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. Military greatness can most easily be defined by comparison. In All U.S. Military History, These Are the 5 Worst Generals But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. Considering some militants as instruments of regional influence while fighting others has had disastrous consequences. 1. What a Lovely War and then in the 1989 television comedy series Blackadder Goes Forth. 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. Years later, when Marine Corps historians were at work on their history of the war, Westmoreland met with them. After early success in the Mexican War for Independence, the rest of his career didnt pan out the way he would have liked. Because he never wanted to face a superior force, he refused to fight. At the height of the Cold War, he dealt decisively with neither. When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybody's all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. What he did not divulge publicly was that the United States. After being taken prisoner (again) by the British, Villeneuve was released but committed suicide rather than face Napoleons wrath. The problem begins with the fact that nobody in the chain of command was really competent to critique Westmorelands performance. Haig was cruelly mocked, first in the satirical musical Oh! To say that he failed in both regards is to dramatically understate the case. When all is said and done, it doesnt matter how nice, brave, courageous, gutsy, loyal, or brilliant commanders theyve been. Gen. Charles Cornwallis. 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. 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. Bombs away! Here are the 13 worst military movies in Hollywood history Todays list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam, Want to read more on this topic or region? Top 10 Most Underrated Military Generals. James K. Polk upon the outbreak of war between Mexico and the U.S. and offered to become an agent for the U.S. (again). On September 9, 1965, Navy Cmdr. Civil War Casualties | American Battlefield Trust Heres the inaugural class: 6. The British blockaded the port at Cdiz with a numerically inferior force, and Villeneuve, upon learning that he was to be relieved of command, rashly struck out at Nelsons fleet. He was also supremely gifted at overestimating the size of his opponents armies to a degree that beggared belief. Warfare: Who was the worst General/military commander in history 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). Evening roundup with our editors favorite stories of the day. In the summer of 1967, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) initiated a series of attacks in western Kontum Province. All related (37) Sort Recommended Doug Szabo Author has 972 answers and 137.7K answer views Nov 27 My vote goes to adm Otto Zumwalt. To accomplish this goal, Vietnam employs repressive policies that often contravene international human rights law. This did not, however, achieve the postulated outcome. Grant left politics to the politicians and did what had to be done. 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. 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. Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. French defeated at Dien Bien Phu - HISTORY Darius quickly lost everything and became nothing but a fugitive. 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. And he was able to inflict massive casualties on the enemy. Diem's family was one of the earliest to convert to Catholicism, a religion he took . Westmoreland held a press conference in which he categorically denied any such loss of confidence. Instead of holding a natural defense line around Pyongyang, which would have given the United Nations control of most of the peninsula, the UN troops retreated all the way back into South Korea in a humiliating reverse for U.S. power after the crushing victory of World War II. Click + to receive email alerts when new stories are published on His prestige restored by his conduct during the Pastry War with France, Santa Anna once again claimed dictatorial powers. Along with Communist China and other Communist movements in the region, who were fighting to reunite the Vietnams under the red banner, there were other belligerent, free countries in the region who had an interest in keeping South Vietnam away from the Commies. Judging GOFOs The Decisive Point Although he outnumbered Magruders Army of the Peninsula 10-to-1, McClellan settled in for a monthlong siege. These Vietnam War photos taken by U.S. Army photographers reveal a side of the conflict that few people have ever seen. But he also displayed remarkably bad judgment, as when he was commander in the Philippines in 1941. In the end, the Romans leveled Carthage and salted the earth. (You May Also Like: 5 Israeli Weapons of War ISIS Should Fear). With high hopes set upon his shoulders at the beginning of the American Civil war, quickly becoming General-in-Chief of the Union Army, McClellan would earn the distinction as a general of little action. Quintus Servilius Caepio takes the cake amongst the worst Roman generals ever to take command of a legion though. The most important, and also the saddest, is that in Vietnam and thereafter Westmoreland was willing to shade or misremember or deny or invent the record when his perceived interests were at stake. Westmoreland: the General Who Lost Vietnam Percival surrendered Malaya to Japanese forces in early 1942, defying Winston Churchills own instructions for prolonged resistance. With the Little Corporal running everything, Europe might have become a very different place. Caepio may have been a terrible general, but he was apparently an exceptional thief. At the Battle of Gaugamela, he helped make Alexander great by losing half his army to the Macedonian upstart. 