I think you're onto something in your first note when you point out that military feats are "convenient" to document and thus get a disproportionately large place in history. But it's also undeniable that there have been and there are today individuals who play larger roles than anybody else around them.

War is the clearest example because it involves incredible levels of centralization and organization of the economy, when the natural course of things is towards decentralization and coordination instead. Think about what it takes to manage to make people literally march to their deaths.

With the development of the modern State, there has historically been a lot of pure and simple physical organized violence ("conscription"), but historically that hasn't been the case, and most armies have been and currently are composed of volunteers and professionals.

Again, that's the "village" merrily marching to their deaths, but it doesn't happen unless there's a leader to make them.