Absolutely genius moves(Pre-1900)

[SunKing105]

This thread is to discuss, and bring up examples, of absolutely brilliant and suprising moves in history, that went against what was expected at the time, and changed the course of history, and may have turned the situation on it's head. Here are some of my examples:
Cambyses II painting cats on his troops' shields.
Alexander the Great building a land bridge to Tyre.
Much of Hannibal's career
I'd list more but I have to leave.

 

[GauchoBadger]

Caesar prior to the Battle of Dyrrhachium in 48 BCE correctly deducing that Pompey's fleet commander, who was tasked with blocking his landing in the western Balkan coast, did not know that Caesar had neglected his time-measuring duties as Pontifex Maximus due to the civil war and landing unopposed because the Pompeians thought it was winter and kept their ships in harbor.

 

[AltoRegnant]

Grant's willingness to use and abuse attritional war that led to him winning the civil war.
Bismarck's political plays that left France isolated and angry before the FP war

 

[TRH]

Onomarchus of Phocis defeating Philip II of Macedon thanks to what I think may have been the first use of field artillery.
Louis XI's use of diplomacy to divide the Anglo-Burgundian alliance against him, which ended in the destruction of Burgundy as an independent power, with the Swiss having done most of the work for him.

 

[sampleswift]

So this is the opposite of the "You blew it" section?
Genius moves:
Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln
Genghis Khan in general

 

[SunKing105]

Seleucus' rapidly managing to advance from his base in Mesopotamia towards Asia Minor, trapping Antigonus before he had a chance to expel Lysimachus. And his usage of the elephants at the Battle of Ipsus.

 

[RedSword12]

Jan Žižka's use of a column of cannon-equipped war wagons to break his army out of an encirclement at the Battle of Kutná Hora (while blind, no less), leading to the failure of the 1421 campaign against the Hussites.

 

[SunKing105]

Cyrus the Great's use of camels to disorient and dismount the Lydian cavalry, leading to victory at Thymbra and the conquest of Asia Minor.

 

[Vinization]

Heraclius attacking Mesopotamia directly rather than wasting time retaking Syria and Egypt from the Sasanians.

EDIT: Seriously, every time I read about his biography I get really sad. Such a tragic character he was.

 

[EWHM]

George Fox implementing and popularizing fixed (as in, no haggle) pricing for Quaker merchants, later spreading to most of England in general. Fixed pricing, were it a civilization game technology, would be rated as incredibly overpowered.

 

[VVD0D95]

Alexander III mustering men and then using his hand to basically force the Norwegians to accept the treaty of Largs

 

[SunKing105]

Agathocles launching a surprise attack against Carthage itself, diverting the enemy from besieging his capital. Though it did require some luck.

 

[Gukpard]

Ahahahaha, I love to mention this

So, during the Paraguayan war, the Brazilian navy had to fight the outdated paraguayan navy, and Admiral Barroso noticed that his ship was made with a iron hull, while the paraguayan ships were made of wood, so he ordered his ship to move forward and began to ram the paraguayan ships breaking them in two