Despite the Union outnumbering the Confederates, McClellan was unable to crush Robert E. Lee after failing to pursue him into Virginia. This entire list could be populated with Roman commanders, but one manages to rise above the rest with an ineptitude that defies logic. Yes, eminently. 3. These are the incompetents, the idiots, the bumblers who have represented armies or nations at war only to lead them to defeat or shame. 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. 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. He was called the inevitable general. A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea. 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. 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). But his crowning achievement was bad generalship in Korea. By signing up, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to occasionally receive special offers from Foreign Policy. Ulysses S. Grant, who replaced McClellan, understood this. 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. Delivered Wednesday & Sunday. 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. Outstanding commanders such as George H. Thomas, Phil Sheridan, and William Tecumseh Sherman routinely bested their Confederate opponents. McClellan truly disappointed president Lincoln at the Battle of Antietam where the North and South would fight the bloodiest battle of the war. The resulting Peninsular Campaign (AprilJuly 1862) was a marvel of planning but something of a farce in execution. 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. Thus it was under Darius rule that the Persian Empire fell and was conquered. While Hull dithered, Brock captured Fort Michilimackinac, establishing British control of the Straits of Mackinac. Seared into all who fought it and many who merely lived through it that conflict remains a bitter stew of second-guessing and recriminations. Its prewar population was reduced by more than half, and perhaps 90 percent of Paraguays fighting-age men perished. In considering who should receive such a dubious honor, Ive consciously excluded bad leaders. When the Germans shattered his troops and his reputation at Kasserine Pass in Tunisia in early 1943, Fredendall was only a major general and a corps commander. 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. Hull responded by ordering the evacuation of Fort Dearborn, and the garrison was promptly massacred by a Potawatomi war band upon leaving the fort. To that Hollings responded, "Westy, the American people don't care about the ten. Read More. Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. He retreated to Malta but was captured when that island fell to the British. He overestimated the American peoples patience and tolerance of friendly losses. After only 10 weeks into the Pacific War, Percival became responsible for the largest surrender of British-led forces in history. Francisco Solano Lpez managed to stumble into a war with pretty much all of that. rs worth well over $400 billion. Click + to receive email alerts when new stories are published on. At this point, things somehow got worse for Hull. 92. Lpez was the son of Carlos Antonio Lpez, a dictator who had done much to modernize Paraguay in the mid-19th century. 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. Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, by Lewis Sorley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. . At the Battle of Gaugamela, he helped make Alexander great by losing half his army to the Macedonian upstart. After eight years at Foreign Policy, here are the ten most popular Best Defense posts. He gritted his teeth and wore down the Confederacy with incessant attacks until the South could take no more. The 1970s were scary times. General Westmorelands close associate, General William DePuy, later admitted the futility of the Westmoreland way of war. Evening roundup with our editors favorite stories of the day. He was a teacher in the Chicago suburbs and Seoul, Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. In 1941, Graziani resigned his commission after the British counterattacked and the Tenth Army was completely defeated during Operation Compass. But its not just the United States. He effectively pledged to become an agent for the U.S. but found that he had been deposed upon his return to Mexico. The enemy did not lose heart, did not cease aggression. Unfortunately the fates of the former Republic Vietnam (Sout. The rise of American-made chatbots has kicked off a flurry of Chinese activity. Only recently have those in the defense and military complex begun to look at how we rate generals. Gods and Generals (2003) Loss $61 million These are actually Civil War reenactors and probably the only people who paid to see the movie. He continued on to suffer defeats at Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz, almost letting the war slip away from the British. James Jay Carafano is a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges. For its part, Washington has made a series of policy choices over the last few years that can be summed Show moreup as tough on Beijing, even seeking to contain the rise of the worlds second-biggest economy. Today's list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam By the way, here is the first review I have seen of Sorley's new biography of Westmoreland, which I read in galleys. Haig was cruelly mocked, first in the satirical musical Oh! 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. 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. 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. Where is Carthage you ask? 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.. What will another year of war look like? It's not the first time that someone thought he was smarter than his boss. General Wheeler was often just flat wrong in what he told the President. See the vast swaths of land to the north and south that arent Paraguay? Even if Moscow holds onto territory, the war has wrecked its future. Varus placed his legions in a position where their fighting strengths would be minimized and that of the Germanic Cherusci tribesman maximized. Listing MacArthur as one of America's worst generals will be controversial. 15. 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. Opportunistic firms in Asia and Europe have already begun to relocate investments to the United States. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. 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. Instead he simply sent more and more replacements to make up his losses. Westmorelands devotion to advancing his own interests, even when necessary by misrepresentation, was fundamentally at odds with what Scouting is all about. There is now little doubt that Putin failed in his initial goals: Kyiv is still Show morestanding, Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting, and the West has so far stayed resolute in its support of Ukraine. Darius did not take the field against Alexander until a year and a half after Granicus, at the Battle of Issus. - 4 Worst: 1990 Cleveland Cavaliers. 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. A more minor case, but one revealing of Westmorelands character, stemmed from his unwillingness to level with his senior Marine subordinate at the time of the 1968 Tet Offensive. You may opt out at any time. Westmoreland was on a treadmill. After his defeat by the Texans at the Battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna was captured. In stereotypically McClellan fashion, he was promptly checked by a vastly inferior force under John Bankhead Magruder. Westmoreland told him, "We're killing these people at a ratio of 10 to 1.". 