The Conquerors

He was a ruthless leader with a gift for politics. In an age of short and often brutal lives, he reigned for over thirty years. And only then did he embark upon the campaign that made him a legend.

He was an experienced commander sent to impose order on a rebellious colony. He soundly defeated the man who would come to be called "the father of the country." Yet in the end, his victory proved fruitless.

He was a national hero, the commander who defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. Five years later, he took on another European superpower in a private campaign that ultimately helped carry him to the White House.

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It was one of the most significant land grabs in history. Acting on what many believe to be secret orders from President Polk, John Charles Fremont fomented the Bear Flag Rebellion in June of 1846, which led to Mexico ceding the vast California territory to the United States. It was just one chapter in the full life of the man who mapped the Oregon Trail and became Arizona's first governor.

Though his name was Rodrigo Diaz, he was known simply as El Cid (The Leader). Yet recent scholarship has exposed many gaps between truth and myth in the tales about Spain's first national hero. Was he, as one contemporary said, ""the scourge of his time""? Or are the tales recorded in the epic Poema de Mio Cid a more accurate picture of this unique man?

To speed up his campaign, he split command between Marshal Zhukov in the center and Marshal Konev in the south triggering a race between his most senior commanders--both eager to be credited with conquest of the German capital. On April 15, Soviet forces launched one of history's most powerful artillery barrages. But the Germans had withdrawn to fortified positions on the Seelow heights further inland, having learned of the imminent Soviet attack. It took Zhukov three days to break the resistance, and his losses were devastating.

On November 15, 1864, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman left Atlanta with 62,000 men and headed toward the Georgia coast. Traveling the rail lines to Savannah, his army laid waste to the countryside, burning crops, confiscating supplies, destroying buildings, and ripping up rail tracks. When Sherman reached his destination in December, the South had been dealt a blow from which it would never recover--and the brutal general had written a chapter in military history that would be studied by generations of commanders.

Many said he was a cruel traitor, usurper, and hypocrite. Others found him broad-minded, tolerant, passionately religious, and ferociously moral. Cromwell's influence as a military commander and politician during the English Civil War dramatically altered the landscape of the British Isles. The massacre of nearly 3,500 people in Drogheda--including civilians, prisoners, and Catholic priests--has fuelled Irish-English strife for over three centuries.

His reign of conquest began in 1,000 BC with the death of King Saul. King David vanquished all other contenders to the throne of Israel. He then turned his attention outwards, rapidly defeating the Philistines, the Moabites, the Aramaeans, the Edomites, and finally the Ammonites, establishing Israel as an independent national state and greatly extending its territories. Just five years after assuming the throne, David captured the Jebusite city of Jerusalem and made it the capital of Israel. With his kingdom in hand, David maintained his hold on power by removing anyone who got in his way.

His name is, without question, synonymous with that of ""Conqueror"", though he never considered himself as such. He said he was a liberator, bringing enlightenment to the people of Western Europe. Yet his actions and prowess as a military commander rank him among the greatest conquerors of all time. From his ascension to power in France, to campaigns in Italy, Egypt, Austria, and Russia, Napoleon Bonaparte rose from commoner to general to king to emperor. At the height of his power, he ruled most of Western Europe.

In 58 BC, Julius Caesar pushed north from Rome into the unruly lands of the barbarians. Less than eight years later, the empire extended all the way to the Atlantic, and Roman Legions were making incursions into Britain. The key to Caesar's victory lay not in the superiority of the Roman war machine but in his mastery of strategy, tactics, discipline, and military engineering. According to Plutarch, Caesar's campaign resulted in 800 conquered cities, 300 subdued tribes, a million slaves, and 3-million dead on the battlefield--all this, not to mention becoming First Man in Rome.

Suleiman I, a 16th-century sultan of Ottoman Empire.