A very significant instance was his determination to arbitrarily hold down the estimate of enemy strength during a 1967 order of battle controversy. Soon after declaring himself dictator of Mexico, rebels who opposed the Mexican dictatorship created three new republics, one of them being the Republic of Texas. 1 Erwin Rommel Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, popularly known as the Desert Fox, was a German field marshal of World War II. Michael Ray oversees coverage of European history and military affairs for Britannica. 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. Read More. 7. Evening roundup with our editors favorite stories of the day. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig: World War I's Worst General - HistoryNet The unprecedented violence of battles such as Shiloh, Antietam, Stones River, and Gettysburg shocked citizens and international observers alike. Yes, eminently. Not only is Sorley a third-generation graduate of West Point a Vietnam veteran and a historian, but he worked for Westmoreland as well. Civil War Casualties | American Battlefield Trust Feel free to mention any others you may know of in the comments. Marine Corps Casualties 1775-2016 - Marine Corps University Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. Find Paraguay on a map of South America. Lincoln relieved McClellan but reinstated him after the devastating Union defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run. 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. Instead he simply sent more and more replacements to make up his losses. Who Were the Worst Generals in History? 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.. 15. When all is said and done, it doesnt matter how nice, brave, courageous, gutsy, loyal, or brilliant commanders theyve been. While this century witnessed many great leaders, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi . Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama. 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). The British gained control of the fort, dozens of cannons, the brig USS Adams (recommissioned the HMS Detroit), and virtually the entire Michigan Territory. In 1940, after increasing pressure from dictator Benito Mussolini and facing demotion, Graziani followed orders and invaded Egypt with his Tenth Army. McClellan was a superb organizer, a West Point-trained engineer who did much to build the Union army almost from scratch. 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. A dull, unfeeling, unimaginative, smug "Colonel Blimp" of the worst sort. My generation would likely vote for the year exactly one-half century ago as the absolutely worst year in our lifetimes. The war soon ended in a Russian defeat, with hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties. McClellan truly disappointed president Lincoln at the Battle of Antietam where the North and South would fight the bloodiest battle of the war. Yes, Westmoreland was the general who lost Vietnam. 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. Darius did not take the field against Alexander until a year and a half after Granicus, at the Battle of Issus. There were available better concepts of how to prosecute the war. And what then? Considering some militants as instruments of regional influence while fighting others has had disastrous consequences. Hulls nerve was shattered. As military professionals, we should think about more . 2. 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. Thus the progress Westmoreland claimed in racking up huge body counts did nothing to win the war. If Putin had hoped to weaken NATO, the very opposite has happened, with Finland and Sweden on the cusp of joining the transatlantic military alliance. George Custer at the Little Big Horn and Lord Chelmsford at the Battle of Isandlwana leap to mind. Maximus managed to form up his men but to no avail. Francisco Solano Lpez managed to stumble into a war with pretty much all of that. 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. What can we glean from the current state of play on the battlefield? Ulysses S. Grant made his Civil War debut at the Battle of Belmont against Confederate Gen. Gideon Pillow. His senior staff lacked diversity of experience and professional outlook, consisting mostly of people with backgrounds similar to his own, especially airborne. Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. 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). Sure, he was the greatest commander of the Second Punic War, a titanic contest between Carthage and Rome. The enemy simply kept sending more and more replacements to make up his losses. Vietnam War body count controversy - Wikipedia Once again, McClellan worked his organizational magic, restoring the morale of a shattered Union army. Innumerable battlefield commanders have had disastrous days at the office. Vast areas dotted with villages were blasted with artillery, bombed from the air. LBJ's tragic "addiction" to Vietnam: The mistake that still - Salon Grachev played a key role in initiating and leading the First Chechen War. He bears a lot of responsibility for one the greatest reversals of military fortune ever experienced by a super power. More ways to stay updated on global news: By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. 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?). One-stop digest of politics, economics, and culture. Would he be upset if he were alive to read this book today? After the Germans attacked, Gamelin was eventually removed from his post, but by then it was too late. Disobeying orders, he sailed for Cdiz instead of the Channel, allowing Nelsons fleet time to return and effectively scuttling Napoleons plans for a cross-Channel invasion. 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. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln. Scilit | Article - A Slow March from Social Evil to Harm Reduction 1968 takes the cake for me. 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. However, not even they managed to get themselves court-martialed and sentenced to death for ineptitude on the battlefield. 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. Alexander went on to march halfway across Asia, creating an empire, albeit short-lived, that changed the history of three continentsnot bad for an ancient millennial. At the Battle of Gaugamela, he helped make Alexander great by losing half his army to the Macedonian upstart. 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. Corruption is the Worst Enemy of the Vietnamese Army Thats an automatic disqualification from Hall membership. Others would say that it is not victory, but success in fulfilling a mission that counts. 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. But Franks, who commanded the invasion, made a bad situation worse. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln. Darius again was the first to flee the battle, abandoning all of his soldiers and his property to be taken by Alexander. He effectively pledged to become an agent for the U.S. but found that he had been deposed upon his return to Mexico. Again fighting outnumbered Texans, this time Santa Anna would lose the battle stunningly. Your guide to the most important world stories of the day. History is not a fixed set of facts. But beyond the goals of one leader in Moscow, it is also clear that Ukraine has suffered horrors of a historic nature. Franz Conrad von Htzendorf of Austria couldnt decide which country he wanted to invade, so the German General Staff eventually took his armies away. 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. Relations between the United States and China seem to be getting frostier by the day. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? In 1847, U.S. troops once again surprised Santa Anna and captured his prosthetic leg. Westmoreland was on a treadmill. Consul Gnaeus Mallius Maximus was Caepios superior officer, but Caepio refused to obey Maximus or even put his forces into a shared camp with him. When major U.S. ground force deployments were under consideration in July 1965, for example, LBJ worried that North Vietnam would respond by pouring in more men of its own. The Worst Military Leaders in History Hardcover - March 22, 2022 If there was a saving grace for America, it was that he wasn't commanding an army. 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. General Westmoreland had complete freedom of action in deciding how to prosecute the war within South Vietnam. Muammar Al-Gaddafi. So what is the standard of shame for induction? Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. (You May Also Like: The Five Best Generals in U.S. History). And how might that be impacting the world? What was the worst battle of Vietnam? Essential analysis of the stories shaping geopolitics on the continent. Military historian Russell Weigley rendered a succinct judgment on LBJ: No capable war President would have allowed an officer of such limited capacities as General William C. Westmoreland to head Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, for so long.. 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. As a military commander, Napoleon may have thebest batting averageof all time. 44 Declassified Vietnam War Photos The Public Wasn't Meant To See 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 . Hull responded by ordering the evacuation of Fort Dearborn, and the garrison was promptly massacred by a Potawatomi war band upon leaving the fort. Delivered Wednesday. 4. After only an eight-day siege, he surrendered his entire armya third of all British forces in America. Thus, on July 1, 1916, Haig ordered his men to go over the top at the First Battle of the Somme, and 20,000 of them had the audacity to die almost immediately (there were 60,000 total British casualties on the first day of the attack).

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