He denied senior civilian officials accurate data on enemy strength and composition, during development of a 1967 Special National Intelligence Estimate imposing a ceiling on the number of enemy forces his intelligence officers could report or agree to and personally removing from the order of battle entire categories that had long been included, thus falsely portraying progress in reducing enemy strength. 4. Haste risked casualties and defeats at the hands of a formidable opponent like Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. In 334 BC, Alexander the Great invaded the Persian Empire. What does that mean for trade and globalization? But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. Abraham Lincoln. His bad luck didnt end at San Jacinto. He still had his defenders, but they were in the last trench, barely holding on. By one estimate from Harvard University, more than 130,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or severely wounded, in addition to the deaths of more than 7,000 Ukrainian civilians. Advancing in dispersed columns across the northern half of the peninsula was an invitation to be destroyed piecemeal. He continued to view attrition as the most effective strategy for defeating Germany; the British lost some 420,000 men at the Somme. Caepio may have been a terrible general, but he was apparently an exceptional thief. James Madison spared him from execution. Darius never showed up for the first battle and defeat (Battle of Granicus) because he didnt see Alexander as much of a threat to his empire. If Gates had been in command, we might be paying for our groceries with shillings and pence. It doesnt matter if theyve won more often than theyve lost. Having amassed roughly twice as many losses in a single day as Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington, had suffered during the entire Peninsular War, Haig saw no reason to change tactics. Who was the worst general in history? He earned a B.A. The war soon ended in a Russian defeat, with hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties. The heavily forested, swampy terrain made the Legions maneuvers impossible. In the end, Chiang sacrificed more than a million Chinese soldiers and well over ten million Chinese civilians in his bid to stay in power. McClellan was a proto-Douglas MacArthur who bad-mouthed his president and commander-in-chief. By signing up, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to occasionally receive special offers from Foreign Policy. Among the most detrimental and problematic policies are the incarceration of drug users in compulsory treatment centers, and the stigmatization and abuse of consumers by the police. He first demonstrated his ineptitude during the Mexican-American War, where he had received an appointment to the rank of major general from his friend Pres. As the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles crippled Germany, Ludendorff effectively sabotaged the Weimar Republic by propagating the belief that he and his armies had been undefeated on the battlefield. When all is said and done, it doesnt matter how nice, brave, courageous, gutsy, loyal, or brilliant commanders theyve been. By the end of May 1862, Confederate commanding Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had withdrawn his forces to Richmond, and McClellan was close enough to the Confederate capital to hear its church bells ringing. Two of the more prominent of these mistakes, both with wide and sweeping results, were the June 22, 1941 invasion of the USSROperation Barbarossaand the December 11, 1941 unprovoked and unwarranted declaration of war on the United Statesagainst the advice of Hitler's Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. After only 10 weeks into the Pacific War, Percival became responsible for the largest surrender of British-led forces in history. Franz Conrad von Htzendorf of Austria couldnt decide which country he wanted to invade, so the German General Staff eventually took his armies away. Instead he simply sent more and more replacements to make up his losses. There appeared to be little serious planning for what would happen the day after Saddam was gone. Armchair historians often generalize that during the American Civil War, while the Union held a clear advantage in material, the Confederacy could field superior commanders. 15. While British cannons shelled the fort from the Canadian side of the river, Tecumseh marched his warriors through a forest clearing in an endless parade. As military professionals, we should think about more . Caepio was born into a noble family and became consul in 106 BC. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. The next major British offensive came at Passchendaele (July 31November 6, 1917), where Haig lost another 275,000 troops in a battle whose name became synonymous with pointless slaughter. In fifteen thought-provoking essays, each written by a professional military historian, readers are introduced . And he was able to inflict massive casualties on the enemy. A U.S. ship conveyed him to Mexico, and upon his arrivalto the surprise of virtually no onehe executed a volte-face and took charge of the Mexican troops. A more positive example is George Washington. George Custer at the Little Big Horn and Lord Chelmsford at the Battle of Isandlwana leap to mind. Who was the worst US general during the Vietnam War? Others would say that it is not victory, but success in fulfilling a mission that counts. Click + to receive email alerts when new stories are published on Hull was taken prisoner by the British and was court-martialed upon his return to the United States. Under Westmorelands command, the Vietnam war began smoothly as the U.S. won every battle. But in 1968, when Westmoreland became Army Chief of Staff, Communist forces baited Westmoreland into committing nearly 40% of his strength to the military outpost at Khe Sanh, then attacked cities and towns throughout South Vietnam. McClellan was a superb organizer, a West Point-trained engineer who did much to build the Union army almost from scratch. Then, in an ill-advised comeback, he met his Waterloo. Lebanon (1982-1984) 240. At the height of the Cold War, he dealt decisively with neither. The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files contains records of 58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties of the Vietnam War. Consul Gnaeus Mallius Maximus was Caepios superior officer, but Caepio refused to obey Maximus or even put his forces into a shared camp with him. There were available better concepts of how to prosecute the war. Germanic tribes sacrificed Roman officers on altars to their gods. Military historian Russell Weigley rendered a succinct judgment on LBJ: No capable war President would have allowed an officer of such limited capacities as General William C. Westmoreland to head Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, for so long.. Even now, the easiest way to get into an argument at a V.F.W. After an initial attack drove back Grants troops, Pillow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by retreating to the fort rather than breaking through Union lines to Nashville. General Harold K. Johnson was an authentic battlefield hero, and as noted above was fundamentally at odds with Westmorelands approach, but he was not in the chain of command. How theyve practiced the art of war is immaterial, too. These are the incompetents, the idiots, the bumblers who have represented armies or nations at war only to lead them to defeat or shame. 1968 takes the cake for me. And once again, at the Battle of Antietam, McClellans terminal case of the slows (as Lincoln called it) prevented the exploitation of a possible war-ending vulnerability in Confederate defenses. What was your impression of the man when you were working for him? Varus placed his legions in a position where their fighting strengths would be minimized and that of the Germanic Cherusci tribesman maximized. The Persians had a mixed record against the Greeks. Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. The pandemics outbreak brought rare reporting freedoms. At the Battle of Gaugamela, he helped make Alexander great by losing half his army to the Macedonian upstart. Most younger officers who worked around General Westmoreland, excepting only a very few among his many aides-de-camp or executive officers and the like, had no personal relationship with this difficult and distant man. War is an extension of politics, and if commanders dont help secure the desired political ends, they get a failing grade. While there are plenty of books that analyze the keys to success, The Worst Military Leaders in History offers lessons of failure to avoid. They kept it as a war trophy, exhibiting the leg at. Lincoln relieved McClellan but reinstated him after the devastating Union defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Follow him on Twitter:@Mipeck1. Hulls nerve was shattered. Here are five of America's worst generals: Great generals have great talents, and usually egos and ambitions to match. Johnston was wounded on the first day of the Battle of Seven Pines, six miles east of Richmond, and he was replaced by Robert E. Lee. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. If there was a saving grace for America, it was that he wasn't commanding an army. Alexander, Napoleon, Rommel. But beyond the goals of one leader in Moscow, it is also clear that Ukraine has suffered horrors of a historic nature. Relations between the United States and China seem to be getting frostier by the day. However, Ludendorff and German General Staff chief Helmuth von Moltke had altered the Schlieffen PlanGermanys overall battle plan for fighting a two-front warin a way that had weakened the attacking army on the Western Front. Xi Jinpings signature foreign policy is a shadow of its former self.. Casey was an Army insidera four-star general and the son of the highest-ranking American casualty of the Vietnam War, a division commander who was killed in a July 1970 helicopter crash. He was called the inevitable general. A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea. Somalia (1992-1994) 2. Opportunistic firms in Asia and Europe have already begun to relocate investments to the United States. Others were experienced military men who should have known better than to take the risks they took - or not take the risks they should