History AFatherToHisMen / RealLife

* When the Hussite leader UsefulNotes/JanZizka died his troops referred to themselves as "sirotci" (orphans) because they felt they had lost a father.

** 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.)

* UsefulNotes/FrederickTheGreat instituted Prussia's first ever social welfare system for soldiers too injured for work, to save them from lives of begging. They loved him for it. At the Battle of Kolin, all it took was for him to ride in front of the flagging 1st Guards and yell "You damned bastards! You want to live forever?" for them to carry the day for him.

** This carried over to his appearance in [[{{Sharpe}} Sharpe's Eagle]].

* UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte cared a great deal for his men, often working on the front line and living in the same conditions as them, and going to great lengths to ensure their morale was kept up, as well as frequently praising and rewarding them. The biggest example of this was the aftermath of the Battle of Austerlitz (widely regarded as Napoleon's [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome finest victory]]), where he gave his men great praise, gave rewards of 2 million gold francs to his officers, 200 francs to each of his soldiers, arranged for large pensions for the widows of his fallen men, and personally adopted the war orphans.

* UsefulNotes/AlfredTheGreat was not just this but practically considered the father of the nation of 'England' having united the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms under one banner. He was noted for his honour and bravery in battle as well as his keen intellect- well known for being the only English monarch to receive the title 'the Great'.

* In ''Literature/OneBulletAway'', the memoirs of Captain Nate Fick, USMC, he cites this trope as the reason why he got out of the Marine Corps. He couldn't bear the thought of any of his men dying, and while [[EverybodyLives none of his men had died under his command]], he [[GenreSavvy knew thus luck wouldn't last forever.]]

* General (later Field Marshal) Sir Herbert Plumer, Britain, World War One--men used to fight to be sent to his command, and few other generals of any army on either side took better care of their soldiers. Most of his attacks worked. The few that didn't were drowned in mud at Passchendaele. At the start of an attack, he would sometimes be found on his knees in prayer in his quarters, pleading to God for the safety of his men. In tears. And that was when victory was certain...
** Most British generals in [=WW2=] had fought with lower rank in the First World War, seeing the battles from the front line. American observers noted - correctly - the extreme reluctance of generals such as UsefulNotes/BernardLawMontgomery to needlessly expend the lives of their men, and that as often as not this reluctance to repeat the errors and slaughter of the earlier war led to over-caution on the British part.

* 'Uncle Bill' Slim, commander of the 14th or 'forgotten' British army in Burma. When he was defeated originally in 1942 and had led his men out on one of the longest retreats of all time, they cheered him as they passed.
** Whenever one of his units had to go on half-rations, he put his own headquarters on half-rations too. He reported that this made his staff a little quicker to get supplies out to the front line.
** When sent a luxurious personal command vehicle - essentially a motor home - of a sort already accepted by BernardLawMontgomery, Slim complained about it having taken up shipping space that could have more usefully been filled by another tank, and had it converted into an ambulance.
** Creator/GeorgeMacDonaldFraser served in 14th Army and said that Slim inspired absolute confidence in his men because he looked and acted like an infantryman turned into a general - which is essentially what he was. He also always described the 14th's achievements to his men in the second person, i.e. "You broke the Japanese in the Dry Belt." Never "I" or even "we."

* 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 (while giving the old Navy salute instead of the "Heil Hitler" salute) 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.

* Hồ Chí Minh, leader of the communist revolution in Vietnam, was referred to as Uncle Ho. He was a FrontlineGeneral, his simple khaki suit and slippers from recycled tires having reached IconicOutfit levels. There are actual books compiling accounts and anecdotes regarding his kindly-but-firm demeanor towards his men, available at just about any bookstore in mainland Vietnam.

** GeorgeMacDonaldFraser served in 14th Army and said that Slim inspired absolute confidence in his men because he looked and acted like an infantryman turned into a general - which is essentially what he was. He also always described the 14th's achievements to his men in the second person, i.e. "You broke the Japanese in the Dry Belt." Never "I" or even "we."

* Also in World War 1, Lieutenant Creator/SiegfriedSassoon, was known for two things, besides being a great war poet: 1) being a brave, charismatic leader whose troops were devoted to him and 2) leaving the war in protest when he thought it had gone on for too long. He won a Military Cross for bringing in the wounded for 1½ hours under heavy fire. He's also one of the main characters in Pat Barker's TheRegenerationTrilogy, in which he struggles with the knowledge that he is safe in England while the foot soldiers are dying in France, and later goes back to protect them.

