I read Simon Goodenough's
Tactical Genius in Battle a few years ago and blown away by the genius of some generals in battle. I view the 27 battles he covered as his choices as his 27 ideal masterpiece battles but many are notably missing or undeserving of a place in this book IMO. Without using doubles of the same commander (or else Napoleon would monopolize it) what should the top
30 masterpieces be? What are the most brilliant battle performances by a commander?
Here's the list of battles Goodenough covers:
Kadesh, 1299BC (Ramesses II)
Marathon, 490BC (Miltiads)
Salamis, 480BC (Thermistocles)
Leuctra, 371BC (Epaminondas)
Guagamela, 331BC (Alexander)
Cannae, 216BC (Hannibal)
Pharsalus, 48BC (Caesar)
Daras, 530 (Belisarius)
Hastings, 1066 (William)
Mohi, 1241 (Subotai)
Garigliano, 1503 (Cordoba)
Brietenfeld, 1631 (Gustavus)
Wittstock, 1636 (Baner)
Rocroi, 1643 (Conde)
Blenheim, 1704 (Marlborough)
Leuthen, 1757 (Frederick)
Cape St Vincent, 1797 (Nelson)
Austerlitz, 1805 (Napoleon)
Salamanca, 1812 (Wellington)
Vicksburg, 1863 (Grant)
Tannenberg, 1914 (Ludendorff/Hindenburg)
France, 1940 (Guderian/Manstein)
Buna-Gona, 1942 (MacArthur)
El Alamein, 1942 (Montgomery)
Miektyla, 1945 (Slim)
Yom Kippur, 1973 (Sharon)
For starters, I think Cowpens, 1781 (Morgan), the masterpiece on American soil in history, and Walaja, 633 (Khalid), the "other" double envelopment must be added.