See the vast swaths of land to the north and south that arent Paraguay? Hull withdrew after a series of harassing attacks by Tecumsehs highly mobile raiding parties. 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. The Viet Cong Committed Atrocities, Too - The New York Times They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. His battlefield losses marked the end of the Persian Empire. While this century witnessed many great leaders, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi . But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln. The inept Luigi Cadorna of Italy fought a dozen battles on the Isonzo before his army completely collapsed at Caporetto. 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. It would be nice if all American generals were great. Darius was a different sort of game-changer. Todays list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam. George Custer at the Little Big Horn and Lord Chelmsford at the Battle of Isandlwana leap to mind. 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. 2. And he was able to inflict massive casualties on the enemy. Assuming you believe the subtitle to be accurate, who were GEN Westmorelands biggest accomplices in the loss? 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. Many of the charges leveled against him have also been laid at the feet of . 6. What does that mean for trade and globalization? At Brownstown, south of Detroit, two dozen warriors under Tecumseh routed more than 200 American militiamen escorting a supply column intended for Detroit. 151. Caepio was born into a noble family and became consul in 106 BC. Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. Top 10 Greatest Generals of Chinese History | ChinaWhisper McClellan was removed from command immediately after. The Worst Civil War Generals on the Confederacy Confederate Maj. Gen. Gideon Pillow. By the end of May 1862, Confederate commanding Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had withdrawn his forces to Richmond, and McClellan was close enough to the Confederate capital to hear its church bells ringing. 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 These operations were designed to seek out enemy forces and engage them in decisive battle. How does an admiral make a list of the worst generals? Simultaneously, he contacted Maximilian to offer the young emperor his services. (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. 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. Delivered Thursday. Still, he choked in the big game. He would eventually be betrayed and killed by a friend. He gritted his teeth and wore down the Confederacy with incessant attacks until the South could take no more. He worked under Adolf Hitler's Third Reich as a leading general and gained fame from his battles in North Africa. Many historians have said Bragg was one of the worst generals of the Civil War, having lost most of his battles. . Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Pillow pulled the troops back to the fort to resupply them. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. He couldnt. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. 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. Starting with the battle of Long Island, he lost way more fights than he wonyet he managed to win the war. The Romans marched right into the ambush that Arminius laid thus leading to the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Having amassed roughly twice as many losses in a single day as Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington, had suffered during the entire Peninsular War, Haig saw no reason to change tactics. Thus, almost by default, Westmoreland was left to go his own way, year after bloody year. There was no warmth, no apparent interest in his associates as people. Think about how history would have been different if Hannibal had a military plan to outlast Roman might. But with that kind of advantage in troops and firepower, who wouldnt? 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. Nearly as many men died in captivity during the Civil War as were killed in the whole of the Vietnam War. Brock, sensing an opportunity, advised an immediate march on Fort Detroit. Who was the worst US general during the Vietnam War? 1. Jacob Zuma is a cherry on the top of the world's worst leader cake. 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. The Worst Military Leaders in History review from Ancient Rome to Vietnam Westmoreland was on a treadmill. 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. If it couldn't or wouldn't govern the country, who would? The problem begins with the fact that nobody in the chain of command was really competent to critique Westmorelands performance. That may have been true in the east (the worst of the Union generals in that theater rates his own entry on this list), but in the west it was a much different affair. The 1970s were scary times. French defeated at Dien Bien Phu - HISTORY Then, in an ill-advised comeback, he met his Waterloo. McClellan truly disappointed president Lincoln at the Battle of Antietam where the North and South would fight the bloodiest battle of the war. Explore the benefits included in your subscription. 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. Follow him on Twitter:@Mipeck1. Leaders of the Vietnam War - Wikipedia Top 10 Utterly Useless Military Commanders - Listverse 3. 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. While Hull dithered, Brock captured Fort Michilimackinac, establishing British control of the Straits of Mackinac. 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. 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. These American commanders have lost the battle for history. - 2 Worst: 2007 Washington Wizards. In a war that saw more than its share of unskilled politically appointed generals, Pillow was arguably the worst on either side. The alternative was to split the United States asunder. World War I provided a forum for any number of truly horrible commanders to assert themselves. 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. 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. This infuriated the Marines, who viewed it as evidence that Westmoreland lacked confidence in them. He earned a B.A. The stabbed in the back myth did much to propel the ascent of Adolf Hitler, and Ludendorff was a key participant in the Beer Hall Putsch. 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. 15. 