How the North Vietnamese remember the conflict 40 years after the fall of Saigon. Officially labelled a defector by the Pentagon, many suspected Nolan, an African American, changed sides after suffering a lifetime of racial discrimination. Not that Fredendall didn't have real issues that would have tried any commander. Routed by U.S. forces under Winfield Scott, Santa Anna was again driven into exile. . But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. The Worst Military Leaders in History review from Ancient Rome to Vietnam After months of inactivity, McClellan was finally spurred to action by Pres. Seared into all who fought it and many who merely lived through it that conflict remains a bitter stew of second-guessing and recriminations. Gods and Generals (2003) Loss $61 million These are actually Civil War reenactors and probably the only people who paid to see the movie. 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. 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. Thus it was under Darius rule that the Persian Empire fell and was conquered. 9 Noteworthy Bog Bodies (And What They Tell Us), 12 Novels Considered the Greatest Book Ever Written, Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution, https://www.britannica.com/list/9-worst-generals-in-history. What he did not divulge publicly was that the United States. After occupying Jerusalem and crucifying 2,000 Jewish rebels in Judaea, Varus went off to govern Germania and tame barbarian tribes. Fighter Aircraft of All Time, his army being routed by a smaller force of Redcoats and Loyalists at the Battle of Camden in South Carolina in 1780, 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, Listing MacArthur as one of America's worst generals will be controversial, 5 Israeli Weapons of War ISIS Should Fear, But MacArthur's strategy certainly helped unleash 300,000 Chinese "volunteers" who inflicted significant casualties on United Nations forces, But Franks, who commanded the invasion, made a bad situation worse, Critics say that Franks and senior officials, such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, concocted an invasion plan that used too few troops. How does an admiral make a list of the worst generals? Westmoreland: the General Who Lost Vietnam Military greatness can most easily be defined by comparison. After his defeat by the Texans at the Battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna was captured. (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. Delivered Friday. Marine Corps Casualties 1775-2016 - Marine Corps University What will another year of war look like? Xi Jinpings signature foreign policy is a shadow of its former self.. in history from Michigan State University in 1995. Feel free to mention any others you may know of in the comments. Lincoln relieved McClellan but reinstated him after the devastating Union defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Haste risked casualties and defeats at the hands of a formidable opponent like Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. Delivered Thursday. Haig was cruelly mocked, first in the satirical musical Oh! Washington also suffered his share of defeats. After only 10 weeks into the Pacific War, Percival became responsible for the largest surrender of British-led forces in history. 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. What will another year of war look like? Along with Communist China and other Communist movements in the region, who were fighting to reunite the Vietnams under the red banner, there were other belligerent, free countries in the region who had an interest in keeping South Vietnam away from the Commies. He was a teacher in the Chicago suburbs and Seoul, Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. On the other side of the trenches in World War I was Erich Ludendorff, commanding the armies of Germany. What can we glean from the current state of play on the battlefield? 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. But the rash advance into North Korea was a blunder of strategic proportions. Yet, Hannibal nevertheless ranks as one of the worlds epic fails. The Second Battle of the Somme was the first of a series of successful German offensives, but Ludendorff had failed to integrate these tactical victories into a broader strategic plan. In 1940, after increasing pressure from dictator Benito Mussolini and facing demotion, Graziani followed orders and invaded Egypt with his Tenth Army. Francisco Solano Lpez managed to stumble into a war with pretty much all of that. Would he be upset if he were alive to read this book today? The self proclaimed Napoleon of the West didnt quite leave the same legacy as his idol. He was indeed a capable warrior, as shown by the South Pacific campaign and the Inchon landing in Korea. Germanic tribes sacrificed Roman officers on altars to their gods. A key plank in the Democratic platform that year was, appropriately, not fighting, and McClellan lost in a rout. 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. Its prewar population was reduced by more than half, and perhaps 90 percent of Paraguays fighting-age men perished. 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. Once again, McClellan worked his organizational magic, restoring the morale of a shattered Union army. 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. But its not just the United States. Nor is being a bad battlefield commander, by itself, sufficient to make the cut. Want to read more on this topic or region? Bombs away! Here are the 13 worst military movies in Hollywood history The Viet Cong Committed Atrocities, Too - The New York Times 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. Darius was a different sort of game-changer. He was responsible for coming up with the idea of using force to restore constitutional order in Chechnya. Dispatched to India, he led campaigns to help subdue the subcontinent, replacing the crown jewel he had lost. These battlefield bumblers serve to provide that contrast. Advancing to the North Korean border with China also was a red flag for Mao-Tse Tung, who feared that American troops on his border were a prelude to U.S. invasion. 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. They care about the one. Westmoreland didnt get it. General Westmoreland had complete freedom of action in deciding how to prosecute the war within South Vietnam. Whatever its military wisdom or lack thereof, it was a decision that should not have been made by generals under the American political system. He gritted his teeth and wore down the Confederacy with incessant attacks until the South could take no more. It would be nice if all American generals were great. World War I provided a forum for any number of truly horrible commanders to assert themselves. These American commanders have lost the battle for history. To say that he failed in both regards is to dramatically understate the case. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln. But with that kind of advantage in troops and firepower, who wouldnt? What myths or misperceptions surround Westmoreland that you would like to clear up, if any? 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 . 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. Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) 24. 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. Ludendorff is one of historys greatest examples of a general who can win battles but still loses the war. Lpez, possibly in a fit of madness, ordered the execution of hundreds of people, including some of his own family members. There appeared to be little serious planning for what would happen the day after Saddam was gone. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln and the Union expected great things. My generation would likely vote for the year exactly one-half century ago as the absolutely worst year in our lifetimes. 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. Pierre de Villeneuve had his first brush with history when he bravely ran away at the Battle of the Nile. 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. 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. 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. The problem begins with the fact that nobody in the chain of command was really competent to critique Westmorelands performance. 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. Relations between the United States and China seem to be getting frostier by the day. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. 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. Vietnam War. 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. 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. He is the dumb ass who gave the order to exfoliate the jungles with agent orange. But its not just the United States. By Lewis Sorley Best Defense Saigon bureau chief. 88,594. 1 Erwin Rommel Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, popularly known as the Desert Fox, was a German field marshal of World War II. See the vast swaths of land to the north and south that arent Paraguay? He worked under Adolf Hitler's Third Reich as a leading general and gained fame from his battles in North Africa. Darius family would be captured and even lost the Battle of Gaugamela, where so many factors were in his favor. Who Were the Worst Generals in History? Darius did not take the field against Alexander until a year and a half after Granicus, at the Battle of Issus. Black Vietnam Veterans on Injustices They Faced: Da 5 Bloods - Time 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. 5. It's not the first time that someone thought he was smarter than his boss. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. How do you measure military leaders? 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.