Most Overrated generals in history

[Steel God]

Overrated is as subjective a term as "best commander" or "are the Germans that good". It's completely open to opinion unless it's narrowed down to something specific and then backed with fact.

For example, I think Robert E Lee is over rated as a tactician because he placed his army in extreme jeopardy at Shaprsburg in 1862, and was only saved by McCellan's hesitation. Or you think he's over rated as a strategist because he allowed Stuart to be out of contact for so long in the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign.

It starts to get really dicey when you say that George Washington is over rated. Over rated as what? A general? It can be argued that a General's role is to lead and in that category he is probably under rated. Few men alive then could have held the Continentals together through Valley Forge. Over rated as a tactician? If anyone rates him very highly at all as a battlefield commander (and not many do) they would be right, he is not a great field general. Over rated as a strategist? Probably not. He knew exactly what was required of him, keep his Army in existence and prevent it's complete destruction by the British, and in that he excelled.

So, my picks for over rated generals:

1) Montgomery. I find him over rated because he was ponderous in action, and extremely inflexible. But he certainly led well, his men loved him.

2) Rommel. I find him over rated because he was for ever out of touch with his staff, thought nothing of logistics, and was unproven as a commander of large forces. But he was a brilliant field commander (division level) and his men loved him and his enenmy feared him.

3) Grant. I find him over rated because his tactics amounted to drowning the enemy in Union blood and material. But the Union Army respected him, and maybe loved him, because he refused to fear the Confederates, and refused to disengage.

4) Wellington. I find him over rated because people say he is great because he won against Boney at Waterloo. But Boney at Waterloo was not the Boney from Austerlitz, and more importantly, the Grande Armee at Waterloo was not the Grande Armee of Austerlitz. Welington never faced Boney at his best, and for most of the decade of the Napoleonic period fought in a small little side show. But he did beat Boney and few get to make that claim.

5) MacArthur. I find him over rated because he was an insufferable pompous ass about whom I can find nothing redeeming to say other than he wanted to surrender in Battaan and the US Army ordered him to evacuate, so he had some sense of honor.