Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. He was indeed a capable warrior, as shown by the South Pacific campaign and the Inchon landing in Korea. 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. Gods and Generals (2003) Loss $61 million These are actually Civil War reenactors and probably the only people who paid to see the movie. Grenada (1983) 3. 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 Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. Top 10 Utterly Useless Military Commanders - Listverse 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. This was heeded about as well as any piece of parental advice, anywhere ever. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews. The Summer 2023 term begins June 1, 2023 and ends August 24, 2023. And once again, at the Battle of Antietam, McClellans terminal case of the slows (as Lincoln called it) prevented the exploitation of a possible war-ending vulnerability in Confederate defenses. 2. Gates thought otherwise, and fancied himself a better commander than George Washington. Instead the enemy proved willing to absorb horrifying losses and keep fighting. 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. Some would say that failure on the battlefield warrants censure. Men and material the Union could provide its armies. After eight years at Foreign Policy, here are the ten most popular Best Defense posts. The Persians had a mixed record against the Greeks. Explore the benefits included in your subscription. When two able and progressive Nationalist generals, Pai Chunghsi and Li Tsung-jen, begged the generalissimo to adopt similar methods, Chiang rejected them outright. Is Weiss correct? 3. Explore the benefits of your FP subscription. Arminius cut off his head and sent it to another Germanic leader as a present. But the award for the biggest Persian loser goes to Darius III. Whatever its military wisdom or lack thereof, it was a decision that should not have been made by generals under the American political system. Westmoreland held a press conference in which he categorically denied any such loss of confidence. The next major British offensive came at Passchendaele (July 31November 6, 1917), where Haig lost another 275,000 troops in a battle whose name became synonymous with pointless slaughter. War is an extension of politics, and if commanders dont help secure the desired political ends, they get a failing grade. Rommel is by far the greatest military general of the . World War I provided a forum for any number of truly horrible commanders to assert themselves. After only an eight-day siege, he surrendered his entire armya third of all British forces in America. He retreated to Malta but was captured when that island fell to the British. All rights reserved. And, to further demonstrate progress in reducing enemy strength, Westmoreland arbitrarily and entirely on his own removed from the order of battle several categories of enemy forces that had long been carried there, including during the three years Westmoreland had already been in command of U.S. forces in Vietnam. Lyndon Johnson had no understanding of military affairs whatever, nor did Robert McNamara. 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. Like it or not, the U.S. military would become the governing authority. To say that he failed in both regards is to dramatically understate the case. The loss of Fort Donelson opened the door to Kentucky and Tennessee to Union forces and marked the beginning of the end of Confederate resistance in the west. What was your impression of the man when you were working for him? When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybody's all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. 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. To counter these, Major General William R. Peers commenced Operation Greeley using elements of the 4th Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Delivered Friday. There appeared to be little serious planning for what would happen the day after Saddam was gone. How the North Vietnamese remember the conflict 40 years after the fall of Saigon. What can we glean from the current state of play on the battlefield? Hull withdrew after a series of harassing attacks by Tecumsehs highly mobile raiding parties. Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend The idiot who, seeking self aggrandisement, led his army, Force D, to disaster at Kut in WW1. Top Ten Reasons Field Marshal Montgomery is Not so Great A curated selection of our very best long reads. 15. 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. He graduated second in his class at West Point (well ahead of classmates Stonewall Jackson, George H. Gordon, and George Pickett). Seared into all who fought it and many who merely lived through it that conflict remains a bitter stew of second-guessing and recriminations. Despite fresh salvos of Western sanctions, Tehran and Moscow are buddying up on defense ties. Why our generals were more successful in World War II than in - YouTube 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. Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama. Thus, almost by default, Westmoreland was left to go his own way, year after bloody year. FPs Ravi Agrawal spoke with two of the very best Russia experts:Angela Stent, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author ofPutins World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest, and Michael Kofman, the research program director of the Russia studies program at the Center for Naval Analyses. After only 10 weeks into the Pacific War, Percival became responsible for the largest surrender of British-led forces in history. Many have described his activities as "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in US history." 