon ruled from 336 BC until his death in 323 BC; Temüjin, known as Genghis Khan, united the Mongols in 1206 and by 1227 had built the largest empire in history, encompassing China, Central Asia, and parts of Eastern Europe; Gaius Julius Caesar expanded the Roman realm through the Gallic Wars from 58 to 50 BC and the Egyptian campaign of 48–47 BC, thereby strengthening his power base, and he is regarded as one of the most influential commanders of antiquity; William the Conqueror seized England in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings; Attila the Hun ravaged much of Central Europe in the 440s–450s AD; and Otto the Great defeated the Hungarians in 955 at the Battle of Lechfeld.

Do you think Robert Jordan may have taken one of these figures from our own history as a model for his creation of Hawkwing? My own preference would be Alexander the Great, whose empire likewise collapsed immediately after his death. Do you have another suggestion?

 

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

Hawking is one of the many many Arthur references. 

 

Based on a lot. Caesar still was instrumental in the creation of the Principet. So his legacy lived on, not least in the Kaiser, Tsar, etc.

 

Alexander's empire collapsed, thanks a great deal to Alexander allegedly (to the strongest). So that rings true here. 

 

But there are many. Sun Tzu. Takeda Shingen. Oda Nobunaga. Charlemagne, Alphonso of Portugal, Mehmed II of the Ottomans, Tokugawa Ieyesu, the Zulu commanders Napoleon, etc. 

[Starla Yilmaz]

My husband is Turkish, and my oldest's middle name is Mehmet, so thank you, Heavy Sedai, for that mention. He should be higher on the list for conquering Constantinople and renaming it Istanbul, but we here in the West don't like to remember that.

[HeavyHalfMoonBlade]

22 minutes ago, Starla Yilmaz said:

My husband is Turkish, and my oldest's middle name is Mehmet, so thank you, Heavy Sedai, for that mention. He should be higher on the list for conquering Constantinople and renaming it Istanbul, but we here in the West don't like to remember that.

It wasn't a list on merit 🙂 Mehmet is something of a hero to me. I was a huge fan of Alan Savage as a young man (a pseudonym of Christophe Nicole iirc) with such titles as Ottoman, the Eight Banners and Moghul, and while his books centre on English imports into the narrative I think they are fairly historically accurate. Don't think I have Ottoman in my collection (was a library kid) but have picked up a few since. 

 

And I'm sure there is a whole bunch of interesting historical figures I haven't touched on. My brain was obviously busy with Japan if you look at my examples. Not that there is anything wrong with that, the Sedoku Jidai is a fascinating period of history, but there are many many many such eras around the world. Sadly. When you think about it. 

[teekay]

Specifcally in terms of Hawking it is a bit hard to look past the King Arthur comparisons, i find the actual tactical discussions and how the battles are managed to have clearer traces.

 

A lot of what Mat quotes when discussing war and a general's place in it is extremely similar to Clausewitz or Machiavelli (although Mat is extremely ANTI-Machiavellian in areas other than war of course), the insistence that a general that leads the charge has surrendered his baton and the capability to lead and the very strong insistence on adaptability for example. his invention of cannons too and his instruction on their uses. The incredible value Mat places on speed and his desired results are very 'Blitzkrieg'-ish too...various considerations around scouting and logistics...but so much has become general knowledge it could have also all so easily been incidental. The cannon thing makes me think the closest historical figure to Mat in terms of war is Napoleon, who was an expert in use of cannon and especially 'defeat in detail' which Mat is arguably the absolute best in (not even mentioning them both being preeminent tacticians and generals of course).

 

...also OP Genghis Khan did not create the largest empire in history, that would be the British Empire.