Hi I'm American and have seen your mentions of Grant and Sherman and want to broaden my view point on military leaders. Can you suggest a NON-american military leader or commander that I might want to learn about?
If you're looking to learn about some non-American military leaders, you obviously have a whole world of historical figures to choose from, so it kind of depends on which part of the world or what period of history you're most interested in.
I'll give you just a few that I personally enjoy reading about. I've always found Saladin to be really interesting to learn about. Napoleon, of course, is always a fascinating figure.
The story of Ibn Saud is pretty remarkable -- from being forced into exile in Kuwait with his family as a child to returning to his homeland as a very young man and conquering (and creating) modern-day Saudi Arabia, piece-by-piece, through daring desert raids, numerous guerrilla wars, brilliant tribal diplomacy, crafty religious partnerships, and scores of strategic marriages (and divorces) that established tribal loyalties throughout the Arabian Peninsula.
I've also always found the stories of the Liberators ("Libertadores") of Latin America who fought for independence against Spanish and Portuguese colonialism in the 19th century to be really compelling: Simón Bolívar, José de San Martín, Bernardo O'Higgins, Francisco de Miranda, Antonio José de Sucre, Augustin de Iturbide, Miguel Hidalgo, José Maria Morelos, Manuel Belgrano, José Gervasio Artigas, Pedro I of Brazil, José Martí, and others. I feel like the revolutionaries and leaders of Latin American independence movements are frequently overlooked.