As we are getting philosophical; Peter O's character in night of the generals said.
'Kill a thousand men on a battlefield and you are a conqueror, kill one man in a street and you are a murderer'.
I believe even for tacky old Holywood this is good. That said warfare is only one of many forms in which excellence can be expressed, and indeed a bit of a sad form really. However it's extreme nature does tend to bring out the best and worst of the human condition though. General Lee leaps to mind.
Ok moving on from that perhaps a slightly more poetic approach from Billy Shakespeare
'life is but a poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage'.
Or in the end there is really only Patton (he said with Clint Eastwood voice). I am sure Anton won't agree

, perhaps it's Vatutin,,,

I do love the muscular Russian perspective, I mean Putin.......

).
Now back to Patton
'Glory is fleeting'
Or perhaps in reality in the end there is one small step from the sublime to the ridiculous
N must have coined this retreating from Moscow.