Top 10 Worst Military Blunders in History
Suggested by SMSCivilization has been at war since the dawn of man and it’s been making mistakes for even longer than that. When these two most natural of man’s habits are combined the result is tragedy. When a military blunder is made not only are lives lost but the fate of entire nations can change.
10. The Munich Agreement
- Who: Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany
- When: September 30, 1938
- Where: Munich
In an attempt to prevent the second world war, prime minister Nevile Chamberlain, along with Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler and Édouard Daladier signed a treaty of appeasement in Munich. This signed away the Sudetenland, along the Czechoslovakian border, to the expanding Nazi Germany. The Czech government was not invited to the meeting. Essentially Chamberlain told Hitler that he could have the Sudetenland so long as that was all he wanted. But, of course, Hitler was only just getting started. The majority of Czechoslovakia’s border defenses were located in the Sudetenland. With these handed to him on a plate, Hitler went on to conquer the rest of Czechoslovakia unopposed. Chamberlain and Daladier did nothing. This thoughtless carving up of a foreign nation allowed Hitler to expand his empire without any losses. He is said to have been annoyed at having been ‘robbed of his war’.
Hungary also benefited from this agreement, gaining permission from Hitler and Mussolini to annex the southern areas of the newly formed Slovak vassal state and Carpathia. Hitler was already full and these were just the scraps left on his plate. But it wouldn’t be long before he digested Czechoslovakia and started looking for his next meal.
9. The Vietnam War
- Who: Republic of Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the U.S vs North Vietnam, China, U.S.S.R and the Viet Cong.
- When: 1959-1975
- Where: Vietnam
The U.S’ military involvement in Vietnam has been said to be one of the worst mistakes of in U.S history. U.S support for the Republic of Vietnam against the communist North was part of the government’s containment of communism strategy and the cold war. After a long struggle the U.S and it’s allies failed to contain communism to the North of the country and lost approximately 60,000 army personnel in the process. This, of course, pales in comparison to the civilian losses suffered by South Vietnam, estimated to be around one and a half million. The U.S’ technology and air superiority failed to combat the guerrilla warfare tactics of the Viet Cong rebels and the North Vietnamese Army.
8. The Battle of Lake Trasimene
- Who: Hanibal vs Rome
- When: 217 BC
- Where: Northern Italy
When Hannibal marched his huge army of Carthaginians and Gauls over the alps the Romans began quaking in their boots. The great general had fought his way across southern Gaul and entered the Roman heartland complete with war elephants and vicious barbarians. Winning a major battle at the river Trebia, Hannibal pushed on towards Rome. The Romans were keen to stop, or even delay him and sent an army of 40,000 soldiers to halt his advance. Hannibal was a master of military strategy, however and ambushed the Roman army by Lake Trasimene as they marched hastily to where they thought he was camped. The Romans had no chance to form ranks and were forced to fight a desperate struggle, many of them being forced backwards into the lake where they drowned. Despite taking the tactical advantage in this battle an equivalent number of Hannibal’s army was also killed, making this a blunder on the side of both armies.
7. The Charge of the Light Brigade
- Who: Great Britain vs Russia
- When: October 25, 1854
- Where: Sevastopol, Russia
The Battle of Balaclava had nothing to do with knitted head wear but everything to do with knitted jackets. As part of the Crimean war, British, French and Turkish forces were advancing towards the major Russian port of Sevastopol when they met the defending Russian army. The British had a large amount of cavalry but the Russians countered this with an impressive array of guns and artillery. The defenders had control of the valley and had flanked the British army by capturing several redoubts on the valley wall.
It was a miscommunication that caused the British cavalry to charge into the valley. The original order had been to capture the enemy guns on one side of the valley, but instead they were given the instruction to charge through the valley and to capture the main bank of enemy guns. The British Cavalrymen, led by Lord Cardigan, must have known this to be suicide but dutifully followed their orders. Lord Cardigan led the charge. This foolish action led the Russian officers to believe that the British were drunk.
Miraculously, nearly two hundred of the 600 strong Light Brigade survived the charge and Lord Cardigan returned home as hero and a fashion icon. As a result, his woolen jacket , which had been made especially for the cold Russian weather, became a popular item of clothing known as the cardigan (the sweater).
Tennyson immortalized the charge of the Light Brigade in his poem of the same name. In this he famously wrote ‘ours is not to question why, ours is but to do and die’.
6. The Dieppe Raid
- Who: Canada/Britain vs Germany
- When: August 19, 1942
- Where: France
The Dieppe raid was an attempt to capture an area of coastline and port in Nazi occupied France, for little other reason than to prove that it was possible. The operation used the combined allied Naval and Air Force powers to land 6,000 troops on the beach near Dieppe. Most were Canadian but were accompanied by some 1,000 British commandos. The result was a massacre. None of the operational aims were accomplished and the landing party took losses of sixty percent, over 3,000 men. The naval and aerial support also took losses. The allies might have proved that it was possible to land a significant force onto a German held beach but they failed to prove that it was possible to hold the position without getting killed. Better luck next time boys.
In fact they did have better luck next time. The Dieppe raid provided inspiration and vital tactical information for the Normandy landings. Call it a test run for the real thing.
5. Battle of the Little Big Horn
- Who: America vs Lakota-Northern Cheyenne
- When: June 25-26, 1876
The battle was the most famous battle of the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, and was a remarkable victory for the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne, under Sitting Bull. The U.S. Seventh Cavalry, including a column of 700 men led by George Armstrong Custer, was defeated by Sitting Bull and his army of historically inaccurate stereotypes.
Little Bighorn was either a great success for the Native peoples of North America, or a huge defeat for the entire Custer family. Custer not only lost his own life, but those of his nephew, brother-in-law and two of his brothers.
4. Japanese Attack of Pearl Harbor
- Who: America vs Japan
- When: Dec 7, 1941
- Where: Hawaii
When the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a preemptive strike on the U.S Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor they were hoping to cripple the U.S defensive capabilities, leading to an early victory. Little did they know that this would end with the complete destruction of two of their largest cities and the embarrassing surrender of the Japanese nation.
The purpose of the Pearl Harbor attack was to destroy the American will to wage war and gain naval control of the Pacific. The architect of the Pearl Harbor attack later described this as incredible error in judgment, an understatement of epic proportions. After learning that, due to a communications glitch, Japan’s declaration of war was delivered after the attack took place, Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto warned his colleagues, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve.” No truer words were ever spoken. American vengeance would be swift and complete with no small amount of assistance from our invaluable allies, England, Canada, Australia, and the Soviet Union.
As a blunder within a blunder, Japanese forces did not deploy their third wave of attack at Pearl Harbour. Had this been done they would likely have destroyed the American fuel depot and severely crippled the U.S ability to fight an offensive naval campaign.
3. Battle of Watling Street
- Who: Romans vs Celtic Britons
- Where: Southern England
Queen Boudicca of the Icini raised an army of 80,000 Celtic Britons against the Romans and went on the rampage, burning Roman towns to the ground and leaving villagers in the South of England singing ‘vive la resistance’, or whatever the iron age equivalent was.
Boudicca marched her undiciplined army of tribal warriors and farmers along the Roman road known as Watling Street, hoping to ambush the Roman army on it’s return from Wales. Perhaps it was because all Roman roads are straight that the Romans saw her coming. They took a defensive position and set up their ‘scorpios’, large repeating crossbows capable of capable of picking off a bearded barbarian up to 100 meters away. If the Britons thought that their large numbers were enough to tackle the professional Roman army, they were wrong. The Romans used their superior tactics against the Celts, creating a wall of shields and spears that Boudicca’s forces could not penetrate. Then, with the enemy on the run, the Romans marched forward, keeping their formation and slaughtering every hairy heathen in their path. The Britons were crushed between the advancing Roman line and their reserve forces and supply wagons to the rear. They were slaughtered.
The Roman army at Watling Street consisted of only 400 men but their tactics were so deadly that even Queen Boudicca turned and ran. It is believed that she took her own life rather than surrender to her enemy. For the Romans this was a great victory over a superior number. To the Britons, however, it was a bit of a boob.
2. German Invasion of the Soviet Union
- Nazi Germany vs Soviet Russia
- Where: Russia
Hitler’s decision to attack the Soviet Union is often considered to be one of the wost decisions ever made by anybody. Hitler had already defeated all of his European enemies. Only Great Britain remained. The fact that Britain commanded an empire comprised of three of the largest countries on the Earth didn’t bother Hitler. He was bored and wanted a new challenge. And so he decided to declare war on a nation ten times the size of his own empire.
The attack on the Soviet Union was sneaky and rather dastardly. Hitler had signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviets only two years previously. As a result the Russians had not armed themselves for war and posed no threat to Nazi Germany. Hitlers decision to break the pact and invade was nothing short of greed and would see him fighting a war on two fronts.
Of course, Nazi Germany was the most powerful military force in the world at that time and it has to be said that the invasion of Russia went very well at first. The unprepared Soviet troops offered little resistance, allowing the Germans to push forward to Moscow, capturing most of the Union’s major cities. Eventually, however, the weather changed and so did the fortune of the German’s. The Soviet troops were used to the cold, Hitler was not. The reds made a spectacular comeback and forced the Nazis out of their territory.
The Soviet Union was a major player in the downfall of Nazi Germany. Had Hitler never angered the Russian bear there is a good chance that he might never have been defeated by the allies at all. The map of Europe might still now be painted red and dotted with little swastikas. You got too greedy Adolf – shame on you.
1. Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia
- Who: French Empire (and allies) vs Russia
- When: 1812
- Where: Russia
By 1812 Napoleon had built an empire almost the size of Europe. Those countries not already occupied by or allied to the French Empire had been pacified through treaties favorable to France. As with the Nazi’s it was ‘next stop Russia’.
Napoleon entered Russia with around 690,000 men. This army was made up of 250,000 French and soldiers from Italy, Naples, the German states, Span, Portugal, Poland, Croatia and Austria. Leaving many of the non-French forces to defend the border Napoleon set of for Moscow with high hopes. Unfortunately, along the way the heater in his Citroen 2CV broke and he was forced to find a nearby garage.
Napoleon entered Moscow to find that it had been abandoned by the Russians. Those that remained were starving and had begun looting food. There were no officials to offer the surrender of the city and no food to feed the massive army. Soon the French army began looting for themselves and somewhere in this chaos a fire was started. The fire destroyed four fifths of the city of Moscow and left Napoleon and his army with no shelter, food or plunder. Napoleon had not even received a formal victory and, being a pompous little man, this annoyed the hell out of him.
With no supplies and the heater in his 2CV still not fixed, Napoleon was forced to withdraw from Russia. Of his 600,000 strong ‘Grand Army’, only about 40,000 limped back into France to quell a revolt that had taken place in his absence. The Nepalese, Austrian and Prussian armies all ran off home swearing that they thought it was a bad idea from the start. This defeat sent a message across Europe Napoleon was not invincible, and with his army now crippled from frostbite he was open to attack.
nice information, though some of it is a little off, and I kind of resent the fact that you say Dieppe reson's were; "for little other reason than to prove that it was possible". Witch is not true, the whole point of the raid was to cause Hitler to remove troops from the easter front to bolster the western shore lines….and he did. It was also meant to be a learning exsperience for the future main assualt…and it proved to be vital in lessons learned. Further more, it is not commonly known, but it is well documented that the Germans knew it was coming, tipped of by a spy by a cross word puzzle that tipped them off the Germans, they were waiting, calling extra enforcments before hand, and even marking the beaches.
My Brand father faught and died in Europe, another commited suicide years latter. For what??..for a war that should never have happend…the least you can do is get your facts straight and honour thier memories.
thank you, Brian "Arthur" Alexander
PS..every male born in our extended family has the name Arthur in Memory of LT Arthur Rogers of the Fort Garry Horse. Lest We Forget.
