So I'm mainly talking about Napoleon and Alexander the Great. From my understanding of history, these men commanded immense, undying loyalty from every single one of their soldiers, so much so that their soldiers would probably kill themselves on command if asked to do so.
I understand a similar question was answered here, but that was specifically about Greece, and essentially stated that their death didn't matter because there was very little strategy. But Alexander the Great and Napoleon both only won so much through very clever battle tactics(understatement I know but whatever), and if they died then well, they can't strategize anymore.
From what I know, these men could command such loyalty because they fought alongside their men. But how did they not die? Clearly their enemies would see who's commanding everyone, and focus on them, right? Or maybe try some clever assasination manuever where they send a small team to like flank him and focus on killing him? Clearly I'm not a military strategist, but if an entire army is focused on killing one man, that man is dead, right? No amount of soldiers trying to protect him can stop a well-placed and very lucky shot that statistically, would be bound to happen at least once.
Zelensky is a modern day example, but it's different. I mean no disrespect to the man, he is incredibly brave and will probably be remembered in history with the same legendary status of men like George Washington, but his presence is a morale booster. He is not a brilliant military strategist like Napoleon, if he lives or dies, his men get a morale boost either way and still have their generals to do tactical stuff. If Napoleon dies in battle, all the generals left probably aren't anywhere near as brilliant military-wise as he is.
And if these generals didn't fight with their soldiers and I'm incredibly mistaken, how did they command such loyalty and respect?
As always, more can be said if anyone would like to address the question with a post of their own, so please don't let this linkdrop stop anyone writing up a new answer! For the meantime, OP, as you've asked some of the more commonly-asked warfare questions, here's a few previous posts for your consideration.
Alex the Roman's tactical sophistication isn't that much different to the Greeks he learned from, as you'll see. The following posts lay out frontline leadership for Alex the Roman, the actual Romans, and the Medievals.
Also from the same users, covering the dimensions of combat and how likely it is to get killed when in the front rank (spoiler: not as much as you'd expect, higher than the combatants would like).
See next post for a bit about Napoleon.