worst generals in vietnam

McClellan was a superb organizer, a West Point-trained engineer who did much to build the Union army almost from . History is not a fixed set of facts. These Vietnam War photos taken by U.S. Army photographers reveal a side of the conflict that few people have ever seen. Many historians credit Benedict Arnold and others with being the real victors of Saratoga. 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. Outstanding commanders such as George H. Thomas, Phil Sheridan, and William Tecumseh Sherman routinely bested their Confederate opponents. A common view holds that 138,708 Allied personnel surrendered or were killed by fewer than 30,000 Japanese. 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. 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. Pillow escaped during the night, leaving Simon B. Buckner to surrender the fort and 15,000 Confederate troops. 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. Yet, Hannibal nevertheless ranks as one of the worlds epic fails. Somalia (1992-1994) 2. A very significant instance was his determination to arbitrarily hold down the estimate of enemy strength during a 1967 order of battle controversy. 10. On September 9, 1965, Navy Cmdr. Stay updated on the topics you care about with email alerts. There were available better concepts of how to prosecute the war. Haig was cruelly mocked, first in the satirical musical Oh! Some historians are a little more sympathetic towards Percivals legacy nowadays arguing that Percival had been dealt an unusually bad hand. Download the new FP mobile app to read anytime, anywhere. 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. Westmoreland held a press conference in which he categorically denied any such loss of confidence. So long Fort Bragg, welcome Fort Liberty: The Pentagon's naming 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. Exactly. Arminius cut off his head and sent it to another Germanic leader as a present. According to formerly classified Army documents, an investigation disclosed that from at least March 1968 through October 1969, "Vietnamese [civilian] detainees were subjected to maltreatment" by. Darius III. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. 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. 5. In 1940, after increasing pressure from dictator Benito Mussolini and facing demotion, Graziani followed orders and invaded Egypt with his Tenth Army. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews. Vast areas dotted with villages were blasted with artillery, bombed from the air. After only an eight-day siege, he surrendered his entire armya third of all British forces in America. When two able and progressive Nationalist generals, Pai Chunghsi and Li Tsung-jen, begged the generalissimo to adopt similar methods, Chiang rejected them outright. This was true in matters both great and small. Weekly update on whats driving U.S. national security policy. There are a number of contenders for the top places on such a roster. The Top Ten. In 334 BC, Alexander the Great invaded the Persian Empire. 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. Of course they raised this issue, leading Westmoreland to declare vehemently that establishing MACV Forward had not a damned thing to do with my confidence in General Cushman or the Marines, not a damned thing. That again was not only false but, given the existing paper trail, reckless as well. While Muammer Al-Gaddafi isn't into the funny business in his politician reign, he most certainly is one of a highly egotistical leader and a member who represents more of the "self" rather than all else. Vietnam Communist Party Nominates Vo Van Thuong as New President - Sources It would be nice if all American generals were great. Evening roundup with our editors favorite stories of the day. One-stop digest of politics, economics, and culture. In the autumn of 1804 he was placed in charge of the French fleet at Toulon and tasked with drawing the British fleet under Horatio Nelson to the Caribbean. In a war that saw more than its share of unskilled politically appointed generals, Pillow was arguably the worst on either side. General Westmoreland had complete freedom of action in deciding how to prosecute the war within South Vietnam. Finally, there was MacArthur's insubordination. He graduated second in his class at West Point (well ahead of classmates Stonewall Jackson, George H. Gordon, and George Pickett). Haig had largely dismissed the effect of the machine gun on the battlefield, believing that previous Allied failures owed to something other than an impenetrable wall of lead traveling at ballistic velocity. Caepio reportedly lived out the remainder of his life in luxury, however. I flew into Vietnam in June 1968 as a young . Worst US General of all time? | O-T Lounge - TigerDroppings Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, Chinas Censors Are Afraid of What Chatbots Might Say, The U.S. In the end, the Romans leveled Carthage and salted the earth. The enemy did not lose heart, did not cease aggression. Xi Jinpings signature foreign policy is a shadow of its former self.. He was indeed a capable warrior, as shown by the South Pacific campaign and the Inchon landing in Korea. Among them are, of course, Lyndon Johnson himself, Robert McNamara, and General Earle Wheeler. Pillow suffered slightly more casualties than Grant in the engagement, which possibly makes the Battle of Belmont the high point of Pillows military career. Panama (1989) 2. But with that kind of advantage in troops and firepower, who wouldnt? After months of inactivity, McClellan was finally spurred to action by Pres. He was certainly nave, but the Boy Scouts need to be defended here. The self proclaimed Napoleon of the West didnt quite leave the same legacy as his idol. (You May Also Like: The Five Best Generals in U.S. History). 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. 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. Caepio was born into a noble family and became consul in 106 BC. They care about the one. Westmoreland didnt get it. 44 Declassified Vietnam War Photos The Public Wasn't Meant To See Their orientation, indeed the core of Scoutings values, is selflessness and service to others. What will another year of war look like? But Franks, who commanded the invasion, made a bad situation worse. 4. Top 10 Utterly Useless Military Commanders - Listverse Read More. Allied with Brock was the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, who was head of the most formidable pan-Indian military force the continent had ever seen. Innumerable battlefield commanders have had disastrous days at the office. - 1 Best: 1996 Chicago Bulls. It was anotherhistory-changingevent, the birth of a truly exceptional nation. They dramatically upped their game, pressing the U.S. worldwide. He was found guilty of 11 counts, and only the intervention by Pres. Was My Lai just one of many massacres in Vietnam War? He lacked the schooling and relevant experience to understand the war and devise a viable approach to prosecuting it. . Santa Anna would lose Texas at the Battle of San Jacinto. When he made public his disagreements with President Truman, Truman rightfully fired him. Todays list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam. Implementing the attrition strategy, Westmoreland typically employed a series of large unit sweeps conducted in the deep jungle regions along South Vietnams western borders. These are the incompetents, the idiots, the bumblers who have represented armies or nations at war only to lead them to defeat or shame. Who Were the Worst Generals in History? My daughter thinks 2018 was the worst year ever. I'd nominate 1968 And if they not only fail to deliver, but wind up sinking their own side in the process, and change history, they earn a spot in the Hall of Military Shame. T he Civil War was America's bloodiest conflict. Click + to receive email alerts when new stories are published on But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln. 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. 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. Hull withdrew after a series of harassing attacks by Tecumsehs highly mobile raiding parties. Instead of sweeping around the French defenses in a massive flanking movement, the Germans were checked at the First Battle of the Marne. 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. McClellan was a superb organizer, a West Point-trained engineer who did much to build the Union army almost from scratch. 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. But the award for the biggest Persian loser goes to Darius III. In 1847, U.S. troops once again surprised Santa Anna and captured his prosthetic leg. The British gained control of the fort, dozens of cannons, the brig USS Adams (recommissioned the HMS Detroit), and virtually the entire Michigan Territory. 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. 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. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. 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. Its prewar population was reduced by more than half, and perhaps 90 percent of Paraguays fighting-age men perished. 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. How does an admiral make a list of the worst generals? In 1941, Graziani resigned his commission after the British counterattacked and the Tenth Army was completely defeated during Operation Compass. Tom Ricks, on his "Best Defense" blog has discussed the top 10 worst generals in U.S. history. Loyalty to himself and himself alone would be something of a running theme in the narrative of Santa Annas life, and his rise to power in Mexico was characterized by near-constant vacillation and betrayal of his allies. Examining the Leaders of North and South Vietnam - dummies Like it or not, the U.S. military would become the governing authority. 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. NEW FOR SUBSCRIBERS: These are the incompetents, the idiots, the bumblers who have represented armies or nations at war only to lead them to defeat or shame. He decided to conduct of a war of attrition, using search and destroy tactics, in which the measure of merit was body count. Pierre de Villeneuve had his first brush with history when he bravely ran away at the Battle of the Nile. MilitaryHistoryOnline.com This is, obviously, a problematic quality when ones title is general-in-chief of the entire Union army. Germanic tribes sacrificed Roman officers on altars to their gods. Officially labelled a defector by the Pentagon, many suspected Nolan, an African American, changed sides after suffering a lifetime of racial discrimination. Who was the worst US general during the Vietnam War? 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. Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. In order, from most culpable down. When it came to military command, Westmoreland was everybodys all-Americanuntil he met his Waterloo. How well that would have worked can be seen when Gates was sent to command American troops in the South. 4. Assuming you believe the subtitle to be accurate, who were GEN Westmorelands biggest accomplices in the loss? He was called the inevitable general. A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea. And how might that be impacting the world? When the French deposed Benito Jurez and installed Maximilian as emperor of Mexico, Santa Anna, now 70, reached out to the U.S. for support in deposing the emperor. You may opt out at any time. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. Persian Gulf (1988) (Oil Platforms) 2. Maximus managed to form up his men but to no avail. Westmorelands own book about himself gives some indication of how he would react to this more recent one. Little Mac would prove himself to be a superb organizer who kept his army well supplied, efficiently run, and happy. Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. Its quite exclusive: combat leaders who had the fate of their people in their hands and squandered it all. The Western Front was a much bigger stage upon which to fail, however, and British commander Douglas Haig made the most of the opportunity. What does that mean for trade and globalization? 