But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. For one thing, we wouldnt haveSpartacuson Netflix. Had Lincoln retained McClellan in command of the Union armies, many former Americans might still be whistling "Dixie.". Military. 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. As for the British, they had lost the most valuable jewel of the Imperial crown. Whatever its military wisdom or lack thereof, it was a decision that should not have been made by generals under the American political system. 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. And how might that be impacting the world? After gaining ground trying to cut an escape path for the Confederates during the February 1862 siege of Fort Donelson by Union forces led Brig. Fighter Aircraft of All Time). Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. While serving in Vietnam . While there are plenty of books that analyze the keys to success, The Worst Military Leaders in History offers lessons of failure to avoid. 151. He retreated to Malta but was captured when that island fell to the British. 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. Dispatched to India, he led campaigns to help subdue the subcontinent, replacing the crown jewel he had lost. The 1970s were scary times. But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. Varus was stationed with three of his legions, the 17th, 18th and 19th when news arrived of a revolt growing in the Rhine area. Although he eventually disavowed Hitler, by that point Ludendorff had become so deeply involved with mysticism that few took him seriously. Thats an automatic disqualification from Hall membership. 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. The last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, Darius was not quite as qualified to rule a mighty empire as his predecessors were. He was an artilleryman who missed out on the Armys great schools system, never attending the Command & General Staff College or the Army War College. His bad luck didnt end at San Jacinto. 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. Thus, almost by default, Westmoreland was left to go his own way, year after bloody year. 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. Muammar Al-Gaddafi. 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. 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 Worst Civil War Generals on the Confederacy Confederate Maj. Gen. Gideon Pillow. Evening roundup with our editors favorite stories of the day. Darius did not take the field against Alexander until a year and a half after Granicus, at the Battle of Issus. General Westmoreland had complete freedom of action in deciding how to prosecute the war within South Vietnam. Instead of sweeping around the French defenses in a massive flanking movement, the Germans were checked at the First Battle of the Marne. Some historians are a little more sympathetic towards Percivals legacy nowadays arguing that Percival had been dealt an unusually bad hand. What defines Santa Anna is his utter failure to subdue the Texican rebels and block American expansion. He was found guilty of 11 counts, and only the intervention by Pres. What was your impression of the man when you were working for him? Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. Born in 1901 in Quang Binh Province (part of North Vietnam), Diem was the son of a well-educated mandarin (Vietnamese civil servant who took part in running the country) who served as the Minister of Rites and Grand Chamberlain to Emperor Thanh-Thai (1889-1907). In stereotypically McClellan fashion, he was promptly checked by a vastly inferior force under John Bankhead Magruder. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. Nor is being a bad battlefield commander, by itself, sufficient to make the cut. 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. 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. Darius was a different sort of game-changer. He graduated second in his class at West Point (well ahead of classmates Stonewall Jackson, George H. Gordon, and George Pickett). Hull was taken prisoner by the British and was court-martialed upon his return to the United States. Westmoreland told him, "We're killing these people at a ratio of 10 to 1.". 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 . 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. 1968 takes the cake for me. Luckily for the colonists, the Empire also had Cornwallis, a peer of the realm and truly pitiful commander. What does that mean for trade and globalization? What is a bad general? Varus himself, seeing all hope was lost, committed suicide. 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. Seared into all who fought it and many who merely lived through it that conflict remains a bitter stew of second-guessing and recriminations. He denied senior civilian officials accurate data on enemy strength and composition, during development of a 1967 Special National Intelligence Estimate imposing a ceiling on the number of enemy forces his intelligence officers could report or agree to and personally removing from the order of battle entire categories that had long been included, thus falsely portraying progress in reducing enemy strength. A common view holds that 138,708 Allied personnel surrendered or were killed by fewer than 30,000 Japanese. By the way, here is the first review I have seen of Sorley's new biography of Westmoreland, which I read in galleys last summer, and enjoyed. Yes, Westmoreland was the general who lost Vietnam. 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. A dull, unfeeling, unimaginative, smug "Colonel Blimp" of the worst sort. With the Little Corporal running everything, Europe might have become a very different place. Heres the inaugural class: 6. Grenada (1983) 3. The 20th century is the most violent century in history. 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. Men and material the Union could provide its armies. This strategy inevitably failed as the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong maintained control over how the war was fought which was through guerilla warfare. Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. At this point, things somehow got worse for Hull. All rights reserved. Darius family would be captured and even lost the Battle of Gaugamela, where so many factors were in his favor. In a war that saw more than its share of unskilled politically appointed generals, Pillow was arguably the worst on either side. 336 pages | 16 halftones | 6 1/4 x 9 1/4. 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. 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. in history from Michigan State University in 1995. Only recently have those in the defense and military complex begun to look at how we rate generals. The Romans lost an estimated 80,000 infantry and perhaps 40,000 auxiliaries and cavalry, numbers that dwarf the staggering totals at Cannae. 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. Delivered Monday-Saturday. Although he outnumbered Magruders Army of the Peninsula 10-to-1, McClellan settled in for a monthlong siege. Diem's family was one of the earliest to convert to Catholicism, a religion he took . 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. If there was a saving grace for America, it was that he wasn't commanding an army. 1 Erwin Rommel Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, popularly known as the Desert Fox, was a German field marshal of World War II. Not only is Sorley a third-generation graduate of West Point a Vietnam veteran and a historian, but he worked for Westmoreland as well. Even now, the easiest way to get into an argument at a V.F.W. Top 10 Most Underrated Military Generals. 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. When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybodys all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. 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. They care about the one. Westmoreland didnt get it. 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). For the most accurate and up-to-date information, consult individual encyclopedia entries about the topics. 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. He would eventually be betrayed and killed by a friend. Ulysses S. Grant, who replaced McClellan, understood this. Delivered Wednesday. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln. But Franks, who commanded the invasion, made a bad situation worse. Russias war is receiving critical assistance from authoritarian regimes around the world. Here is a list of the 10 most famous Chinese generals in history. This is, obviously, a problematic quality when ones title is general-in-chief of the entire Union army. 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. Implementing the attrition strategy, Westmoreland typically employed a series of large unit sweeps conducted in the deep jungle regions along South Vietnams western borders. Haig was cruelly mocked, first in the satirical musical Oh! On the night of August 15, 1812, Tecumseh led his forces across the Detroit River, and Brock followed the next morning. Two years later, he lost a leg fighting the French. In 1847, U.S. troops once again surprised Santa Anna and captured his prosthetic leg. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. 15. standing, Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting, and the West has so far stayed resolute in its support of Ukraine. Create an FP account to save articles to read later and in the FP mobile app. What will another year of war look like? The Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Memorial LectureThomas E. Ricks is a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). After early success in the Mexican War for Independence, the rest of his career didnt pan out the way he would have liked. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. 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. Franz Conrad von Htzendorf of Austria couldnt decide which country he wanted to invade, so the German General Staff eventually took his armies away. 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. 88,594. But MacArthur's strategy certainly helped unleash 300,000 Chinese "volunteers" who inflicted significant casualties on United Nations forces. These are the incompetents, the idiots, the bumblers who have represented armies or nations at war only to lead them to defeat or shame. 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.. We ended up, he said, with no operational plan that had the slightest chance of ending the war favorably. Westmoreland could not or would not ever bring himself to acknowledge that reality. Yes, the landing at Inchon unhinged the initial North Korean offensive. 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. The Russian president got many things wrong about invading Ukrainebut not everything. When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybody's all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. After the Germans attacked, Gamelin was eventually removed from his post, but by then it was too late. Innumerable battlefield commanders have had disastrous days at the office. Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend The idiot who, seeking self aggrandisement, led his army, Force D, to disaster at Kut in WW1. This would be known as the Tet Offensive and would become a major turning point in the war. Hannibal. 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. 5. Like it or not, the U.S. military would become the governing authority. Perhaps Mao would have intervened anyway. Alexander, Napoleon, Rommel. Woefully inexperienced U.S. soldiers found themselves against Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps veterans. Many historians have said Bragg was one of the worst generals of the Civil War, having lost most of his battles. - 2 Worst: 2007 Washington Wizards. Click + to receive email alerts when new stories are published on 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. 10. Finally, there was MacArthur's insubordination. McClellan truly disappointed president Lincoln at the Battle of Antietam where the North and South would fight the bloodiest battle of the war. Is Weiss correct? 