Ten Famous Military Commanders Quiz

Answer: Persia

Cyrus the Great's birth date is unknown. He died, however, in 530 BC. He was the founder of the First Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire, which lasted until 330 BC when it eventually fell to Alexander the Great. Under the leadership and great military prowess of Cyrus the Great, the Persian Empire conquered much of the known ancient world until it grew to become the largest and most powerful empire the world had known up until that time. It included lands we know today as Bulgaria, Macedon, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Azerbaijan, Armenia and parts of Central Asia, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and India. How astonishing is that? In every land Cyrus the Great conquered, he respected that country's culture and religion and established a form of government in each that worked to the best advantage of its people. What an amazing historical figure!

Answer: China

Sun Tzu was a powerful Chinese general, tactician and philosopher who lived from c.544-496 BC. He has several names in fact, but Sun Tzu is the one most readily recognised in our modern world. His impact on Asian culture and history is still felt all these centuries later. Serving as a general for the rulers of the Western Zhou dynasty during the sixth century BC, his book "The Art of War" was written after years of a successful military career and many victories. Dealing with issues encompassing far more than battle strategies, however, this work also discusses the philosophy of war, desirable qualities that should be present in all leaders, diplomacy, relationships with other nations, public planning and administration, and how to manage conflicts.

It is looked upon even today as a masterpiece of management, and, in a sense, its title doesn't do its contents justice. Sun Tzu's famous book is certainly about conquering, but perhaps more about conquering the myriad strands involved in running a nation.

Answer: Greece

Pericles, c.495-429 BC was a famous Greek orator, general and statesman. He was at the height of his power during the Golden Age of Greece, in between the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars. Many historians look upon him as the leading figure in Athenian society because of the role he played in organising various Greek city-states, some 170 or so, into periodically uniting with Athens to fight off hostile attacks from external forces - or to instigate attacks on the same. That was quite possibly the only time those city states agreed on anything in the history of Ancient Greece, and this inability to work as one would eventually see them fall under the onslaught of the Romans. Such was the influence of Pericles on the Athenian age, however, that the role he played during that period of history for almost forty years is often referred to as the Age of Pericles.

In addition to his great leadership and military skills, Pericles also played a major part in the development of the arts, literature, education and culture of the Athenian world, which saw it eventually hailed as the hub from which the Ancient Greek culture spread throughout the world.

Answer: Julius Caesar

Roman general, consul and statesman, Julius Caesar lived from 100-44 BC. After taking control of Rome in 49 BC following a civil war that he instigated, he proved to be an exceptional leader in the short time that was left to him before his assassination by a group of opposing senators. During his time at the head of the Roman Republic, Caesar established many public and governmental reforms, altered the taxation system, extended Latin rights throughout the republic, regulated the price of grain, gave rewards to families who helped increase Rome's population, set up a police force, commenced a program of public works and reformed the calendar.

He had further reforms and building works planned for the future when the Ides of March signalled his end.

After his death, and following another civil war, his heir Octavian, who took the name Augustus, became the first Emperor of the new Roman Empire.

Answer: Roman Empire

Constantine the Great lived from c. 272-337 and was Roman Emperor from 306 until his death. After becoming a member of the Roman army as a young man, he quickly rose through the ranks to become a military tribune. When his father, who had become deputy emperor in the west of the empire, passed away, a series of wars followed, from which Constantine emerged as the leader of a united Roman empire.

The achievements associated with this great ruler's reign were vast. They included many changes in the four main strands that wove the empire together - its finances, its civil services, administration and military.

He restructured the government completely, separating the power of the civil and the military into two distinct departments, reissued the currency to stabilise inflation, decreed tolerance for, and put a halt to the persecution of Christians, commenced a series of very successful campaigns against all the threatening tribes on the empire's borders, and built a massive new palace at Byzantium which would eventually be known as the mighty city of Constantinople. Shortly before his death, this great ruler was baptised into the Christian faith, making him the first Christian Emperor of the Roman Empire.

Answer: William the Conqueror

William the Conqueror (1028-1087), as a result of the Battle of Hastings in 1066, became England's first Norman king. From an inauspicious beginning to his life as the illegitimate child of the Duke of Normandy, and inheriting Normandy at only seven years of age, his life consisted of one battle after another, simply in order to survive initially, and then, before he turned twenty, to retain control of his kingdom.

He was finally able to achieve this by 1060 - and then he raised his sights higher - to England. William had been promised this kingdom by King Edward the Confessor, but, according to the English Earl Harold Godwinson, Edward, on his deathbed, bequeathed it to him instead. William wasn't having that and set sail with his armies to claim his right.