1. After eight years at Foreign Policy, here are the ten most popular Best Defense posts. While Hull dithered, Brock captured Fort Michilimackinac, establishing British control of the Straits of Mackinac. 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. Delivered Wednesday. Santa Anna would lose Texas at the Battle of San Jacinto. On the night of August 15, 1812, Tecumseh led his forces across the Detroit River, and Brock followed the next morning. General Westmorelands close associate, General William DePuy, later admitted the futility of the Westmoreland way of war. The War of the Triple Alliance devastated Paraguay. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. Seared into all who fought it and many who merely lived through it that conflict remains a bitter stew of second-guessing and recriminations. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln. A common view holds that 138,708 Allied personnel surrendered or were killed by fewer than 30,000 Japanese. Yes, the landing at Inchon unhinged the initial North Korean offensive. Perhaps Mao would have intervened anyway. There is no Carthage. Today's list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam By the way, here is the first review I have seen of Sorley's new biography of Westmoreland, which I read in galleys. Franz Conrad von Htzendorf of Austria couldnt decide which country he wanted to invade, so the German General Staff eventually took his armies away. Of course they raised this issue, leading Westmoreland to declare vehemently that establishing MACV Forward had not a damned thing to do with my confidence in General Cushman or the Marines, not a damned thing. That again was not only false but, given the existing paper trail, reckless as well. Thus the progress Westmoreland claimed in racking up huge body counts did nothing to win the war. Even now, the easiest way to get into an argument at a V.F.W. Is Weiss correct? Top 10 Worst Military Leaders in History - Toptenz.net Lewis Sorleys new book, Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, is being published today by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Many of these generals had their worst defeats when their countries were least prepared for conflict, such as the hapless Soviet generals who faced the German infiltration of Russia in 1941. The Viet Cong Committed Atrocities, Too - The New York Times Soon after declaring himself dictator of Mexico, rebels who opposed the Mexican dictatorship created three new republics, one of them being the Republic of Texas. The enemy did not lose heart, did not cease aggression. Join in-depth conversations and interact with foreign-policy experts with. On the other hand, there was that bad day at the Battle of Salamis when most of the Persian fleet went to the bottom. So long Fort Bragg, welcome Fort Liberty: The Pentagon's naming Examining the Leaders of North and South Vietnam - dummies Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama. Pillow faced a court-martial for stealing a Mexican cannon and attempting to spirit it home in his personal baggage, but Polk intervened to clear Pillows record. Westmorelands devotion to advancing his own interests, even when necessary by misrepresentation, was fundamentally at odds with what Scouting is all about. Instead the enemy proved willing to absorb horrifying losses and keep fighting. 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. By the way, here is the first review I have seen of Sorleys new biography of Westmoreland, which I read in galleys last summer, and enjoyed. bar is to mention Vietnam. 151. When all is said and done, it doesnt matter how nice, brave, courageous, gutsy, loyal, or brilliant commanders theyve been. A curated selection of our very best long reads. But his crowning achievement was bad generalship in Korea. General William Westmoreland. 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. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln and the Union expected great things. . But its not just the United States. What was your impression of the man when you were working for him? 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. In reality, it is a collection of ideas, images, and information that enough people have chosen to preserve and disseminate. 336 pages | 16 halftones | 6 1/4 x 9 1/4. 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. LBJ's tragic "addiction" to Vietnam: The mistake that still - Salon Santa Anna liked to call himself the Napoleon of the West. And, like Napoleon, he squandered it all in one grand campaign. 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. Military. In 1975, when the Vietnam War ended, the Vietnamese army had only 36 generals, but by 2018, peace-time Vietnam had 415 military officers holding general ranks. General and presidential candidate Douglas MacArthur (1880 - 1964) at his headquarters in Yokohama, Japan with US Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright (1883 - 1953) (right), and British Lieutenant-General A E Percival (1887 - 1966) (left) who were taken prisoner by the Japanese after the US retreat in the Bataan peninsula and released in 1945. Driven into exile in 1845, he contacted U.S. Pres. 1 Erwin Rommel Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, popularly known as the Desert Fox, was a German field marshal of World War II. Thus it was under Darius rule that the Persian Empire fell and was conquered. Others would say that it is not victory, but success in fulfilling a mission that counts. Leaders of the Vietnam War - Wikipedia Top 10 Traitors In US History - Listverse Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. General Wheeler was often just flat wrong in what he told the President. 