John Keegan, in “The Mask of Command,” analyzes various leadership styles down through the ages. In 323 BC Alexander the Great led his Macedonian Army into battle against the fortified city of Multan. At the head of his troops, he climbed to top of wall, ladder broke, he leaped to the fray and slaughtered the enemy, even with an arrow in his lung, until his troops reached him.
Adolf Hitler in fall of 1942 was on train going to new headquarters. His army was endangered at Stalingrad. On Nov. 7, 1942, as he was sitting down to supper in the rosewood paneled diner of his special train, a freight car chanced to stop on an adjacent track. The car contained a throng of starving and wounded soldiers from the eastern front, who naturally stared in astonishment at the Fuhrer in his diner just two yards away. “Without as much as a gesture of greeting in their direction,” recalls Albert Speer, Hitler “peremptorily ordered the servant to draw [close] the shades.”
In modern armies a clear mind and self-control are often better than bravery. Ancient extolling of bravery is dangerous in the nuclear age.
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Version used on August 12, 2012:
In 323 B.C., Alexander the Great’s army had made it all the way to what is now Pakistan. They came to the fortified city of Multan and decided it had to be captured. Alexander put himself at the front of his troops. They broke through a gate in the outer walls and poured in. When the reached the next set of walls, his engineers tried to undermine them so a portion would collapse. Alexander thought it was taking too much time so he grabbed a ladder and began climbing to the top of the wall. Other soldiers followed him up the ladder to protect their great leader. So many jumped on, the ladder broke.
Alexander was left alone on the wall. His soldiers held out their arms to him so he would jump down. Instead, he jumped down the other side and began fighting furiously, even killing the leader of Multan. But an enemy arrow penetrated Alexander’s lung, severely wounding him.
By now his desperate troops had broken through and rescued Alexander. His personal example inspired them so much, they ended up conquering much of the known world.
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An adaption of the top illustration and material in the article, “Mallian Campaign,” Wikipedia.org, < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallian_Campaign#cite_note-arrian604-32 >