worst generals in vietnam worst generals in vietnam

They kept it as a war trophy, exhibiting the leg at county fairs. Little Mac would prove himself to be a superb organizer who kept his army well supplied, efficiently run, and happy. He lacked the schooling and relevant experience to understand the war and devise a viable approach to prosecuting it. On the night of August 15, 1812, Tecumseh led his forces across the Detroit River, and Brock followed the next morning. He denied senior civilian officials accurate data on enemy strength and composition, during development of a 1967 Special National Intelligence Estimate imposing a ceiling on the number of enemy forces his intelligence officers could report or agree to and personally removing from the order of battle entire categories that had long been included, thus falsely portraying progress in reducing enemy strength. Jessica Chen Weiss, formerly a senior advisor for policy planning at the State Department under the Biden administration, makes the case that the United States is becoming consumed by competition with China, a strategy that could lead to dangerous conflict. [1] As a military commander, Napoleon may have thebest batting averageof all time. Westmoreland told him, "We're killing these people at a ratio of 10 to 1.". Many have described his activities as "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in US history." 3 Nidal Malik Hasan Nidal Malik Hasan was a U.S. Army Major, and the sole suspect in a shooting at the Fort Hood military base, only weeks before he would have deployed to Afghanistan. Rommel is by far the greatest military general of the . McClellan truly disappointed president Lincoln at the Battle of Antietam where the North and South would fight the bloodiest battle of the war. Grachev once said that only an incompetent commander would order tanks into the streets of central Grozny, where they would be vulnerable. Yet near the end of the war he did exactly that. The 20th century is the most violent century in history. He was called the inevitable general. A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea. 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. What does that mean for trade and globalization? Because he never wanted to face a superior force, he refused to fight. Cornwallis later did redeem himself militarily. But he also displayed remarkably bad judgment, as when he was commander in the Philippines in 1941. 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. Delivered Wednesday & Sunday. He was killed in combat on March 1, 1870. The Russian president got many things wrong about invading Ukrainebut not everything. Hull had served with distinction in the Revolutionary War and was appointed governor of the Michigan Territory in 1805. Some captured Romans were placed in wicker cages and burned alive, others were enslaved or ransomed. Abraham Lincoln. Over time Westmoreland asked for and received large numbers of U.S. troops, eventually totaling well over half a million. McClellan was a superb organizer, a West Point-trained engineer who did much to build the Union army almost from . Alas, call it the laws of probability or just cosmic karma, but every nation produces bad generals as well as good onesand . 88,594. The Romans marched right into the ambush that Arminius laid thus leading to the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. 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. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. After early success in the Mexican War for Independence, the rest of his career didnt pan out the way he would have liked. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. He was certainly nave, but the Boy Scouts need to be defended here. 2. Vice President, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute. These Vietnam War photos taken by U.S. Army photographers reveal a side of the conflict that few people have ever seen. To counter these, Major General William R. Peers commenced Operation Greeley using elements of the 4th Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade. General William Childs Westmoreland (1914- 2005) with President Johnson in South Vietnam #1. In stereotypically McClellan fashion, he was promptly checked by a vastly inferior force under John Bankhead Magruder. He need not be concerned, soothed Wheeler, because the weight of judgment was that the enemy cant match us on a buildup. That turned out to be one of the classic misjudgments of the war, comparable in magnitude and consequence to General MacArthurs assurances to President Truman that Chinese forces would not enter the Korean War. Like it or not, the U.S. military would become the governing authority. 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. Maximus managed to form up his men but to no avail. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. Hulls nerve was shattered. McClellan was a proto-Douglas MacArthur who bad-mouthed his president and commander-in-chief. Keep up with the world without stopping yours. The war soon ended in a Russian defeat, with hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties. But the argument is unbalanced. Villeneuve was then to return in secret and help establish naval dominance of the English Channel in preparation for a land invasion of Britain. up as tough on Beijing, even seeking to contain the rise of the worlds second-biggest economy. In 1847, U.S. troops once again surprised Santa Anna and captured his prosthetic leg. The suppression of drug consumption and trade is high on the Government of Vietnam's agenda. Seldom included in. Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. Varus was stationed with three of his legions, the 17th, 18th and 19th when news arrived of a revolt growing in the Rhine area. Elmo Zumwalt was a U.S. admiral and commander of American naval forces in Vietnam. Outstanding commanders such as George H. Thomas, Phil Sheridan, and William Tecumseh Sherman routinely bested their Confederate opponents. His was one of just two French ships of the line to escape the destruction of the French fleet there. Ulysses S. Grant, who replaced McClellan, understood this. 4. He also issued orders to his troops in a personal code that no one else understood, such as this gem of command clarity: Move your command, i. e., the walking boys, pop guns, Baker's outfit and the outfit which is the reverse of Baker's outfit and the big fellows to M, which is due north of where you are now, as soon as possible. It doesnt matter if theyve won more often than theyve lost. Opportunistic firms in Asia and Europe have already begun to relocate investments to the United States. 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. 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. Hull withdrew after a series of harassing attacks by Tecumsehs highly mobile raiding parties. 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. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. Santa Anna would lose Texas at the Battle of San Jacinto. James Madison spared him from execution. He couldnt. How does an admiral make a list of the worst generals? 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. When he made public his disagreements with President Truman, Truman rightfully fired him. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, consult individual encyclopedia entries about the topics. Hull was taken prisoner by the British and was court-martialed upon his return to the United States. Youre on the list! But he was overly cautious by nature. Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) 24. It would be nice if all American generals were great. Antonio de Padua Mara Severino Lpez de Santa Anna. Again fighting outnumbered Texans, this time Santa Anna would lose the battle stunningly. The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. Darius III. His prestige restored by his conduct during the Pastry War with France, Santa Anna once again claimed dictatorial powers. Military historian Russell Weigley rendered a succinct judgment on LBJ: No capable war President would have allowed an officer of such limited capacities as General William C. Westmoreland to head Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, for so long.. 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. Thus it was under Darius rule that the Persian Empire fell and was conquered. In the summer of 1967, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) initiated a series of attacks in western Kontum Province. 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. Allied with Brock was the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, who was head of the most formidable pan-Indian military force the continent had ever seen. Having amassed roughly twice as many losses in a single day as Arthur Wellesley, 1st duke of Wellington, had suffered during the entire Peninsular War, Haig saw no reason to change tactics. 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. . Registration for summer courses begins March 18, 2023 and ends June 7, 2023. Is your subtitle The General Who Lost Vietnam fair? But MacArthur's strategy certainly helped unleash 300,000 Chinese "volunteers" who inflicted significant casualties on United Nations forces. 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. T he Civil War was America's bloodiest conflict. FPsRavi Agrawalsat down with U.S. Trade RepresentativeKatherine Tai, the Biden administrations top official tasked with mapping out and implementing the White Houses trade policy. Fighter Aircraft of All Time). These operations were designed to seek out enemy forces and engage them in decisive battle. But its not just the United States. Finally, there was MacArthur's insubordination. It was anotherhistory-changingevent, the birth of a truly exceptional nation. While this century witnessed many great leaders, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi . Informed that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor and were certain to attack the Philippines next, MacArthur failed to disperse his aircraftthe only force that could disrupt the Japanese offensive in the absence of the American fleetand to attack Japanese airfields before the enemy wiped out his air force. When all is said and done, it doesnt matter how nice, brave, courageous, gutsy, loyal, or brilliant commanders theyve been. Two years later, he lost a leg fighting the French. This is one of the more controversial ones, but Douglas MacArthur is incredibly overrated in the annals of the US military, in my . 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. On March 24, 1976, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1 st Viscount of Alamein, hero of World War II, died at home in England. 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. You worked for GEN Westmoreland when he was Army Chief of Staff. Gamelin also chose not to disperse Frances vast number of superior tanks. George Brinton McClellan, a self-proclaimed Young Napoleon, ran dreadful campaigns, but he doesnt make the grade because he was canned before he could lose the entire war. He retreated to Malta but was captured when that island fell to the British. James K. Polk upon the outbreak of war between Mexico and the U.S. and offered to become an agent for the U.S. (again). Arminius cut off his head and sent it to another Germanic leader as a present. What does that mean for trade and globalization? Sun Wu Sun Zi, or Sun Tzu, was a prominent military general during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) who is always regarded as one of the greatest military strategists in China and even the World. These battlefield bumblers serve to provide that contrast. Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. So unused to being challenged, the United States has become so filled with anxiety over China that sober responses are becoming nearly impossible. This was heeded about as well as any piece of parental advice, anywhere ever. 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 Erwin Rommel Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel, popularly known as the Desert Fox, was a German field marshal of World War II. What a Lovely War and then in the 1989 television comedy series Blackadder Goes Forth. Thats an automatic disqualification from Hall membership. By one estimate from Harvard University, more than 130,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or severely wounded, in addition to the deaths of more than 7,000 Ukrainian civilians. 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. The last king of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, Darius was not quite as qualified to rule a mighty empire as his predecessors were.