Essay:AD's heroes

This essay is an original work by and copyrighted to AD. It does not necessarily reflect the views expressed in RationalWiki's Mission Statement, but we welcome discussion of a broad range of ideas. Feel free to comment the talk page, which will probably be far more interesting, and might reflect a broader range of RationalWiki editors' thoughts.

This essay was inspired by a current discussion of Founding-Father-worship in America, and is still in its infancy.

Alexander the Great

• Wikipedia entry

The first and greatest of those Theodore Ayrault Dodge calls the "Great Captains," Alexander exemplified generalship. He was not only personally courageous, as he charged into battle at the front of the Companions, but he was also the inventor of tactics, and a superlative judge of character. He had many failings, not least of which was hubris, but as a conqueror he has had no equal (except, perhaps, Genghis Khan).

George Washington

• Wikipedia entry

Washington was not a great general. As a commander, his greatest achievements were off the battlefield, sustaining the Continental Army and kept it intact as he avoided pitched battles and built his forces. Even his most celebrated military victory, at the crossing of the Potomac, was an escape. He had numerous other faults, as well: he was imperious, venal, and extremely prejudiced. But perhaps above all other men, he was an astonishing leader. Washington held together the forces of the colonies almost by sheer willpower and example, and his time as President of the United States was exceeded only by the glory of his obedience to the ideals of democracy, when he consciously emulated Cincinnatus and retired to Mount Vernon.

Thomas Jefferson

• Wikipedia entry

Abraham Lincoln

• Wikipedia entry

Napoleon Bonaparte

• Wikipedia entry

Mohandas K. Gandhi

• Wikipedia entry

Carl Sagan

• Wikipedia entry

Bibliography

• Anderson, Perry. 2012. "Gandhi Centre Stage." London Review of Books.[1]
• Burlingame, Michael. 2008. Abraham Lincoln: a Life. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins.
• Chernow, Ron. 2010. Washington: a Life. New York: Penguin.
• Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. 1904. History of the Art of War: Napoleon. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company.
• — — —. 1918. History of the Art of War: Alexander. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company.
• Goodwin, Doris Kearns. 2005. Team of Rivals. New York: Simon and Schuster.