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1. 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. 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. 3. 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). up as tough on Beijing, even seeking to contain the rise of the worlds second-biggest economy. 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. 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. T he Civil War was America's bloodiest conflict. 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. Gamelin also chose not to disperse Frances vast number of superior tanks. Stay updated on the topics you care about with email alerts. Lewis Sorleys new book, Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, is being published today by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. But Gates could have doomed the American Revolution. What will another year of war look like? Its prewar population was reduced by more than half, and perhaps 90 percent of Paraguays fighting-age men perished. Is the Biden administrations China policy too hawkish? Still, it is his world-changing defeat at Yorktown that merits memorializing. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Pillow pulled the troops back to the fort to resupply them. 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. The Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Memorial LectureThomas E. Ricks is a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He effectively pledged to become an agent for the U.S. but found that he had been deposed upon his return to Mexico. In stereotypically McClellan fashion, he was promptly checked by a vastly inferior force under John Bankhead Magruder. Registration for summer courses begins March 18, 2023 and ends June 7, 2023. A common view holds that 138,708 Allied personnel surrendered or were killed by fewer than 30,000 Japanese. And the number one reason why Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam: With his unavailing approach to conduct of the war he squandered four years of support by much of the American people, the Congress, and even the media. What will another year of war look like? 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. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln and the Union expected great things. 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. Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. 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 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. 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. 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. 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. He couldnt. As the commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, he faced a two-front war, an insurgency in the South and an invading army from the North. 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. There are a number of contenders for the top places on such a roster. However, Ludendorff and German General Staff chief Helmuth von Moltke had altered the Schlieffen PlanGermanys overall battle plan for fighting a two-front warin a way that had weakened the attacking army on the Western Front. Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. Listing MacArthur as one of America's worst generals will be controversial. Haste risked casualties and defeats at the hands of a formidable opponent like Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. Test yourself on the week of Feb. 25: Nigeria votes, Finland builds a border wall, and Israel escalates repression. James K. Polk. It wouldn't take a large force to slice through the ramshackle Iraqi army and topple Saddam Hussein, but securing a country the size of Iraq required a larger force. There is no Carthage. Varus placed his legions in a position where their fighting strengths would be minimized and that of the Germanic Cherusci tribesman maximized. Feel free to mention any others you may know of in the comments. Follow him on Twitter:@Mipeck1. 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. But beyond the goals of one leader in Moscow, it is also clear that Ukraine has suffered horrors of a historic nature. This might have ended okay for Germany, provided they didnt do something like provoke a previously neutral country with Allied sympathies and an effectively bottomless war chest. Hull withdrew after a series of harassing attacks by Tecumsehs highly mobile raiding parties. At the Battle of Gaugamela, he helped make Alexander great by losing half his army to the Macedonian upstart. Yes, Westmoreland was the general who lost Vietnam. Lpez, possibly in a fit of madness, ordered the execution of hundreds of people, including some of his own family members. 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. 1. 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. Varus was stationed with three of his legions, the 17th, 18th and 19th when news arrived of a revolt growing in the Rhine area. Villeneuve was then to return in secret and help establish naval dominance of the English Channel in preparation for a land invasion of Britain. DE AGOSTINI PICTURE LIBRARY/Contributor/Getty Images, Biden Proposal Puts Climate Agenda Above Americas Defense, Russias New START Breach Means U.S. Nuclear Weapons Modernization Is a Must. What does that mean for trade and globalization? Sun Wu Sun Zi, or Sun Tzu, was a prominent military general during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) who is always regarded as one of the greatest military strategists in China and even the World. And he was able to inflict massive casualties on the enemy. In the opening month of World War I, Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg scored a crushing victory over the Russians at Tannenberg. bar is to mention Vietnam. He retreated to Malta but was captured when that island fell to the British. Marcus Licinius Crassus was a self-aggrandizing opportunist who started a pointless war with the Parthians, and Publius Quinctilius Varus lost three legions at Teutoburg Forest, but Proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio manages to top them both with his actions at the Battle of Arausio. When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybodys all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. History: Military History. Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, Chinas Censors Are Afraid of What Chatbots Might Say, The U.S. When he made public his disagreements with President Truman, Truman rightfully fired him. Thus the progress Westmoreland claimed in racking up huge body counts did nothing to win the war. Alas, call it the laws of probability or just cosmic karma, but every nation produces bad generals as well as good onesand . Fort Bragg was named in 1918 during the Jim Crow era. On September 9, 1965, Navy Cmdr. Nelsons victory at the Battle of Trafalgar was so complete that it established British supremacy on the high seas for more than a century. Military greatness can most easily be defined by comparison. Fighter Aircraft of All Time, his army being routed by a smaller force of Redcoats and Loyalists at the Battle of Camden in South Carolina in 1780, 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, Listing MacArthur as one of America's worst generals will be controversial, 5 Israeli Weapons of War ISIS Should Fear, But MacArthur's strategy certainly helped unleash 300,000 Chinese "volunteers" who inflicted significant casualties on United Nations forces, But Franks, who commanded the invasion, made a bad situation worse, Critics say that Franks and senior officials, such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, concocted an invasion plan that used too few troops. 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. Their orientation, indeed the core of Scoutings values, is selflessness and service to others. 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. 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. A very influential visitor, Senator "Fritz" Hollings from Westmoreland's home state of South Carolina, had warned him about reliance on such ratios. Allied with Brock was the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, who was head of the most formidable pan-Indian military force the continent had ever seen. He still had his defenders, but they were in the last trench, barely holding on. Think about how history would have been different if Hannibal had a military plan to outlast Roman might. What does that mean for trade and globalization? Washington also suffered his share of defeats. Muammar Al-Gaddafi. While this century witnessed many great leaders, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi . 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. Delivered Wednesday & Sunday. 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. Michael Peck is a contributing writer at Foreign Policy and a writer for War Is Boring. 1968 takes the cake for me. When all is said and done, it doesnt matter how nice, brave, courageous, gutsy, loyal, or brilliant commanders theyve been. Westmorelands own book about himself gives some indication of how he would react to this more recent one. 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. Top 10 Most Underrated Military Generals. The Top Ten. He decided to conduct of a war of attrition, using search and destroy tactics, in which the measure of merit was body count. He earned a B.A. However, not even they managed to get themselves court-martialed and sentenced to death for ineptitude on the battlefield. He was found guilty of 11 counts, and only the intervention by Pres. But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. 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. Thus it was under Darius rule that the Persian Empire fell and was conquered. (You May Also Like: 5 Israeli Weapons of War ISIS Should Fear). Although Nelson was killed in combat at Trafalgar, Villeneuve outlived him only by six months. McClellan was a proto-Douglas MacArthur who bad-mouthed his president and commander-in-chief. 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. 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. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. Westmoreland held a press conference in which he categorically denied any such loss of confidence. [i] However, the list is subjective, and open to debate, as top 10 lists tend to be. How does an admiral make a list of the worst generals? 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. Here's What You Need To Remember:The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. Although he outnumbered Magruders Army of the Peninsula 10-to-1, McClellan settled in for a monthlong siege. 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? Weekly update on whats driving U.S. national security policy. Here is a list of the 10 most famous Chinese generals in history. 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). General William Childs Westmoreland (1914- 2005) with President Johnson in South Vietnam #1. In considering who should receive such a dubious honor, Ive consciously excluded bad leaders. These are the incompetents, the idiots, the bumblers who have represented armies or nations at war only to lead them to defeat or shame. In 1941, Graziani resigned his commission after the British counterattacked and the Tenth Army was completely defeated during Operation Compass. Grachev has also been linked to corruption among the higher ranks of the military, specifically the assassination of journalist Dmitry Kholodov. McClellan and Burnside in particular. When two able and progressive Nationalist generals, Pai Chunghsi and Li Tsung-jen, begged the generalissimo to adopt similar methods, Chiang rejected them outright. Is the Biden administrations China policy too hawkish? Santa Anna, a lifetime gambler, was known for his risk taking in battle, but also his brutality. In order, from most culpable down. And what then? It was anotherhistory-changingevent, the birth of a truly exceptional nation. By signing up, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to occasionally receive special offers from Foreign Policy. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. McClellan was removed from command immediately after. War is an extension of politics, and if commanders dont help secure the desired political ends, they get a failing grade. At this point, things somehow got worse for Hull. The inept Luigi Cadorna of Italy fought a dozen battles on the Isonzo before his army completely collapsed at Caporetto. Relations between the United States and China seem to be getting frostier by the day. Percival was off mistreating Irish Republican Army (IRA) leaders during the Anglo-Irish War before commanding British Malaya in World War II. 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. Delivered Thursday. 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. 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 the award for the biggest Persian loser goes to Darius III. In fifteen thought-provoking essays, each written by a professional military historian, readers are introduced . Some captured Romans were placed in wicker cages and burned alive, others were enslaved or ransomed. Even now, the easiest way to get into an argument at a V.F.W. The last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, Darius was not quite as qualified to rule a mighty empire as his predecessors were. Who was the worst general in history? Yes, eminently. Once again, McClellan worked his organizational magic, restoring the morale of a shattered Union army. 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. 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. Critics say that Franks and senior officials, such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, concocted an invasion plan that used too few troops. The Summer 2023 term begins June 1, 2023 and ends August 24, 2023. Youre on the list! 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. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. Among them are, of course, Lyndon Johnson himself, Robert McNamara, and General Earle Wheeler. After early success in the Mexican War for Independence, the rest of his career didnt pan out the way he would have liked. Implementing the attrition strategy, Westmoreland typically employed a series of large unit sweeps conducted in the deep jungle regions along South Vietnams western borders. Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. 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. Xi Jinpings signature foreign policy is a shadow of its former self.. At Yorktown, he allowed himself to be taken by surprise and outmaneuvered by Washington and the French fleet. In reality, it is a collection of ideas, images, and information that enough people have chosen to preserve and disseminate. 8. 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. Percival surrendered Malaya to Japanese forces in early 1942, defying Winston Churchills own instructions for prolonged resistance. 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. My generation would likely vote for the year exactly one-half century ago as the absolutely worst year in our lifetimes. Fifty years ago today, President Lyndon Baines Johnson announced his fateful decision to double the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam. Germanic tribes sacrificed Roman officers on altars to their gods. 9 Noteworthy Bog Bodies (And What They Tell Us), 12 Novels Considered the Greatest Book Ever Written, Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution, https://www.britannica.com/list/9-worst-generals-in-history. 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. Instead he simply sent more and more replacements to make up his losses. Santa Anna was found wearing a privates uniform, hiding in a marsh. Gates thought otherwise, and fancied himself a better commander than George Washington. He would eventually be betrayed and killed by a friend. Sure, they ganged up on the Spartans at the Pass of Thermopylae. Caepio reportedly lived out the remainder of his life in luxury, however. Delivered Thursday. 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. 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. Following on from our list of the greatest and most successful military commanders, we are presenting this list of the worst. Delivered Monday-Friday. 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. George Custer at the Little Big Horn and Lord Chelmsford at the Battle of Isandlwana leap to mind. Persian Gulf (1988) (Oil Platforms) 2. Scott claimed that Pillow was ''the only person I have ever known who was wholly indifferent in the choice between truth and falsehood. When talk of secession reached Pillows home state of Tennessee, he helped organize the state militia and was appointed a brigadier general in the Confederate army. 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.. This did not, however, achieve the postulated outcome. 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. James K. Polk. What defines Santa Anna is his utter failure to subdue the Texican rebels and block American expansion. What a Lovely War and then in the 1989 television comedy series Blackadder Goes Forth. Napoleon. Weekly update on developments in India and its neighbors. They dramatically upped their game, pressing the U.S. worldwide. Yet backstabbing your commander-in-chief in the middle of a war is taking ambition a little too far. 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. 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. Elmo Zumwalt was a U.S. admiral and commander of American naval forces in Vietnam. 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. 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. Whatever its military wisdom or lack thereof, it was a decision that should not have been made by generals under the American political system. 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. His senior staff lacked diversity of experience and professional outlook, consisting mostly of people with backgrounds similar to his own, especially airborne. 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. Operational Culture General Training LREC SME Support Training Course Catalog Cognitive Dimension Training Additional Resources . - 1 Best: 1996 Chicago Bulls. Hull responded by ordering the evacuation of Fort Dearborn, and the garrison was promptly massacred by a Potawatomi war band upon leaving the fort.