** Most British generals in WW2 had fought with lower rank in the First World War, seeing the battles from the front line. American observers noted - correctly - the extreme reluctance of generals such as UsefulNotes/BernardLawMontgomery to needlessly expend the lives of their men, and that as often as not this reluctance to repeat the errors and slaughter of the earlier war led to over-caution on the British part.

* Paul L. Bates, the commanding officer of the 761st Tank Battalion (the first all-black tank battalion in the U.S. Army during WW2) refused a promotion so he could stay with his men. He also famously refused to court-martial Jackie Robinson after Robinson refused to move to the back of a bus during his training. (Robinson was instead transferred to another battalion, whose C.O. did agree to court-martial him, although he was eventually acquitted.)

* There were a few notable examples from the Wehrmacht.
** UsefulNotes/ErwinRommel 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. Orders to kill Jewish soldiers, civilians and captured commandos were ignored.
** Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, nicknamed "Uncle Albert" by his troops. On the other hand he enslaved or killed sufficient numbers of Italian civilians in retaliation for partisan attacks (in accordance with the standard ratios of 100:1 for dead and 50:1 for wounded German military personnel) to render all areas of Italy under German military occupation either utterly anarchic or totally quiet - and mostly the latter.
** Still in the same vein, General der Fallschirmtruppe Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke. His men actually acclaimed him, when he took his leave, calling him "Vater Ramcke" (Father Ramcke).
** And still in the same vein, Generaloberst Hermann "Papa" Hoth.
** Waffen-SS ''Obergruppenführer'' (General) Steiner. Yes, that Steiner who is famous because of WebVideo/HitlerRants. He refused to attempt to launch a counter-attack (with fewer than 100,000 men and 100 panzers) against the force assaulting Berlin (with more than 1 million men and 5,000 tanks). Although Hoth, Ramcke, and von Runstedt all committed the same War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Steiner was an SS employee and so was unable to bank on the Wehrmacht's political capital as an 'honourable' institution: he was tried at Nuremberg. Thankfully, the western Allies avoided the expense of going through with it and had him acquitted on the basis of testimony given by fellow SS personnel. He helped found the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIAG HIAG]]'', the group which attempted to have the Waffen-SS legally recognised by the West German government as an 'honourable' and 'apolitical' 'military' organisation so its could collect state pensions for their 'service'. The ''HIAG'' has been the world's leading source of FanonDiscontinuity on the purpose and activities of the Waffen-SS ever since.
** 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." This Russian speaking troper would like to add that it is a familiar term with "Otets" official and "Papa" endearing) Fittingly, after Germany's defeat, he refused to be treated as a German POW by the Soviets and [[HonorBeforeReason instead chose to be tried and executed with other Russian "turncoats" he led]].
** ''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." At the time, and ever since, he claimed that 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). [[UnreliableNarrator Of course, as is so often the case with Manstein, objective studies have found that this was wishful thinking]].
*** Manstein's concern for his men was such that it was no surprise when researchers recently uncovered telegrams in which he argued with ''the Schutzstaffel''. Why? Well, [[WhamLine said men had just helped one of their Einsatzgruppen units shoot a bunch of Jews, so they deserved their fair share of the dead Jews' property.]] More specifically, their watches. His men could really use the watches to help co-ordinate their operations, which were more complex, time-dependent, and important to the war effort than the Schutzstaffel's. Given that Manstein was imprisoned for his role in UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust and other war crimes, but released early to [[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht help found the Bundeswehr]], it seems doubtful that things would have been any different if the evidence which has emerged since then had been available.
** General Heinz Guderian, self-proclaimed 'inventor' of blitzkrieg who shot to fame in the post-war period through his association with Manstein and Sir Basil Liddel hart, willingly fought in person on the front lines to get a sense of conditions,[[UnreliableNarrator claimed that he furiously with Hitler to ensure his men's welfare]] (third parties do agree that they had argued on occasion, which Hitler tolerated out of respect and because of the strength of their friendship), and during his time as a panzer division commander he had manned the machine gun of his command vehicle and helped his men blast their way through a Polish roadblock. Like his personal friend and fellow 'blitzkrieg'-inventor, Erich von Manstein, he claimed that he had ignored orders to kill commissars and commandos and kill civilians in reprisals. While Guderian was acquitted, more recently evidence has come to light showing that he (like Manstein) was as guilty of all these things as pretty much everyone else who served in the eastern Theatre. After his acquittal [[UsefulNotes/WeAreNotTheWehrmacht Guderian was employed as a consultant of sorts for the revived West German army.]]
** Walter Model, the Third Reich's best defensive commander, upon being surrounded by US forces at the very end of the war in Europe, willingly defied Hitler's orders to never surrender to the enemy, and surrendered his forces to the Americans, refusing to throw away the lives of his men, and even discharged the young boys and old men in his army, while letting the rest to either surrender or break out. What makes this more surprising is that Model, earlier in the war, had sacrificed vast scores of his own men in his radical defensive tactics.
* Hitler's almost-last general of WW2 - Gotthardt Heinrici - led the last-ditch defence-in-depth outside Berlin which delayed Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front for ''days'' despite overwhelming Soviet artillery superiority [[note]] Heinrici's stubborn defence of the Seelow Heights caused Zhukov to receive abusive phonecalls from Stalin berating him for his relative lack of progress. Desperate not to 'lose' the race to Berlin to [[InsufferableGenius the insufferable Marshal Konev's]] 1st Ukrainian Front, Zhukov used his armoured 'exploitation' forces to blast his way through at a heavy cost in tanks. By the time Zhukov broke past Heinrici's tactical defenses into the open country, Heinrici's position had already been unhinged by Konev's forces [[/note]]. Known - affectionately - as "der Giftzwerg"[[note]] The Poison Dwarf[[/note]] by his men, and something of an acerbic general, he routinely ignored Hitler's insane orders to hold every inch of ground and fought an inventive and inspired elastic defence-in-depth designed to save the lives of as many of his men as possible.
* Blücher [[Film/YoungFrankenstein (*WHINNY*)]]actually called his men "my children" and was called "Father Blucher" by them. The historian David Howarth says that he was able to behave like that largely because he was so old while a younger general would have had to be more distant.
** In your actual German he was called "Papa Blücher", and the younger general Howarth was thinking of was UsefulNotes/TheDukeOfWellington, who was a lot more formal and stand-offish towards his soldiers.

