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. Historian Lewis Sorley author of 1999s well-regarded A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of Americans Last Years in Vietnam now zeroes in on General William Westmoreland. 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. When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybodys all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend The idiot who, seeking self aggrandisement, led his army, Force D, to disaster at Kut in WW1. [i] However, the list is subjective, and open to debate, as top 10 lists tend to be. 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 worked under Adolf Hitler's Third Reich as a leading general and gained fame from his battles in North Africa. T he Civil War was America's bloodiest conflict. He gritted his teeth and wore down the Confederacy with incessant attacks until the South could take no more. They kept it as a war trophy, exhibiting the leg at county fairs. 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. Even now, the easiest way to get into an argument at a V.F.W. As a result, American military power and prestige took a dramatic downturn. Villeneuve was then to return in secret and help establish naval dominance of the English Channel in preparation for a land invasion of Britain. James Madison spared him from execution. Outstanding commanders such as George H. Thomas, Phil Sheridan, and William Tecumseh Sherman routinely bested their Confederate opponents. Argentina, Brazil, and the Brazilian puppet government in Uruguay formed an alliance, and on May 1, 1865, they declared war on Paraguay. 10. Operational Culture General Training LREC SME Support Training Course Catalog Cognitive Dimension Training Additional Resources . Advancing in dispersed columns across the northern half of the peninsula was an invitation to be destroyed piecemeal. 15. What does that mean for trade and globalization? Stay updated on the topics you care about with email alerts. McClellan was a proto-Douglas MacArthur who bad-mouthed his president and commander-in-chief. 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. But its not just the United States. 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. It would be nice if all American generals were great. Not only is Sorley a third-generation graduate of West Point a Vietnam veteran and a historian, but he worked for Westmoreland as well. 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. Creighton Abrams was an U.S. Army General who commanded American military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972. 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. Defining that is like defining a bad meal. By the end of the conflict, America had unleashed the equivalent of 640 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs on Vietnam. In considering who should receive such a dubious honor, Ive consciously excluded bad leaders. McClellan was a superb organizer, a West Point-trained engineer who did much to build the Union army almost from . Publication of the PROVN Study, whose precepts were later implemented with great success by Westmorelands successor, illustrated a matter of fundamental importance. The alternative was to split the United States asunder. Napoleon. 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. Grant left politics to the politicians and did what had to be done. Alas, call it the laws of probability or just cosmic karma, but every nation produces bad generals as well as good onesand . 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. Thus the progress Westmoreland claimed in racking up huge body counts did nothing to win the war. The Western Front was a much bigger stage upon which to fail, however, and British commander Douglas Haig made the most of the opportunity. The self proclaimed Napoleon of the West didnt quite leave the same legacy as his idol. 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. Others would say that it is not victory, but success in fulfilling a mission that counts. The inept Luigi Cadorna of Italy fought a dozen battles on the Isonzo before his army completely collapsed at Caporetto. 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. Darius family would be captured and even lost the Battle of Gaugamela, where so many factors were in his favor. One-stop digest of politics, economics, and culture. In order, from most culpable down. He lacked the schooling and relevant experience to understand the war and devise a viable approach to prosecuting it. 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. The elder Lpez had bequeathed to his son a relatively powerful military by regional standards but had cautioned Francisco against using it to settle diplomatic issues. While Maximus was conducting negotiations with the Cimbri, a Germanic tribe that had invaded the Roman province of Transalpine Gaul, Caepio rashly attacked the Cimbri army on October 6, 105 BCE. Cornwallis later did redeem himself militarily. Grachev played a key role in initiating and leading the First Chechen War. Persian Gulf (1988) (Oil Platforms) 2. To counter these, Major General William R. Peers commenced Operation Greeley using elements of the 4th Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade. 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. In the autumn of 1804 he was placed in charge of the French fleet at Toulon and tasked with drawing the British fleet under Horatio Nelson to the Caribbean. 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). Despite reports of the build-up of German forces and even knowing the date of the Germans attack, Gamelin did nothing, stating that he would await events. HANOI, VIETNAMForty years ago, on April 30, 1975, Nguyen Dang Phat experienced the happiest day of his life . Pillow faced a court-martial for stealing a Mexican cannon and attempting to spirit it home in his personal baggage, but Polk intervened to clear Pillows record. Among them are, of course, Lyndon Johnson himself, Robert McNamara, and General Earle Wheeler. 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. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. Keep up with the world without stopping yours. 3. 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. 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. Todays list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam, Want to read more on this topic or region? Listing MacArthur as one of America's worst generals will be controversial. After only 10 weeks into the Pacific War, Percival became responsible for the largest surrender of British-led forces in history. In a war that saw more than its share of unskilled politically appointed generals, Pillow was arguably the worst on either side. Although he outnumbered Magruders Army of the Peninsula 10-to-1, McClellan settled in for a monthlong siege. Army Chief of Staff General Harold K. Johnson put one forth in the PROVN Study, a Program for the Pacification and Long-Term Development of Vietnam. That document held that Westmorelands approach was not working and could not work because it ignored the real war in South Vietnams hamlets and villages, where the covert enemy infrastructure was through coercion and terror dominating the rural populace. 