3 Nidal Malik Hasan Nidal Malik Hasan was a U.S. Army Major, and the sole suspect in a shooting at the Fort Hood military base, only weeks before he would have deployed to Afghanistan. in history from Michigan State University in 1995. On March 24, 1976, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1 st Viscount of Alamein, hero of World War II, died at home in England. LBJ's tragic "addiction" to Vietnam: The mistake that still - Salon This piece originally appeared in The National Interest https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/6-worst-military-leaders-ever-167526. He was found guilty of 11 counts, and only the intervention by Pres. 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). Grachev played a key role in initiating and leading the First Chechen War. The Texans only suffered 2 casualties, as opposed to hundreds of Mexican casualties. 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. 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. Lincoln relieved McClellan but reinstated him after the devastating Union defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Hull responded by ordering the evacuation of Fort Dearborn, and the garrison was promptly massacred by a Potawatomi war band upon leaving the fort. Lebanon (1982-1984) 240. Who were the most feared soldiers in Vietnam? - 2023 Many historians credit Benedict Arnold and others with being the real victors of Saratoga. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. Top Ten Worst Military Commanders - The History Buff's Guide to World Delivered Thursday. (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. Listing MacArthur as one of America's worst generals will be controversial. 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. Tom Ricks, on his "Best Defense" blog has discussed the top 10 worst generals in U.S. history. 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. Defining that is like defining a bad meal. Michael Peck is a contributing writer at Foreign Policy and a writer for War Is Boring. 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. Haig was cruelly mocked, first in the satirical musical Oh! The Worst Military Leaders in History Hardcover - March 22, 2022 15. 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. George Brinton McClellan, a self-proclaimed Young Napoleon, ran dreadful campaigns, but he doesnt make the grade because he was canned before he could lose the entire war. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. Read More. Keep up with the world without stopping yours. 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. Grachev has also been linked to corruption among the higher ranks of the military, specifically the assassination of journalist Dmitry Kholodov. At Yorktown, he allowed himself to be taken by surprise and outmaneuvered by Washington and the French fleet. Delivered Wednesday & Sunday. Only recently have those in the defense and military complex begun to look at how we rate generals. These American commanders have lost the battle for history. 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. After the war, the phrase lions led by donkeys came to be associated with the British army for what should be obvious reasons. Warfare: Who was the worst General/military commander in history Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. See the vast swaths of land to the north and south that arent Paraguay? Gen. Charles Cornwallis. 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. While there is much to criticize LBJ for in his conduct of the war, one cannot help having some sympathy for the dilemma posed by the often wildly conflicting advice he was getting from his senior aides and advisors, including those in uniform. But Gates could have doomed the American Revolution. By one estimate from Harvard University, more than 130,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or severely wounded, in addition to the deaths of more than 7,000 Ukrainian civilians. General Westmoreland had complete freedom of action in deciding how to prosecute the war within South Vietnam. And what then? 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. Quintus Servilius Caepio takes the cake amongst the worst Roman generals ever to take command of a legion though. Wrote Kevin Buckley in a scathing review, From the beginning Westmoreland probably expected to write a memoir of victory similar to Crusade in Europeand the defeat in Vietnam has not deterred him from this.. Sure, he was the greatest commander of the Second Punic War, a titanic contest between Carthage and Rome. In the opening month of World War I, Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg scored a crushing victory over the Russians at Tannenberg. 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. Muammar Al-Gaddafi. Turncoats and Traitors - Seven Americans Who Defected to the Enemy in Critics say that Franks and senior officials, such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, concocted an invasion plan that used too few troops. 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 since Napoleon | History 101 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. He need not be concerned, soothed Wheeler, because the weight of judgment was that the enemy cant match us on a buildup. That turned out to be one of the classic misjudgments of the war, comparable in magnitude and consequence to General MacArthurs assurances to President Truman that Chinese forces would not enter the Korean War. McClellan was a superb organizer, a West Point-trained engineer who did much to build the Union army almost from scratch. In fact, he did a lot to ensure that Germany would find itself in another war that it couldnt win, but, since he died in 1937, he gets extra credit for being a bad World War II general from beyond the grave. 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. Stay updated on the topics you care about with email alerts. The latest news, analysis, and data from the country each week. A more minor case, but one revealing of Westmorelands character, stemmed from his unwillingness to level with his senior Marine subordinate at the time of the 1968 Tet Offensive. The man who appealed for Varus help was Arminius, a Romanized Germanic prince. 