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A Texan with the U.S. Army's 1 st Infantry Division, Nolan reportedly slipped away from his basecamp in Tay Ninh Province on Nov. 22, 1967 and turned himself over to the Viet Cong. [i] However, the list is subjective, and open to debate, as top 10 lists tend to be. History is not a fixed set of facts. 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. There were available better concepts of how to prosecute the war. 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. When the War of 1812 began, Hull was commissioned a brigadier general and tasked with defending Michigan and invading Upper Canada. Not only is Sorley a third-generation graduate of West Point a Vietnam veteran and a historian, but he worked for Westmoreland as well. Yes, Westmoreland was the general who lost Vietnam. 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. Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. His battlefield losses marked the end of the Persian Empire. James Jay Carafano is a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges. Santa Anna liked to call himself the Napoleon of the West. And, like Napoleon, he squandered it all in one grand campaign. 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. Varus trust in Arminius was an obvious and terrible misjudgment. Jessica Chen Weiss, formerly a senior advisor for policy planning at the State Department under the Biden administration, makes the case that the United States is becoming consumed by competition with China, a strategy that could lead to dangerous conflict. McClellan was a proto-Douglas MacArthur who bad-mouthed his president and commander-in-chief. The 5 Worst Generals in U.S. History. Gamelin was commander of the French forces in World War II and is largely responsible for the fall of France into German control during the Battle of France. Instead the enemy proved willing to absorb horrifying losses and keep fighting. Is the Biden administrations China policy too hawkish? He bears a lot of responsibility for one the greatest reversals of military fortune ever experienced by a super power. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? As Lincoln well knew, the only way the Union could lose the war was if the North eventually grew tired and agreed to allow the South to secede. Years later, when Marine Corps historians were at work on their history of the war, Westmoreland met with them. What a Lovely War and then in the 1989 television comedy series Blackadder Goes Forth. Concurrently with hi. While there are plenty of books that analyze the keys to success, The Worst Military Leaders in History offers lessons of failure to avoid. My generation would likely vote for the year exactly one-half century ago as the absolutely worst year in our lifetimes. What does that mean for trade and globalization? Implementing the attrition strategy, Westmoreland typically employed a series of large unit sweeps conducted in the deep jungle regions along South Vietnams western borders. Yet backstabbing your commander-in-chief in the middle of a war is taking ambition a little too far. And how might that be impacting the world? Contrarily, I would not so stigmatize another important player often criticized by others, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge. He served as a National Socialist member of the German parliament before authoring a book about how humanity exists in a state of perpetual war and why that is a good thing. in history from Michigan State University in 1995. Michael Ray oversees coverage of European history and military affairs for Britannica. On the night of August 15, 1812, Tecumseh led his forces across the Detroit River, and Brock followed the next morning. When all is said and done, it doesnt matter how nice, brave, courageous, gutsy, loyal, or brilliant commanders theyve been. up as tough on Beijing, even seeking to contain the rise of the worlds second-biggest economy. Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend The idiot who, seeking self aggrandisement, led his army, Force D, to disaster at Kut in WW1. Thus it was under Darius rule that the Persian Empire fell and was conquered. Many of the charges leveled against him have also been laid at the feet of . History: Military History. 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. Darius family would be captured and even lost the Battle of Gaugamela, where so many factors were in his favor. Army Chief of Staff General Harold K. Johnson put one forth in the PROVN Study, a Program for the Pacification and Long-Term Development of Vietnam. That document held that Westmorelands approach was not working and could not work because it ignored the real war in South Vietnams hamlets and villages, where the covert enemy infrastructure was through coercion and terror dominating the rural populace. Varus was stationed with three of his legions, the 17th, 18th and 19th when news arrived of a revolt growing in the Rhine area. Francisco Solano Lpez managed to stumble into a war with pretty much all of that. The inept Luigi Cadorna of Italy fought a dozen battles on the Isonzo before his army completely collapsed at Caporetto. His was one of just two French ships of the line to escape the destruction of the French fleet there. 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. 3. There appeared to be little serious planning for what would happen the day after Saddam was gone. Ultimately, he was denied his final showdown with the Allies by German political leaders who realized that the Americans could produce soldiers faster than Germany could produce bullets. That dubious distinction falls to William Hull, the only general officer in American history to be ordered before a firing squad for cowardice and dereliction of duty. Still, it is his world-changing defeat at Yorktown that merits memorializing. Click + to receive email alerts when new stories are published on But the rash advance into North Korea was a blunder of strategic proportions. If Putin had hoped to weaken NATO, the very opposite has happened, with Finland and Sweden on the cusp of joining the transatlantic military alliance. Horacio Gates of the American Revolution was pretty bad. Their orientation, indeed the core of Scoutings values, is selflessness and service to others. 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. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. Even if Moscow holds onto territory, the war has wrecked its future. I flew into Vietnam in June 1968 as a young . 1. After being taken prisoner (again) by the British, Villeneuve was released but committed suicide rather than face Napoleons wrath. While serving in Vietnam . Yes, eminently. He was responsible for coming up with the idea of using force to restore constitutional order in Chechnya. bar is to mention Vietnam. Westmorelands first resort in claiming progress in the war was always body count, but in fact this was meaningless. The enemy simply kept sending more and more replacements to make up his losses. Create an FP account to save articles to read later and in the FP mobile app. But beyond the goals of one leader in Moscow, it is also clear that Ukraine has suffered horrors of a historic nature. So unused to being challenged, the United States has become so filled with anxiety over China that sober responses are becoming nearly impossible. Alas, as a historian, he passed on the opportunity to answer Battlelands questions about what Vietnam should teach us about Afghanistan, and who, if anyone, is todays Westmoreland, during our email chat earlier this week: Whats the most important thing you learned writing Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam? In the summer of 1967, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) initiated a series of attacks in western Kontum Province. Instead he simply sent more and more replacements to make up his losses. But he also displayed remarkably bad judgment, as when he was commander in the Philippines in 1941. Heres the inaugural class: 6. But all that remains of his would-be empire today is a flaky French pastry. Download the FP mobile app to read anytime, anywhere. This entire list could be populated with Roman commanders, but one manages to rise above the rest with an ineptitude that defies logic. Despite reports of the build-up of German forces and even knowing the date of the Germans attack, Gamelin did nothing, stating that he would await events. It would be nice if all American generals were great. Santa Anna was found wearing a privates uniform, hiding in a marsh. 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. In his single-minded pursuit of that objective, Westmoreland (despite his repeated claims to the contrary) essentially ignored two other crucial aspects of the war, improvement of South Vietnams armed forces and pacification. General William Westmoreland. He also issued orders to his troops in a personal code that no one else understood, such as this gem of command clarity: Move your command, i. e., the walking boys, pop guns, Baker's outfit and the outfit which is the reverse of Baker's outfit and the big fellows to M, which is due north of where you are now, as soon as possible. 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. Military. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, This Photo Of A 94-Year-Old Widow Receiving Her Husbands Remains Will Break Your Heart, From Messiah to Hitler, What You Can and Cannot Name Your Child. 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. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. Military greatness can most easily be defined by comparison. This was true in matters both great and small. However, not even they managed to get themselves court-martialed and sentenced to death for ineptitude on the battlefield. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. 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. Approaching his 60th birthday and exhibiting a timidity that had no place in a general about to lead an invasion, Hull also had the misfortune of facing two of the most gifted commanders ever to operate in North America. The 1970s were scary times. What was the worst battle of Vietnam? In other words, this book is a "how-not-to" guide to leadership. In a war that saw more than its share of unskilled politically appointed generals, Pillow was arguably the worst on either side. There is now little doubt that Putin failed in his initial goals: Kyiv is still Show morestanding, Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting, and the West has so far stayed resolute in its support of Ukraine. 1 Erwin Rommel Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, popularly known as the Desert Fox, was a German field marshal of World War II. Somalia (1992-1994) 2. On September 2, 1945, hours after the Japanese signed their unconditional surrender in World War II, communist leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam, hoping. Thus the progress Westmoreland claimed in racking up huge body counts did nothing 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. But he was overly cautious by nature. As a result, American military power and prestige took a dramatic downturn. They dramatically upped their game, pressing the U.S. worldwide. Indeed they are brave and proud, but their standards, tactics, and lack of command supervision throughout their ranks requires improvement in the national interest. And, he added, I would be less than frank if I did not say that I feel somewhat insecure with the situation in Quang Tri province, in view of my knowledge of their shortcomings. But then MacArthur thrived on controversy like bread thrives on yeast. This infuriated the Marines, who viewed it as evidence that Westmoreland lacked confidence in them. The resulting Peninsular Campaign (AprilJuly 1862) was a marvel of planning but something of a farce in execution. Washington also suffered his share of defeats. 