Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. 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. While Maximus was conducting negotiations with the Cimbri, a Germanic tribe that had invaded the Roman province of Transalpine Gaul, Caepio rashly attacked the Cimbri army on October 6, 105 BCE. And what then? How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? There appeared to be little serious planning for what would happen the day after Saddam was gone. What was your impression of the man when you were working for him? What can we glean from the current state of play on the battlefield? The worst military leaders since Napoleon | History 101 (You May Also Like: The Five Best Generals in U.S. History). After the war, the phrase lions led by donkeys came to be associated with the British army for what should be obvious reasons. Lpez was the son of Carlos Antonio Lpez, a dictator who had done much to modernize Paraguay in the mid-19th century. Jacob Zuma is a cherry on the top of the world's worst leader cake. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln. Known as Reverse Buller by his troops during the Second Boer War, the Englishman was first defeated at the Battle of Colenso and subsequently lost his position as overall commander. 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. He was called the inevitable general. A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea. What is a bad general? The Americans lacked sufficient troops, supplies and air cover (when was the last time an American general had to fight a battle while being pounded by enemy bombers?). Vietnam War. 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. So long Fort Bragg, welcome Fort Liberty: The Pentagon's naming At Brownstown, south of Detroit, two dozen warriors under Tecumseh routed more than 200 American militiamen escorting a supply column intended for Detroit. Without question, many lives would be saved if their tactical professionalism were enhanced.. The Vietnam War, as Seen by the Victors - The Atlantic Darius III. 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. These are the incompetents, the idiots, the bumblers who have represented armies or nations at war only to lead them to defeat or shame. Applications for the Gettysburg College-Gilder Lehrman MA program are open and considered on a rolling basis. 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. [1] So unused to being challenged, the United States has become so filled with anxiety over China that sober responses are becoming nearly impossible. 13,091. 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. It was a humiliating baptism of fire for the U.S. Army in Europe, and more important, caused British commanders to dismiss their Yank allies as amateur soldiers for the rest of the war. His bad luck didnt end at San Jacinto. 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. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail. This proved possible only with enemy cooperation, since they could break contact and limit casualties as they wished by withdrawing into sanctuaries across the border. Not that Fredendall didn't have real issues that would have tried any commander. Evening roundup with our editors favorite stories of the day. 5. A common view holds that 138,708 Allied personnel surrendered or were killed by fewer than 30,000 Japanese. 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. Yes, eminently. Read More. Courses: Summer 2023 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Hundreds of thousands died of disease. 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 . For the most accurate and up-to-date information, consult individual encyclopedia entries about the topics. History is not a fixed set of facts. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. This was heeded about as well as any piece of parental advice, anywhere ever. For many soldiers, a major tipping point happened when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968, news of which reaches the soldiers in Da 5 Bloods during one particularly stirring scene . Ludendorff is one of historys greatest examples of a general who can win battles but still loses the war. (You May Also Like: 5 Israeli Weapons of War ISIS Should Fear). After early success in the Mexican War for Independence, the rest of his career didnt pan out the way he would have liked. Here are five of America's worst generals: Great generals have great talents, and usually egos and ambitions to match. He was soon released, however, and, as more capable French admirals either died or somehow incurred Napoleons disfavor, a path to the top echelons of command was opened for Villeneuve. This would be known as the Tet Offensive and would become a major turning point in the war. But the rash advance into North Korea was a blunder of strategic proportions. Gen. Charles Cornwallis. McClellan was a superb organizer, a West Point-trained engineer who did much to build the Union army almost from . History: Military History. 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. In 1940, after increasing pressure from dictator Benito Mussolini and facing demotion, Graziani followed orders and invaded Egypt with his Tenth Army. But for whatever reason, some American commanders have lost the battle for history. The Western Front was a much bigger stage upon which to fail, however, and British commander Douglas Haig made the most of the opportunity. Thus, almost by default, Westmoreland was left to go his own way, year after bloody year. I flew into Vietnam in June 1968 as a young . 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. Tom Ricks, on his "Best Defense" blog has discussed the top 10 worst generals in U.S. history. Darius did not take the field against Alexander until a year and a half after Granicus, at the Battle of Issus. 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. 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). 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. He was also supremely gifted at overestimating the size of his opponents armies to a degree that beggared belief. What myths or misperceptions surround Westmoreland that you would like to clear up, if any? Yes, Westmoreland was the general who lost Vietnam. General Westmoreland had complete freedom of action in deciding how to prosecute the war within South Vietnam. Thus the progress Westmoreland claimed in racking up huge body counts did nothing to win the war. 1 Erwin Rommel Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, popularly known as the Desert Fox, was a German field marshal of World War II. Yes, the landing at Inchon unhinged the initial North Korean offensive. bar is to mention Vietnam. The 20 Worst World War II Generals - Ranker Creighton Abrams was an U.S. Army General who commanded American military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972. The Cimbri destroyed Caepios force and, emboldened by their success, marched on Maximuss camp. The 1970s were scary times. Varus placed his legions in a position where their fighting strengths would be minimized and that of the Germanic Cherusci tribesman maximized. 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. Implementing the attrition strategy, Westmoreland typically employed a series of large unit sweeps conducted in the deep jungle regions along South Vietnams western borders. But the argument is unbalanced. 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. He effectively pledged to become an agent for the U.S. but found that he had been deposed upon his return to Mexico. 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.. Still, it is his world-changing defeat at Yorktown that merits memorializing. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. 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. Whatever its military wisdom or lack thereof, it was a decision that should not have been made by generals under the American political system. Leaders of the Vietnam War - Wikipedia 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. In reality, it is a collection of ideas, images, and information that enough people have chosen to preserve and disseminate. Westmoreland established a headquarters known as MACV Forward in the northern provinces of South Vietnam and put his deputy, General Creighton Abrams, in charge, placing him over the Marines and also the Army forces in that region. It is probably not a coincidence that corruption in the military appears to have escalated since 2006, when the number of military generals started to jump sharply. Top 10 Traitors In US History - Listverse 1. The Vietnam War Crimes You Never Heard Of | History News Network McClellan and Burnside in particular. Not until 1995 did Vietnam release its official estimate of war dead: as many as 2 million civilians on both sides and some 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters. Operational Culture General Training LREC SME Support Training Course Catalog Cognitive Dimension Training Additional Resources . Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. Many historians have said Bragg was one of the worst generals of the Civil War, having lost most of his battles. 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. 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. Marine Corps Casualties 1775-2016 - Marine Corps University Abraham Lincoln. Fighter Aircraft of All Time). 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. 2. Hull, convinced that he was hopelessly outnumbered (he wasnt), surrendered Fort Detroit and its 2,000-man garrison without firing a shot. Instead he simply sent more and more replacements to make up his losses. Sure, they ganged up on the Spartans at the Pass of Thermopylae. 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. Following on from our list of the greatest and most successful military commanders, we are presenting this list of the worst. Black Vietnam Veterans on Injustices They Faced: Da 5 Bloods - Time After his performance at Belmonta spectacular success by Pillow standardshe was tasked with the defense of Fort Donelson, a key strongpoint on the Mississippi River. 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. Why our generals were more successful in World War II than in - YouTube Persian Gulf (1988) (Oil Platforms) 2. Thats an automatic disqualification from Hall membership. It was anotherhistory-changingevent, the birth of a truly exceptional nation. 4. (Photo: Warner Bros.) Roger Ebert called "Gods and Generals" a film "Trent Lott would enjoy," referring to the Senator's praise of segregationist Strom Thurmond. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. Its prewar population was reduced by more than half, and perhaps 90 percent of Paraguays fighting-age men perished. Gamelin also chose not to disperse Frances vast number of superior tanks. This was the most fearsome army in the Vietnam War British Gen. Isaac Brock possessed a remarkable ability to anticipate his opponents moves and reactions, and it was not long before he had taken full measure of Hull. The inept Luigi Cadorna of Italy fought a dozen battles on the Isonzo before his army completely collapsed at Caporetto. He called for bombing China, as if liberating Korea was worth risking 550 million Chinese and possibly war with Russia as well. 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. He still had his defenders, but they were in the last trench, barely holding on. Westmorelands own book about himself gives some indication of how he would react to this more recent one. Westmoreland held a press conference in which he categorically denied any such loss of confidence. At this point, things somehow got worse for Hull. It wouldn't take a large force to slice through the ramshackle Iraqi army and topple Saddam Hussein, but securing a country the size of Iraq required a larger force. Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig: World War I's Worst General - HistoryNet Is your subtitle The General Who Lost Vietnam fair? As a military commander, Napoleon may have thebest batting averageof all time. My daughter thinks 2018 was the worst year ever. I'd nominate 1968 And the number one reason why Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam: With his unavailing approach to conduct of the war he squandered four years of support by much of the American people, the Congress, and even the media. 