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. Seared into all who fought it and many who merely lived through it that conflict remains a bitter stew of second-guessing and recriminations. The premise was that, if he could kill enough of the enemy, they would lose heart and cease their aggression against the South Vietnamese. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. 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. In 1941, Graziani resigned his commission after the British counterattacked and the Tenth Army was completely defeated during Operation Compass. Delivered Thursday. The War of the Triple Alliance devastated Paraguay. In a war that saw more than its share of unskilled politically appointed generals, Pillow was arguably the worst on either side. Men and material the Union could provide its armies. Outstanding commanders such as George H. Thomas, Phil Sheridan, and William Tecumseh Sherman routinely bested their Confederate opponents. Grachev played a key role in initiating and leading the First Chechen War. On March 24, 1976, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1 st Viscount of Alamein, hero of World War II, died at home in England. 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. - 4 Worst: 1990 Cleveland Cavaliers. 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. Argentina, Brazil, and the Brazilian puppet government in Uruguay formed an alliance, and on May 1, 1865, they declared war on Paraguay. Publication of the PROVN Study, whose precepts were later implemented with great success by Westmorelands successor, illustrated a matter of fundamental importance. When the War of 1812 began, Hull was commissioned a brigadier general and tasked with defending Michigan and invading Upper Canada. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. Brock, sensing an opportunity, advised an immediate march on Fort Detroit. He deprived the South Vietnamese of modern weaponry, giving U.S. and other allied forces priority for issue of the new M-16 rifle and other advanced military wherewithal. Antonio de Padua Mara Severino Lpez de Santa Anna. James K. Polk. (You May Also Like: The Five Best U.S. 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. In fifteen thought-provoking essays, each written by a professional military historian, readers are introduced . Ukraines economy and infrastructure have been dealt blows that will take decades to recover from. Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, Chinas Censors Are Afraid of What Chatbots Might Say, The U.S. Darius quickly lost everything and became nothing but a fugitive. 2. His battlefield losses marked the end of the Persian Empire. 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. But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. 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. Youre on the list! rs worth well over $400 billion. He couldnt. But its not just the United States. 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. 3. Abraham Lincoln. Yet backstabbing your commander-in-chief in the middle of a war is taking ambition a little too far. 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. Only recently have those in the defense and military complex begun to look at how we rate generals. They kept it as a war trophy, exhibiting the leg at county fairs. 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. The Roman Empire has a long, proud tradition of producing some of the finest generals in human history- and just as many of the worst. Advancing in dispersed columns across the northern half of the peninsula was an invitation to be destroyed piecemeal. It would be nice if all American generals were great. 7. Perhaps Mao would have intervened anyway. He was found guilty of 11 counts, and only the intervention by Pres. 3. Hulls nerve was shattered. 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 His prestige restored by his conduct during the Pastry War with France, Santa Anna once again claimed dictatorial powers. History is not a fixed set of facts. You worked for GEN Westmoreland when he was Army Chief of Staff. 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 1970s were scary times. This is one of the more controversial ones, but Douglas MacArthur is incredibly overrated in the annals of the US military, in my . Here are five of America's worst generals: Great generals have great talents, and usually egos and ambitions to match. At the Battle of Gaugamela, he helped make Alexander great by losing half his army to the Macedonian upstart. Is Weiss correct? A monthly digest of the top articles read by FP subscribers. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail. 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. Hull withdrew after a series of harassing attacks by Tecumsehs highly mobile raiding parties. Create an FP account to save articles to read later and in the FP mobile app. After months of inactivity, McClellan was finally spurred to action by Pres. But Gates could have doomed the American Revolution. A more positive example is George Washington. Like it or not, the U.S. military would become the governing authority. 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. He lacked the schooling and relevant experience to understand the war and devise a viable approach to prosecuting it. But with that kind of advantage in troops and firepower, who wouldnt? Some 15,000 talents of gold (the so-called Gold of Tolosa) had vanished under his watch, never to be recovered. Concurrently with hi. 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. Haig was cruelly mocked, first in the satirical musical Oh! (You May Also Like: 5 Israeli Weapons of War ISIS Should Fear). After being taken prisoner (again) by the British, Villeneuve was released but committed suicide rather than face Napoleons wrath. 