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. 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. In the end, Chiang sacrificed more than a million Chinese soldiers and well over ten million Chinese civilians in his bid to stay in power. When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybodys all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. Villeneuve lost 20 ships, while Nelson lost none. 1. Grachev played a key role in initiating and leading the First Chechen War. Although he outnumbered Magruders Army of the Peninsula 10-to-1, McClellan settled in for a monthlong siege. Gamelin was commander of the French forces in World War II and is largely responsible for the fall of France into German control during the Battle of France. Military This is, obviously, a problematic quality when ones title is general-in-chief of the entire Union army. The War of the Triple Alliance devastated Paraguay. 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. Youre on the list! Once again, McClellan worked his organizational magic, restoring the morale of a shattered Union army. Driven into exile in 1845, he contacted U.S. Pres. 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. 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. What does that mean for trade and globalization? Your guide to the most important world stories of the day. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Pillow pulled the troops back to the fort to resupply them. Michael Peck is a contributing writer at Foreign Policy and a writer for War Is Boring. And how might that be impacting the world? General William Westmoreland. Among them are, of course, Lyndon Johnson himself, Robert McNamara, and General Earle Wheeler. This did not, however, achieve the postulated outcome. Washington also suffered his share of defeats. But then MacArthur thrived on controversy like bread thrives on yeast. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln. Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. In the summer of 1967, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) initiated a series of attacks in western Kontum Province. Best Defense: While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. The last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, Darius was not quite as qualified to rule a mighty empire as his predecessors were. 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. Who was the worst general in history? Armchair historians often generalize that during the American Civil War, while the Union held a clear advantage in material, the Confederacy could field superior commanders. Argentina, Brazil, and the Brazilian puppet government in Uruguay formed an alliance, and on May 1, 1865, they declared war on Paraguay. This is one of the more controversial ones, but Douglas MacArthur is incredibly overrated in the annals of the US military, in my . Nearly as many men died in captivity during the Civil War as were killed in the whole of the Vietnam War. The Russian president got many things wrong about invading Ukrainebut not everything. World War I provided a forum for any number of truly horrible commanders to assert themselves. After early success in the Mexican War for Independence, the rest of his career didnt pan out the way he would have liked. But Franks, who commanded the invasion, made a bad situation worse. 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. A key plank in the Democratic platform that year was, appropriately, not fighting, and McClellan lost in a rout. 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. Fighter Aircraft of All Time). James Madison spared him from execution. Westmorelands general mistake: severely underestimating the Communists. McClellan was removed from command immediately after. A monthly digest of the top articles read by FP subscribers. His war of attrition, search and destroy tactics, and emphasis on body count did nothing to affect the war in the hamlets and villages of South Vietnam, where the enemys covert infrastructure was left free to continue using coercion and terror to dominate the rural populace. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. With the Little Corporal running everything, Europe might have become a very different place. Grachev publicly promised to swiftly crush the Chechen separatist forces in a couple of hours with a single airborne regiment. He led the disastrous storming of Grozny while drunk after celebrating his birthday on January 1st. War is an extension of politics, and if commanders dont help secure the desired political ends, they get a failing grade. Sure, he was the greatest commander of the Second Punic War, a titanic contest between Carthage and Rome. Napoleon. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. But the argument is unbalanced. Weekly update on whats driving U.S. national security policy. The South Vietnamese thus went for years equipped with castoff WWII-vintage U.S. equipment while outgunned by the communists, who were armed with the AK-47 assault rifle and other top of the line equipment. Persian Gulf (1988) (Oil Platforms) 2. 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. Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. Instead the enemy proved willing to absorb horrifying losses and keep fighting. 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. The unprecedented violence of battles such as Shiloh, Antietam, Stones River, and Gettysburg shocked citizens and international observers alike. Gates thought otherwise, and fancied himself a better commander than George Washington. Santa Anna would lose Texas at the Battle of San Jacinto. (The leg did get a state funeral). 13,091. 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. Concurrently with hi. Hull was thoroughly outclassed. Jacob Zuma is a cherry on the top of the world's worst leader cake. George McClellan is one of those generals who really looks great on paper. When he made public his disagreements with President Truman, Truman rightfully fired him. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. He was also supremely gifted at overestimating the size of his opponents armies to a degree that beggared belief. While there are plenty of books that analyze the keys to success, The Worst Military Leaders in History offers lessons of failure to avoid. Ukraines economy and infrastructure have been dealt blows that will take decades to recover from. George Custer at the Little Big Horn and Lord Chelmsford at the Battle of Isandlwana leap to mind. Its quite exclusive: combat leaders who had the fate of their people in their hands and squandered it all. After months of inactivity, McClellan was finally spurred to action by Pres. Thus, almost by default, Westmoreland was left to go his own way, year after bloody year. 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. Feel free to mention any others you may know of in the comments. 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). McClellan was a superb organizer, a West Point-trained engineer who did much to build the Union army almost from scratch. America, the Middle East and the rest of the world are still reaping the consequences of those omissions. Whatever its military wisdom or lack thereof, it was a decision that should not have been made by generals under the American political system. 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. 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