The enemy simply kept sending more and more replacements to make up his losses. 336 pages | 16 halftones | 6 1/4 x 9 1/4. But Franks, who commanded the invasion, made a bad situation worse. Lyndon Johnson had no understanding of military affairs whatever, nor did Robert McNamara. He continued to view attrition as the most effective strategy for defeating Germany; the British lost some 420,000 men at the Somme. 44 Declassified Vietnam War Photos The Public Wasn't Meant To See Hull had served with distinction in the Revolutionary War and was appointed governor of the Michigan Territory in 1805. Seriously, who represents The British Empire; had the worlds greatest navy, enough cash to hire half the mercenaries of Europe, and the advantage of having a pretty pathetic-looking foe: a rag-tag army of ill-equipped rebels. After only an eight-day siege, he surrendered his entire armya third of all British forces in America. Thus the progress Westmoreland claimed in racking up huge body counts did nothing to win the war. This is, obviously, a problematic quality when ones title is general-in-chief of the entire Union army. 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. His prestige restored by his conduct during the Pastry War with France, Santa Anna once again claimed dictatorial powers. Abraham Lincoln. I flew into Vietnam in June 1968 as a young . The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. 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. War is an extension of politics, and if commanders dont help secure the desired political ends, they get a failing grade. Have your boss report to the French gentleman whose name begins with J at a place which begins with D which is five grid squares to the left of M. The Kasserine disaster had repercussions. Haig was cruelly mocked, first in the satirical musical Oh! McClellan was a superb organizer, a West Point-trained engineer who did much to build the Union army almost from . 2. 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. 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. Woefully inexperienced U.S. soldiers found themselves against Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps veterans. Without question, many lives would be saved if their tactical professionalism were enhanced.. 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. 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. Germanic tribes sacrificed Roman officers on altars to their gods. Rommel is by far the greatest military general of the . 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. (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. Find Paraguay on a map of South America. 8. 6. Worst. Military. Leaders. Ever. | The Heritage Foundation 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. Once again, McClellan worked his organizational magic, restoring the morale of a shattered Union army. 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. For one thing, we wouldnt haveSpartacuson Netflix. Applications for the Gettysburg College-Gilder Lehrman MA program are open and considered on a rolling basis. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. You worked for GEN Westmoreland when he was Army Chief of Staff. 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. The heavily forested, swampy terrain made the Legions maneuvers impossible. - 1 Best: 1996 Chicago Bulls. 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 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. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. There appeared to be little serious planning for what would happen the day after Saddam was gone. 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). 92. Examining the Leaders of North and South Vietnam - dummies Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics Panama (1989) 2. But he also displayed remarkably bad judgment, as when he was commander in the Philippines in 1941. Listing MacArthur as one of America's worst generals will be controversial. Westmoreland is often described as a Boy Scout, usually implying, it appears, that he was well-intentioned but nave. In considering who should receive such a dubious honor, Ive consciously excluded bad leaders. At the Battle of Gaugamela, he helped make Alexander great by losing half his army to the Macedonian upstart. The British gained control of the fort, dozens of cannons, the brig USS Adams (recommissioned the HMS Detroit), and virtually the entire Michigan Territory. He was certainly nave, but the Boy Scouts need to be defended here. The last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, Darius was not quite as qualified to rule a mighty empire as his predecessors were. 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. Having amassed roughly twice as many losses in a single day as Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington, had suffered during the entire Peninsular War, Haig saw no reason to change tactics. Feel free to mention any others you may know of in the comments. A key plank in the Democratic platform that year was, appropriately, not fighting, and McClellan lost in a rout. He was called the inevitable general. A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea. Hulls nerve was shattered. Top 10 Most Underrated Military Generals. 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. Although he outnumbered Magruders Army of the Peninsula 10-to-1, McClellan settled in for a monthlong siege. Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend The idiot who, seeking self aggrandisement, led his army, Force D, to disaster at Kut in WW1. Best Defense: Military Tortured in notorious 'Hanoi Hilton,' 11 GIs were unbreakable He was found guilty of 11 counts, and only the intervention by Pres. up as tough on Beijing, even seeking to contain the rise of the worlds second-biggest economy. At Yorktown, he allowed himself to be taken by surprise and outmaneuvered by Washington and the French fleet. 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. Two years later, he lost a leg fighting the French. He continued on to suffer defeats at Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz, almost letting the war slip away from the British. In 1847, U.S. troops once again surprised Santa Anna and captured his prosthetic leg. McClellan and Burnside in particular. Nelsons victory at the Battle of Trafalgar was so complete that it established British supremacy on the high seas for more than a century. Not one to let his own failings stand in the way of personal glory, Pillow submitted fanciful accounts of his actions at the Battles of Contreras and Churubusco to various newspapers, incurring the wrath of overall American commander Winfield Scott. 6. Implementing the attrition strategy, Westmoreland typically employed a series of large unit sweeps conducted in the deep jungle regions along South Vietnams western borders. 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. But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. How well that would have worked can be seen when Gates was sent to command American troops in the South. 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. Vast areas dotted with villages were blasted with artillery, bombed from the air. (You May Also Like: The Five Best U.S. Men and material the Union could provide its armies. He was killed in combat on March 1, 1870. The pandemics outbreak brought rare reporting freedoms. What does that mean for trade and globalization? Others would say that it is not victory, but success in fulfilling a mission that counts. Many of the charges leveled against him have also been laid at the feet of . He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. So unused to being challenged, the United States has become so filled with anxiety over China that sober responses are becoming nearly impossible. These Are the Five Worst Generals of All Time The British blockaded the port at Cdiz with a numerically inferior force, and Villeneuve, upon learning that he was to be relieved of command, rashly struck out at Nelsons fleet. The 1970s were scary times. What is the standard of shame for induction? At the height of the Cold War, he dealt decisively with neither. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. Top 10 Worst World Leaders - Wonderslist As a military commander, Napoleon may have thebest batting averageof all time. In 1847, U.S. troops once again surprised Santa Anna and captured his prosthetic leg. The Legion numbers XVII, XVIII and XIX never again appeared in the Roman Armys order of battle due to the shame and ill luck they carried. You may opt out at any time. In the end, the Romans leveled Carthage and salted the earth. 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. After the Germans attacked, Gamelin was eventually removed from his post, but by then it was too late. These battlefield bumblers serve to provide that contrast. 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. The problem begins with the fact that nobody in the chain of command was really competent to critique Westmorelands performance. Caepio reportedly lived out the remainder of his life in luxury, however. 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. Some captured Romans were placed in wicker cages and burned alive, others were enslaved or ransomed. In the summer of 1967, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) initiated a series of attacks in western Kontum Province. This was the most fearsome army in the Vietnam War [i] However, the list is subjective, and open to debate, as top 10 lists tend to be. 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. He decided to conduct of a war of attrition, using search and destroy tactics, in which the measure of merit was body count. A curated selection of our very best long reads. The result of his manic commitment to the war of attrition was that Westmoreland squandered four years of his troops bravery and support by the public, the Congress, and even much of the news media for American involvement in the war. How does an admiral make a list of the worst generals? T he Civil War was America's bloodiest conflict. 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. You start by being the only thing that can frustrate Napoleon more than a Russian winter. 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. McClellan truly disappointed president Lincoln at the Battle of Antietam where the North and South would fight the bloodiest battle of the war. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews. In the opening month of World War I, Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg scored a crushing victory over the Russians at Tannenberg. Ulysses S. Grant, who replaced McClellan, understood this. Courses: Summer 2023 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Darius III. Gamelin also chose not to disperse Frances vast number of superior tanks. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. Relations between the United States and China seem to be getting frostier by the day. Ukraines economy and infrastructure have been dealt blows that will take decades to recover from. Thus, almost by default, Westmoreland was left to go his own way, year after bloody year. What can we glean from the current state of play on the battlefield? Their orientation, indeed the core of Scoutings values, is selflessness and service to others. His work as an observer during the Crimean War gave him insight into the importance of logistics for an industrialized army, and years spent as the chief of engineering for the Illinois Central Railroad made him aware of the transformative nature of rail transport. 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. Westmoreland told him, "We're killing these people at a ratio of 10 to 1.". America, the Middle East and the rest of the world are still reaping the consequences of those omissions. Not that Fredendall didn't have real issues that would have tried any commander. This was true in matters both great and small. He was also supremely gifted at overestimating the size of his opponents armies to a degree that beggared belief. 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. George McClellan is one of those generals who really looks great on paper. The alternative was to split the United States asunder. 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. What will another year of war look like? Westmoreland was on a treadmill. The Russian president got many things wrong about invading Ukrainebut not everything. After his defeat by the Texans at the Battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna was captured. They kept it as a war trophy, exhibiting the leg at county fairs. My daughter thinks 2018 was the worst year ever. I'd nominate 1968 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. Hannibal. 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. Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. Battle of Dak To in the Vietnam War - ThoughtCo Westmorelands own book about himself gives some indication of how he would react to this more recent one. 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. So what is the standard of shame for induction? Heres the inaugural class: 6. 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. Is Weiss correct? Simultaneously, he contacted Maximilian to offer the young emperor his services. Horacio Gates of the American Revolution was pretty bad. These Vietnam War photos taken by U.S. Army photographers reveal a side of the conflict that few people have ever seen. Maximus managed to form up his men but to no avail. In 334 BC, Alexander the Great invaded the Persian Empire. The initial assault resulted in very high casualties for the Russians and an almost complete breakdown of morale in the Russian forces. In a war that saw more than its share of unskilled politically appointed generals, Pillow was arguably the worst on either side. 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. 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. General William Westmoreland. In order, from most culpable down. A more positive example is George Washington. There is no Carthage. Santa Anna liked to call himself the Napoleon of the West. And, like Napoleon, he squandered it all in one grand campaign. 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. Registration for summer courses begins March 18, 2023 and ends June 7, 2023. History: Military History. Haste risked casualties and defeats at the hands of a formidable opponent like Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. Exactly. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. In 1941, Graziani resigned his commission after the British counterattacked and the Tenth Army was completely defeated during Operation Compass. 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. Muammar Al-Gaddafi. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln and the Union expected great things. Russias war is receiving critical assistance from authoritarian regimes around the world. He was uninterested in other viewpoints on how the war might be prosecuted, dismissing the PROVN Study sponsored by Army Chief of Staff General Harold K. Johnson (which concluded that Westmorelands way of war was not working and could not work) and basic disagreements with Westmorelands organization and approach voiced by his brilliant classmate General Bruce Palmer Jr. 7. (You May Also Like: The Five Best Generals in U.S. History). When the War of 1812 began, Hull was commissioned a brigadier general and tasked with defending Michigan and invading Upper Canada. Alexander, Napoleon, Rommel. Why our generals were more successful in World War II than in - YouTube His 1812 campaign against Russia ended in complete disaster. Evening roundup with our editors favorite stories of the day. 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. He worked under Adolf Hitler's Third Reich as a leading general and gained fame from his battles in North Africa. He bears a lot of responsibility for one the greatest reversals of military fortune ever experienced by a super power. The Vietnam War body count controversy centers on the counting of enemy dead by the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War (1955-1975). 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.