Beyond the ivory-handled revolvers and the movie caricature stood a commander wedded to his own reality. This episode traces George S. Patton from a dyslexic, wealthy California boyhood and his stubborn 1912 Olympic pentathlon to the reincarnation beliefs that fueled his fearlessness and his obsession with speed, shock, and offensive momentum.

We follow how he reimagined the cavalry sword, led America's first motorized attack in Mexico, championed the tank as an armored horse, and perfected mobile warfare at the Battle of the Bulge, while his prejudices, the soldier-slapping scandal, and postwar outbursts poisoned his legacy.

• Why Patton insisted on a heavy .38 revolver at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics
• How undiagnosed dyslexia and classical histories shaped his identity
• His belief in reincarnation and its link to his ...