SABR.

This is coolbert:

Controversial all this to be sure. But interesting nonetheless.

"THESE ARE THE 10 BEST GENERALS OF ALL TIME, ACCORDING TO STATISTICS"

From the Coffee or Die webzine of the "Black Rifle Coffee' Internet website HISTORY By Blake Stilwell and thanks to Blake.

"Someone [Arsht] went and moneyball-ed military history. Ethan Arsht applied the principles of baseball sabermetrics to the performances of history’s greatest generals’ ability to win battles. It starts with comparing the number of wins from that general to a replacement general in the same circumstances."

WAR = Wins Above Replacement. Get it? War! Get it?

"Sabermetrics or SABRmetrics is the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity."

"Sabermetricians collect and summarize the relevant data from this in-game activity to answer specific questions. The term is derived from the acronym SABR, which stands for the Society for American Baseball Research."

See the Internet article by Ethan Arsht with a complete description of the statistical analysis involved to include acknowledged limitations and imponderables. 

Also view this You Tube video:

Comments:

* I might well suspect if you ask one-hundred experts who are the TEN Best generals of all time and I would anticipate one-hundred different lists to be submitted. Best in most circumstances whatever the topic a very subjective term 

* Two of the TEN Best generals I was totally unfamiliar with.

* Many important military personages from the era of the Second World War their names significantly absent. MacArthur, Patton, Rommel, Montgomery. Well known commanders such as R.E. Lee, Thomas Jackson and Moshe Dayan also conspicuously not listed among the TEN Best.

* Von Moltke the Elder his criteria of a great general a successful commander who had additionally displayed proficiency during a retreat.

coolbert.