Take your pick or choose other and post him/her down below.

I would say Alexander the Great. He was not only a great strategist, but he fought on the battlefield with his men, and in one case [the assault on Multan] he stormed the walls and singlehandedly cleared the ramparts.

Darken

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I don’t condone the actions of the Nazi Party but he is the creator of the German Panzer Divisions, and their use in warfare. Ultimately he orchestrated and commanded the greatest military feat in history, the blitzkrieg of Europe. He never suffered a military defeat.

I think in order to be a great military leader, one has to have commanded units or calculated strategy. I suspect that one or two leaders listed in the poll had helpful advisers.

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The blitzkrieg is overated. Sure it was new and effective, but look at the actual opposition - the French and their pathetic Maginot Line, the Belgians and Dutch (need I say more), and the Poles with their cavalry. It was only slightly more effective against the Russians...

Darken

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Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything...

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The blitzkrieg was a completely new style of warfare. The French standing army during the "phoney war" was far from pathetic (even the OKH was surprised that France fell as quickly as it did) and the Belgians and Dutch could only provide a token of resistance against mechanized units, but they still did. During Barbarossa, the extent of the Russian lands blunted the blitzkrieg better than the Red Army ever could have. The only problem with the blitzkrieg is...it requires the element of surprise. Without it, it is useless.

Guderain was brilliant, but there are so many brilliant military commanders. But who is the most outstanding of all of them?

Fredrick not only won consistantly, but his gains endured after he died, unlike Bonapart and Alexander.
I almost said Patton or Zhukov, but Fredrick won several wars, while they only won one.

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He did a whole lot with a lot less. Inferior weaponry and less infantry and still won battle after battle after battle. In fact, he would have obliterated the North if he had equal numbers of men, supplies, and weaponry, but he didn't.

Patton, Sherman, George Washington, Rommel, and MacArthur should be mentioned.

Blitzkreig was developed by Colonel Fuller (British Army) in preparation for the combined arms assault planned for 1919.
Guderian was a student of Fuller.
Ironically, Fuller became a great supporter of Oswald Mosely and his Blackshirts.

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I'm too old to worry and too wicked to die

Thats why there is an "other" option, and my disclaimer about stating your "other" choice.

Neat, yeah?

Darken

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Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything...

Show your kids you love them by buying them the No. 7 brand.

Zhukov was only successful because he had a rediculous amount of personnel (any map of the Eastern Front shows at least 20 Army GROUPS), while Patton drove so far with so little (he drove about as much as the Russians during the same time period with a single army).