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 . Delivered Wednesday. By signing up, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to occasionally receive special offers from Foreign Policy. This week marks exactly one year since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine. [1] The Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Memorial LectureThomas E. Ricks is a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama. 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. 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. The South Vietnamese thus went for years equipped with castoff WWII-vintage U.S. equipment while outgunned by the communists, who were armed with the AK-47 assault rifle and other top of the line equipment. Without question, many lives would be saved if their tactical professionalism were enhanced.. Nelsons victory at the Battle of Trafalgar was so complete that it established British supremacy on the high seas for more than a century. Grenada (1983) 3. He overestimated the American peoples patience and tolerance of friendly losses. LBJ's tragic "addiction" to Vietnam: The mistake that still - Salon While there are plenty of books that analyze the keys to success, The Worst Military Leaders in History offers lessons of failure to avoid. 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. 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. 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. Had Lincoln retained McClellan in command of the Union armies, many former Americans might still be whistling "Dixie.". 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. The war soon ended in a Russian defeat, with hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties. Gen. Charles Cornwallis. It was anotherhistory-changingevent, the birth of a truly exceptional nation. Horacio Gates of the American Revolution was pretty bad. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? To counter these, Major General William R. Peers commenced Operation Greeley using elements of the 4th Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade. At the Battle of Gaugamela, he helped make Alexander great by losing half his army to the Macedonian upstart. He was called the inevitable general. A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea. Cornwallis later did redeem himself militarily. Villeneuve lost 20 ships, while Nelson lost none. Seared into all who fought it and many who merely lived through it that conflict remains a bitter stew of second-guessing and recriminations. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews. Loyalty to himself and himself alone would be something of a running theme in the narrative of Santa Annas life, and his rise to power in Mexico was characterized by near-constant vacillation and betrayal of his allies. What is a bad general? 2023 TIME USA, LLC. Yes, the landing at Inchon unhinged the initial North Korean offensive. Darius family would be captured and even lost the Battle of Gaugamela, where so many factors were in his favor. Maximus managed to form up his men but to no avail. 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?). 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. Yet backstabbing your commander-in-chief in the middle of a war is taking ambition a little too far. During the darkest days of the rebellion, when Washington's army had been kicked out of New York and King George's star seemed ascendant, the "Conway cabal" of disgruntled officers and politicians unsuccessfully schemed to out Washington and appoint Gates. They care about the one. Westmoreland didnt get it. 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. Hull was thoroughly outclassed. Following on from our list of the greatest and most successful military commanders, we are presenting this list of the worst. Vietnam War - Encyclopedia Britannica | Britannica It doesnt matter if theyve won more often than theyve lost. Who was the worst US general during the Vietnam War? - Quora One-stop digest of politics, economics, and culture. He decided to conduct of a war of attrition, using search and destroy tactics, in which the measure of merit was body count. How do you measure military leaders? Again fighting outnumbered Texans, this time Santa Anna would lose the battle stunningly. 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. 44 Declassified Vietnam War Photos The Public Wasn't Meant To See Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, by Lewis Sorley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. . Gods and Generals (2003) Loss $61 million These are actually Civil War reenactors and probably the only people who paid to see the movie. By December 1864 Paraguay was at war with Brazil, and, when Argentina denied a request for the transit of a Paraguayan army across its territory, Lpez declared war on that country as well. Was My Lai just one of many massacres in Vietnam War? Luckily for the colonists, the Empire also had Cornwallis, a peer of the realm and truly pitiful commander. After only 10 weeks into the Pacific War, Percival became responsible for the largest surrender of British-led forces in history. 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. Michael Ray oversees coverage of European history and military affairs for Britannica. [i] However, the list is subjective, and open to debate, as top 10 lists tend to be. 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. Percival surrendered Malaya to Japanese forces in early 1942, defying Winston Churchills own instructions for prolonged resistance. His prestige restored by his conduct during the Pastry War with France, Santa Anna once again claimed dictatorial powers. Is Weiss correct? 5. Answer (1 of 4): The former Cham general/leader Che Bong Nga was killed in the battle against the enemy Dai Viet (old Vietnam) but Che Bong Nga was LUCKY to be mentioned by the enemy Dai Viet historians to allow people to remember him. The Romans lost an estimated 80,000 infantry and perhaps 40,000 auxiliaries and cavalry, numbers that dwarf the staggering totals at Cannae. On the night of August 15, 1812, Tecumseh led his forces across the Detroit River, and Brock followed the next morning. Yet Fredendall's solution was to order an Army engineer company to build a giant bunker a hundred miles from the front lines. Listing MacArthur as one of America's worst generals will be controversial. On the other side of the trenches in World War I was Erich Ludendorff, commanding the armies of Germany. Considering some militants as instruments of regional influence while fighting others has had disastrous consequences. Stay updated on the topics you care about with email alerts. bar is to mention Vietnam. Quintus Servilius Caepio takes the cake amongst the worst Roman generals ever to take command of a legion though. Ulysses S. Grant, who replaced McClellan, understood this.
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