History AFatherToHisMen / RealLife

* The AmericanCivilWar had several celebrated examples.

* Speaking of World War I, Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, a BlueBlood Prussian general who led two thousand black African troops in perhaps the most successful guerilla campaign ever, driving the British and Portuguese out of Deutsch-Ostafrika and [[RefugeInAudacity even ''invading'' enemy territory while hopelessly outnumbered.]] He appointed black officers (unheard of in a colonial European army, although it wasn't as if he had any hope of getting new German ones) and learned to speak their language fluently ("We are all Africans here.") Forced to cut rations as the British wore him down, most of his men stayed loyal and fought on rather than desert. After the war, he [[TheMenFirst gave his men signed certificates so they could secure their back-pay]] from the ruined Imperial German government. By the time they were finally payed in 1964, many of them had lost said certificates but were able to prove their identity by performing the German Manual of Arms, which they still remembered thanks to his strict drill and discipline.

** In your actual German he was called "Papa Blücher", and the younger general Howarth was thinking of was TheDukeOfWellington, who was a lot more formal and stand-offish towards his soldiers.

* GeorgeWashington was not just America's first president, but also one of her most beloved generals.

** George B. [=McClellan=] was not just this trope, he was a real-life {{Deconstruction}}. On the one hand, he was a brilliant organizer, who could shape and train a disorganized mob into a formidable army; on the other hand, he was unwilling to risk his men in battle (and constantly convinced that he was outnumbered by the Confederates; if he had been, his timidity would have made perfect sense.) Lincoln's opinion of him reflected this; e once said of McClellan, "There is no man in the Army who can man these fortifications and lick these troops of ours into shape half as well as he. If he can't fight himself, he excels in making others ready to fight," but he also once said of him, "If General McClellan does not want to use the army, I would like to borrow it for a time." When he made the borrowing, replacing McClellan with Pope, the result was the disastrous Second Battle of Bull Run and McClellan being reinstated to rebuild the Army of the Potomac. (McClellan would later run for President as a Democrat, in 1864; but he lost overwhelmingly, including among his own soldiers, to Lincoln.)

* Robert E. Lee of the [[AmericanCivilWar Confederate States of America]]; his men actually referred to him as "Marse Bob" ("Marse" being an old word for "Mister").
* And General William Tecumseh Sherman for the North. Known to the troops as 'Uncle Billy'.
* George B. [=McClellan=] could be considered a real life {{Deconstruction}}. He was a brilliant organizer who was able to take a disorganized and demoralized group of rabble and form them into a formidable army. In fact, he was so good at this particular aspect, that even after he had been replaced, after his successor proved to be incompetent, McClellan was brought back to rebuild the army yet again. Lincoln is quoted as saying about McClellan "There is no man in the Army who can man these fortifications and lick these troops of ours into shape half as well as he. If he can't fight himself, he excels in making others ready to fight." However, McClellan's love for his men was also his biggest weakness. He thought so highly of his men that he wasn't willing to risk them against the Confederates, and thus passed up several opportunities to either capture Richmond or defeat Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. It didn't help that poor intelligence often led [=McClellan=] to believe he was significantly outnumbered, when the opposite was true. ([=McClellan=]'s actions were actually quite sound if he was truly outnumbered by the Confederates). To make things worse, when he ran for President on the Democratic Party ticket in 1864, the men he once commanded voted strongly Republican.

** And still in the same vein, Generaloberst Hermann "papa" Hoth.

* ''Generalfeldmaschall'' Erich von Manstein was considered one of these, as well as a MemeticBadass to the men under him. Indeed, one reason the troops in Stalingrad fought on for so long was because, when they were surrounded, he sent them a telegram reading: "Hold on. I'm going to hack you out there. Manstein." He would have too, if Hitler had let Paulus break out towards his relief effort (which was headed by General Hermann "Papa" Hoth, another example).

* George B. [=McClellan=] could be considered a real life {{Deconstruction}}. He was a brilliant organizer who was able to take a disorganized and demoralized group of rabble and form them into a formidable army (in fact, he was so good at this particular aspect, that even after he had been replaced, after his successor proved to be incompetent, McClellan was brought back to rebuild the army yet again. Lincoln is quoted as saying about McClellan "There is no man in the Army who can man these fortifications and lick these troops of ours into shape half as well as he. If he can't fight himself, he excels in making others ready to fight."
--> but McClellan's love for his men was also his biggest weakness. He thought so highly of his men that he wasn't willing to risk them against the Confederates, and thus passed up several opportunities to either capture Richmond or defeat Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. It didn't help that poor intelligence often led [=McClellan=] to believe he was significantly outnumbered, when the opposite was true. ([=McClellan=]'s actions were actually quite sound if he was truly outnumbered by the Confederates). To make things worse, when he ran for President on the Democratic Party ticket in 1864, the men he once commanded voted strongly Republican.