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. He was indeed a capable warrior, as shown by the South Pacific campaign and the Inchon landing in Korea. A key plank in the Democratic platform that year was, appropriately, not fighting, and McClellan lost in a rout. Fort Bragg was named in 1918 during the Jim Crow era. Washington also suffered his share of defeats. By signing up, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to occasionally receive special offers from Foreign Policy. Darius family would be captured and even lost the Battle of Gaugamela, where so many factors were in his favor. Historian Lewis Sorley author of 1999s well-regarded A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of Americans Last Years in Vietnam now zeroes in on General William Westmoreland. Military Haig was cruelly mocked, first in the satirical musical Oh! This is one of the more controversial ones, but Douglas MacArthur is incredibly overrated in the annals of the US military, in my . Battle of Dak To in the Vietnam War - ThoughtCo 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. 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. DE AGOSTINI PICTURE LIBRARY/Contributor/Getty Images, Biden Proposal Puts Climate Agenda Above Americas Defense, Russias New START Breach Means U.S. Nuclear Weapons Modernization Is a Must. Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved, as Continental Army commander during the momentous American defeat of a British army at Saratoga in 1777, The Five Best U.S. Ulysses S. Grant, who replaced McClellan, understood this. 15. 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. Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. Vast areas dotted with villages were blasted with artillery, bombed from the air. He lacked the schooling and relevant experience to understand the war and devise a viable approach to prosecuting it. Vietnam War body count controversy - Wikipedia In the summer of 1967, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) initiated a series of attacks in western Kontum Province. Muammar Al-Gaddafi. 44 Declassified Vietnam War Photos The Public Wasn't Meant To See To say that he failed in both regards is to dramatically understate the case. 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. The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. 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. On a visit to Vietnam Senator Hollings from Westmorelands home state of South Carolina was told by Westmoreland: Were killing these people, the enemy, at a ratio of 10 to 1. Said Hollings, Westy, the American people dont care about the ten. As military professionals, we should think about more . It would be nice if all American generals were great. Finally, when it comes to bad generals, let us remember Truman's immortal words about firing MacArthur: I fired him because he wouldn't respect the authority of the President. His invasion of Canada came to an abrupt halt when he failed to capture Fort Malden, a British position that was a laughably short distance from Hulls headquarters at Fort Detroit. Yet backstabbing your commander-in-chief in the middle of a war is taking ambition a little too far. 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. The British gained control of the fort, dozens of cannons, the brig USS Adams (recommissioned the HMS Detroit), and virtually the entire Michigan Territory. Delivered Wednesday. After making a laughingstock of himself by ordering his men to entrench on the wrong side of fortifications at Camargo, Pillow bungled his role at the Battle of Cerro Gordo, making himself the low point of a resounding American victory. Santa Anna liked to call himself the Napoleon of the West. And, like Napoleon, he squandered it all in one grand campaign. In considering who should receive such a dubious honor, Ive consciously excluded bad leaders. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. Reviews - Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. How well that would have worked can be seen when Gates was sent to command American troops in the South. Instead of sweeping around the French defenses in a massive flanking movement, the Germans were checked at the First Battle of the Marne. - 4 Worst: 1990 Cleveland Cavaliers. Where is Carthage you ask? He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybodys all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. Along with Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Montgomery is the most celebrated of British generals and had the ego to match, or even exceed, his reputation. 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. Who were the most feared soldiers in Vietnam? - 2023 Its quite exclusive: combat leaders who had the fate of their people in their hands and squandered it all. 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. Download the new FP mobile app to read anytime, anywhere. Simultaneously, he contacted Maximilian to offer the young emperor his services. Marcus Licinius Crassus was a self-aggrandizing opportunist who started a pointless war with the Parthians, and Publius Quinctilius Varus lost three legions at Teutoburg Forest, but Proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio manages to top them both with his actions at the Battle of Arausio. Civil War Casualties | American Battlefield Trust Top 10 Utterly Useless Military Commanders - Listverse 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. The Top-10 Most Evil Leaders of the 20th Century - LinkedIn Quintus Servilius Caepio takes the cake amongst the worst Roman generals ever to take command of a legion though. 10. This entire list could be populated with Roman commanders, but one manages to rise above the rest with an ineptitude that defies logic. To that Hollings responded, "Westy, the American people don't care about the ten. The Top Ten. These Are the Five Worst Generals of All Time 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. There are a number of contenders for the top places on such a roster. 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. His senior staff lacked diversity of experience and professional outlook, consisting mostly of people with backgrounds similar to his own, especially airborne. 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. 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. But he was overly cautious by nature. 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. After months of inactivity, McClellan was finally spurred to action by Pres. He overestimated the American peoples patience and tolerance of friendly losses. What is the standard of shame for induction? Relations between the United States and China seem to be getting frostier by the day.