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. After only 10 weeks into the Pacific War, Percival became responsible for the largest surrender of British-led forces in history. Todays list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam. Westmorelands general mistake: severely underestimating the Communists. Grachev played a key role in initiating and leading the First Chechen War. 88,594. Top Ten Reasons Field Marshal Montgomery is Not so Great Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend The idiot who, seeking self aggrandisement, led his army, Force D, to disaster at Kut in WW1. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? Gods and Generals (2003) Loss $61 million These are actually Civil War reenactors and probably the only people who paid to see the movie. Vietnam War - Encyclopedia Britannica | Britannica George Custer at the Little Big Horn and Lord Chelmsford at the Battle of Isandlwana leap to mind. The 1970s were scary times. 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. As for the British, they had lost the most valuable jewel of the Imperial crown. 6. Worst. Military. Leaders. Ever. | The Heritage Foundation The Worst Military Leaders in History is meant to be thought-provoking, and it surely is that." ARMY Magazine "Few subjects get military historians and history buffs talking like a debate over the best military leaders in history. Darius family would be captured and even lost the Battle of Gaugamela, where so many factors were in his favor. The war soon ended in a Russian defeat, with hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties. For one thing, we wouldnt haveSpartacuson Netflix. Ukraines economy and infrastructure have been dealt blows that will take decades to recover from. But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. Feel free to mention any others you may know of in the comments. Westmoreland is often described as a Boy Scout, usually implying, it appears, that he was well-intentioned but nave. The United States entered the war, forcing Ludendorff to accelerate his time line for a conclusive battle against the Allies on the Western Front. Creighton Abrams was an U.S. Army General who commanded American military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972. Delivered Monday-Friday. 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. Haste risked casualties and defeats at the hands of a formidable opponent like Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. 5. All the enemys losses were quickly made up. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? Westmoreland told him, "We're killing these people at a ratio of 10 to 1.". Allied with Brock was the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, who was head of the most formidable pan-Indian military force the continent had ever seen. Villeneuve lost 20 ships, while Nelson lost none. These are the incompetents, the idiots, the bumblers who have represented armies or nations at war only to lead them to defeat or shame. 2. Ludendorff is one of historys greatest examples of a general who can win battles but still loses the war. Alexander, Napoleon, Rommel. The initial assault resulted in very high casualties for the Russians and an almost complete breakdown of morale in the Russian forces. But MacArthur's strategy certainly helped unleash 300,000 Chinese "volunteers" who inflicted significant casualties on United Nations forces. The Battle of Khe Sanh (21 January - 9 July 1968) was conducted in the Khe Sanh area of northwestern Qung Tr Province, Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), during the Vietnam War. 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. Is the Biden administrations China policy too hawkish? The Worst Military Leaders in History - University Of Chicago Press - 1 Best: 1996 Chicago Bulls. FPsRavi Agrawalsat down with U.S. Trade RepresentativeKatherine Tai, the Biden administrations top official tasked with mapping out and implementing the White Houses trade policy. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. A Brief History. What myths or misperceptions surround Westmoreland that you would like to clear up, if any? McClellan was removed from command immediately after. The Summer 2023 term begins June 1, 2023 and ends August 24, 2023. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Elmo Zumwalt was a U.S. admiral and commander of American naval forces in Vietnam. On March 24, 1976, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1 st Viscount of Alamein, hero of World War II, died at home in England. Luckily for the colonists, the Empire also had Cornwallis, a peer of the realm and truly pitiful commander. What does that mean for trade and globalization? Want to read more on this topic or region? The Germanic fighters demolished the three Roman legions. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. Starting with the battle of Long Island, he lost way more fights than he wonyet he managed to win the war. 