McClellan truly disappointed president Lincoln at the Battle of Antietam where the North and South would fight the bloodiest battle of the war. Wrote Kevin Buckley in a scathing review, From the beginning Westmoreland probably expected to write a memoir of victory similar to Crusade in Europeand the defeat in Vietnam has not deterred him from this.. Follow him on Twitter:@Mipeck1. These Vietnam War photos taken by U.S. Army photographers reveal a side of the conflict that few people have ever seen. And how might that be impacting the world? McClellan was a proto-Douglas MacArthur who bad-mouthed his president and commander-in-chief. If there was a saving grace for America, it was that he wasn't commanding an army. After his defeat by the Texans at the Battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna was captured. The Persians had a mixed record against the Greeks. Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. In 1941, Graziani resigned his commission after the British counterattacked and the Tenth Army was completely defeated during Operation Compass. Darius again was the first to flee the battle, abandoning all of his soldiers and his property to be taken by Alexander. Jacob Zuma is a cherry on the top of the world's worst leader cake. Here's What You Need To Remember:The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. This is, obviously, a problematic quality when ones title is general-in-chief of the entire Union army. Youre on the list! 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. Not good, Hannibal. 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). Westmoreland was on a treadmill. Yet, Hannibal nevertheless ranks as one of the worlds epic fails. He was certainly nave, but the Boy Scouts need to be defended here. General Westmorelands close associate, General William DePuy, later admitted the futility of the Westmoreland way of war. Yet backstabbing your commander-in-chief in the middle of a war is taking ambition a little too far. Like it or not, the U.S. military would become the governing authority. Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. The latest news, analysis, and data from the country each week. On September 2, 1945, hours after the Japanese signed their unconditional surrender in World War II, communist leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam, hoping. 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. 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. After making a laughingstock of himself by ordering his men to entrench on the wrong side of fortifications at Camargo, Pillow bungled his role at the Battle of Cerro Gordo, making himself the low point of a resounding American victory. The problem begins with the fact that nobody in the chain of command was really competent to critique Westmorelands performance. Download the new FP mobile app to read anytime, anywhere. They care about the one. Westmoreland didnt get it. The 5 Worst Generals in U.S. History. 151. 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. General William Westmoreland. Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, by Lewis Sorley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. . History is not a fixed set of facts. 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. NEW FOR SUBSCRIBERS: Westmorelands general mistake: severely underestimating the Communists. In stereotypically McClellan fashion, he was promptly checked by a vastly inferior force under John Bankhead Magruder. 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.. A more positive example is George Washington. A very significant instance was his determination to arbitrarily hold down the estimate of enemy strength during a 1967 order of battle controversy. Even a string of bad days does not guarantee entry. By the end of the conflict, America had unleashed the equivalent of 640 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs on Vietnam. Join in-depth conversations and interact with foreign-policy experts with. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln and the Union expected great things. The resulting Peninsular Campaign (AprilJuly 1862) was a marvel of planning but something of a farce in execution. What myths or misperceptions surround Westmoreland that you would like to clear up, if any? rs worth well over $400 billion. Needs to Talk About the Risk of War With China, Putin Has Assembled an Axis of Autocrats Against Ukraine, The Conversation About Ukraine Is Cracking Apart. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. Essential analysis of the stories shaping geopolitics on the continent. Gods and Generals (2003) Loss $61 million These are actually Civil War reenactors and probably the only people who paid to see the movie. The result of his manic commitment to the war of attrition was that Westmoreland squandered four years of his troops bravery and support by the public, the Congress, and even much of the news media for American involvement in the war. What is the standard of shame for induction? He was uninterested in other viewpoints on how the war might be prosecuted, dismissing the PROVN Study sponsored by Army Chief of Staff General Harold K. Johnson (which concluded that Westmorelands way of war was not working and could not work) and basic disagreements with Westmorelands organization and approach voiced by his brilliant classmate General Bruce Palmer Jr. 7. Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. He worked under Adolf Hitler's Third Reich as a leading general and gained fame from his battles in North Africa. He is the dumb ass who gave the order to exfoliate the jungles with agent orange. To accomplish this goal, Vietnam employs repressive policies that often contravene international human rights law. Instead he simply sent more and more replacements to make up his losses. 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 other words, this book is a "how-not-to" guide to leadership. Hull was thoroughly outclassed. See the vast swaths of land to the north and south that arent Paraguay? Xi Jinpings signature foreign policy is a shadow of its former self.. Gamelin was commander of the French forces in World War II and is largely responsible for the fall of France into German control during the Battle of France. Vice President, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute. 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. 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. Hulls nerve was shattered. Click + to receive email alerts when new stories are published on It was a humiliating baptism of fire for the U.S. Army in Europe, and more important, caused British commanders to dismiss their Yank allies as amateur soldiers for the rest of the war. And once again, at the Battle of Antietam, McClellans terminal case of the slows (as Lincoln called it) prevented the exploitation of a possible war-ending vulnerability in Confederate defenses. What was your impression of the man when you were working for him? Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend The idiot who, seeking self aggrandisement, led his army, Force D, to disaster at Kut in WW1. 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. Whatever its military wisdom or lack thereof, it was a decision that should not have been made by generals under the American political system. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. In reality, it is a collection of ideas, images, and information that enough people have chosen to preserve and disseminate. Registration for summer courses begins March 18, 2023 and ends June 7, 2023. The alternative was to split the United States asunder. But all that remains of his would-be empire today is a flaky French pastry. Not that Fredendall didn't have real issues that would have tried any commander. It was anotherhistory-changingevent, the birth of a truly exceptional nation. The initial assault resulted in very high casualties for the Russians and an almost complete breakdown of morale in the Russian forces. A monthly digest of the top articles read by FP subscribers. 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. James K. Polk. This is one of the more controversial ones, but Douglas MacArthur is incredibly overrated in the annals of the US military, in my . Santa Anna, a lifetime gambler, was known for his risk taking in battle, but also his brutality. You worked for GEN Westmoreland when he was Army Chief of Staff. Todays list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam. - 1 Best: 1996 Chicago Bulls. standing, Ukrainians are determined to keep fighting, and the West has so far stayed resolute in its support of Ukraine. 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. Gamelin also chose not to disperse Frances vast number of superior tanks. Following on from our list of the greatest and most successful military commanders, we are presenting this list of the worst. 1. Hull withdrew after a series of harassing attacks by Tecumsehs highly mobile raiding parties. He was an artilleryman who missed out on the Armys great schools system, never attending the Command & General Staff College or the Army War College. 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. Delivered Wednesday & Sunday. When the War of 1812 began, Hull was commissioned a brigadier general and tasked with defending Michigan and invading Upper Canada. Ulysses S. Grant made his Civil War debut at the Battle of Belmont against Confederate Gen. Gideon Pillow. A Texan with the U.S. Army's 1 st Infantry Division, Nolan reportedly slipped away from his basecamp in Tay Ninh Province on Nov. 22, 1967 and turned himself over to the Viet Cong. Join FPs Ravi Agrawal for a frank discussion about the Biden administrations China policy and alternatives that it ought to consider. And the number one reason why Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam: With his unavailing approach to conduct of the war he squandered four years of support by much of the American people, the Congress, and even the media. Although he managed to escape the battle unharmed, Caepio was stripped of his Roman citizenship and exiled. But the worst of all was McClellan, the so-called "Young Napoleon" from whom Lincoln. Thus there was little internal capacity for debating or evaluating his chosen course of action. 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. He gritted his teeth and wore down the Confederacy with incessant attacks until the South could take no more. While there are plenty of books that analyze the keys to success, The Worst Military Leaders in History offers lessons of failure to avoid. America, the Middle East and the rest of the world are still reaping the consequences of those omissions. Create an FP account to save articles to read later and in the FP mobile app.
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