* George B. [=McClellan=] could be considered a real life {{Deconstruction}}. He was a brilliant organizer who was able to take a disorganized and demoralized group of rabble and form them into a formidable army, but his love for his men was also his biggest weakness. He thought so highly of his men that he wasn't willing to risk them against the Confederates, and thus passed up several opportunities to either capture Richmond or defeat Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. It didn't help that poor intelligence often led [=McClellan=] to believe he was significantly outnumbered, when the opposite was true. ([=McClellan=]'s actions were actually quite sound if he was truly outnumbered by the Confederates). To make things worse, when he ran for President on the Democratic Party ticket in 1864, the men he once commanded voted strongly Republican.

* George B. McClellan could be considered a real life {{Deconstruction}}. He was a brilliant organizer who was able to take a disorganized and demoralized group of rabble and form them into a formidable army, but his love for his men was also his biggest weakness. He thought so highly of his men that he wasn't willing to risk them against the Confederates, and thus passed up several opportunities to either capture Richmond or defeat Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. It didn't help that poor intelligence often led McClellan to believe he was significantly outnumbered, when the opposite was true. (McClellan's actions were actually quite sound if he was truly outnumbered by the Confederates). To make things worse, when he ran for President on the Democratic Party ticket in 1864, the men he once commanded voted strongly Republican.

* And general William Tecumseh Sherman for the North. Known to the troops as 'Uncle Billy'.

** General Helmuth von Pannwitz, who led Cossack volunteers in German service against their former country, was much admired among his men for, among other things, respecting their Russian customs, language, and traditions, being called, among other things, Batka (which I'm told means "father.") Fittingly, after Germany's defeat, he refused to be treated as a German POW by the Soviets and instead chose to be tried and executed with other Russian "turncoats" he led.

* LeonTrotsky. When the Russian Civil War broke out, he had the families of some the higher-ranked army members kidnapped and held hostage so they didn't disobey his orders and forced every capable man to combat against the Whites (since the Bolsheviks only controlled the area around Moscow and were forced to fight against over 10 countries). When he was ''not'' doing any of these, he would ride on his CoolTrain (or, depending on the terrain, his CoolCar) to any part of the front that needed his assistance to hand out cigarettes and chocolates and even appear out of nowhere just to raise the morale of the troops.

* LeonTrotsky. When the Russian Civil War broke out, he had the families of some the higher-ranked army members kidnapped and held hostage so they didn't disobey his orders and forced every capable man to combat against the Whites (since the Bolsheviks only controlled the area around Moscow and were forced to fight against over 10 countries). When he was ''not'' doing any of these, he would ride on his CoolTrain (or, depending on the terrain, his CoolCar) to any part of the front that needed his assistance to hand out cigarettes and chocolates and even appear out of nowhere just to higher the morale of the troops.

** Steiner. Yes, that Steiner who is famous because of HitlerRants. He refused the order to launch an attack to throw the Soviets away fom Berlin because he could not get enough men, so he opted to avoid causing unnecessary deaths. He was tried for war crimes at Nuremburg. However, he was exhonorated for all of them by testimony given by his former soldiers.

* 'Uncle Bill' Slim, commander of the 14th or 'forgotten' British army in Burma. when he was defeated orginanly in 1941 and had led his men out on one of the longest retreats of all time, they cheered him as they passed.

* Hans Langsdorff, the final commander of [[CoolBoat Graf Spee]], sacrificed his honour in the eyes of the German Navy by refusing to take his crippled ship into the waiting guns of the [[BritsWithBattleships Royal Navy]]. He chose instead to scuttle her and keep her from the hands of the enemy whilst saving the lives of his 1100 crew. His great [[HonourBeforeReason 'sin']] in the eyes of the [[ThoseWackyNazis establishment]] was to not [[GoingDownWithTheShip go down with his ship]], he was in fact prevented from doing so by his own officers. When he got back to shore he ensured his men were safe and looked after and then followed her into history with a shot to his own head. His crew mattered more to him than his life or his honour.

** Erwin Rommel is regarded as having been a humane and professional officer. His Afrika Korps was never accused of war crimes, and soldiers captured during his Africa campaign were reported to have been treated humanely.[5] Orders to kill Jewish soldiers, civilians and captured commandos were ignored.

* George B. McClellan could be considered a real life {{Deconstruction}}. He was a brilliant organizer who was able to take a disorganized and demoralized group of rabble and form them into a formidable army, but his love for his men was also his biggest weakness.
He thought so highly of his men that he wasn't willing to risk them against the Confederates, and thus passed up several opportunities to either capture Richmond or defeat Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. It didn't help that poor intelligence often led McClellan to believe he was significantly outnumbered, when the opposite was true. (McClellan's actions were actually quite sound if he was truly outnumbered by the Confederates)
To make things worse, when he ran for President on the Democratic Party ticket in 1864, the men he once commanded voted strongly Republican.

** Erwin Rommel

* George B. McClellan could be considered a real life {{Deconstruction}}. He thought so highly of his men that he wasn't willing to risk them against the Confederates, and thus passed up several opportunities to either capture Richmond or defeat Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. To make things worse, when he ran for President on the Democratic Party ticket in 1864, the men he once commanded voted strongly Republican.