The Great General is a type of 
Great Person Great Person in Civilization VI dedicated to land warfare. Like all civilian units, Great Generals cannot directly engage with enemy units, but they do provide +5 
Combat Strength and +1 
Movement Movement to land units within 2 tiles (provided they are from the appropriate era, and are owned by the same player). Each Great General has a unique ability which may be activated at least once, granting its owner a potentially game-changing bonus.
Earning Great Generals
Great Generals may be claimed by any player who has earned enough 
Great General points. Encampment districts generate +1 Great General point per turn, and provide an additional point for each building completed in that district. (For example, an Encampment with a Barracks, Armory, and Military Academy would generate +4 Great General points per turn.) Further points may also be earned by completing the Encampment Training project in a city with an Encampment. Players who do not have enough points may patronize a General by paying the difference using 
Faith or 
Gold.
The Alhambra wonder provides +1 Great General point per turn, and the Terracotta Army wonder provides +2 points.
Players can also increase their Great General point yields by using the Strategos policy card, which generates +2 Great General points per turn. Once the player completes the Scorched Earth civic, the Strategos card is replaced with the Military Organization policy card, which generates +4 Great General points per turn.
The Stockholm Suzerain bonus increases the number of Great General points generated from each Encampment district by +1. (Note that in Rise and Fall, this bonus is only active if the Encampment has a completed Barracks or Stable building.)
Great Generals
| Name | Era | Bonus Ability |
|---|---|---|
| Boudicca | Classical | Convert adjacent barbarian units. |
| Hannibal Barca | Classical | Grants 1 promotion level to a military land unit. |
| Sun Tzu | Classical | Creates the Art of War Great Work of Writing (+4  Culture, +4  Tourism).
|
| Æthelflæd | Medieval | Instantly creates a Knight unit. |
| El Cid | Medieval | Forms a Corps out of a military land unit. |
| Genghis Khan | Medieval | Grants 1 promotion level to a military land unit. +25% combat bonus for mounted units. |
Timur 
|
Medieval | Grants 1 promotion level and +25% combat experience to a military land unit. |
| Ana Nzinga | Renaissance | Gain a free  Envoy Envoy.
|
| Gustavus Adolphus | Renaissance | Instantly creates a Bombard unit with one promotion level. |
| Jeanne d'Arc | Renaissance | Creates a  Relic.
|
| Napoleon Bonaparte | Industrial | Forms an Army out of a military land unit. |
| Rani Lakshmibai | Industrial | Instantly creates a Cavalry unit with one promotion level. |
| Simón Bolívar | Industrial | Gain 2 free Envoy Envoys.
|
| Douglas MacArthur | Atomic | Instantly creates a Tank unit with one promotion level. |
| Dwight Eisenhower | Atomic | +5%  Production towards military units.
|
| Georgy Zhukov | Atomic | +50% Flanking bonus for all land military units. |
| Sudirman | Atomic | Grants 1 promotion level and +100% combat experience to a military unit. |
| John Monash | Modern | Grants 1 promotion level and +75% combat experience to a military unit. |
| Marina Raskova | Modern | Gain +1 Air unit slot in this district. |
| Samori Touré | Modern | Instantly creates an Infantry unit with one promotion level.
|
| Ahmad Shah Massoud | Information | Instantly creates a Modern AT unit with one promotion level. |
| Vijaya Wimalaratne | Information | Grants 1 promotion level and +100% combat experience to a military land unit. |
Added in the Rise and Fall expansion pack.
Strategy
Unsurprisingly, most Great Generals' abilities have direct military applications: some create units; some allow units to acquire XP more easily; some grant free promotions; some form a single unit into a Corps or Army; and some provide permanent bonuses to the abilities, production, or storage capacity of military units. They also provide Combat Strength and Movement Movement bonuses to nearby land units, allowing you to strike at your enemies harder and faster. This bonus can only be granted to classical or later units: warrior (Civ6)s, scout (Civ6)s, archer (Civ6)s and spearmen can never gain anything from any great general's passive ability.
However, since warfare is constantly changing with the development of new weapons and technology, a Great General's military knowledge eventually becomes antiquated, and the General ceases to provide Combat Strength and Movement Movement bonuses to units that are two eras more advanced than they are. When it comes time to upgrade your army, be sure to retire any Great Generals whose bonuses have become obsolete.
Civilopedia entry
Every age of civilization has had its “great” generals, those who change the course of history by being cleverer, braver, or simply luckier than their peers across the battlefield. These are the men who can convince other men to follow them into hell … and perhaps out the other side. They are innovators in the ways of death, inventing new weapons, formations, tactics and strategies to win wars. Or finding new benefits in the old ways of killing. Every person reading this can name dozens of great generals, for their names echo down to us in legends, histories and monuments. Some are leaders of their people, warrior-kings and president-generals; if not already the head of the government while becoming “great,” they are often awarded (or cursed with) that mantle afterward. And then they write their memoirs, provided they survive their wars.