Masters of the Battlefield: Great Commanders from the Classical Age to the Napoleonic Era

Davis's (100 Decisive Battles: From Ancient Times to the Present) latest work focuses on 15 commanders across history who demonstrated prowess at the "grand tactics" of operational warfare. Each chapter is devoted to a particular commander, from the classical world through the Napoleonic wars. Davis begins with Epaminondas, a Theban who defeated Sparta in the fourth century BCE, and ends with Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington. He explains in his introduction that he chose these particular men because they stood out in "their ability to deploy forces and their ability to motivate those forces in combat." Each chapter contains the same basic structure: a brief biographical introduction, followed by a section on "Warfare of the Time," an analysis of the opponents that the commander faced, and then one to three segments on particular battles, leading to a summation of the leader's generalship. Additionally, Davis's final chapter discusses the qualities of great commanders. He cites retired general Montgomery Meigs's four qualities possessed by great commanders—intellect, energy, selflessness, and humanity—to which he adds one more.