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. The deplorable conduct of Charles Lee at the Battle of Monmouth has been immortalized by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Benedict Arnolds name is synonymous with traitorous behavior. What a Lovely War and then in the 1989 television comedy series Blackadder Goes Forth. In reality, it is a collection of ideas, images, and information that enough people have chosen to preserve and disseminate. According to a Time magazine reporter who wrote about the Dak Son massacre, Viet Cong guerrillas shouted "Sons of Americans!" as they launched their assault on the village. What does that mean for trade and globalization? Alas, call it the laws of probability or just cosmic karma, but every nation produces bad generals as well as good onesand America is no exception. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Yet, Hannibal nevertheless ranks as one of the worlds epic fails. Vietnam War. (You May Also Like: The Five Best U.S. The British gained control of the fort, dozens of cannons, the brig USS Adams (recommissioned the HMS Detroit), and virtually the entire Michigan Territory. On the night of August 15, 1812, Tecumseh led his forces across the Detroit River, and Brock followed the next morning. Advancing to the North Korean border with China also was a red flag for Mao-Tse Tung, who feared that American troops on his border were a prelude to U.S. invasion. Essential analysis of the stories shaping geopolitics on the continent. Thus, almost by default, Westmoreland was left to go his own way, year after bloody year. Hull responded by ordering the evacuation of Fort Dearborn, and the garrison was promptly massacred by a Potawatomi war band upon leaving the fort. Eschewing a direct overland march to the Confederate capital of Richmond, McClellan orchestrated an impressive amphibious landing of more than 100,000 troops at Fort Monroe, at the southeast end of the peninsula between the James and York rivers. 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. He was uninterested in other viewpoints on how the war might be prosecuted, dismissing the PROVN Study sponsored by Army Chief of Staff General Harold K. Johnson (which concluded that Westmorelands way of war was not working and could not work) and basic disagreements with Westmorelands organization and approach voiced by his brilliant classmate General Bruce Palmer Jr. 7. While this century witnessed many great leaders, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi . And if they not only fail to deliver, but wind up sinking their own side in the process, and change history, they earn a spot in the Hall of Military Shame. When major U.S. ground force deployments were under consideration in July 1965, for example, LBJ worried that North Vietnam would respond by pouring in more men of its own. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. Despite the Union outnumbering the Confederates, McClellan was unable to crush Robert E. Lee after failing to pursue him into Virginia. Sorley skillfully uses Westmoreland's own words to show time and again his duplicity at worst and his lack of touch with reality at best. (You May Also Like: 5 Israeli Weapons of War ISIS Should Fear). History: Military History. 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 1941, Graziani resigned his commission after the British counterattacked and the Tenth Army was completely defeated during Operation Compass. Saul David reviews a surprising study of military failure and names his own five most infamous generals Saul David Thursday February 17 2022, 12.00am , The Times Explore the benefits of your FP subscription. The man who appealed for Varus help was Arminius, a Romanized Germanic prince. The Texans only suffered 2 casualties, as opposed to hundreds of Mexican casualties. 336 pages | 16 halftones | 6 1/4 x 9 1/4. But beyond the goals of one leader in Moscow, it is also clear that Ukraine has suffered horrors of a historic nature. The Worst Civil War Generals on the Confederacy Confederate Maj. Gen. Gideon Pillow. A very significant instance was his determination to arbitrarily hold down the estimate of enemy strength during a 1967 order of battle controversy. He couldnt. Not later than the autumn of 1966 the leaders of both services involved in fighting the ground war in VietnamArmy Chief of Staff General Harold K. Johnson and Marine Commandant General Wallace Greeneboth saw Westmorelands approach as fatally flawed and agreed on a viable alternative. The problem begins with the fact that nobody in the chain of command was really competent to critique Westmorelands performance. Relations between the United States and China seem to be getting frostier by the day. From Kaiser Wilhelm to Hitler and Saddam Hussein and Gadhafi, there is no end of national leaders who squandered their nations blood and treasure in futile conflicts. Download the FP mobile app to read anytime, anywhere. Would he be upset if he were alive to read this book today? Even a string of bad days does not guarantee entry. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail. On the other side of the trenches in World War I was Erich Ludendorff, commanding the armies of Germany. Some captured Romans were placed in wicker cages and burned alive, others were enslaved or ransomed. Little Mac would prove himself to be a superb organizer who kept his army well supplied, efficiently run, and happy. When two able and progressive Nationalist generals, Pai Chunghsi and Li Tsung-jen, begged the generalissimo to adopt similar methods, Chiang rejected them outright. He was an artilleryman who missed out on the Armys great schools system, never attending the Command & General Staff College or the Army War College. If Gates had been in command, we might be paying for our groceries with shillings and pence. Yes, Westmoreland was the general who lost Vietnam. Unfortunately the fates of the former Republic Vietnam (Sout. This week marks exactly one year since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine. 5. In 1847, U.S. troops once again surprised Santa Anna and captured his prosthetic leg. The unprecedented violence of battles such as Shiloh, Antietam, Stones River, and Gettysburg shocked citizens and international observers alike. He called for bombing China, as if liberating Korea was worth risking 550 million Chinese and possibly war with Russia as well. But his persistence and inspiration kept the Continental Army in the field through the worst of times, which is why his face is on the one-dollar bill. There are issues around killing and counting unarmed civilians (non-combatants) as enemy combatants, as well as inflating the number of actual enemy who were killed in action (KIA).For search and destroy operations, as the objective was not to . And how might that be impacting the world? Westmoreland told him, "We're killing these people at a ratio of 10 to 1.". What defines Santa Anna is his utter failure to subdue the Texican rebels and block American expansion. James K. Polk. While Muammer Al-Gaddafi isn't into the funny business in his politician reign, he most certainly is one of a highly egotistical leader and a member who represents more of the "self" rather than all else. Grachev once said that only an incompetent commander would order tanks into the streets of central Grozny, where they would be vulnerable. Yet near the end of the war he did exactly that. A dull, unfeeling, unimaginative, smug "Colonel Blimp" of the worst sort. These battlefield bumblers serve to provide that contrast. Yet backstabbing your commander-in-chief in the middle of a war is taking ambition a little too far. Lincoln relieved McClellan but reinstated him after the devastating Union defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Is the Biden administrations China policy too hawkish? In the famous Battle of the Alamo, Santa Anna struggled to defeat about 250 Texans with 2,400 Mexicans and subsequently lost nearly 600 men. Best Defense: After early success in the Mexican War for Independence, the rest of his career didnt pan out the way he would have liked. After occupying Jerusalem and crucifying 2,000 Jewish rebels in Judaea, Varus went off to govern Germania and tame barbarian tribes. By Lewis Sorley Best Defense Saigon bureau chief. Needs to Talk About the Risk of War With China, Putin Has Assembled an Axis of Autocrats Against Ukraine, The Conversation About Ukraine Is Cracking Apart. Scott claimed that Pillow was ''the only person I have ever known who was wholly indifferent in the choice between truth and falsehood. When talk of secession reached Pillows home state of Tennessee, he helped organize the state militia and was appointed a brigadier general in the Confederate army. Thuong, 52, is the youngest member of the party's Politburo, the country's top decision-making body, and is widely regarded as being close to General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam's most . 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. In fact, he did a lot to ensure that Germany would find itself in another war that it couldnt win, but, since he died in 1937, he gets extra credit for being a bad World War II general from beyond the grave. These two instances are illustrative of many, many more, ranging from his actions or lack of action in combat situations to his determination to take over the war and win it with U.S. forces to his resultant failure to build up South Vietnamese forces to the validity of body count to the decision to close Khe Sanh to his actions when Lang Vei was overrun to denying predictions he had made of an early end to the war to claims of not being surprised at Tet 1968 to denying a post-Tet request for many additional U.S. forces. James Jay Carafano is a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges. While there are plenty of books that analyze the keys to success, The Worst Military Leaders in History offers lessons of failure to avoid. With the Little Corporal running everything, Europe might have become a very different place. Test yourself on the week of Feb. 25: Nigeria votes, Finland builds a border wall, and Israel escalates repression. [i] However, the list is subjective, and open to debate, as top 10 lists tend to be. The 20th century is the most violent century in history. [1] Exactly. 9. While serving in Vietnam . The suppression of drug consumption and trade is high on the Government of Vietnam's agenda. He was called the "inevitable general." A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea. The Second Battle of the Somme was the first of a series of successful German offensives, but Ludendorff had failed to integrate these tactical victories into a broader strategic plan. The Vietnam War body count controversy centers on the counting of enemy dead by the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War (1955-1975). War is an extension of politics, and if commanders dont help secure the desired political ends, they get a failing grade. While Hull dithered, Brock captured Fort Michilimackinac, establishing British control of the Straits of Mackinac. Seldom included in. Not only is Sorley a third-generation graduate of West Point a Vietnam veteran and a historian, but he worked for Westmoreland as well. Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. His poor tactical decisions resulted in his army being routed by a smaller force of Redcoats and Loyalists at the Battle of Camden in South Carolina in 1780. 