Further... - Edit 1
Before modification by RugbyPlayingAshaman at 02/10/2009 12:19:19 AM
Even if these guys are all great generals, they're not fighting any wars!
Yes yes, there's the war of "Light vs. Shadow" but that doesn't involve supply lines. It's a different type of war (for now, anyway)
Mat is a flat-out amazing general. Does have the skill to subvert an entire nation and dedicate its resources to his goals? Well, maybe, but it's not because of his military abilities.
tl;dr The Forsaken have been focusing on politics and espionage, not wars. Generalship doesn't come into it.
Yes yes, there's the war of "Light vs. Shadow" but that doesn't involve supply lines. It's a different type of war (for now, anyway)
Mat is a flat-out amazing general. Does have the skill to subvert an entire nation and dedicate its resources to his goals? Well, maybe, but it's not because of his military abilities.
tl;dr The Forsaken have been focusing on politics and espionage, not wars. Generalship doesn't come into it.
It might be the case that the women who were great generals (girls playing a boy's game, if you will) were destroyed by the women who were focused on politics, espionage or manipulation, while the men who were focused on politics, espionage or manipulation (a boy playing a game where the girls have the edge) were mostly destroyed. On the flipside, once a man enters the arena of politics, espionage or manipulation (which is basically the setup for conditions in the 3rd Age) he is at a disadvantage while the arena is set for the women no holding military capability to thrive. This may be why there are actual permanent male deaths thus far while all the females have survived - the females had already culled the women without a certain amount of cunning during the War of Shadow.
Basically there are no generalized advantages or disadvantages - during the War of Power, where there massive amounts of troops, support systems and outright conflict, being a general conferred an advantage. Once society fell apart, and the infrastructure broke down there is very little advantage to having this sort of military knowledge - you are anachronistic in a manner similar to Aginor. Now, they're all on a level playing field but we see the Forsaken accounted above average in battle largely dead and beyond rebirth already because they weren't able to switch their strategy.