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Have to keep this short:
I found a set of 8 articles, written by players, about the history of RTS games.
Haven't read it completely yet, that will take a long time to do, but I certainly will.
This history will be very interesting for us, along with the comments they got.

Link to Part 1

Solinx

Yes, if any of us not well versed in the art of RTS is on this board he (or she?) should take his (or her?) time to look at it. Of course, it seems as though Darvin is behind most of the ideas for gameplay, and I have a sneaking suspicion that he's seen a fair number of RTS titles anyway.

You would be correct.  My repitoire includes:

Warcraft 1-3
Starcraft
Age of Empires 1 and 2
Civilization 2-4 (close enough to a RTS...)
C&C Red Alert, Red Alert 2, Tiberian Sun
BFME, BFME2
Dark Reign 2
Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2
Stronghold
Shogun/Medieval/Rome Total War
Empire Earth

And more that I can't think of off hand.  Supreme Commander will be added to that list after my last exam.

Well, that about covers every decent RTS ever made, though you may want to look at a couple more Age games, as they have some very nice strategic ideas in them. Specifically Age of Mythology, as that's easily the best one ever made.

Age of Mythology is one of the games I forgot to mention.  Mind you, I actually didn't play it very much.  Can't remember why.

Aah. Well, it's not super important, just a good age game. Knowing all of the qualities for the various breeds of RTS games can be handy, as we can see the results of various choices. For instance, in AOE, battles tend to involve lower troop levels and longer game times. Or, Command and Conquer games tend to be extremely fast paced and fighting begins in a few short instances.

Populous: The beginning was a great RTS.

I played it, but single-player was too linear and there was basically no multiplayer.

*ahem* TOTAL ANIHILATION!!!!!! *ahem* The first 3d rendered RTS! Such an amazing game for so many reasons, the fact you could tell you construction units to guard your commander, and therefore help him build, or alternatively guard a factory, was impressive. (I too am also eagerly waiting to play supreme commander)
Little unit/building command tricks like that really do help an RTS sparkle.
(Oh, and some v. good ideas in Rise of Legends too, if somewhat a simplification of RTS)

Bah, TA is no match for SC. Well, maybe it is, but I am fiercely biased against it, simply because gamespy placed it at #1 on their "Best RTS games ever" list.

It still belongs on the list of the genre's defining titles, and is probably the most important RTS I've ever missed out on.

Right you are... it's certainly an important one.

you guys actually managed to forget about dune 2?