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. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he theoretically had some influence there, at least to the extent he could shape the collective viewpoint, but even then LBJ and McNamara were famously impervious to advice from the Joint Chiefs. The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. At Yorktown, he allowed himself to be taken by surprise and outmaneuvered by Washington and the French fleet. Weekly update on whats driving U.S. national security policy. Tom Ricks, on his "Best Defense" blog has discussed the top 10 worst generals in U.S. history. 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. A curated selection of our very best long reads. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. Instead the enemy proved willing to absorb horrifying losses and keep fighting. 3. 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. Varus placed his legions in a position where their fighting strengths would be minimized and that of the Germanic Cherusci tribesman maximized. 5. They dramatically upped their game, pressing the U.S. worldwide. Routed by U.S. forces under Winfield Scott, Santa Anna was again driven into exile. Here is a list of the 10 most famous Chinese generals in history. 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. He was an artilleryman who missed out on the Army's great schools system, never attending the Command & General Staff College or the Army War College. There is no Carthage. Franz Conrad von Htzendorf of Austria couldnt decide which country he wanted to invade, so the German General Staff eventually took his armies away. 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. 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. What does that mean for trade and globalization? The suppression of drug consumption and trade is high on the Government of Vietnam's agenda. And how might that be impacting the world? Some would say that failure on the battlefield warrants censure. General Earle Wheeler was essentially a staff officer with virtually no troop leading experience, much less combat acumen. Find Paraguay on a map of South America. The Worst Civil War Generals on the Confederacy Confederate Maj. Gen. Gideon Pillow. Darius did not take the field against Alexander until a year and a half after Granicus, at the Battle of Issus. Think about how history would have been different if Hannibal had a military plan to outlast Roman might. Many historians have said Bragg was one of the worst generals of the Civil War, having lost most of his battles. 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. Woefully inexperienced U.S. soldiers found themselves against Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps veterans. Lpez was the son of Carlos Antonio Lpez, a dictator who had done much to modernize Paraguay in the mid-19th century. 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. Their orientation, indeed the core of Scoutings values, is selflessness and service to others. Opportunistic firms in Asia and Europe have already begun to relocate investments to the United States. Is the Biden administrations China policy too hawkish? What does that mean for trade and globalization? 1. Two years later, he lost a leg fighting the French. When he made public his disagreements with President Truman, Truman rightfully fired him. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. Even a string of bad days does not guarantee entry. 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. This piece originally appeared in The National Interest https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/6-worst-military-leaders-ever-167526. Yes, Westmoreland was the general who lost Vietnam. Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. 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. History: Military History. 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. Who was the worst US general during the Vietnam War? He was called the inevitable general. A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea. He was indeed a capable warrior, as shown by the South Pacific campaign and the Inchon landing in Korea. General William Westmoreland. Weekly update on developments in India and its neighbors. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. He was killed in combat on March 1, 1870. He is the dumb ass who gave the order to exfoliate the jungles with agent orange. 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. Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. These are the incompetents, the idiots, the bumblers who have represented armies or nations at war only to lead them to defeat or shame. Varus was stationed with three of his legions, the 17th, 18th and 19th when news arrived of a revolt growing in the Rhine area. The unprecedented violence of battles such as Shiloh, Antietam, Stones River, and Gettysburg shocked citizens and international observers alike. 1. Delivered Friday. The Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Memorial LectureThomas E. Ricks is a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). These operations were designed to seek out enemy forces and engage them in decisive battle. Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. 1968 takes the cake for me. But beyond the goals of one leader in Moscow, it is also clear that Ukraine has suffered horrors of a historic nature. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. Relations between the United States and China seem to be getting frostier by the day. In considering who should receive such a dubious honor, Ive consciously excluded bad leaders. Had Lincoln retained McClellan in command of the Union armies, many former Americans might still be whistling "Dixie.". 