** Although that said, Wellington was AFatherToHisMen in his own way - a cold, WellDoneSonGuy way. It is noted that the Army of the Peninsula fought so hard simply because they wanted Wellington to give them a sign of his grudging approval. He gave them it too. He wept when he surveyed the carnage at the Siege of Badajoz, both because of the way his men had died but also because they let him down by brutally [[RapePillageAndBurn sacking the city afterwards.]] He also once cashiered a group of wealthy officers on the spot for billeting themselves in a warm house when the wounded were left outside. When the Army looted the French baggage park at Vitoria (which included pretty much the entire Treasury of the Spanish Empire), he said his famous line (which people have used so often to bash him): "Our army is the scum of the earth, the merest scum of the earth..." But people always forget/ignore the second part: "...but what fine fellows we have made of them!"

* Creator/GaiusJuliusCaesar. The man would do the grunt work alongside his men at times, the result being absolute loyalty to him.
** He is also said to have known the names of most of the men in his army. Considering his soldiers numbered in the tens of thousands that is probably a stretch but he probably knew the names of his centurions and generals.

* UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower, as commander of the Allied forces for the European theater, did what he could to make sure the troops were ready for the invasion of Normandy and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eisenhower_d-day.jpg famously visited paratroopers units]] before they were set to deploy on D-Day. He wrote both [[https://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/?dod-date=606 a stirring letter praising their efforts for the invasion itself]] while secretly writing a second letter that would have accepted full blame - "It is mine alone" - if the invasion failed. While respectful of the army's need for discipline, he also did what he could to keep generals like [[BloodKnight Patton]] from getting too harsh with the men, and personally intervened when Patton went after cartoonist BillMauldin for one sharply critical cartoon in the army newspaper (Ike knew it helped to let the men vent their frustrations through humor).

* When the Hussite leader Jan Žižka died his troops referred to themselves as "sirotci" (orphans) because they felt they had lost a father.

** Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, nicknamed "Uncle Albert" by his troops. He enslaved or killed sufficient numbers of Italian civilians in retaliation for Partisan attacks (in accordance with the standard ratios of 100:1 for dead and 50:1 for wounded German military personnel) to render all areas of Italy under German military occupation either utterly anarchic or totally quiet - and mostly the latter.
** Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt. As commander of Army Group South was so concerned about protecting his men from the insiduous effects of Communism that he issued orders for the execution of ''all'' Communists, rather than just NKVD personnel, instead of leaving that business to the SS and Order Police ''Einsatzgruppen''.

