worst generals in vietnam worst generals in vietnam

In fifteen thought-provoking essays, each written by a professional military historian, readers are introduced . What does that mean for trade and globalization? But he also displayed remarkably bad judgment, as when he was commander in the Philippines in 1941. Many of the charges leveled against him have also been laid at the feet of . As a military commander, Napoleon may have thebest batting averageof all time. 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. Hundreds of thousands died of disease. The 5 Worst Generals in U.S. History. Opportunistic firms in Asia and Europe have already begun to relocate investments to the United States. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. 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? When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybody's all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. 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. He overestimated the American peoples patience and tolerance of friendly losses. Want to read more on this topic or region? Advancing to the North Korean border with China also was a red flag for Mao-Tse Tung, who feared that American troops on his border were a prelude to U.S. invasion. Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend The idiot who, seeking self aggrandisement, led his army, Force D, to disaster at Kut in WW1. All the enemys losses were quickly made up. A U.S. ship conveyed him to Mexico, and upon his arrivalto the surprise of virtually no onehe executed a volte-face and took charge of the Mexican troops. His bad luck didnt end at San Jacinto. 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. 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. To that Hollings responded, "Westy, the American people don't care about the ten. 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. 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. Best Defense: In the opening month of World War I, Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg scored a crushing victory over the Russians at Tannenberg. And he was able to inflict massive casualties on the enemy. On the night of August 15, 1812, Tecumseh led his forces across the Detroit River, and Brock followed the next morning. 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. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? Read More. Top 10 Most Underrated Military Generals. While this century witnessed many great leaders, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi . America, the Middle East and the rest of the world are still reaping the consequences of those omissions. 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). 6. Join in-depth conversations and interact with foreign-policy experts with. 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. Panama (1989) 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. Is your subtitle The General Who Lost Vietnam fair? Westmoreland established a headquarters known as MACV Forward in the northern provinces of South Vietnam and put his deputy, General Creighton Abrams, in charge, placing him over the Marines and also the Army forces in that region. But its not just the United States. Driven into exile in 1845, he contacted U.S. Pres. History is not a fixed set of facts. 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. They dramatically upped their game, pressing the U.S. worldwide. (The leg did get a state funeral). 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. Santa Anna liked to call himself the Napoleon of the West. And, like Napoleon, he squandered it all in one grand campaign. 5. 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. What will another year of war look like? But his crowning achievement was bad generalship in Korea. After the Germans attacked, Gamelin was eventually removed from his post, but by then it was too late. A very influential visitor, Senator "Fritz" Hollings from Westmoreland's home state of South Carolina, had warned him about reliance on such ratios. General Westmoreland had complete freedom of action in deciding how to prosecute the war within South Vietnam. 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. Varus himself, seeing all hope was lost, committed suicide. Thus there was little internal capacity for debating or evaluating his chosen course of action. Brock, sensing an opportunity, advised an immediate march on Fort Detroit. The 1970s were scary times. It's not the first time that someone thought he was smarter than his boss. His battlefield losses marked the end of the Persian Empire. But with that kind of advantage in troops and firepower, who wouldnt? 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 . This would be known as the Tet Offensive and would become a major turning point in the war. Hull had served with distinction in the Revolutionary War and was appointed governor of the Michigan Territory in 1805. There is no Carthage. 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). 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. 151. - 4 Worst: 1990 Cleveland Cavaliers. A curated selection of our very best long reads. Haste risked casualties and defeats at the hands of a formidable opponent like Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. 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. 92. Woefully inexperienced U.S. soldiers found themselves against Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps veterans. 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. Westmoreland held a press conference in which he categorically denied any such loss of confidence. Percival was off mistreating Irish Republican Army (IRA) leaders during the Anglo-Irish War before commanding British Malaya in World War II. Darius family would be captured and even lost the Battle of Gaugamela, where so many factors were in his favor. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. He couldnt. His was one of just two French ships of the line to escape the destruction of the French fleet there. Darius again was the first to flee the battle, abandoning all of his soldiers and his property to be taken by Alexander. Nelsons victory at the Battle of Trafalgar was so complete that it established British supremacy on the high seas for more than a century. Simultaneously, he contacted Maximilian to offer the young emperor his services. 