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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. 4. The 5 Worst Generals in U.S. History. Nor is being a bad battlefield commander, by itself, sufficient to make the cut. 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. Dispatched to India, he led campaigns to help subdue the subcontinent, replacing the crown jewel he had lost. He gritted his teeth and wore down the Confederacy with incessant attacks until the South could take no more. Washington also suffered his share of defeats. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. Delivered Wednesday & Sunday. The Cimbri destroyed Caepios force and, emboldened by their success, marched on Maximuss camp. Is the Biden administrations China policy too hawkish? 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. But the argument is unbalanced. The man who appealed for Varus help was Arminius, a Romanized Germanic prince. Download the FP mobile app to read anytime, anywhere. Alas, call it the laws of probability or just cosmic karma, but every nation produces bad generals as well as good onesand America is no exception. Not only is Sorley a third-generation graduate of West Point a Vietnam veteran and a historian, but he worked for Westmoreland as well. It is probably not a coincidence that corruption in the military appears to have escalated since 2006, when the number of military generals started to jump sharply. Thus, almost by default, Westmoreland was left to go his own way, year after bloody year. One-stop digest of politics, economics, and culture. Delivered Thursday. Starting with the battle of Long Island, he lost way more fights than he wonyet he managed to win the war. Concurrently with hi. Westmoreland told him, "We're killing these people at a ratio of 10 to 1.". Yes, eminently. War is an extension of politics, and if commanders dont help secure the desired political ends, they get a failing grade. Considering some militants as instruments of regional influence while fighting others has had disastrous consequences. Their orientation, indeed the core of Scoutings values, is selflessness and service to others. And how might that be impacting the world? 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. He was called the "inevitable general." A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea. Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, This Photo Of A 94-Year-Old Widow Receiving Her Husbands Remains Will Break Your Heart, From Messiah to Hitler, What You Can and Cannot Name Your Child. 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. Russias war is receiving critical assistance from authoritarian regimes around the world. Vietnam War. Westmorelands general mistake: severely underestimating the Communists. It would be nice if all American generals were great. Quintus Servilius Caepio takes the cake amongst the worst Roman generals ever to take command of a legion though. Instead the enemy proved willing to absorb horrifying losses and keep fighting. Gamelin also chose not to disperse Frances vast number of superior tanks. While there were a host of bad generals serving on both sides during the American Civil Warmostly on the Union side unfortunatelythe one that usually gets the most credit for dragging out the war as long as he did is Union General George McClellan. 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. For one thing, we wouldnt haveSpartacuson Netflix. 10 Redvers Buller Most younger officers who worked around General Westmoreland, excepting only a very few among his many aides-de-camp or executive officers and the like, had no personal relationship with this difficult and distant man. Here is a list of the 10 most famous Chinese generals in history. 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. Who was the worst US general during the Vietnam War? 2. The Romans marched right into the ambush that Arminius laid thus leading to the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. General Earle Wheeler was essentially a staff officer with virtually no troop leading experience, much less combat acumen. 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. There was no warmth, no apparent interest in his associates as people. It was anotherhistory-changingevent, the birth of a truly exceptional nation. Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) 24. 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. 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 retreated to Malta but was captured when that island fell to the British. Applications for the Gettysburg College-Gilder Lehrman MA program are open and considered on a rolling basis. Little Mac would prove himself to be a superb organizer who kept his army well supplied, efficiently run, and happy. While Muammer Al-Gaddafi isn't into the funny business in his politician reign, he most certainly is one of a highly egotistical leader and a member who represents more of the "self" rather than all else. General William Childs Westmoreland (1914- 2005) with President Johnson in South Vietnam #1. When he made public his disagreements with President Truman, Truman rightfully fired him. They kept it as a war trophy, exhibiting the leg at county fairs. This piece originally appeared in The National Interest https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/6-worst-military-leaders-ever-167526. standing, Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting, and the West has so far stayed resolute in its support of Ukraine. 