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). How do you measure military leaders? His senior staff lacked diversity of experience and professional outlook, consisting mostly of people with backgrounds similar to his own, especially airborne. Hull withdrew after a series of harassing attacks by Tecumsehs highly mobile raiding parties. You worked for GEN Westmoreland when he was Army Chief of Staff. Despite fresh salvos of Western sanctions, Tehran and Moscow are buddying up on defense ties. On the other hand, there was that bad day at the Battle of Salamis when most of the Persian fleet went to the bottom. Military Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, by Lewis Sorley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. . Many historians credit Benedict Arnold and others with being the real victors of Saratoga. Lincoln relieved McClellan but reinstated him after the devastating Union defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Creighton Abrams was an U.S. Army General who commanded American military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972. Weekly update on developments in India and its neighbors. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. Darius again was the first to flee the battle, abandoning all of his soldiers and his property to be taken by Alexander. 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. At the height of the Cold War, he dealt decisively with neither. By Lewis Sorley Best Defense Saigon bureau chief. Although he managed to escape the battle unharmed, Caepio was stripped of his Roman citizenship and exiled. 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. So unused to being challenged, the United States has become so filled with anxiety over China that sober responses are becoming nearly impossible. 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. 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. 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. Yet, Hannibal nevertheless ranks as one of the worlds epic fails. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? But for whatever reason, some American commanders have lost the battle for history. 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. The Battle of Khe Sanh (21 January - 9 July 1968) was conducted in the Khe Sanh area of northwestern Qung Tr Province, Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), during the Vietnam War. Seldom included in. After being taken prisoner (again) by the British, Villeneuve was released but committed suicide rather than face Napoleons wrath. Pillow suffered slightly more casualties than Grant in the engagement, which possibly makes the Battle of Belmont the high point of Pillows military career. What can we glean from the current state of play on the battlefield? Gods and Generals (2003) Loss $61 million These are actually Civil War reenactors and probably the only people who paid to see the movie. Santa Anna, a lifetime gambler, was known for his risk taking in battle, but also his brutality. When he made public his disagreements with President Truman, Truman rightfully fired him. Who was the worst US general during the Vietnam War? He gritted his teeth and wore down the Confederacy with incessant attacks until the South could take no more. Once again, McClellan worked his organizational magic, restoring the morale of a shattered Union army. And what then? All the enemys losses were quickly made up. Frederick C. Weyand was a U.S. Army General who was the last commander of American military operations in the Vietnam War from 1972 to 1973. Johnston was wounded on the first day of the Battle of Seven Pines, six miles east of Richmond, and he was replaced by Robert E. Lee. 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. This week marks exactly one year since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine. 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. But his crowning achievement was bad generalship in Korea. Horacio Gates of the American Revolution was pretty bad. Instead he simply sent more and more replacements to make up his losses. However, not even they managed to get themselves court-martialed and sentenced to death for ineptitude on the battlefield. Following on from our list of the greatest and most successful military commanders, we are presenting this list of the worst. McClellan was a proto-Douglas MacArthur who bad-mouthed his president and commander-in-chief. What can we glean from the current state of play on the battlefield? In 1940, after increasing pressure from dictator Benito Mussolini and facing demotion, Graziani followed orders and invaded Egypt with his Tenth Army. Caepio was born into a noble family and became consul in 106 BC. 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?). Panama (1989) 2. Feel free to mention any others you may know of in the comments. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. Explore the benefits of your FP subscription. Is the Biden administrations China policy too hawkish? Even a string of bad days does not guarantee entry. According to a Time magazine reporter who wrote about the Dak Son massacre, Viet Cong guerrillas shouted "Sons of Americans!" as they launched their assault on the village. Ukraines economy and infrastructure have been dealt blows that will take decades to recover from. While this century witnessed many great leaders, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi . Delivered Thursday. Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security. Allied with Brock was the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, who was head of the most formidable pan-Indian military force the continent had ever seen. Is Weiss correct? Westmorelands devotion to advancing his own interests, even when necessary by misrepresentation, was fundamentally at odds with what Scouting is all about. 1. 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. Germanic tribes sacrificed Roman officers on altars to their gods. Stay updated on the topics you care about with email alerts. Thus it was under Darius rule that the Persian Empire fell and was conquered. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command?
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