When were the last generals and heads of state personally participating in battles?
i read about Blucher nearly getting killed at Ligny
i guess all Napoleonic commanders were technically in the battle but they didn't fight
you got someone like Nelson, but i guess naval battle lends itself to top commanders being present and in the think of everything
and they say guys like Patton and Rommel were on the front lines under fire as part of their style, but they didn't fire shots?
whats the highest ranking ww2 commander to actually fire at the enemy?
you go further back and of course guys like Richard III and Harold Godwinson are dying in battle
what about after that, who were the last European heads of state to fight in a battle?
did Alexander actually lead the companion cavalry from the front of a wedge?

Beginning of the 19th century, roughly.
>i guess all Napoleonic commanders were technically in the battle but they didn't fight
How are we defining "fight"? I'd say mid-19th century if we consider someone like Stonewall getting btfo'd by friendly fire as a result of him "fighting"
Either way we need to bring that shit back

>>17871819 (OP)
Chuikov actualy shouted orders to his subordinates as in the worst days if the battle of Stalingrad how command post was a few Hundred meters from the front

>>17871819 (OP)
>what about after that, who were the last European heads of state to fight in a battle
That Swedish King Charles XII of Sweden was the last to die in battle in 1718

>>17871819 (OP)
Napoleonic commanders fought when necessary.

Simon Bucknerwas a US general who was killed by enemy fire at Okinawa.

A lot of generals in the American Civil War led their men into battles

Six Confederate generals were killed at the battle of Franklin,Tenness882g4ee.

>>17871819 (OP)
>naval battle lends itself to top commanders being present and in the think of everything
Not really. Nelson was a wunderkind super samurai folded 1000 times by British naval tradition.

>>17871819 (OP)
>When were the last generals and heads of state personally participating in battles?
They still do, just not in western countries.

Several Russian and Ukrop generals died in battle since 2022

>>17871819 (OP)
Austerlitz was also known as Battle of 3 Emperors, since all 3 emperors were there leading their men.

>>17871819 (OP)
>i guess all Napoleonic commanders were technically in the battle but they didn't fight
Didn't Murat lead cavalry charges?

>>17871819 (OP)
In the 17th and 18th century multiple monarchs or higher princes took to the field in a commanding role and some took more active parts in battles. For example Gustaph Adolf II. of Sweden and Count Pappenheim. Another famous example is Friedrich II. of Prussia who took direct control of a grenadier regiment during the Battle of Zorndorf - but here it was a case of the battle going badly for the prussians and Friedrich II. took direct control to rally his men.
>>17873235
Yes. Jean Lannes was also a famous "frontline" commander.

>>17871819 (OP)
Politicians who declare wars should have to gear up and get in the shit like in the Greek days. I bet we'd have fewer bullshit wars.

>>17871819 (OP)
>>17872089
>>17873388
>>17873389
It's sad that there's no art like this made in the 20th century, what's 20th century's problem?

>>17873440
There are many battlefield painters out there. Don Troiani is probably the most famous from the english speaking world.
And the painting featuring Fredrick II. of Prussia was made in the 20th century.

>>17873440
>paintings of men just wasting away in a muddy trench 100 yards from the other guys who are also wasting away in a muddy trench
WWI being the worst thing to ever happen to warfare is the problem. Kino-ality of war died when Princip put that bullet between Ferdinand's eyes