Hey, it's cool to see more people posting on this thread, really interesting stuff from everyone. I just got back on here to add another historical figure that I admire and that I forgot to mention.
Hannibal, son of Hamilcar Barca: He's been known for being the carthaginian commander who led his forces into Rome, but utilimately failed his conquest. I find it unfair how he is judged by his failure, rather than his outstanding military planning. Although some certain ideas were not the best, like walking his armies through the mountains (thus causing himself many casualties) but he held strong through the hard times and kept pushing forwards. The greatest exemple of this would be his performance at the "Battle of Cannae". During this conflict, Hannibal had aproximately 40 000 soldiers while the combined Roman forces had around 90 000 troops. By placing his men in a "U" shape, Hannibal tricked the Romans into attacking his weak center line, thus allowing them to push themselves further and further. Then, the soldiers that made the other two sides of the "U", including his cavalry, closed around and used a "double-envelopment" startegy to completely surround the Romans. During a battle that lasted between 7-8 hours between 70 000 - 80 000 Roman soldiers were killed... Hannibal only lost around 15 000 soldiers. It was from this incredibly brutal battle that the term "annihilation" came to exist, because Hannibal annihilated the Roman armies in one of the most brutally effective battles in military history.