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. What was your impression of the man when you were working for him? 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. 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. Santa Anna, a lifetime gambler, was known for his risk taking in battle, but also his brutality. He was responsible for coming up with the idea of using force to restore constitutional order in Chechnya. The resulting Peninsular Campaign (AprilJuly 1862) was a marvel of planning but something of a farce in execution. 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. Ukraines economy and infrastructure have been dealt blows that will take decades to recover from. The Russian president got many things wrong about invading Ukrainebut not everything. Grant had encircled the fort. As a result, American military power and prestige took a dramatic downturn. Arminius cut off his head and sent it to another Germanic leader as a present. Over time Westmoreland asked for and received large numbers of U.S. troops, eventually totaling well over half a million. Hull responded by ordering the evacuation of Fort Dearborn, and the garrison was promptly massacred by a Potawatomi war band upon leaving the fort. Despite fresh salvos of Western sanctions, Tehran and Moscow are buddying up on defense ties. The United States entered the war, forcing Ludendorff to accelerate his time line for a conclusive battle against the Allies on the Western Front. But for whatever reason, some American commanders have lost the battle for history. McClellan and Burnside in particular. 15. While British cannons shelled the fort from the Canadian side of the river, Tecumseh marched his warriors through a forest clearing in an endless parade. While Hull dithered, Brock captured Fort Michilimackinac, establishing British control of the Straits of Mackinac. Grant left politics to the politicians and did what had to be done. To counter these, Major General William R. Peers commenced Operation Greeley using elements of the 4th Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade. This week marks exactly one year since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine. As military professionals, we should think about more . 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. Vast areas dotted with villages were blasted with artillery, bombed from the air. What defines Santa Anna is his utter failure to subdue the Texican rebels and block American expansion. Caepio reportedly lived out the remainder of his life in luxury, however. 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.. (The leg did get a state funeral). But MacArthur's strategy certainly helped unleash 300,000 Chinese "volunteers" who inflicted significant casualties on United Nations forces. 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. They kept it as a war trophy, exhibiting the leg at. Lee demonstrated an immediate grasp of McClellans demeanor, and, during the Seven Days Battles (June 25July 1, 1862), Lee drove back the Union armies from Richmonds doorstep. 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. 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. Caepio was born into a noble family and became consul in 106 BC. Needs to Talk About the Risk of War With China, Putin Has Assembled an Axis of Autocrats Against Ukraine, The Conversation About Ukraine Is Cracking Apart. On March 24, 1976, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1 st Viscount of Alamein, hero of World War II, died at home in England. Thus the progress Westmoreland claimed in racking up huge body counts did nothing to win the war. 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. The last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, Darius was not quite as qualified to rule a mighty empire as his predecessors were. Contrarily, I would not so stigmatize another important player often criticized by others, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge. Michael Ray oversees coverage of European history and military affairs for Britannica. Lincoln relieved McClellan but reinstated him after the devastating Union defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run. In the opening month of World War I, Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg scored a crushing victory over the Russians at Tannenberg. Defining that is like defining a bad meal. But the rash advance into North Korea was a blunder of strategic proportions. A curated selection of our very best long reads. Think about how history would have been different if Hannibal had a military plan to outlast Roman might. What was the worst battle of Vietnam? Tom Ricks, on his "Best Defense" blog has discussed the top 10 worst generals in U.S. history. Alas, call it the laws of probability or just cosmic karma, but every nation produces bad generals as well as good onesand . Exactly. Darius did not take the field against Alexander until a year and a half after Granicus, at the Battle of Issus. NEW FOR SUBSCRIBERS: 4. 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. HANOI, VIETNAMForty years ago, on April 30, 1975, Nguyen Dang Phat experienced the happiest day of his life . The inept Luigi Cadorna of Italy fought a dozen battles on the Isonzo before his army completely collapsed at Caporetto. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews. Delivered Monday-Friday. After being taken prisoner (again) by the British, Villeneuve was released but committed suicide rather than face Napoleons wrath. History: Military History. How well that would have worked can be seen when Gates was sent to command American troops in the South. Percival was off mistreating Irish Republican Army (IRA) leaders during the Anglo-Irish War before commanding British Malaya in World War II. Many of the charges leveled against him have also been laid at the feet of . If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail. With a few relatively minor changes, thats just about where they stayed for the next four years. The pandemics outbreak brought rare reporting freedoms. This entire list could be populated with Roman commanders, but one manages to rise above the rest with an ineptitude that defies logic. They dramatically upped their game, pressing the U.S. worldwide. In stereotypically McClellan fashion, he was promptly checked by a vastly inferior force under John Bankhead Magruder. 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. 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. Westmoreland was on a treadmill. The Top Ten. As for the British, they had lost the most valuable jewel of the Imperial crown. General William Westmoreland. Alas, as a historian, he passed on the opportunity to answer Battlelands questions about what Vietnam should teach us about Afghanistan, and who, if anyone, is todays Westmoreland, during our email chat earlier this week: Whats the most important thing you learned writing Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam? Hulls nerve was shattered. Santa Anna was found wearing a privates uniform, hiding in a marsh. Lyndon Johnson had no understanding of military affairs whatever, nor did Robert McNamara. Among the most detrimental and problematic policies are the incarceration of drug users in compulsory treatment centers, and the stigmatization and abuse of consumers by the police. My generation would likely vote for the year exactly one-half century ago as the absolutely worst year in our lifetimes. Francisco Solano Lpez managed to stumble into a war with pretty much all of that. However, not even they managed to get themselves court-martialed and sentenced to death for ineptitude on the battlefield. What will another year of war look like? These are the incompetents, the idiots, the bumblers who have represented armies or nations at war only to lead them to defeat or shame. McClellan truly disappointed president Lincoln at the Battle of Antietam where the North and South would fight the bloodiest battle of the war. Who was the worst general in history? Varus was stationed with three of his legions, the 17th, 18th and 19th when news arrived of a revolt growing in the Rhine area. Registration for summer courses begins March 18, 2023 and ends June 7, 2023. Weekly update on whats driving U.S. national security policy. Nearly as many men died in captivity during the Civil War as were killed in the whole of the Vietnam War. To say that he failed in both regards is to dramatically understate the case. 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. Westmorelands own book about himself gives some indication of how he would react to this more recent one. His senior staff lacked diversity of experience and professional outlook, consisting mostly of people with backgrounds similar to his own, especially airborne. Top 10 Most Underrated Military Generals. Westmorelands devotion to advancing his own interests, even when necessary by misrepresentation, was fundamentally at odds with what Scouting is all about. Among them are, of course, Lyndon Johnson himself, Robert McNamara, and General Earle Wheeler. He lacked the schooling and relevant experience to understand the war and devise a viable approach to prosecuting it. 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. The self proclaimed Napoleon of the West didnt quite leave the same legacy as his idol. But his persistence and inspiration kept the Continental Army in the field through the worst of times, which is why his face is on the one-dollar bill. 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 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. Haig was cruelly mocked, first in the satirical musical Oh! Grenada (1983) 3. Westmoreland is often described as a Boy Scout, usually implying, it appears, that he was well-intentioned but nave. 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. In considering who should receive such a dubious honor, Ive consciously excluded bad leaders. Creighton Abrams was an U.S. Army General who commanded American military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972. Even if Moscow holds onto territory, the war has wrecked its future. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. 1 Erwin Rommel Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, popularly known as the Desert Fox, was a German field marshal of World War II. Michael Peck is a contributing writer at Foreign Policy and a writer for War Is Boring. Seared into all who fought it and many who merely lived through it that conflict remains a bitter stew of second-guessing and recriminations. After the Germans attacked, Gamelin was eventually removed from his post, but by then it was too late. Instead of holding a natural defense line around Pyongyang, which would have given the United Nations control of most of the peninsula, the UN troops retreated all the way back into South Korea in a humiliating reverse for U.S. power after the crushing victory of World War II. But he also displayed remarkably bad judgment, as when he was commander in the Philippines in 1941. Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. Only recently have those in the defense and military complex begun to look at how we rate generals. Pillow suffered slightly more casualties than Grant in the engagement, which possibly makes the Battle of Belmont the high point of Pillows military career. Santa Anna would lose Texas at the Battle of San Jacinto. Marcus Licinius Crassus was a self-aggrandizing opportunist who started a pointless war with the Parthians, and Publius Quinctilius Varus lost three legions at Teutoburg Forest, but Proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio manages to top them both with his actions at the Battle of Arausio. See the vast swaths of land to the north and south that arent Paraguay? McClellan was removed from command immediately after. You start by being the only thing that can frustrate Napoleon more than a Russian winter. There are a number of contenders for the top places on such a roster. James K. Polk. Many historians have said Bragg was one of the worst generals of the Civil War, having lost most of his battles. If Gates had been in command, we might be paying for our groceries with shillings and pence. 92. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. Ludendorff is one of historys greatest examples of a general who can win battles but still loses the war. Find Paraguay on a map of South America. Still, it is his world-changing defeat at Yorktown that merits memorializing. By signing up, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to occasionally receive special offers from Foreign Policy. When two able and progressive Nationalist generals, Pai Chunghsi and Li Tsung-jen, begged the generalissimo to adopt similar methods, Chiang rejected them outright. His 1812 campaign against Russia ended in complete disaster. The enemy did not lose heart, did not cease aggression. Listing MacArthur as one of America's worst generals will be controversial. On the night of August 15, 1812, Tecumseh led his forces across the Detroit River, and Brock followed the next morning. 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 couldnt. He called for bombing China, as if liberating Korea was worth risking 550 million Chinese and possibly war with Russia as well. 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. Persian Gulf (1988) (Oil Platforms) 2. Outstanding commanders such as George H. Thomas, Phil Sheridan, and William Tecumseh Sherman routinely bested their Confederate opponents. 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. Military In the end, the Romans leveled Carthage and salted the earth. 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. By Lewis Sorley Best Defense Saigon bureau chief. 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. Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, by Lewis Sorley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. . 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. Operational Culture General Training LREC SME Support Training Course Catalog Cognitive Dimension Training Additional Resources . After an initial attack drove back Grants troops, Pillow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by retreating to the fort rather than breaking through Union lines to Nashville. Yet, Hannibal nevertheless ranks as one of the worlds epic fails. At this point, things somehow got worse for Hull. The unprecedented violence of battles such as Shiloh, Antietam, Stones River, and Gettysburg shocked citizens and international observers alike. Napoleon. In the famous Battle of the Alamo, Santa Anna struggled to defeat about 250 Texans with 2,400 Mexicans and subsequently lost nearly 600 men. Jacob Zuma is a cherry on the top of the world's worst leader cake. When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybodys all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. What does that mean for trade and globalization? The problem begins with the fact that nobody in the chain of command was really competent to critique Westmorelands performance. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Pillow pulled the troops back to the fort to resupply them. Gods and Generals (2003) Loss $61 million These are actually Civil War reenactors and probably the only people who paid to see the movie. The alternative was to split the United States asunder. How the North Vietnamese remember the conflict 40 years after the fall of Saigon. Pillow escaped during the night, leaving Simon B. Buckner to surrender the fort and 15,000 Confederate troops. Although he eventually disavowed Hitler, by that point Ludendorff had become so deeply involved with mysticism that few took him seriously. Because he never wanted to face a superior force, he refused to fight. James Bond Stockdale was flying his A-4 Skyhawk on a mission over North Vietnam, just days after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, when his plane took fire and hurtled d in history from Michigan State University in 1995. 8. Advancing in dispersed columns across the northern half of the peninsula was an invitation to be destroyed piecemeal. He lacked the schooling and relevant experience to understand the war and devise a viable approach to prosecuting it. Innumerable battlefield commanders have had disastrous days at the office. Like it or not, the U.S. military would become the governing authority. Although Westmoreland denied it, he imposed a ceiling on the reported number of enemy by instructing his intelligence officers to adhere to a command position of not more than 300,000, even though newly acquired and more accurate data developed in his own headquarters then indicated a much higher figure.