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. He underestimated the enemys staying power, maintaining that if he could inflict enough casualties the communists would lose heart and cease their aggression against South Vietnam. Westmorelands devotion to advancing his own interests, even when necessary by misrepresentation, was fundamentally at odds with what Scouting is all about. But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. 1. James K. Polk. 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. Santa Anna, a lifetime gambler, was known for his risk taking in battle, but also his brutality. The 5 Worst Generals in U.S. History | RealClearHistory (You May Also Like: 5 Israeli Weapons of War ISIS Should Fear). 6. Its quite exclusive: combat leaders who had the fate of their people in their hands and squandered it all. Join in-depth conversations and interact with foreign-policy experts with. George Custer at the Little Big Horn and Lord Chelmsford at the Battle of Isandlwana leap to mind. Lpez, possibly in a fit of madness, ordered the execution of hundreds of people, including some of his own family members. While serving in Vietnam . Westmorelands first resort in claiming progress in the war was always body count, but in fact this was meaningless. The 1970s were scary times. He continued to view attrition as the most effective strategy for defeating Germany; the British lost some 420,000 men at the Somme. The Persians had a mixed record against the Greeks. All rights reserved. He overestimated the American peoples patience and tolerance of friendly losses. Percival surrendered Malaya to Japanese forces in early 1942, defying Winston Churchills own instructions for prolonged resistance. Today's list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam By the way, here is the first review I have seen of Sorley's new biography of Westmoreland, which I read in galleys. To counter these, Major General William R. Peers commenced Operation Greeley using elements of the 4th Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade. The Viet Cong Committed Atrocities, Too - The New York Times Hull was taken prisoner by the British and was court-martialed upon his return to the United States. 10 Redvers Buller Diem's family was one of the earliest to convert to Catholicism, a religion he took . Michael Ray oversees coverage of European history and military affairs for Britannica. The resulting Peninsular Campaign (AprilJuly 1862) was a marvel of planning but something of a farce in execution. It's not the first time that someone thought he was smarter than his boss. 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. After occupying Jerusalem and crucifying 2,000 Jewish rebels in Judaea, Varus went off to govern Germania and tame barbarian tribes. Antonio de Padua Mara Severino Lpez de Santa Anna. 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. After the Germans attacked, Gamelin was eventually removed from his post, but by then it was too late. This proved possible only with enemy cooperation, since they could break contact and limit casualties as they wished by withdrawing into sanctuaries across the border. Not that Fredendall didn't have real issues that would have tried any commander. The Germanic fighters demolished the three Roman legions. 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. Although he outnumbered Magruders Army of the Peninsula 10-to-1, McClellan settled in for a monthlong siege. Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics 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. Ukraines economy and infrastructure have been dealt blows that will take decades to recover from. He lacked the schooling and relevant experience to understand the war and devise a viable approach to prosecuting it. The curation of this content is at the discretion of the author, and not necessarily reflective of the views of Encyclopaedia Britannica or its editorial staff. After eight years at Foreign Policy, here are the ten most popular Best Defense posts. 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. There was no warmth, no apparent interest in his associates as people. 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. Opportunistic firms in Asia and Europe have already begun to relocate investments to the United States. He retreated to Malta but was captured when that island fell to the British. But Gates could have doomed the American Revolution. In the summer of 1967, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) initiated a series of attacks in western Kontum Province. 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 fifteen thought-provoking essays, each written by a professional military historian, readers are introduced . Hull was thoroughly outclassed. He couldnt. Create an FP account to save articles to read later and in the FP mobile app. A more positive example is George Washington. To that Hollings responded, "Westy, the American people don't care about the ten. 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. Explore the benefits of your FP subscription. 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. In his single-minded pursuit of that objective, Westmoreland (despite his repeated claims to the contrary) essentially ignored two other crucial aspects of the war, improvement of South Vietnams armed forces and pacification. Simultaneously, he contacted Maximilian to offer the young emperor his services. By signing up, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to occasionally receive special offers from Foreign Policy. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the war. The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. There's an entire myriad of generals from the American Civil War that fought for the Union that were incredibly inept. Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama. There appeared to be little serious planning for what would happen the day after Saddam was gone. James K. Polk. Villeneuve was then to return in secret and help establish naval dominance of the English Channel in preparation for a land invasion of Britain. Westmorelands general mistake: severely underestimating the Communists. He would eventually be betrayed and killed by a friend. In reality, it is a collection of ideas, images, and information that enough people have chosen to preserve and disseminate.

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