High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! "Bart the General" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons` first season, which premiered on the Fox network on February 4, 1990. The episode deals with Bart`s troubles with the bully, Nelson Muntz. Bart chooses to go to war with Nelson uniting the neighborhood children against him. The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by David Silverman.