Sure, they ganged up on the Spartans at the Pass of Thermopylae. What does that mean for trade and globalization? But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln and the Union expected great things. Here are five of America's worst generals: Great generals have great talents, and usually egos and ambitions to match. - 4 Worst: 1990 Cleveland Cavaliers. Simultaneously, he contacted Maximilian to offer the young emperor his services. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Pillow pulled the troops back to the fort to resupply them. A Brief History. He was called the "inevitable general." A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea. The 1970s were scary times. And he was able to inflict massive casualties on the enemy. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. Of course, that is what they did when Ludendorff pushed for the use of unrestricted submarine warfare against Allied shipping. Find Paraguay on a map of South America. - 3 Best: 1987 Los Angeles Lakers. 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 again was the first to flee the battle, abandoning all of his soldiers and his property to be taken by Alexander. And how might that be impacting the world? James Madison spared him from execution. These battlefield bumblers serve to provide that contrast. 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. 15. Lewis Sorleys new book, Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, is being published today by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 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. Not good, Hannibal. The Roman Empire has a long, proud tradition of producing some of the finest generals in human history- and just as many of the worst. 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. Read More. Despite fresh salvos of Western sanctions, Tehran and Moscow are buddying up on defense ties. The heavily forested, swampy terrain made the Legions maneuvers impossible. What myths or misperceptions surround Westmoreland that you would like to clear up, if any? Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. 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. The Romans lost an estimated 80,000 infantry and perhaps 40,000 auxiliaries and cavalry, numbers that dwarf the staggering totals at Cannae. Top 10 Most Underrated Military Generals. History: Military History. As the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles crippled Germany, Ludendorff effectively sabotaged the Weimar Republic by propagating the belief that he and his armies had been undefeated on the battlefield. 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. Many historians have said Bragg was one of the worst generals of the Civil War, having lost most of his battles. 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. Critics say that Franks and senior officials, such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, concocted an invasion plan that used too few troops. 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. Westmoreland was on a treadmill. Percival surrendered Malaya to Japanese forces in early 1942, defying Winston Churchills own instructions for prolonged resistance. Darius was a different sort of game-changer. World War I provided a forum for any number of truly horrible commanders to assert themselves. Who was the worst US general during the Vietnam War? Panama (1989) 2. Want to read more on this topic or region? Seldom included in. Keep up with the world without stopping yours. Varus placed his legions in a position where their fighting strengths would be minimized and that of the Germanic Cherusci tribesman maximized. As a military commander, Napoleon may have thebest batting averageof all time. But with that kind of advantage in troops and firepower, who wouldnt? General William Westmoreland. Allied with Brock was the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, who was head of the most formidable pan-Indian military force the continent had ever seen. 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. 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. 6. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. 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. Quintus Servilius Caepio takes the cake amongst the worst Roman generals ever to take command of a legion though. You worked for GEN Westmoreland when he was Army Chief of Staff. 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. Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) 24. His 1812 campaign against Russia ended in complete disaster. Hulls nerve was shattered. In 1847, U.S. troops once again surprised Santa Anna and captured his prosthetic leg. Francisco Solano Lpez managed to stumble into a war with pretty much all of that. 2. Military While Hull dithered, Brock captured Fort Michilimackinac, establishing British control of the Straits of Mackinac. At the Battle of Gaugamela, he helped make Alexander great by losing half his army to the Macedonian upstart. How theyve practiced the art of war is immaterial, too. Following on from our list of the greatest and most successful military commanders, we are presenting this list of the worst. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Lincoln relieved McClellan but reinstated him after the devastating Union defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run. He deprived the South Vietnamese of modern weaponry, giving U.S. and other allied forces priority for issue of the new M-16 rifle and other advanced military wherewithal. Feel free to mention any others you may know of in the comments. The 1970s were scary times. By signing up, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to occasionally receive special offers from Foreign Policy. In a war that saw more than its share of unskilled politically appointed generals, Pillow was arguably the worst on either side. (Photo: Warner Bros.) Roger Ebert called "Gods and Generals" a film "Trent Lott would enjoy," referring to the Senator's praise of segregationist Strom Thurmond. He retreated to Malta but was captured when that island fell to the British. There's an entire myriad of generals from the American Civil War that fought for the Union that were incredibly inept. 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. 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. His poor tactical decisions resulted in his army being routed by a smaller force of Redcoats and Loyalists at the Battle of Camden in South Carolina in 1780. Delivered Wednesday. Sure, he won big at the Alamo. rs worth well over $400 billion. 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. Maximus managed to form up his men but to no avail. 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. 2. But Franks, who commanded the invasion, made a bad situation worse. While there are plenty of books that analyze the keys to success, The Worst Military Leaders in History offers lessons of failure to avoid. 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. On the night of August 15, 1812, Tecumseh led his forces across the Detroit River, and Brock followed the next morning. The enemy did not lose heart, did not cease aggression. 88,594. The inept Luigi Cadorna of Italy fought a dozen battles on the Isonzo before his army completely collapsed at Caporetto. It would be nice if all American generals were great. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? The alternative was to split the United States asunder. The pandemics outbreak brought rare reporting freedoms. He continued on to suffer defeats at Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz, almost letting the war slip away from the British. There is no Carthage. He still had his defenders, but they were in the last trench, barely holding on. standing, Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting, and the West has so far stayed resolute in its support of Ukraine. Washington also suffered his share of defeats. But MacArthur's strategy certainly helped unleash 300,000 Chinese "volunteers" who inflicted significant casualties on United Nations forces. 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. The problem begins with the fact that nobody in the chain of command was really competent to critique Westmorelands performance. Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend The idiot who, seeking self aggrandisement, led his army, Force D, to disaster at Kut in WW1. 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. There was no warmth, no apparent interest in his associates as people. A very significant instance was his determination to arbitrarily hold down the estimate of enemy strength during a 1967 order of battle controversy. 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. He was soon released, however, and, as more capable French admirals either died or somehow incurred Napoleons disfavor, a path to the top echelons of command was opened for Villeneuve. 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. After being taken prisoner (again) by the British, Villeneuve was released but committed suicide rather than face Napoleons wrath. At the height of the Cold War, he dealt decisively with neither. Perhaps Mao would have intervened anyway. Click + to receive email alerts when new stories are published on Some would say that failure on the battlefield warrants censure. But Gates could have doomed the American Revolution. 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. Thus, almost by default, Westmoreland was left to go his own way, year after bloody year. 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. 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. Hull was taken prisoner by the British and was court-martialed upon his return to the United States. 1968 takes the cake for me. He decided to conduct of a war of attrition, using search and destroy tactics, in which the measure of merit was body count. General Wheeler was often just flat wrong in what he told the President. Its prewar population was reduced by more than half, and perhaps 90 percent of Paraguays fighting-age men perished. 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. To accomplish this goal, Vietnam employs repressive policies that often contravene international human rights law. When all is said and done, it doesnt matter how nice, brave, courageous, gutsy, loyal, or brilliant commanders theyve been. 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. Here's What You Need To Remember:The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. Instead of holding a natural defense line around Pyongyang, which would have given the United Nations control of most of the peninsula, the UN troops retreated all the way back into South Korea in a humiliating reverse for U.S. power after the crushing victory of World War II. In 1940, after increasing pressure from dictator Benito Mussolini and facing demotion, Graziani followed orders and invaded Egypt with his Tenth Army. His senior staff lacked diversity of experience and professional outlook, consisting mostly of people with backgrounds similar to his own, especially airborne. 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. 10. 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. 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. Thats an automatic disqualification from Hall membership. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. 3. A common view holds that 138,708 Allied personnel surrendered or were killed by fewer than 30,000 Japanese. In the opening month of World War I, Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg scored a crushing victory over the Russians at Tannenberg. The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. At Yorktown, he allowed himself to be taken by surprise and outmaneuvered by Washington and the French fleet. He would eventually be betrayed and killed by a friend. 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. 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.