These are the 10 best generals of all time, according to math

Someone went to the military museum. Baseball sabermetrics was applied to the performance of the greatest generals. The number of wins from that general to a replacement general is compared in the same way.

The list is definitive even though the math is difficult. There are a few things to keep in mind.

All this information is coming from somewhere. Arsht complied data from over 3000 battles and over 6000 generals. He compiled a list of commanders and total forces. The general's forces were categorized according to their numerical advantage. The general's wins above replacement score is the real power.

A negative score for a loss is what the general gets for every battle. The French had a slight advantage against the Russians at the Battle ofBorodino.

The model created by Arsht gave Bonaparte a score of.49, which means he had a 50% chance of winning the battle. A replacement for him had a 51 percent chance of losing.

The commander can raise their scores by fighting and winning more battles. It doesn't help if you fight fewer battles. The model showed the failures of generals like Robert E. Lee. The relatively small number of battles commanded can be a reason for that.

Visit his post on Medium's Towards Data Science for more about Arsht's results and responses to criticism. The Bokeh Plot is an interactive data visualization that shows where general's data points are in the analysis. This has nothing to do with strategy and is all fun. Arsht acknowledges his weaknesses so check them out as well.

The story was first published in February.

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