5. It's not the first time that someone thought he was smarter than his boss. 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. Feel free to mention any others you may know of in the comments. 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. Two of the more prominent of these mistakes, both with wide and sweeping results, were the June 22, 1941 invasion of the USSROperation Barbarossaand the December 11, 1941 unprovoked and unwarranted declaration of war on the United Statesagainst the advice of Hitler's Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop. If Gates had been in command, we might be paying for our groceries with shillings and pence. Military Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama. Is the Biden administrations China policy too hawkish? Seared into all who fought it and many who merely lived through it that conflict remains a bitter stew of second-guessing and recriminations. 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. Luckily for the colonists, the Empire also had Cornwallis, a peer of the realm and truly pitiful commander. General and presidential candidate Douglas MacArthur (1880 - 1964) at his headquarters in Yokohama, Japan with US Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright (1883 - 1953) (right), and British Lieutenant-General A E Percival (1887 - 1966) (left) who were taken prisoner by the Japanese after the US retreat in the Bataan peninsula and released in 1945. If it couldn't or wouldn't govern the country, who would? Yet backstabbing your commander-in-chief in the middle of a war is taking ambition a little too far. He spoke up in Honolulu, during an important U.S. planning conference in February 1966, observing that we can beat up North Vietnamese regiments in the high plateau for the next twenty years and it will not end the war. Westmorelands later dismissive comment was that Ambassador Lodge does not have a deep feel of military tactics and strategy.. (You May Also Like: The Five Best Generals in U.S. History). Hull had served with distinction in the Revolutionary War and was appointed governor of the Michigan Territory in 1805. The resulting Peninsular Campaign (AprilJuly 1862) was a marvel of planning but something of a farce in execution. General Westmorelands close associate, General William DePuy, later admitted the futility of the Westmoreland way of war. George Custer at the Little Big Horn and Lord Chelmsford at the Battle of Isandlwana leap to mind. 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. In 1847, U.S. troops once again surprised Santa Anna and captured his prosthetic leg. Who was the worst US general during the Vietnam War? (The leg did get a state funeral). But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. 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. Percival was off mistreating Irish Republican Army (IRA) leaders during the Anglo-Irish War before commanding British Malaya in World War II. 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. Applications for the Gettysburg College-Gilder Lehrman MA program are open and considered on a rolling basis. However, not even they managed to get themselves court-martialed and sentenced to death for ineptitude on the battlefield. A very influential visitor, Senator "Fritz" Hollings from Westmoreland's home state of South Carolina, had warned him about reliance on such ratios. Following on from our list of the greatest and most successful military commanders, we are presenting this list of the worst. But he also displayed remarkably bad judgment, as when he was commander in the Philippines in 1941. He was also supremely gifted at overestimating the size of his opponents armies to a degree that beggared belief. Pillow suffered slightly more casualties than Grant in the engagement, which possibly makes the Battle of Belmont the high point of Pillows military career. Overseas during World War II he had limited line duty (16 months of battalion command, then 13 months in staff positions) and of 14 months of command during the Korean War and its immediate aftermath he spent eight months in reserve in Japan and only six months in Korea, and that during the mostly static final months of the war. Woefully inexperienced U.S. soldiers found themselves against Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps veterans. James K. Polk. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. 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. 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. What will another year of war look like? He overestimated the American peoples patience and tolerance of friendly losses. Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. After months of inactivity, McClellan was finally spurred to action by Pres. Thats the point. How does an admiral make a list of the worst generals? 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). Mexican general Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna probably wished that everyone really did remember the Alamo, because: (1) he actually did win that battle (he outnumbered his opponents between 10- and 30-to-1); and (2) during the 13-day siege, he somehow resisted the urge to betray all his allegiances and change sides. 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. His forces outnumbered Alexanders men by at least a 2 to 1 ratio, but Darius was still outflanked, defeated and forced to flee. After eight years at Foreign Policy, here are the ten most popular Best Defense posts. Thats an automatic disqualification from Hall membership. 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. Who was the worst general in history? McClellan was removed from command immediately after. 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. Delivered Friday. Varus placed his legions in a position where their fighting strengths would be minimized and that of the Germanic Cherusci tribesman maximized. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, consult individual encyclopedia entries about the topics. What he did not divulge publicly was that the United States. It would be nice if all American generals were great. 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. But Gates could have doomed the American Revolution. Nearly as many men died in captivity during the Civil War as were killed in the whole of the Vietnam War. At Brownstown, south of Detroit, two dozen warriors under Tecumseh routed more than 200 American militiamen escorting a supply column intended for Detroit. With a few relatively minor changes, thats just about where they stayed for the next four years. After only an eight-day siege, he surrendered his entire armya third of all British forces in America. James K. Polk. 