He achieved this at the Battle of Hastings and was crowned King on Christmas Day that same year. William was a fighter by nature and by necessity, and the remainder of his life, both in England and back on the Continent, saw this amazing ruler continually occupied in suppressing rebellion after rebellion and winning battle after battle - until he fell at last to the greatest conqueror of all - death.

Answer: Kublai Khan

Kublai Khan (1251-1294) was the grandson of the bloodthirsty and powerful warrior, Genghis Khan, who founded the Mongol Empire that encompassed most of Eurasia at the time of his death. Kublai Khan, on the death of his father, had to battle his younger brother in a long civil war of four years before taking control of that vast empire in 1264. By 1271, in a series of further wars, Kublai Khan, now referred to as Emperor of China, had established the Yuan dynasty there, becoming the first Emperor of that vast nation who wasn't Chinese by birth.

His rule was noted for many things, not the least being its continual state of warfare and consolidation. Yet he maintained and expanded that empire so that it ultimately stretched over an incredible one fifth of the known world at that time in history.

It's impossible to summarise more than that of the life of this remarkable warrior and ruler. He's worth a library all on his own.

Answer: Uzbekistan

The Turko-Mongolian giant, Timur, also known as Tamerlane, lived from 1336 until 1405. He was born, and ruled from, the area of the world we know today as Uzbekistan. Though he was not descended from him, he looked upon himself as the rightful heir of Genghis Khan and sought to emulate his achievements in every way. Timur eventually rose to become one of the most powerful Muslims the world had known, an achievement which was the result of more than thirty-five years of wars and consolidation of victories. Those victories included the defeat of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt and Syria, the vast Turkish empire of the Ottomans, and large areas of India and Persia. From all these, he founded what is known as the Timurid Empire, a dynasty that controlled much of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Central Asia, Pakistan, Syria, Afghanistan, northern India and Asia Minor. Yet this huge Empire, which came at a dreadful cost, barely lasted more than one hundred years following his death. All for nothing, all for nothing, leaving behind instead a legacy of rivers of blood in a pursuit for a glory that is estimated to have resulted in more than seventeen million deaths. Genghis would have been proud of him.

Answer: Peter the Great

Peter the Great (1672-1725) was Tsar of Russia for over forty years until his death. He was yet another leader who rose to great heights by leading his armies in a series of wars to expand his initial lands into a vast empire - but Peter the Great did much more for his country than lead it into victorious battle.

Inheriting the tsardom with his brother who died young, Peter's early childhood was governed by others who ruled in his stead until he was old enough to take over. An interesting aspect of his personality was that during those early years, he amused himself by engaging in mock battles of great strategic planning with his toy army.

At the same time one of his aunts was secretly training him to develop the skills he would need as head of a great nation.

When his brother died in 1696, Peter was thus equipped to take over as a fully competent leader on his own. The greatest thing Peter the Great did for Russia was to drag its rather unwilling inhabitants into the modern world. He instigated massive reforms and laws, reorganised the army completely, and implemented social, cultural and scientific changes all in line with the practices of the Age of Enlightenment. By doing so, he modernised his country in every area needed to take its place on the world stage, transforming it from a relatively backward largely landlocked country into a major European power. Peter the Great was not just a warrior of conquest and death, he was a warrior of stupendous reform.

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte

Descended from very minor Tuscan nobility who had settled in Corsica in earlier days, Napoleon was born there in 1769. He rose from that obscure beginning to become Emperor of France before his inglorious death in exile on another small island thousands of miles away. Looked upon by many historians today as one of the greatest commanders in history, Napoleon's meteoric rise and life as ruler included victories in many wars, massive liberal reforms, religious tolerance, the establishment of the remarkable Napoleonic Code of laws, and the abolition of feudalism. If he had instigated the Napoleonic Code alone, which today still influences civil legislation in Europe, much of the American continent, Africa and parts of the Middle East, that would have guaranteed Napoleon's place in the annals of history, but he achieved much more than that. Napoleon's star though began its descent as quickly as it has risen. Finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, he was exiled to the island of St Helena, a distant spot in the South Atlantic Ocean, where he died six years later.

In closing this quiz, perhaps you may be interested in these following quotes from Napoleon himself:

"My true glory is not to have won forty battles...Waterloo will erase the memory of so many victories. ... But...what will live forever, is my Civil Code".

"I love power. But it is as an artist that I love it. I love it as a musician loves his violin, to draw out its sounds and chords, and harmonies".

"Death is nothing - but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily".