who's the greatest general of all times...???
- Thread starter aljhen25
- Start date
General Guinness
- (Trad) (spoken: 'The Pig and the Inebriate')
It was the pig fair last September
The day I well remember
I was walking up and down in drunken pride
When my knees began to flutter
And I sank down in the gutter
And a pig came up and lay down by my side
As I lay there in the gutter
Thinking thoughts I could not utter
I thought I heard a passing lady say
You can tell the man who boozes
By the company that he chooses
And with that the pig got up and walked away - You've heard of General Wellington who won at Waterloo
But there's a good old Irishman I'll mention unto you
He comes from dear old Dublin he's a man we all applaud
For he always finds a corkscrew far more handy than a sword
He's good old General Guinness he's a soldier strong and stout
He's found on every bottlefront and he can't be done without
His noble name his worldwide fame deserve three hearty cheers
Hurrah for General Guinness of the Dublin Booziliers
This hale and hearty worrier is worshipped in the ranks
For he does his task inside the cask as well as in the tanks
And he bears the brunt on every front north south east and west
And he wears about ten million canteen medals on his chest
He is good old General Guinness he has won the world's applause
'Twas him who kept our spirits up in the midst of all our wars
Who was the first to flirt with Mademoiselle from Armentières
Why good old General Guinness of the Dublin Booziliers
All over bonnie Scotland too the General is seen
They've given him the Freedom of the Toon of Aberdeen
From Inverness to Galashiels he keeps them warm and bright
And they love to gather round him ach on every moonlit night
He's good old General Guinness he's as good as Scottish broth
'Twas him who turned the Firth of Forth into the Firth of Froth
All Scotsmen dance the Highland fling and shout when he appears
Hurrah for General Guinness of the Dublin Booziliers
I would guess the context would be "military" Although Ghandi was an incomparable "General Leader", he's fall off the radar in a pure military sense
I appreciate the nomination, but I'm not sure I am the greatest in all history.......
Hi Goober,
With all lists, the selection is culturally determined, ethnocentric, nationalistic, biased against former and present adversaries, and panders to a perceived "correct answer," in this student's case to the lecturer's prejudices.
With all lists, the selection is culturally determined, ethnocentric, nationalistic, biased against former and present adversaries, and panders to a perceived "correct answer," in this student's case to the lecturer's prejudices.
If you confine the definition to military, maybe. However, Gandhi was a brilliant strategist and tactician. He knew what steps to take, what action to perform to rile up the British, to cause the maximum discomfort to the British and to inspire the local population to fight for freedom.
I particularly remember one episode from the film Gandhi. The British banned private citizens producing salt. So of course Gandhi decided to defy the law and make some salt.
Now, if that is all he had done, it would not have caused much of a problem, British would simply have arrested him and that would be that. However, he decided to travel to the place he was going to make salt by foot, he decided to walk 200 miles before breaking the law. That gave his action the maximum publicity, it became known all over India, hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of people joined him along the way and what was a minor incidence of law breaking became a major headache for the British.
Overall, I think he was better at strategy and tactics than any military General.
Spade
I would disagree with the first part of you answer but the last is without doubt correct – Alexander, Caesar 2 of the worlds greatest generals but what did they leave behind – Alexander an empire that fell apart and was divided – Caesar in one battle in Gaul pacified the region for the next 500 – and no mention of Charlemagne – Nowhere on this students list.
As to pandering to the professor I heartily agree that this is rampant in what we consider to be the home of free thought. Shameful, particularly as you and I pay for the former and receive the latter -