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. This piece originally appeared in The National Interest https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/6-worst-military-leaders-ever-167526. To accomplish this goal, Vietnam employs repressive policies that often contravene international human rights law. Yes, the landing at Inchon unhinged the initial North Korean offensive. Here are five of America's worst generals: Great generals have great talents, and usually egos and ambitions to match. When all is said and done, it doesnt matter how nice, brave, courageous, gutsy, loyal, or brilliant commanders theyve been. 10. Listing MacArthur as one of America's worst generals will be controversial. He ran as a Democrat against Lincoln in the 1864 presidential election. 7. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. He worked under Adolf Hitler's Third Reich as a leading general and gained fame from his battles in North Africa. So unused to being challenged, the United States has become so filled with anxiety over China that sober responses are becoming nearly impossible. 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. Not that Fredendall didn't have real issues that would have tried any commander. Westmorelands own book about himself gives some indication of how he would react to this more recent one. That may have been true in the east (the worst of the Union generals in that theater rates his own entry on this list), but in the west it was a much different affair. What will another year of war look like? 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). All rights reserved. Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. It would be nice if all American generals were great. 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.. Vice President, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute. Villeneuve lost 20 ships, while Nelson lost none. (You May Also Like: The Five Best U.S. 8. Westmorelands general mistake: severely underestimating the Communists. 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. Grachev has also been linked to corruption among the higher ranks of the military, specifically the assassination of journalist Dmitry Kholodov. Gen. Charles Cornwallis. Who was the worst general in history? 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. General William Westmoreland. What myths or misperceptions surround Westmoreland that you would like to clear up, if any? 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. In stereotypically McClellan fashion, he was promptly checked by a vastly inferior force under John Bankhead Magruder. T he Civil War was America's bloodiest conflict. Routed by U.S. forces under Winfield Scott, Santa Anna was again driven into exile. If there was a saving grace for America, it was that he wasn't commanding an army. Cornwallis later did redeem himself militarily. Instead of sweeping around the French defenses in a massive flanking movement, the Germans were checked at the First Battle of the Marne. Find Paraguay on a map of South America. A key plank in the Democratic platform that year was, appropriately, not fighting, and McClellan lost in a rout. A Brief History. Diem's family was one of the earliest to convert to Catholicism, a religion he took . 336 pages | 16 halftones | 6 1/4 x 9 1/4. 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. How do you measure military leaders? But then MacArthur thrived on controversy like bread thrives on yeast. (You May Also Like: 5 Israeli Weapons of War ISIS Should Fear). Is Weiss correct? McClellan was a proto-Douglas MacArthur who bad-mouthed his president and commander-in-chief. Eschewing a direct overland march to the Confederate capital of Richmond, McClellan orchestrated an impressive amphibious landing of more than 100,000 troops at Fort Monroe, at the southeast end of the peninsula between the James and York rivers. With the Little Corporal running everything, Europe might have become a very different place. The war soon ended in a Russian defeat, with hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties. But the argument is unbalanced. They dramatically upped their game, pressing the U.S. worldwide. 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. The 20th century is the most violent century in history. Where is Carthage you ask? While serving in Vietnam . 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. But Gates could have doomed the American Revolution. Concurrently with hi. The Cimbri destroyed Caepios force and, emboldened by their success, marched on Maximuss camp. 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. Westmoreland was on a treadmill. This was true in matters both great and small. Gamelin also chose not to disperse Frances vast number of superior tanks. Critics say that Franks and senior officials, such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, concocted an invasion plan that used too few troops. Even a string of bad days does not guarantee entry. He earned a B.A. Download the new FP mobile app to read anytime, anywhere. He bears a lot of responsibility for one the greatest reversals of military fortune ever experienced by a super power. Known as Reverse Buller by his troops during the Second Boer War, the Englishman was first defeated at the Battle of Colenso and subsequently lost his position as overall commander. 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. Its prewar population was reduced by more than half, and perhaps 90 percent of Paraguays fighting-age men perished. 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. Even if Moscow holds onto territory, the war has wrecked its future. 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. HANOI, VIETNAMForty years ago, on April 30, 1975, Nguyen Dang Phat experienced the happiest day of his life . After making a laughingstock of himself by ordering his men to entrench on the wrong side of fortifications at Camargo, Pillow bungled his role at the Battle of Cerro Gordo, making himself the low point of a resounding American victory. 9. 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. 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. 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. Gates thought otherwise, and fancied himself a better commander than George Washington. Who was the worst US general during the Vietnam War? He lacked the schooling and relevant experience to understand the war and devise a viable approach to prosecuting it. On the other hand, there was that bad day at the Battle of Salamis when most of the Persian fleet went to the bottom. Fort Bragg was named in 1918 during the Jim Crow era. Had Lincoln retained McClellan in command of the Union armies, many former Americans might still be whistling "Dixie.". Following on from our list of the greatest and most successful military commanders, we are presenting this list of the worst. bar is to mention Vietnam. 