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. If Gates had been in command, we might be paying for our groceries with shillings and pence. 15. Russias war is receiving critical assistance from authoritarian regimes around the world. Pillow suffered slightly more casualties than Grant in the engagement, which possibly makes the Battle of Belmont the high point of Pillows military career. And how might that be impacting the world? Unfortunately the fates of the former Republic Vietnam (Sout. After his defeat by the Texans at the Battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna was captured. Delivered Monday-Saturday. 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. 1. 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. The last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, Darius was not quite as qualified to rule a mighty empire as his predecessors were. Read More. 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. After only 10 weeks into the Pacific War, Percival became responsible for the largest surrender of British-led forces in history. The Top Ten. Vice President, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute. His war of attrition, search and destroy tactics, and emphasis on body count did nothing to affect the war in the hamlets and villages of South Vietnam, where the enemys covert infrastructure was left free to continue using coercion and terror to dominate the rural populace. 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. Still, he choked in the big game. This strategy inevitably failed as the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong maintained control over how the war was fought which was through guerilla warfare. Follow him on Twitter:@Mipeck1. I didn't fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. While serving in Vietnam . They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. . There are a number of contenders for the top places on such a roster. Caepio reportedly lived out the remainder of his life in luxury, however. Somalia (1992-1994) 2. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? Top 10 Most Underrated Military Generals. In stereotypically McClellan fashion, he was promptly checked by a vastly inferior force under John Bankhead Magruder. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews. Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) 24. He continued on to suffer defeats at Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz, almost letting the war slip away from the British. Hundreds of thousands died of disease. He bears a lot of responsibility for one the greatest reversals of military fortune ever experienced by a super power. These are the incompetents, the idiots, the bumblers who have represented armies or nations at war only to lead them to defeat or shame. Ludendorff is one of historys greatest examples of a general who can win battles but still loses the war. Haste risked casualties and defeats at the hands of a formidable opponent like Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. Westmoreland told him, "We're killing these people at a ratio of 10 to 1.". These battlefield bumblers serve to provide that contrast. 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. 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. He decided to conduct of a war of attrition, using search and destroy tactics, in which the measure of merit was body count. Yet, Hannibal nevertheless ranks as one of the worlds epic fails. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. 336 pages | 16 halftones | 6 1/4 x 9 1/4. The United States entered the war, forcing Ludendorff to accelerate his time line for a conclusive battle against the Allies on the Western Front. War is an extension of politics, and if commanders dont help secure the desired political ends, they get a failing grade. 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. 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. Thus, on July 1, 1916, Haig ordered his men to go over the top at the First Battle of the Somme, and 20,000 of them had the audacity to die almost immediately (there were 60,000 total British casualties on the first day of the attack). Although Nelson was killed in combat at Trafalgar, Villeneuve outlived him only by six months. Over time Westmoreland asked for and received large numbers of U.S. troops, eventually totaling well over half a million. 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. With the Little Corporal running everything, Europe might have become a very different place. McClellan was a proto-Douglas MacArthur who bad-mouthed his president and commander-in-chief. After occupying Jerusalem and crucifying 2,000 Jewish rebels in Judaea, Varus went off to govern Germania and tame barbarian tribes. Villeneuve lost 20 ships, while Nelson lost none. Your guide to the most important world stories of the day. Santa Anna was found wearing a privates uniform, hiding in a marsh. Listing MacArthur as one of America's worst generals will be controversial. Click + to receive email alerts when new stories are published on. While this century witnessed many great leaders, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi . Is your subtitle The General Who Lost Vietnam fair? His was one of just two French ships of the line to escape the destruction of the French fleet there. Dispatched to India, he led campaigns to help subdue the subcontinent, replacing the crown jewel he had lost. His senior staff lacked diversity of experience and professional outlook, consisting mostly of people with backgrounds similar to his own, especially airborne. Others were experienced military men who should have known better than to take the risks they took - or not take the risks they should have.
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