** And in that same vein, Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring, nicknamed "Uncle Albert" by his troops.
** Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt. As commander of Army Group South was so concerned about protecting his men from the insiduous effects of Communism that he issued orders for the execution of ''all'' Communists, rather than just NKVD personnel, instead of leaving that business to the SS and Order Police ''Einsatzgruppen''. Throughout ''Barbarossa'' and ''Taifun'' Army Group South's logistical situation was weak because of the size of its forces and poor east-west railway connections. During ''Taifun'' Runstedt simply did not have the logistical strength to occupy the Donbass with anything more than a handful of divisions, and these on a metaphorical shoestring, but occupy it they did. However, when the Soviets began their winter counter-offensive to re-take the Donbass with more than 200,000 troops (but precious little armour) he chose to retreat rather than allow his (fewer than 50,000) men in the region to be surrounded and inevitably forced to surrender. In doing so he disobeyed Hitler's 'Stand Fast' order, which required that all captured territory to be held (largely on the grounds that retreating through blizzard conditions with inadequate clothing and equipment would be considerably worse for the troops' health than holing up in 'requisitioned' Soviet civilians' houses complete with 'commandeered' stocks of food found within). Although Runstedt's situation was quite different to that faced by Army Group Centre - which felt the brunt of the winter chill, had critically overextended itself, and was threatened with annihilation - -[[SlaveToPR Hitler had little choice but to remove the man who had disobeyed a Fuhrer Directive without asking for permission to do so first or apologising for it]]. This happened again shortly after the invasion of Normandy when Rundstedt screamed "Make Peace, you fools!" at Hitler and others when discussing possible responses. This last gesture earned him the enmity of his colleagues, who came to see him as an honourless coward and defeatist NotSoDifferent to those German officers who had failed to win UsefulNotes/WorldWarI for Germany.

** Steiner. Yes, that Steiner who is famous because of WebVideo/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 exonorated for all of them by testimony given by his former soldiers.

* Michiel de Ruyter, a Dutch Admiral who served his country in the 17th century and scored several victories against the English. He was called "Grandfather" by his men.

* [[TheArtOfWar Sun Tzu]] recommends this - in moderation. He claims that such connections can improve morale. ''However'', if done in excess, it's a bad thing, considered one of his "Five Dangerous Faults of a General". If the commander sacrifices important advantages for the sake of his troops' comfort, then defeat or prolonged conflict follows. The long-term result would be detrimental to everyone.

** Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt. As commander of Army Group South was so concerned about protecting his men from the insiduous effects of Communism that he issued orders for the execution of ''all'' Communists, rather than just NKVD personnel, instead of leaving that business to the SS and Order Police ''Einsatzgruppen''. Throughout ''Barbarossa'' and ''Taifun'' Army Group South's logistical situation was weak because of the size of its forces and poor east-west railway connections. During ''Taifun'' Runstedt simply did not have the logistical strength to occupy the Donbass with anything more than a handful of divisions, and these on a metaphorical shoestring, but occupy it they did. However, when the Soviets began their winter counter-offensive to re-take the Donbass with more than 200,000 troops (but precious little armour) he chose to retreat rather than allow his (fewer than 50,000) men in the region to be surrounded and inevitably forced to surrender. In doing so he disobeyed Hitler's 'Stand Fast' order, which required that all captured territory to be held (largely on the grounds that retreating through blizzard conditions with inadequate clothing and equipment would be considerably worse for the troops' health than holing up in 'requisitioned' Soviet civilians' houses complete with 'commandeered' stocks of food found within). Although Runstedt's situation was quite different to that faced by Army Group Centre - which felt the brunt of the winter chill, had critically overextended itself, and was threatened with annihilation - -[[SlaveToPR Hitler had little choice but to remove the man who had disobeyed a Fuhrer Directive without asking for permission to do so first or apologising for it]]. This happened again shortly after the invasion of Normandy when Rundstedt screamed "Make Peace, you fools!" at Hitler and others when discussing possible responses. This last gesture earned him the enmity of his colleagues, who came to see him as an honourless coward and defeatist NotSoDifferent to those German officers who had failed to win WorldWarOne for Germany.