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Ranking US Army Generals of the 20th Century: A Group Decision-Making Application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process

Department of Mathematical Sciences, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York 10996
R. H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742
Kogod School of Business, American University, Washington, DC 20016
todd.retchless{at}usma.edu
bgolden{at}rhsmith.umd.edu
ewasil{at}american.edu

The pantheon of 20th century US Army generals contains many great wartime commanders. Military historians have written about their leadership qualities but have not ranked the best generals. We asked 10 experts in US military history to evaluate seven generals—Omar Bradley, Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George Marshall, George Patton, John Pershing, and Matthew Ridgway—using the analytic hierarchy process in a group setting. We developed a ratings hierarchy, and each participant scored each general. We combined individual pairwise comparisons using the geometric-mean method and a new method based on linear programming and obtained a clear, three-tier ranking of generals with George Marshall judged the best US Army general of the 20th century, closely followed by Dwight Eisenhower.

Key Words: decision analysis; multiple criteria; military; personnel