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. Two years later, he lost a leg fighting the French. There are issues around killing and counting unarmed civilians (non-combatants) as enemy combatants, as well as inflating the number of actual enemy who were killed in action (KIA).For search and destroy operations, as the objective was not to . 15. Along with Communist China and other Communist movements in the region, who were fighting to reunite the Vietnams under the red banner, there were other belligerent, free countries in the region who had an interest in keeping South Vietnam away from the Commies. Todays list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam, Want to read more on this topic or region? Johnston was wounded on the first day of the Battle of Seven Pines, six miles east of Richmond, and he was replaced by Robert E. Lee. The early days of the 2003 Iraq War were bound to be a graveyard for military and political reputations, given the misperceptions and misjudgments behind America's ill-fated adventure in regime change and nation-building. Thus it was under Darius rule that the Persian Empire fell and was conquered. Francisco Solano Lpez managed to stumble into a war with pretty much all of that. These are the incompetents, the idiots, the bumblers who have represented armies or nations at war only to lead them to defeat or shame. 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. Alexander, Napoleon, Rommel. The Romans lost an estimated 80,000 infantry and perhaps 40,000 auxiliaries and cavalry, numbers that dwarf the staggering totals at Cannae. 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. 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. Others would say that it is not victory, but success in fulfilling a mission that counts. Caepio may have been a terrible general, but he was apparently an exceptional thief. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. Yet Fredendall's solution was to order an Army engineer company to build a giant bunker a hundred miles from the front lines. The deplorable conduct of Charles Lee at the Battle of Monmouth has been immortalized by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Benedict Arnolds name is synonymous with traitorous behavior. Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. Here is a list of the 10 most famous Chinese generals in history. Michael Ray oversees coverage of European history and military affairs for Britannica. These operations were designed to seek out enemy forces and engage them in decisive battle. Unfortunately the fates of the former Republic Vietnam (Sout. 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. 15. Grant had encircled the fort. When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybodys all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. Not only is Sorley a third-generation graduate of West Point a Vietnam veteran and a historian, but he worked for Westmoreland as well. He still had his defenders, but they were in the last trench, barely holding on. 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. Applications for the Gettysburg College-Gilder Lehrman MA program are open and considered on a rolling basis. Delivered Thursday. Heres the inaugural class: 6. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. 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. 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. In 334 BC, Alexander the Great invaded the Persian Empire. 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. Registration for summer courses begins March 18, 2023 and ends June 7, 2023. But MacArthur's strategy certainly helped unleash 300,000 Chinese "volunteers" who inflicted significant casualties on United Nations forces. Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama. Lincoln relieved McClellan but reinstated him after the devastating Union defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run. This is, obviously, a problematic quality when ones title is general-in-chief of the entire Union army. Finally, there was MacArthur's insubordination. 10 Redvers Buller Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security. George Custer at the Little Big Horn and Lord Chelmsford at the Battle of Isandlwana leap to mind. Would he be upset if he were alive to read this book today? Varus was stationed with three of his legions, the 17th, 18th and 19th when news arrived of a revolt growing in the Rhine area. His prestige restored by his conduct during the Pastry War with France, Santa Anna once again claimed dictatorial powers. 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. The United States entered the war, forcing Ludendorff to accelerate his time line for a conclusive battle against the Allies on the Western Front. This infuriated the Marines, who viewed it as evidence that Westmoreland lacked confidence in them. You worked for GEN Westmoreland when he was Army Chief of Staff. Delivered Wednesday & Sunday. And how might that be impacting the world? Sure, they ganged up on the Spartans at the Pass of Thermopylae. General William Westmoreland. After early success in the Mexican War for Independence, the rest of his career didnt pan out the way he would have liked. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. The man who appealed for Varus help was Arminius, a Romanized Germanic prince. Your guide to the most important world stories of the day. Arminius cut off his head and sent it to another Germanic leader as a present. This was heeded about as well as any piece of parental advice, anywhere ever. He was certainly nave, but the Boy Scouts need to be defended here. The rise of American-made chatbots has kicked off a flurry of Chinese activity. 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Is the Biden administrations China policy too hawkish? standing, Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting, and the West has so far stayed resolute in its support of Ukraine. He was found guilty of 11 counts, and only the intervention by Pres. 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. [1] 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. 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. James Jay Carafano is a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges. His senior staff lacked diversity of experience and professional outlook, consisting mostly of people with backgrounds similar to his own, especially airborne.