Top 100 Generals

Showed victorious flair in Second Turkish War.  1787-1792
Successfully defended north shore of the Black Sea from Turkish attacks.
Twice victorious over the Turks at the coastal fortress of Kinburn.  1787
Prevented a Turkish landing in the Crimea.
Stormed and took Ochakov.  1788
With Austrian General Prince Josias von Saxe-Coburg, defeated Osman Pasha at Focsani.  1789
Drove Yusuf Pasha�s main army from its camps on the Rymnik River.
Gain fame for the successful storming of Izmail, but also notoriety for the slaughter of most of its defenders.  1790
Suppressed Thaddeusz Kosciuszko�s Polish Revolt.
...victorious at Krupshchitse, Brest-Litovsk, Kobila and Praga-Warszawa.
Recalled and ruthlessly crushed the Nationalist-Revolutionary Movement in Poland.  (After the storming of Warsaw, a slaughter occurred.)  1794
Participated in the forced resettlement of Christians in the Crimea.
Pursued and massacred the Nogai tribe in the Kuban.
Dismissed in 1799.
Recalled to command a Russo-Austrian army during the War of the Second Coalition in Switzerland against France.
Erased most of Bonaparte�s gains of 1796 and 1797, routing lieutenants;  1799
Jean-Victor Moreau at Cassano d�Adda,
Etienne Macdonald at the Trebbia River,
Barthelemy C. Joubert at Novi..
drove the French out of Italy.

SWITZERLAND EVENTS
Despite vigorous protests, Czar Paul ordered him to march over the Alps to replace the Austrian element (He had wished to invade France).  The Austrian army, under command of Archduke Charles, had been defeated by French general Andre Massena and transferred half of the 80,000-man army to the Netherlands, leaving 12,000 at St. Gotthard Pass.  Massena turned on the Russian 20,000 strong commanded by General Prince Alekandr Rimsky-Korsakov and mauled him with 8,000 casualties.  Suvorov�s 18,000 Russian regulars and 5,000 Cossacks were exhausted and short of provisions when confronted by Massena�s 80,000 strong.  Suvorov set out to extract his army from an apparently hopeless situation.  Undertook historically unparalleled withdrawal over the Alps.  Making their way through Pragel Pass to Glarus.  The French reached Glarus first, Suvorov evaded their trap by redirecting his troops through the village of Elm.  Trekked through deep snows of Panixer Pass and into the 9,000-foot mountains of the Bundner Oberland.  Escaped the encirclement and reached Chur on the Rhine with 16,000 soldiers.
Summarily stripped of his command, rank, and histitles.  1800
(56 days later he dies.)
Outstanding military theorist, tactician, and strategist.
Six times in his career he was seriously wounded.
Unimportant, but credited with winning 63 battles without suffering a single major defeat.
Wrote manual notable for its realistic emphasis on battle training.
Earned reputation as a self-willed subordinate.
Unorthodox tactician.
Believed that opportunities in battle are created by fortune, but exploited by intelligence, experience and an intuitive eye.
Developed a good understanding of engineering, siege warfare, artillery and fortification.
Extolled patient systematic, practical and rigorous training under simulated battlefield conditions.
Viewed the maneuvering of armies and the occupation of territory, cities and fortresses not as ends in themselves, but as a means of destroying the enemy�s source of supply and reinforcements.
His objective was to concentrate his own forces for a decisive mass attack that would annihilate the enemy.
Demanded discipline and sacrifice.

Believed that a �Short, Total War� was less expensive in men and material than a war of attrition, excepted in the case of guerrilla warfare.  A strategy of attrition must be applied to the elusive enemy, in order to deny the rebels the opportunity to use the countryside.

At a tactical level, stressed three fundamental principles: coup d�oeil, speed and impact.

Coup d�oeil: ability to assess a situaion at a glance, to know how to select the site for a camp, when and how to march, and where to attack.

Guiding principle: devastating attacks concentrated at the weakest point.

Favored light infantrymen as skirmishers and sharpshooters, and preferred aimed fire to the massed volleys of line infantry.

Used different sizes and types of formations against different foes�squares against the Turks, lines against Poles and columns against the French.

Held firm belief in the psychological advantage of surprise, keep his plans secret.

Undertook a minimum number of careful reconnaissance, for fear that
the enemy would decipher his movements and intentions.

Weaknesses: (1) Most of his opponents were quite weak.  (2) The slaughter after the captures of Ochakov, Izmail and Praga-Warsqawa tainted his image in Western eyes.  (3) Willingness to let troops plunder conquered territories gave Russian a bad reputation throughout Europe.

Also preferred assaults with cold steel for their psychological effect.

No understanding of, nor interest in, politics.

Maintained that the supreme commanders must have full authority, yet he

never had absolute freedom of command or initiative in wartime� often

missing opportunities to grasp strategy victories.

Publicly criticized the introduction of Prussian-style military discipline,

which he regarded as cruel and useless.

- Aleksandr Suvorov
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�Pulia duraka, no shtyk molodets�

- Aleksandr Suvorov
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�I have shed rivers of blood, and this horrifies me.�

- Aleksandr Suvorov
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�A military man must know the languages of the nations with whom he is fighting,�

- Aleksandr Suvorov
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�Train hard, fight easy, train easy and you will have very hard fighting.�

- Aleksandr Suvorov
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�Don�t distract with small fights, deliver heavy blows, pass in masses through the gap, attack directly, hit with speed,�  �speed and impact are the soul of present-day warfare.  A fleeing enemy can be utterly destroyed only through pursuit.�

- Aleksandr Suvorov
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�Push hard with the bayonet�

- Aleksandr Suvorov
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�The ball may lose its way, the bayonet never.  The ball is a fool; the bayonet is a hero.�

 
Aleksandr Suvorov�s 4 greatest military commanders of all time
Hannibal
Alexander the Great
Julius Caesar
Napoleon Bonaparte
(Bonaparte was in Egypt when Suvorov fought his battles in Italy.)