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 it couldn't or wouldn't govern the country, who would? The pandemics outbreak brought rare reporting freedoms. Contrarily, I would not so stigmatize another important player often criticized by others, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge. Only recently have those in the defense and military complex begun to look at how we rate generals. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. The curation of this content is at the discretion of the author, and not necessarily reflective of the views of Encyclopaedia Britannica or its editorial staff. Disobeying orders, he sailed for Cdiz instead of the Channel, allowing Nelsons fleet time to return and effectively scuttling Napoleons plans for a cross-Channel invasion. Antonio de Padua Mara Severino Lpez de Santa Anna. 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. 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 He was indeed a capable warrior, as shown by the South Pacific campaign and the Inchon landing in Korea. 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. Darius was a different sort of game-changer. Today's list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam 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. Vast areas dotted with villages were blasted with artillery, bombed from the air. These Are the Five Worst Generals of All Time In 1941, Graziani resigned his commission after the British counterattacked and the Tenth Army was completely defeated during Operation Compass. Muammar Al-Gaddafi. 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. Critics say that Franks and senior officials, such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, concocted an invasion plan that used too few troops. To counter these, Major General William R. Peers commenced Operation Greeley using elements of the 4th Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade. He spoke up in Honolulu, during an important U.S. planning conference in February 1966, observing that we can beat up North Vietnamese regiments in the high plateau for the next twenty years and it will not end the war. Westmorelands later dismissive comment was that Ambassador Lodge does not have a deep feel of military tactics and strategy.. And what then? How the North Vietnamese remember the conflict 40 years after the fall of Saigon. James K. Polk. Panama (1989) 2. These operations were designed to seek out enemy forces and engage them in decisive battle. It's not the first time that someone thought he was smarter than his boss. There appeared to be little serious planning for what would happen the day after Saddam was gone. 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. Yet backstabbing your commander-in-chief in the middle of a war is taking ambition a little too far. It would be nice if all American generals were great. Who was the worst general in history? Despite the Union outnumbering the Confederates, McClellan was unable to crush Robert E. Lee after failing to pursue him into Virginia. Lyndon Johnson had no understanding of military affairs whatever, nor did Robert McNamara. Lee demonstrated an immediate grasp of McClellans demeanor, and, during the Seven Days Battles (June 25July 1, 1862), Lee drove back the Union armies from Richmonds doorstep. 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. Click + to receive email alerts when new stories are published on. 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. The Vietnam War Crimes You Never Heard Of | History News Network Exactly. This is, obviously, a problematic quality when ones title is general-in-chief of the entire Union army. Top 10 Worst World Leaders - Wonderslist 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? Seldom included in. He overestimated the American peoples patience and tolerance of friendly losses. As a result, American military power and prestige took a dramatic downturn. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. He bears a lot of responsibility for one the greatest reversals of military fortune ever experienced by a super power. According to formerly classified Army documents, an investigation disclosed that from at least March 1968 through October 1969, "Vietnamese [civilian] detainees were subjected to maltreatment" by. After only an eight-day siege, he surrendered his entire armya third of all British forces in America. 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. But its not just the United States. 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. What will another year of war look like? The rise of American-made chatbots has kicked off a flurry of Chinese activity. Not that Fredendall didn't have real issues that would have tried any commander. This was true in matters both great and small. 4. General Earle Wheeler was essentially a staff officer with virtually no troop leading experience, much less combat acumen. But beyond the goals of one leader in Moscow, it is also clear that Ukraine has suffered horrors of a historic nature. He thought he could take over the war from the South Vietnamese, bring it to a successful conclusion, and then hand their country back to them and go home in triumph. In order, from most culpable down. Grachev publicly promised to swiftly crush the Chechen separatist forces in a couple of hours with a single airborne regiment. He led the disastrous storming of Grozny while drunk after celebrating his birthday on January 1st. McClellan and Burnside in particular.
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