Saturday, June 04, 2016

ali the general



As a young martial artist, in reading Ali's biography "the greatest" , i remember he said that in most fights there is a particular moment when either fighter can win...the important thing was to recognize that CRUCIAL moment when the fight is up for grabs ...and then GO ALL OUT TO WIN.


A few years later i was simply amazed to read that Alexander the Great relied upon a similar strategy. He would hold his best troops in reserve for that critical moment in battle when it was all up for grabs and either side could be victorious AND THEN SEND IN HIS BEST TROOPS AND GO ALL OUT FOR THE WIN.

Of course you can imagine my surprise when i learned that this was a strategy that Napoleon Bonaparte borrowed from Alexander the Great and also used in war. Holding his best troops, battle tested veterans named "the Old Guard" in reserve, Napoleon would wait for the critical moment in the battle and then send in his elite soldiers, "the Old Guard" units...

It worked for Napoleon every time he used it, EXCEPT AT WATERLOO ...when late in the day towards evening, Napoleon was finally breaking through the British army in front of him, but he suddenly was attacked on his right flank by the same Prussian army that Napoleon had defeated and forced to run away at Ligny only a day or two before.

...Unfortunately for Bonaparte, the French general he had assigned to follow up and scatter the retreating Prussians in order to decimate them and knock the Prussian army out of the war, this general had failed in his duty and so the Prussian army, because of its discipline and leadership, was able to regroup and deliver the fatal counterattack to the French, returning to Waterloo, seemingly from out of nowhere to pin a horrified Napoleon and his almost exhausted troops between the Prussian and British armies.

Realizing that events were quickly spiraling out of his control, and he was facing that critical moment, Bonaparte quickly recognized that it was time to either go all out to win or die.

  Bonaparte called forth his reserves, the vaunted "old guard" and they charged forward in a desperate attempt to break the British army positioned up a hill ahead of them.

If only he could rout the British with an all out assault and his right flank could hold the still arriving Prussians, then Napoleon could then pivot from the position he hoped to drive the British from , then sweep down upon the arriving Prussian forces and crush them between his right flank and his center ...a repeat of Austerlitz ---the battle he personally felt his greatest victory when he swept the Russian army from the high ground on the battle field and then crushed the Austrian army between his center and right flank --defeating at the same time, both the Russian and Austrian emperors at the head of their much larger armies...

So at that critical moment at Waterloo Napoleon called forth his reserves and best troops, the old guard and threw them at the British in a desperate attempt to win. but unfortunately for him the British army was led by Wellington --a defensive genius, as napoleon was an offensive genius.

Wellington pulled his troops back from the hilltop the french artillery were shelling in an attempt by Napoleon to weaken the British before the charge of the old guard. this allowed most of the french cannon shells to miss the British troops.

When the french artillery barrage ended , wellington moved his soldiers back to their positions. Wellington ordered his troops to "go square" --form square formations for "rolling" , continuous musket fire-- the Brits, unscathed by Napoleon's artillery barrage, then decimated the old guard with this murderous, highly coordinated musket fire.

Despite this deadly musket fire, the Old Guard--elite troops the equivalent of french special forces -- almost broke through the British lines and Wellington later admitted the French were on the verge of routing the Brits from their position, but the continuous musket fire was too deadly and the Old Guard finally had to fall back.

The stunned cry immediately went out among the french army, "La Garde, La Garde, recule!"..."The Guard retreats!"... for the first time in memory of the french army, the elite troops of the old guard were thrown back, defeated and forced to retreat.

Panic immediately set in among the French army and they began to crumble... Napoleon himself rushed forward to try and rally his troops and personally lead his soldiers in one last charge as he had done years earlier as a young general in his Italian campaign--earning then the nickname from his soldiers for his personal bravery in that victory, "the little corporal." But this time they refused to rally and actually prevented him --for his own safety --from leading another infantry charge uphill into what would be murderous volleys of continuous musket fire from the British.

More of the Prussian army was arriving at Waterloo by the minute and now with Wellington aware of this rescue and the French unable to mount another charge up the deadly hill, Wellington ordered his own troops to charge down upon the French . Pinned between two advancing armies--every general's nightmare-- the French army lost hope, it broke ranks, its discipline collapsed, its soldiers began to run for their lives and even Napoleon could see that the battle was hopelessly lost.

Unlike Muhammad Ali, Napoleon Bonaparte was unsuccessful in his attempt to return to the throne from "exile". in Ali's fight with George Foreman, Ali later said that if he had not recognized his critical moment when George was the most tired and then gone all out to knock George out with that expertly timed 8 punch combination that floored "Big George", Ali said that foreman would have eventually gotten his second wind and knocked Ali out.

Where Ali and Napoleon Bonaparte and Alexander the Great were alike is in their ability to size up the battle recognize its critical moment when either side could win and then go all out with all resources available at that crucial moment. In boxing it is called "ring generalship" ...it is how one "general" imposes his will on the opposing general ---Ali had it like napoleon Bonaparte had it ---like Alexander the great had it. and it was one of the qualities that made Ali "the greatest" --his ability during battle to size up the foe and size up the situation and impose his will upon his foe--even a opponent of much greater physical strength.




In a division where punching power--"heavy hands" -- means everything, Ali --who was physically strong, but never a heavy puncher --not only won the heavyweight title three times ---he defeated some of the strongest, heaviest punchers , some of the most feared fighters in the history of boxing--Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Ernie Shavers.

With speed, a fearless heart, endurance and a special quality that my dad describes in certain fighters as being "just gut tough", Muhammad Ali --MUHAMMAD THE LION -- imposed his will on these stronger, harder punching men and out-general-ed them all and in the process Muhammad Ali dominated boxing and sports for two decades...one of a kind--there will never be another like him.



Bigger than life, he brought greatness for us all to witness and in the process inspired us all to be greater than we were before we encountered him...may he rest in paradise ...Ameen.

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