The Great Generals are accountants at their core. They tell their fighting subordinates what resources they can have and make sure the supply lines, transportation and production is in place to deliver what they need when they need it. That’s what Eisenhower did for the Western Allies in the run-up to D-day for example. Admiral King (Semper Iratus, as Drachinifel describes him) was the same for the US Navy in the Pacific theatre during WWII. The greatest general of all time, Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasilevski architected the fall of Berlin in May 1945 while at the same time making preparations to destroy the Japanese army in Manchuria five thousand miles away just three months later and made it look almost embarrassingly easy.

Prancing around on a white horse and shouting “Charge!” to Pickett’s men does not a Great General make.