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. But in a contemporaneous cable to General Earle Wheeler, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Westmoreland complained that the military professionalism of the Marines falls far short of the standards that should be demanded by our armed forces. Westmoreland was on a treadmill. 7. Had Lincoln retained McClellan in command of the Union armies, many former Americans might still be whistling "Dixie.". He was indeed a capable warrior, as shown by the South Pacific campaign and the Inchon landing in Korea. Grachev played a key role in initiating and leading the First Chechen War. Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend The idiot who, seeking self aggrandisement, led his army, Force D, to disaster at Kut in WW1. Ulysses S. Grant, who replaced McClellan, understood this. Seared into all who fought it and many who merely lived through it that conflict remains a bitter stew of second-guessing and recriminations. It's not the first time that someone thought he was smarter than his boss. It would be nice if all American generals were great. Santa Anna would lose Texas at the Battle of San Jacinto. Cornwallis later did redeem himself militarily. He continued on to suffer defeats at Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz, almost letting the war slip away from the British. Overseas during World War II he had limited line duty (16 months of battalion command, then 13 months in staff positions) and of 14 months of command during the Korean War and its immediate aftermath he spent eight months in reserve in Japan and only six months in Korea, and that during the mostly static final months of the war. Fort Bragg was named in 1918 during the Jim Crow era. 2. Lyndon Johnson had no understanding of military affairs whatever, nor did Robert McNamara. What does that mean for trade and globalization? But the rash advance into North Korea was a blunder of strategic proportions. His 1812 campaign against Russia ended in complete disaster. The Summer 2023 term begins June 1, 2023 and ends August 24, 2023. You start by being the only thing that can frustrate Napoleon more than a Russian winter. Not good, Hannibal. The result of his manic commitment to the war of attrition was that Westmoreland squandered four years of his troops bravery and support by the public, the Congress, and even much of the news media for American involvement in the war. How theyve practiced the art of war is immaterial, too. For one thing, we wouldnt haveSpartacuson Netflix. The Germanic fighters demolished the three Roman legions. He retreated to Malta but was captured when that island fell to the British. 1 Erwin Rommel Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, popularly known as the Desert Fox, was a German field marshal of World War II. Sure, he won big at the Alamo. There's an entire myriad of generals from the American Civil War that fought for the Union that were incredibly inept. This strategy inevitably failed as the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong maintained control over how the war was fought which was through guerilla warfare. Delivered Monday-Friday. 1968 takes the cake for me. They dramatically upped their game, pressing the U.S. worldwide. The War of the Triple Alliance devastated Paraguay. The elder Lpez had bequeathed to his son a relatively powerful military by regional standards but had cautioned Francisco against using it to settle diplomatic issues. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. Muammar Al-Gaddafi. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. See the vast swaths of land to the north and south that arent Paraguay? Think about how history would have been different if Hannibal had a military plan to outlast Roman might. But all that remains of his would-be empire today is a flaky French pastry. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? More ways to stay updated on global news: By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. In stereotypically McClellan fashion, he was promptly checked by a vastly inferior force under John Bankhead Magruder. General William Westmoreland. Stay updated on the topics you care about with email alerts. McClellan truly disappointed president Lincoln at the Battle of Antietam where the North and South would fight the bloodiest battle of the war. Registration for summer courses begins March 18, 2023 and ends June 7, 2023. The last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, Darius was not quite as qualified to rule a mighty empire as his predecessors were. Here are five of America's worst generals: Great generals have great talents, and usually egos and ambitions to match. Fighter Aircraft of All Time). Opportunistic firms in Asia and Europe have already begun to relocate investments to the United States. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. Finally, there was MacArthur's insubordination. And how might that be impacting the world? Thus the progress Westmoreland claimed in racking up huge body counts did nothing to win the war. In the summer of 1967, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) initiated a series of attacks in western Kontum Province. What was the worst battle of Vietnam? The early days of the 2003 Iraq War were bound to be a graveyard for military and political reputations, given the misperceptions and misjudgments behind America's ill-fated adventure in regime change and nation-building. Frederick C. Weyand was a U.S. Army General who was the last commander of American military operations in the Vietnam War from 1972 to 1973. Join in-depth conversations and interact with foreign-policy experts with. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. Instead the enemy proved willing to absorb horrifying losses and keep fighting. By signing up, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to occasionally receive special offers from Foreign Policy. Hull had served with distinction in the Revolutionary War and was appointed governor of the Michigan Territory in 1805. Hulls nerve was shattered. Varus was stationed with three of his legions, the 17th, 18th and 19th when news arrived of a revolt growing in the Rhine area. 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Some would say that failure on the battlefield warrants censure. Francisco Solano Lpez managed to stumble into a war with pretty much all of that. Mexican general Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna probably wished that everyone really did remember the Alamo, because: (1) he actually did win that battle (he outnumbered his opponents between 10- and 30-to-1); and (2) during the 13-day siege, he somehow resisted the urge to betray all his allegiances and change sides. Westmorelands devotion to advancing his own interests, even when necessary by misrepresentation, was fundamentally at odds with what Scouting is all about. So what is the standard of shame for induction? Create an FP account to save articles to read later and in the FP mobile app. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews. The initial assault resulted in very high casualties for the Russians and an almost complete breakdown of morale in the Russian forces. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Some 15,000 talents of gold (the so-called Gold of Tolosa) had vanished under his watch, never to be recovered. One-stop digest of politics, economics, and culture. The Cimbri destroyed Caepios force and, emboldened by their success, marched on Maximuss camp. 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. If there was a saving grace for America, it was that he wasn't commanding an army. Caepio was born into a noble family and became consul in 106 BC. Routed by U.S. forces under Winfield Scott, Santa Anna was again driven into exile. Delivered Wednesday. Years later, when Marine Corps historians were at work on their history of the war, Westmoreland met with them. in history from Michigan State University in 1995. 3. 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. James Bond Stockdale was flying his A-4 Skyhawk on a mission over North Vietnam, just days after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, when his plane took fire and hurtled d Explore the benefits included in your subscription. This might have ended okay for Germany, provided they didnt do something like provoke a previously neutral country with Allied sympathies and an effectively bottomless war chest. Varus trust in Arminius was an obvious and terrible misjudgment. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln and the Union expected great things. A monthly digest of the top articles read by FP subscribers. Weekly update on developments in India and its neighbors. There is no Carthage. He overestimated the American peoples patience and tolerance of friendly losses. The resulting Peninsular Campaign (AprilJuly 1862) was a marvel of planning but something of a farce in execution. Still, he choked in the big game. How do you measure military leaders? Military He was a teacher in the Chicago suburbs and Seoul, Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. A very influential visitor, Senator "Fritz" Hollings from Westmoreland's home state of South Carolina, had warned him about reliance on such ratios. The premise was that, if he could kill enough of the enemy, they would lose heart and cease their aggression against the South Vietnamese. Youre on the list! Read More. Officially labelled a defector by the Pentagon, many suspected Nolan, an African American, changed sides after suffering a lifetime of racial discrimination. In order, from most culpable down. The pandemics outbreak brought rare reporting freedoms. In the autumn of 1804 he was placed in charge of the French fleet at Toulon and tasked with drawing the British fleet under Horatio Nelson to the Caribbean. His battlefield losses marked the end of the Persian Empire. Grant had encircled the fort. 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. You may opt out at any time. Still, it is his world-changing defeat at Yorktown that merits memorializing. He underestimated the enemys staying power, maintaining that if he could inflict enough casualties the communists would lose heart and cease their aggression against South Vietnam. Starting with the battle of Long Island, he lost way more fights than he wonyet he managed to win the war. Despite Lincoln's pleas for aggressive action, his Army of the Potomac moved hesitantly, its commander McClellan convinced himself that the Southern armies vastly outnumbered him when logic should have told him that it was the North that enjoyed an abundance of resources. Haig had largely dismissed the effect of the machine gun on the battlefield, believing that previous Allied failures owed to something other than an impenetrable wall of lead traveling at ballistic velocity. Alas, call it the laws of probability or just cosmic karma, but every nation produces bad generals as well as good onesand . Sure, he was the greatest commander of the Second Punic War, a titanic contest between Carthage and Rome. The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. He would eventually be betrayed and killed by a friend. 15. To counter these, Major General William R. Peers commenced Operation Greeley using elements of the 4th Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. 13,091. Ulysses S. Grant made his Civil War debut at the Battle of Belmont against Confederate Gen. Gideon Pillow. - 4 Worst: 1990 Cleveland Cavaliers. On the other hand, there was that bad day at the Battle of Salamis when most of the Persian fleet went to the bottom.
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