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 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. 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. Download the new FP mobile app to read anytime, anywhere. Delivered Monday-Saturday. He continued on to suffer defeats at Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz, almost letting the war slip away from the British. Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. 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. 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. Starting with the battle of Long Island, he lost way more fights than he wonyet he managed to win the war. 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. Some 15,000 talents of gold (the so-called Gold of Tolosa) had vanished under his watch, never to be recovered. Years later, when Marine Corps historians were at work on their history of the war, Westmoreland met with them. At the Battle of Gaugamela, he helped make Alexander great by losing half his army to the Macedonian upstart. Is the Biden administrations China policy too hawkish? After achieving moderate success in Libya and Ethiopia, the Butcher of Ethiopia became Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Royal Armys General Staff and of Italian North Africa at the start of World War II. 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. Not good, Hannibal. Ukraines economy and infrastructure have been dealt blows that will take decades to recover from. See the vast swaths of land to the north and south that arent Paraguay? But the argument is unbalanced. Haste risked casualties and defeats at the hands of a formidable opponent like Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Pillow pulled the troops back to the fort to resupply them. All the enemys losses were quickly made up. 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. Gamelin made the mistake of viewing the Ardennes as impenetrable and chose to defend it with ten of his weakest, least well equipped and least well trained divisions. Read More. Informed that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor and were certain to attack the Philippines next, MacArthur failed to disperse his aircraftthe only force that could disrupt the Japanese offensive in the absence of the American fleetand to attack Japanese airfields before the enemy wiped out his air force. Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. Had Lincoln retained McClellan in command of the Union armies, many former Americans might still be whistling "Dixie.". Sure, they ganged up on the Spartans at the Pass of Thermopylae. 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?). On the other hand, there was that bad day at the Battle of Salamis when most of the Persian fleet went to the bottom. Indeed they are brave and proud, but their standards, tactics, and lack of command supervision throughout their ranks requires improvement in the national interest. And, he added, I would be less than frank if I did not say that I feel somewhat insecure with the situation in Quang Tri province, in view of my knowledge of their shortcomings. George McClellan is one of those generals who really looks great on paper. This infuriated the Marines, who viewed it as evidence that Westmoreland lacked confidence in them. Jacob Zuma is a cherry on the top of the world's worst leader cake. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the war. These battlefield bumblers serve to provide that contrast. Its quite exclusive: combat leaders who had the fate of their people in their hands and squandered it all. - 3 Best: 1987 Los Angeles Lakers. Westmorelands devotion to advancing his own interests, even when necessary by misrepresentation, was fundamentally at odds with what Scouting is all about. 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. 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. 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. Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. There is no Carthage. 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. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. 8. A monthly digest of the top articles read by FP subscribers. Join in-depth conversations and interact with foreign-policy experts with. Ulysses S. Grant made his Civil War debut at the Battle of Belmont against Confederate Gen. Gideon Pillow. What is the standard of shame for induction? That dubious distinction falls to William Hull, the only general officer in American history to be ordered before a firing squad for cowardice and dereliction of duty. But then MacArthur thrived on controversy like bread thrives on yeast. 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 The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. Concurrently with hi. This piece originally appeared in The National Interest https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/6-worst-military-leaders-ever-167526. Nelsons victory at the Battle of Trafalgar was so complete that it established British supremacy on the high seas for more than a century. When two able and progressive Nationalist generals, Pai Chunghsi and Li Tsung-jen, begged the generalissimo to adopt similar methods, Chiang rejected them outright. He was called the "inevitable general." A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea. But all that remains of his would-be empire today is a flaky French pastry. 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. He would eventually be betrayed and killed by a friend. 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. Although he eventually disavowed Hitler, by that point Ludendorff had become so deeply involved with mysticism that few took him seriously. Quintus Servilius Caepio takes the cake amongst the worst Roman generals ever to take command of a legion though. 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. Is Weiss correct? These operations were designed to seek out enemy forces and engage them in decisive battle. Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. There appeared to be little serious planning for what would happen the day after Saddam was gone. Elmo Zumwalt was a U.S. admiral and commander of American naval forces in Vietnam. His prestige restored by his conduct during the Pastry War with France, Santa Anna once again claimed dictatorial powers. While this century witnessed many great leaders, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi . 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.
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