have. McClellan and Burnside in particular. A former British officer, Gates rose to fame as Continental Army commander during the momentous American defeat of a British army at Saratoga in 1777. Seared into all who fought it and many who merely lived through it that conflict remains a bitter stew of second-guessing and recriminations. If pressed to rank the miscreants, I would place Wheeler first, then LBJ, and then McNamara, with all entitled to recognition as important accomplices in dooming the endeavor. What he did not divulge publicly was that the United States. FPs Ravi Agrawal spoke with two of the very best Russia experts:Angela Stent, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author ofPutins World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest, and Michael Kofman, the research program director of the Russia studies program at the Center for Naval Analyses. The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest darkened Emperor Augustus remaining years and he was heard, upon occasion, to moan, Quinctilius Varus, give me back my Legions!, Notable mention: George Custer, Joseph Hooker, Ambrose Burnside, Charles Cornwallis, John II of France, Top 10 Utterly Bizarre Things Banned In China, Top 10 Military Bases Linked To UFOs (That Aren't Area 51), 10 Bizarre Military Inventions That Almost Saw Deployment, 10 Futuristic Sci-Fi Military Technologies That, 10 Awesome French Military Victories You've Never Heard Of, 10 Oddities That Interrupted Military Battles, Top 10 Top-Level Domains That Caused Controversies, 10 Controversial Toys You Might Already Have in Your Home, Ten Absolutely Vicious Fights over Inherited Fortunes, 10 Female Film Pioneers Who Shaped the Movies, Ten True Tales from Americas Toughest Prison, 10 Times Members of Secretive Societies and Organizations Spilled the Beans, 10 Common Idioms with Unexpectedly Dark Origins, 10 North American Animals with Misplaced Reputations, 10 Japanese Weapons Invented Too Late To Win World War II, 10 Ways The History Of Thanksgiving Is Nothing Like You Imagined, 10 Great Buildings That Were Not Built Quite Well Enough. His 1812 campaign against Russia ended in complete disaster. But its not just the United States. However, not even they managed to get themselves court-martialed and sentenced to death for ineptitude on the battlefield. This entire list could be populated with Roman commanders, but one manages to rise above the rest with an ineptitude that defies logic. By the way, here is the first review I have seen of Sorley's new biography of Westmoreland, which I read in galleys last summer, and enjoyed. Delivered Thursday. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln. Applications for the Gettysburg College-Gilder Lehrman MA program are open and considered on a rolling basis. The United States entered the war, forcing Ludendorff to accelerate his time line for a conclusive battle against the Allies on the Western Front. Have your boss report to the French gentleman whose name begins with J at a place which begins with D which is five grid squares to the left of M. The Kasserine disaster had repercussions. standing, Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting, and the West has so far stayed resolute in its support of Ukraine. Heres the inaugural class: 6. World War I provided a forum for any number of truly horrible commanders to assert themselves. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, consult individual encyclopedia entries about the topics. Perhaps Mao would have intervened anyway. Best Defense: Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. Delivered Monday-Friday. When two able and progressive Nationalist generals, Pai Chunghsi and Li Tsung-jen, begged the generalissimo to adopt similar methods, Chiang rejected them outright. But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. Jacob Zuma is a cherry on the top of the world's worst leader cake. Russias war is receiving critical assistance from authoritarian regimes around the world. Fighter Aircraft of All Time). Gods and Generals (2003) Loss $61 million These are actually Civil War reenactors and probably the only people who paid to see the movie. After achieving moderate success in Libya and Ethiopia, the Butcher of Ethiopia became Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Royal Armys General Staff and of Italian North Africa at the start of World War II. Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend The idiot who, seeking self aggrandisement, led his army, Force D, to disaster at Kut in WW1. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? Sure, he won big at the Alamo. Weekly update on whats driving U.S. national security policy. Varus himself, seeing all hope was lost, committed suicide. When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybodys all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. General William Westmoreland. These Vietnam War photos taken by U.S. Army photographers reveal a side of the conflict that few people have ever seen. Whatever its military wisdom or lack thereof, it was a decision that should not have been made by generals under the American political system.
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