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. So what is the standard of shame for induction? He continued to view attrition as the most effective strategy for defeating Germany; the British lost some 420,000 men at the Somme. Haste risked casualties and defeats at the hands of a formidable opponent like Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. 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. 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. But its not just the United States. Jacob Zuma is a cherry on the top of the world's worst leader cake. One-stop digest of politics, economics, and culture. Thats the point. 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. To accomplish this goal, Vietnam employs repressive policies that often contravene international human rights law. 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. He would eventually be betrayed and killed by a friend. This would be known as the Tet Offensive and would become a major turning point in the war. While serving in Vietnam . Darius III. Not later than the autumn of 1966 the leaders of both services involved in fighting the ground war in VietnamArmy Chief of Staff General Harold K. Johnson and Marine Commandant General Wallace Greeneboth saw Westmorelands approach as fatally flawed and agreed on a viable alternative. The rise of American-made chatbots has kicked off a flurry of Chinese activity. This infuriated the Marines, who viewed it as evidence that Westmoreland lacked confidence in them. But he was overly cautious by nature. Fifty years ago today, President Lyndon Baines Johnson announced his fateful decision to double the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam. Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. In other words, this book is a "how-not-to" guide to leadership. Todays list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam, Want to read more on this topic or region? Some staff officers who briefed him one-on-one at deskside were dismayed when Westmoreland occupied himself by signing photographs of himself, one after another, during their presentations. Under Westmorelands command, the Vietnam war began smoothly as the U.S. won every battle. But in 1968, when Westmoreland became Army Chief of Staff, Communist forces baited Westmoreland into committing nearly 40% of his strength to the military outpost at Khe Sanh, then attacked cities and towns throughout South Vietnam. Westmorelands general mistake: severely underestimating the Communists. Finally, there was MacArthur's insubordination. He still had his defenders, but they were in the last trench, barely holding on. The Worst Military Leaders in History review from Ancient Rome to Vietnam The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. 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. The Viet Cong Committed Atrocities, Too - The New York Times But all that remains of his would-be empire today is a flaky French pastry. Top 10 Most Underrated Military Generals. McClellan and Burnside in particular. A Brief History. 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. He decided to conduct of a war of attrition, using search and destroy tactics, in which the measure of merit was body count. Scilit | Article - A Slow March from Social Evil to Harm Reduction Pillow suffered slightly more casualties than Grant in the engagement, which possibly makes the Battle of Belmont the high point of Pillows military career. - 2 Worst: 2007 Washington Wizards. Following on from our list of the greatest and most successful military commanders, we are presenting this list of the worst. He worked under Adolf Hitler's Third Reich as a leading general and gained fame from his battles in North Africa. But MacArthur's strategy certainly helped unleash 300,000 Chinese "volunteers" who inflicted significant casualties on United Nations forces. Many historians have said Bragg was one of the worst generals of the Civil War, having lost most of his battles. The 1970s were scary times. Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security. Thus there was little internal capacity for debating or evaluating his chosen course of action. Panama (1989) 2. There was no warmth, no apparent interest in his associates as people. 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. Fort Bragg was named in 1918 during the Jim Crow era. (You May Also Like: The Five Best Generals in U.S. History). Woefully inexperienced U.S. soldiers found themselves against Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps veterans. Villeneuve lost 20 ships, while Nelson lost none. 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. 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. And if they not only fail to deliver, but wind up sinking their own side in the process, and change history, they earn a spot in the Hall of Military Shame. He lacked the schooling and relevant experience to understand the war and devise a viable approach to prosecuting it. After the Germans attacked, Gamelin was eventually removed from his post, but by then it was too late. In reality, it is a collection of ideas, images, and information that enough people have chosen to preserve and disseminate. Hull had served with distinction in the Revolutionary War and was appointed governor of the Michigan Territory in 1805. Perhaps Mao would have intervened anyway. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln. Heres the inaugural class: 6. You worked for GEN Westmoreland when he was Army Chief of Staff. But Franks, who commanded the invasion, made a bad situation worse. 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. Worst US General of all time? | O-T Lounge - TigerDroppings Westmoreland was on a treadmill. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln and the Union expected great things. James Jay Carafano is a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges. These Are the Five Worst Generals of All Time