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. He effectively pledged to become an agent for the U.S. but found that he had been deposed upon his return to Mexico. A key plank in the Democratic platform that year was, appropriately, not fighting, and McClellan lost in a rout. Fighter Aircraft of All Time). Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews. The Texans only suffered 2 casualties, as opposed to hundreds of Mexican casualties. There was no warmth, no apparent interest in his associates as people. Without question, many lives would be saved if their tactical professionalism were enhanced.. But beyond the goals of one leader in Moscow, it is also clear that Ukraine has suffered horrors of a historic nature. Listing MacArthur as one of America's worst generals will be controversial. Thus, almost by default, Westmoreland was left to go his own way, year after bloody year. 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. The Western Front was a much bigger stage upon which to fail, however, and British commander Douglas Haig made the most of the opportunity. Santa Anna, a lifetime gambler, was known for his risk taking in battle, but also his brutality. Villeneuve lost 20 ships, while Nelson lost none. The Summer 2023 term begins June 1, 2023 and ends August 24, 2023. It would be nice if all American generals were great. 336 pages | 16 halftones | 6 1/4 x 9 1/4. Find Paraguay on a map of South America. General Earle Wheeler was essentially a staff officer with virtually no troop leading experience, much less combat acumen. Advancing in dispersed columns across the northern half of the peninsula was an invitation to be destroyed piecemeal. If Putin had hoped to weaken NATO, the very opposite has happened, with Finland and Sweden on the cusp of joining the transatlantic military alliance. Although Nelson was killed in combat at Trafalgar, Villeneuve outlived him only by six months. Yet, Hannibal nevertheless ranks as one of the worlds epic fails. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. They kept it as a war trophy, exhibiting the leg at. After the war, the phrase lions led by donkeys came to be associated with the British army for what should be obvious reasons. 2. 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. General Wheeler was often just flat wrong in what he told the President. Lyndon Johnson had no understanding of military affairs whatever, nor did Robert McNamara. Vietnam War. Jacob Zuma is a cherry on the top of the world's worst leader cake. 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. After the Germans attacked, Gamelin was eventually removed from his post, but by then it was too late. This strategy inevitably failed as the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong maintained control over how the war was fought which was through guerilla warfare. The last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, Darius was not quite as qualified to rule a mighty empire as his predecessors were. The suppression of drug consumption and trade is high on the Government of Vietnam's agenda. In the end, the Romans leveled Carthage and salted the earth. In 334 BC, Alexander the Great invaded the Persian Empire. 9 Noteworthy Bog Bodies (And What They Tell Us), 12 Novels Considered the Greatest Book Ever Written, Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution, https://www.britannica.com/list/9-worst-generals-in-history. Top 10 Most Underrated Military Generals. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln and the Union expected great things. Born in 1901 in Quang Binh Province (part of North Vietnam), Diem was the son of a well-educated mandarin (Vietnamese civil servant who took part in running the country) who served as the Minister of Rites and Grand Chamberlain to Emperor Thanh-Thai (1889-1907). Grachev has also been linked to corruption among the higher ranks of the military, specifically the assassination of journalist Dmitry Kholodov. Not one to let his own failings stand in the way of personal glory, Pillow submitted fanciful accounts of his actions at the Battles of Contreras and Churubusco to various newspapers, incurring the wrath of overall American commander Winfield Scott. What will another year of war look like? Then, in an ill-advised comeback, he met his Waterloo. 151. He would eventually be betrayed and killed by a friend. 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. Hull withdrew after a series of harassing attacks by Tecumsehs highly mobile raiding parties. 9. 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. 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. Simultaneously, he contacted Maximilian to offer the young emperor his services. Alexander went on to march halfway across Asia, creating an empire, albeit short-lived, that changed the history of three continentsnot bad for an ancient millennial. He was killed in combat on March 1, 1870. 