Yah the way this guy described Dieppe was extremely disrespectful. As a fellow Canadian (Don’t know if the blogger is but judging by the military history you stated I’m guessing you are) I am angered by the way he described it, it’s almost derogatory. But it is good to see that you keep your Grandfather’s memory alive. I have quite a large military family also (everyman in my family has served in the armed forces) and only one was KIA in the Great War, and another was wounded in France during the Second World War. Thanks for your post.
And BTW the British Officer who planned the raid received a medal for the operation, which is ridiculous.
Hi Brian,
My uncle died with Lieutenant Arthur E. ROGERS at Carpiquet France on July 4th or 6th, 1944.
I would love to email with you to hear about your family.
Thanks,
David C Fremit
hello my name is dale coyne,i live in sudbury ont. my uncle linus coyne was killed on july 4th at carpiquet france,his regiment royal winnipeg rifiles were decimated on d-day so they moved him to the hamilton light infantry.war records in ottawa list the battle that day or next and several canadian soldiers killed including my uncle.fell free to e-mail me back.
Awesome site! Pearl Harbour seems a bit off though. The Japanese never intended to win outright, they hoped to damage the US enough that they would agree to a peace treaty the following year. Neither was it the direct result of Japan’s defeat – they continued to inflict constant losses on the US for the next six months after Pearl Harbour, before the tide of war turned against them.
I think the blunder there was that they attack when no aircraft carriers were in Pearl Harbour. That would have made a huge difference in the war.
A well-written and thought-provoking list. I agree with most of it, tho the lines about Napoleon owning a Citroen with a broken heater appears in very few history books.
The USA made some tactical errors in Vietnam but overall, the war effort was not a total failure. It demonstrated to our Allies and the world that the US would stand by its treaties. It also taught Communists worldwide that Marxist victory was not inevitable, but rather difficult and humanly expensive.
That was a very interesting list-thanks for posting.
I don't know if you are aware of it or not, but there is information available that Stalin was preparing to attack Germany, which would have been an equally "dastardly" act. The Soviets also were part of the Nuremburg prosecution of Nazi war criminals. One of the charges was the intention to wage aggressive war, when the Russians had invaded Poland right along with the Nazis. They had also waged war against Finland
. Ironically, they also prosecuted Germans for the slaughter of thousands at Katyn which they themselves were responsible for. Not to mention that the allies deliberately targeted the civilian population of Germany with their bombing campaign killing approximately a million civilians during WW2. The bombing of Dresden which had no strategic value was a war crime. Keep in mind-only the victors write history.
The Nuremburg trials have always been a travesty in my eyes because of the Soviet Unions participation as a judicial member. The ugliest kind of hypocrisy that the other allies were well aware of. Shameful…………..
400 Roman army men died in the Battle of Wattling Street not that there were only 400 men involved. Also I don't quite think its worthy of that number 3 position.
In regards to the Dieppe Raid it was intended to try to capture and hold a French Port. There were many errors and possibly some high placed egos that caused the raid to fail so miserably. For one they allowed the trrops to embark for the raid, then cancelled it and disembarked the troops. They then reactivated the raid and reembarked the troops which was in itself a serious error. There were break downs in communications which seriously affected the raid. En-route to Dieppe the convoy was sighted by the Germans. Tanks got bogged down on the beaches and were not effective in the raid. The Canadians performed well in the raid and did achieve some of their objectives, one of which was the capture of a radar installation, the removal and return to Britain of vital components of the radar. In regards to your better luck next time comment, which I found in very poor taste, in fact they did have better luck next time…D-Day. Lessons learned from Dieppe were incorporated into the D-Day assault plans and likely saved countless Allied lives.
boadacica destroyed 2 roman legions before her deafeat
I think by not letting the Allied troops go as far as the russian broders was the biggest mistake of wwII.
What about not using nuclear weapons in the Korean War? Had the US just nuked them, would North Korea be here today? But in the end, the real winner will be China.
Where is Bull Run? The Union were supposed to whoop the confederacy in the first major battle of the U.S.Civil War. Instead, they were routed, and the Union fired the top general.
if we look at what we know as facts re above ,battles, we see ego was the main cause of the battles and truth the victim of all wars
invasion of Iraq?
Are you sure that Russians were not preparing for attacking Germany in 1941-42? They had massive rearmament in tanks (T-34 replacing BTs/T-26). New fighter planes were developed. New defense lines created in newly acquired lands in the west.
Wow. The #1 spot should be France they crated The Maginot line a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I, and in the run-up to World War II. Generally the term describes only the defences facing Germany.
So they create this wall and all the Germans do is go around it..LOL
In addition they only fought for like 6 months and then they had to surrender
Correction Cora: France did’nt have to surrender in 1940, they wanted to. When Nato trains officers from it’s member nations, the last stop on the tour is France where they are taught how to surrender as shamefully as possible so they can become eligible for the famous French medal the ” croix de chicken”…………..
Re your descriptionn of Pearl Harbor, it reads that "England" was an ally of U.S.A.. What about all the Scottish, Welsh, and Irish boys who gave their lives?
Technically Ireland remained neutral through-out WW2 since they were far from keen on the idea of helping Britain (especially the English) out. Also in the list of Allies it misses out a lot of names; New Zealand, India, etc.
Most American’s tend to lump the Commonwealth nations together with England not as a slight but to save space. All WW2 historians of any weight recognize the large contribution of the various British Commonwealth nations even if hollywood does’nt. I just wish Americans would get their history from competent historians instead of hollywood……….
PLEASE STOP ALL WAR!!!
Yeah Clayton, here here, good on you. Jolly good speech, man after my heart. Here’s to Chamberlain, Daladier, Kellog, Briand and Mahatma Ghandi. Well have a good day. Now what were we talking about ?? oh yeah now i remember..
I would have thought that the British retreat from Kabul in the 1st Afghan war would have made it on there…
Many accounts of the Battle of Watling Street put the numbers at 120,000 Britons and 2 Legions of Romans, which could be anywhere from 2,000-3,000 men. Of couse that's still pretty impressive. The 400 number is the consistent estimate of Roman casualties in that battle. Briton casualties numbered between 80,000 and 100,000. Where those Romans some intense warriors or what? Oh, their phlanx tactic was borrowed from the Spartans.
Pearl Harbor was a huge fail on the USA’s behalf, though it was a cowardly act by the Japanese. The vengeance of the USA was not swift and took four years to complete, many more innocent souls died in the USA’s solution then Pearl Harbor (2,402- Pearl Harbor, 118,661- Hiroshima.) I think we all know the nationality of the blogger
The Dieppe Raid was made to support Russia – if it had fallen Germany would have won the war.As a result Dermany was reminded that they were fighting a war on 2 fronts and moved men + aircraft to defend the channel coast.Did the British want it to suceed? There are only 2 landing options-a port/town or coastline. What chance for D-Day if the raid had been a successful beach landing? The raid was however the begining of the end of the R.A.F.’Big Wing’.
“The Dieppe Raid was made to support Russia” – You must be kidding, 7000-10000 Allies men attacked about 2000 Germans, while several million Germans fought millions of Russians on the Eastern Front. Allies just were checking capabilities of German coastal defenses, with best commandos attacking machine-gun dots and walls, very bad move.
At this time Russia and many people in Britain were calling for a second front-when Britains only direct attack on Germany was by the RAF at night and resulting in more deaths to aircrew than Germans on the ground.The Canadians had had an army idle in Britain since 1940 and their government was keen ‘for it to be put to some use’. The British must have know that they had no more chance of capturing Dieppe, holding it, then safely withdrawning men and TANKS (after Dunkirk!)as the Germans would have done attacking the southen coast of England. Perhaps and no disrespect to the terrible loss of life in saying this, it was a inglorious gesture of war. Read Beach Green, a little known success of the raid. Positives did come from this raid and saved many lives on D-Day.
I think you should add Muhammad Ali getting his ass kicked by joe Frazier to the list
“Leaving many of the non-French forces to defend the border Napoleon set of for Moscow with high hopes. Unfortunately, along the way the heater in his Citroen 2CV broke and he was forced to find a nearby garage.”
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This is pure nonsense!
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Top 10 Worst Military Blunders in History