worst generals in vietnam

But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln and the Union expected great things. Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend The idiot who, seeking self aggrandisement, led his army, Force D, to disaster at Kut in WW1. Santa Anna would lose Texas at the Battle of San Jacinto. And what then? Germanic tribes sacrificed Roman officers on altars to their gods. 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. A curated selection of our very best long reads. Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. Thuong, 52, is the youngest member of the party's Politburo, the country's top decision-making body, and is widely regarded as being close to General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam's most . What can we glean from the current state of play on the battlefield? (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. up as tough on Beijing, even seeking to contain the rise of the worlds second-biggest economy. So unused to being challenged, the United States has become so filled with anxiety over China that sober responses are becoming nearly impossible. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. Contrarily, I would not so stigmatize another important player often criticized by others, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge. Arminius cut off his head and sent it to another Germanic leader as a present. Despite Lincoln's pleas for aggressive action, his Army of the Potomac moved hesitantly, its commander McClellan convinced himself that the Southern armies vastly outnumbered him when logic should have told him that it was the North that enjoyed an abundance of resources. Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. Critics say that Franks and senior officials, such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, concocted an invasion plan that used too few troops. 10 Redvers Buller Michael Peck is a contributing writer at Foreign Policy and a writer for War Is Boring. By signing up, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to occasionally receive special offers from Foreign Policy. Defining that is like defining a bad meal. 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. Where is Carthage you ask? 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. Todays list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam. Hull was thoroughly outclassed. 8. The pandemics outbreak brought rare reporting freedoms. 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. A Brief History. But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. The Biden administration has passed landmark legislations such as theInflation Reduction Act(IRA) and theCHIPS and Science Act, which provide subsidies in clean energy and semiconductoShow morers worth well over $400 billion. The Americans lacked sufficient troops, supplies and air cover (when was the last time an American general had to fight a battle while being pounded by enemy bombers?). Is the Biden administrations China policy too hawkish? Pillow suffered slightly more casualties than Grant in the engagement, which possibly makes the Battle of Belmont the high point of Pillows military career. What was the worst battle of Vietnam? Horacio Gates of the American Revolution was pretty bad. 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. Explore the benefits included in your subscription. Although he eventually disavowed Hitler, by that point Ludendorff had become so deeply involved with mysticism that few took him seriously. Fifty years ago today, President Lyndon Baines Johnson announced his fateful decision to double the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam. standing, Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting, and the West has so far stayed resolute in its support of Ukraine. How the North Vietnamese remember the conflict 40 years after the fall of Saigon. Concurrently with hi. Delivered Friday. This piece originally appeared in The National Interest https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/6-worst-military-leaders-ever-167526. When he made public his disagreements with President Truman, Truman rightfully fired him. By the end of the conflict, America had unleashed the equivalent of 640 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs on 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. The 20th century is the most violent century in history. Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security. When all is said and done, it doesnt matter how nice, brave, courageous, gutsy, loyal, or brilliant commanders theyve been. Here's What You Need To Remember:The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. Delivered Monday-Saturday. While serving in Vietnam . Operational Culture General Training LREC SME Support Training Course Catalog Cognitive Dimension Training Additional Resources . The 1970s were scary times. (You May Also Like: 5 Israeli Weapons of War ISIS Should Fear). 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. He called for bombing China, as if liberating Korea was worth risking 550 million Chinese and possibly war with Russia as well. As a military commander, Napoleon may have thebest batting averageof all time. By December 1864 Paraguay was at war with Brazil, and, when Argentina denied a request for the transit of a Paraguayan army across its territory, Lpez declared war on that country as well. The loss of Fort Donelson opened the door to Kentucky and Tennessee to Union forces and marked the beginning of the end of Confederate resistance in the west. Your guide to the most important world stories of the day. How might Vietnam or Iraq have turned out if a George Washington, a Ulysses Grant or a George Patton had been in command? But all that remains of his would-be empire today is a flaky French pastry. The Top Ten. Lee demonstrated an immediate grasp of McClellans demeanor, and, during the Seven Days Battles (June 25July 1, 1862), Lee drove back the Union armies from Richmonds doorstep. 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.. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. rs worth well over $400 billion. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he theoretically had some influence there, at least to the extent he could shape the collective viewpoint, but even then LBJ and McNamara were famously impervious to advice from the Joint Chiefs. Ultimately, he was denied his final showdown with the Allies by German political leaders who realized that the Americans could produce soldiers faster than Germany could produce bullets. George Custer at the Little Big Horn and Lord Chelmsford at the Battle of Isandlwana leap to mind. Muammar Al-Gaddafi. The most important, and also the saddest, is that in Vietnam and thereafter Westmoreland was willing to shade or misremember or deny or invent the record when his perceived interests were at stake. Find Paraguay on a map of South America. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Pillow pulled the troops back to the fort to resupply them. The premise was that, if he could kill enough of the enemy, they would lose heart and cease their aggression against the South Vietnamese. Is Weiss correct? In 1941, Graziani resigned his commission after the British counterattacked and the Tenth Army was completely defeated during Operation Compass. Westmoreland is often described as a Boy Scout, usually implying, it appears, that he was well-intentioned but nave. 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. Westmorelands own book about himself gives some indication of how he would react to this more recent one. He retreated to Malta but was captured when that island fell to the British. Delivered Thursday. Yet Fredendall's solution was to order an Army engineer company to build a giant bunker a hundred miles from the front lines. What is a bad general? Keep up with the world without stopping yours. When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybodys all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. While Hull dithered, Brock captured Fort Michilimackinac, establishing British control of the Straits of Mackinac. 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. 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. They dramatically upped their game, pressing the U.S. worldwide. Opportunistic firms in Asia and Europe have already begun to relocate investments to the United States. Although Nelson was killed in combat at Trafalgar, Villeneuve outlived him only by six months. Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, by Lewis Sorley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. . Best Defense: Is your subtitle The General Who Lost Vietnam fair? After his defeat by the Texans at the Battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna was captured. Darius quickly lost everything and became nothing but a fugitive. Little Mac would prove himself to be a superb organizer who kept his army well supplied, efficiently run, and happy. 6. Darius never showed up for the first battle and defeat (Battle of Granicus) because he didnt see Alexander as much of a threat to his empire. McClellan was removed from command immediately after. 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. 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. He couldnt. What myths or misperceptions surround Westmoreland that you would like to clear up, if any? What a Lovely War and then in the 1989 television comedy series Blackadder Goes Forth. I flew into Vietnam in June 1968 as a young . He was found guilty of 11 counts, and only the intervention by Pres. 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). Russias war is receiving critical assistance from authoritarian regimes around the world. Todays list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam, Want to read more on this topic or region? A common view holds that 138,708 Allied personnel surrendered or were killed by fewer than 30,000 Japanese. For one thing, we wouldnt haveSpartacuson Netflix. Some would say that failure on the battlefield warrants censure. Then, in an ill-advised comeback, he met his Waterloo. Finally, when it comes to bad generals, let us remember Truman's immortal words about firing MacArthur: I fired him because he wouldn't respect the authority of the President. On September 9, 1965, Navy Cmdr. 4. Stay updated on the topics you care about with email alerts. Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. He served as a National Socialist member of the German parliament before authoring a book about how humanity exists in a state of perpetual war and why that is a good thing. Youre on the list! 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. Darius was a different sort of game-changer. Cornwallis later did redeem himself militarily. 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. Delivered Monday-Friday. However, not even they managed to get themselves court-martialed and sentenced to death for ineptitude on the battlefield. The alternative was to split the United States asunder. 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. Considering some militants as instruments of regional influence while fighting others has had disastrous consequences. Villeneuve lost 20 ships, while Nelson lost none. When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybody's all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. The self proclaimed Napoleon of the West didnt quite leave the same legacy as his idol. 2. Yes, eminently. Hundreds of thousands died of disease. Publication of the PROVN Study, whose precepts were later implemented with great success by Westmorelands successor, illustrated a matter of fundamental importance. 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). 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. Ukraines economy and infrastructure have been dealt blows that will take decades to recover from. But with that kind of advantage in troops and firepower, who wouldnt? Feel free to mention any others you may know of in the comments. The Romans lost an estimated 80,000 infantry and perhaps 40,000 auxiliaries and cavalry, numbers that dwarf the staggering totals at Cannae. Implementing the attrition strategy, Westmoreland typically employed a series of large unit sweeps conducted in the deep jungle regions along South Vietnams western borders. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Listing MacArthur as one of America's worst generals will be controversial. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. There are a number of contenders for the top places on such a roster. A key plank in the Democratic platform that year was, appropriately, not fighting, and McClellan lost in a rout. The Romans marched right into the ambush that Arminius laid thus leading to the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Luckily for the colonists, the Empire also had Cornwallis, a peer of the realm and truly pitiful commander. But his persistence and inspiration kept the Continental Army in the field through the worst of times, which is why his face is on the one-dollar bill. 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. Its prewar population was reduced by more than half, and perhaps 90 percent of Paraguays fighting-age men perished. Starting with the battle of Long Island, he lost way more fights than he wonyet he managed to win the war. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, consult individual encyclopedia entries about the topics. He earned a B.A. 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. Ukraines economy and infrastructure have been dealt blows that will take decades to recover from. 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. Still, he choked in the big game. Gen. Charles Cornwallis. Applications for the Gettysburg College-Gilder Lehrman MA program are open and considered on a rolling basis. In a war that saw more than its share of unskilled politically appointed generals, Pillow was arguably the worst on either side. By the end of May 1862, Confederate commanding Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had withdrawn his forces to Richmond, and McClellan was close enough to the Confederate capital to hear its church bells ringing. A more positive example is George Washington. Download the FP mobile app to read anytime, anywhere. The inept Luigi Cadorna of Italy fought a dozen battles on the Isonzo before his army completely collapsed at Caporetto. Thus there was little internal capacity for debating or evaluating his chosen course of action. But MacArthur's strategy certainly helped unleash 300,000 Chinese "volunteers" who inflicted significant casualties on United Nations forces. Casey was an Army insidera four-star general and the son of the highest-ranking American casualty of the Vietnam War, a division commander who was killed in a July 1970 helicopter crash. He effectively pledged to become an agent for the U.S. but found that he had been deposed upon his return to Mexico. Weekly update on whats driving U.S. national security policy. After occupying Jerusalem and crucifying 2,000 Jewish rebels in Judaea, Varus went off to govern Germania and tame barbarian tribes. These operations were designed to seek out enemy forces and engage them in decisive battle. 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. 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. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. The rise of American-made chatbots has kicked off a flurry of Chinese activity. 1. 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. 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. Fort Bragg was named in 1918 during the Jim Crow era. Some captured Romans were placed in wicker cages and burned alive, others were enslaved or ransomed. 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. 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. Even if Moscow holds onto territory, the war has wrecked its future. 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. 1. Weekly update on developments in India and its neighbors. As military professionals, we should think about more . Despite the Union outnumbering the Confederates, McClellan was unable to crush Robert E. Lee after failing to pursue him into Virginia. McClellan was a proto-Douglas MacArthur who bad-mouthed his president and commander-in-chief. 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. Francisco Solano Lpez managed to stumble into a war with pretty much all of that. You start by being the only thing that can frustrate Napoleon more than a Russian winter. You worked for GEN Westmoreland when he was Army Chief of Staff. 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. Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. Essential analysis of the stories shaping geopolitics on the continent. Westmorelands strategy throughout the war was to win through Attrition Warfare (pounding the enemy through greater numbers and resources) which military strategists including Sun Tzu caution against using. They dramatically upped their game, pressing the U.S. worldwide. Washington also suffered his share of defeats. 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. - 2 Worst: 2007 Washington Wizards. Think about how history would have been different if Hannibal had a military plan to outlast Roman might. Dispatched to India, he led campaigns to help subdue the subcontinent, replacing the crown jewel he had lost. But its not just the United States. At this point, things somehow got worse for Hull. He still had his defenders, but they were in the last trench, barely holding on. 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. 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. 336 pages | 16 halftones | 6 1/4 x 9 1/4. Hannibal. Darius again was the first to flee the battle, abandoning all of his soldiers and his property to be taken by Alexander. 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. Grenada (1983) 3. He worked under Adolf Hitler's Third Reich as a leading general and gained fame from his battles in North Africa. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. Many of these generals had their worst defeats when their countries were least prepared for conflict, such as the hapless Soviet generals who faced the German infiltration of Russia in 1941. Not only is Sorley a third-generation graduate of West Point a Vietnam veteran and a historian, but he worked for Westmoreland as well. 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. Instead of sweeping around the French defenses in a massive flanking movement, the Germans were checked at the First Battle of the Marne. While this century witnessed many great leaders, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi . What can we glean from the current state of play on the battlefield?

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