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. These are the incompetents, the idiots, the bumblers who have represented armies or nations at war only to lead them to defeat or shame. When the Germans shattered his troops and his reputation at Kasserine Pass in Tunisia in early 1943, Fredendall was only a major general and a corps commander. Innumerable battlefield commanders have had disastrous days at the office. This did not, however, achieve the postulated outcome. - 1 Best: 1996 Chicago Bulls. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln. One-stop digest of politics, economics, and culture. Darius was a different sort of game-changer. Varus placed his legions in a position where their fighting strengths would be minimized and that of the Germanic Cherusci tribesman maximized. In 1847, U.S. troops once again surprised Santa Anna and captured his prosthetic leg. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. He lacked the schooling and relevant experience to understand the war and devise a viable approach to prosecuting it. James Madison spared him from execution. Informed that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor and were certain to attack the Philippines next, MacArthur failed to disperse his aircraftthe only force that could disrupt the Japanese offensive in the absence of the American fleetand to attack Japanese airfields before the enemy wiped out his air force. On September 9, 1965, Navy Cmdr. 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. If there was a saving grace for America, it was that he wasn't commanding an army. Click + to receive email alerts when new stories are published on. The initial assault resulted in very high casualties for the Russians and an almost complete breakdown of morale in the Russian forces. As a military commander, Napoleon may have thebest batting averageof all time. He still had his defenders, but they were in the last trench, barely holding on. This would be known as the Tet Offensive and would become a major turning point in the war. 10 Redvers Buller McClellan truly disappointed president Lincoln at the Battle of Antietam where the North and South would fight the bloodiest battle of the war. Pillow escaped during the night, leaving Simon B. Buckner to surrender the fort and 15,000 Confederate troops. Vast areas dotted with villages were blasted with artillery, bombed from the air. Some captured Romans were placed in wicker cages and burned alive, others were enslaved or ransomed. Delivered Monday-Friday. Opportunistic firms in Asia and Europe have already begun to relocate investments to the United States. He was also supremely gifted at overestimating the size of his opponents armies to a degree that beggared belief. Darius quickly lost everything and became nothing but a fugitive. Critics say that Franks and senior officials, such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, concocted an invasion plan that used too few troops. 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.. All rights reserved. Thats the point. He was found guilty of 11 counts, and only the intervention by Pres. What myths or misperceptions surround Westmoreland that you would like to clear up, if any? Although he eventually disavowed Hitler, by that point Ludendorff had become so deeply involved with mysticism that few took him seriously. Unfortunately the fates of the former Republic Vietnam (Sout. As military professionals, we should think about more . Westmorelands strategy throughout the war was to win through Attrition Warfare (pounding the enemy through greater numbers and resources) which military strategists including Sun Tzu caution against using. Caepio was born into a noble family and became consul in 106 BC. Some historians are a little more sympathetic towards Percivals legacy nowadays arguing that Percival had been dealt an unusually bad hand. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln and the Union expected great things. If it couldn't or wouldn't govern the country, who would? Ulysses S. Grant, who replaced McClellan, understood this. When he made public his disagreements with President Truman, Truman rightfully fired him. Explore the benefits included in your subscription. He continued on to suffer defeats at Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz, almost letting the war slip away from the British. The heavily forested, swampy terrain made the Legions maneuvers impossible. We ended up, he said, with no operational plan that had the slightest chance of ending the war favorably. Westmoreland could not or would not ever bring himself to acknowledge that reality. Some would say that failure on the battlefield warrants censure. Having several decades of duplicity to draw on at this point, everyone had a pretty good idea of how any such deal would turn out, and the aging general was rebuffed by both parties. After months of inactivity, McClellan was finally spurred to action by Pres. These operations were designed to seek out enemy forces and engage them in decisive battle. 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. The enemy did not lose heart, did not cease aggression. Ludendorff is one of historys greatest examples of a general who can win battles but still loses the war. Like it or not, the U.S. military would become the governing authority. Michael Peck is a contributing writer at Foreign Policy and a writer for War Is Boring. 15. 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. A monthly digest of the top articles read by FP subscribers. In reality, it is a collection of ideas, images, and information that enough people have chosen to preserve and disseminate. He was called the "inevitable general." A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea.