Essential analysis of the stories shaping geopolitics on the continent. And how might that be impacting the world? 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. Yes, the landing at Inchon unhinged the initial North Korean offensive. Hull responded by ordering the evacuation of Fort Dearborn, and the garrison was promptly massacred by a Potawatomi war band upon leaving the fort. The 1970s were scary times. 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. HANOI, VIETNAMForty years ago, on April 30, 1975, Nguyen Dang Phat experienced the happiest day of his life . 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. Your guide to the most important world stories of the day. 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. So unused to being challenged, the United States has become so filled with anxiety over China that sober responses are becoming nearly impossible. What will another year of war look like? Not only is Sorley a third-generation graduate of West Point a Vietnam veteran and a historian, but he worked for Westmoreland as well. He was an artilleryman who missed out on the Army's great schools system, never attending the Command & General Staff College or the Army War College. During the darkest days of the rebellion, when Washington's army had been kicked out of New York and King George's star seemed ascendant, the "Conway cabal" of disgruntled officers and politicians unsuccessfully schemed to out Washington and appoint Gates. Sure, he was the greatest commander of the Second Punic War, a titanic contest between Carthage and Rome. The Russian president got many things wrong about invading Ukrainebut not everything. A curated selection of our very best long reads. 1968 takes the cake for me. What does that mean for trade and globalization? But beyond the goals of one leader in Moscow, it is also clear that Ukraine has suffered horrors of a historic nature. Gen. Charles Cornwallis. 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. 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. Some captured Romans were placed in wicker cages and burned alive, others were enslaved or ransomed. He was soon released, however, and, as more capable French admirals either died or somehow incurred Napoleons disfavor, a path to the top echelons of command was opened for Villeneuve. Armchair historians often generalize that during the American Civil War, while the Union held a clear advantage in material, the Confederacy could field superior commanders. 5. Here is a list of the 10 most famous Chinese generals in history. 4. The Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files contains records of 58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties of the Vietnam War. 10. Top 10 Most Underrated Military Generals. However, not even they managed to get themselves court-martialed and sentenced to death for ineptitude on the battlefield. 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. The problem begins with the fact that nobody in the chain of command was really competent to critique Westmorelands performance. The initial assault resulted in very high casualties for the Russians and an almost complete breakdown of morale in the Russian forces. 151. 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. Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) 24. The Texans only suffered 2 casualties, as opposed to hundreds of Mexican casualties. But he also displayed remarkably bad judgment, as when he was commander in the Philippines in 1941. After only 10 weeks into the Pacific War, Percival became responsible for the largest surrender of British-led forces in history. Not good, Hannibal. The Roman Empire has a long, proud tradition of producing some of the finest generals in human history- and just as many of the worst. Sure, he won big at the Alamo. Two years later, he lost a leg fighting the French. Following on from our list of the greatest and most successful military commanders, we are presenting this list of the worst. Yes, Westmoreland was the general who lost Vietnam. Elmo Zumwalt was a U.S. admiral and commander of American naval forces in Vietnam. Thus the progress Westmoreland claimed in racking up huge body counts did nothing to win the war. 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. Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama. Westmorelands first resort in claiming progress in the war was always body count, but in fact this was meaningless. Xi Jinpings signature foreign policy is a shadow of its former self.. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the war. Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. What was the worst battle of Vietnam? If there was a saving grace for America, it was that he wasn't commanding an army. Todays list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam, Want to read more on this topic or region? 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. Explore the benefits of your FP subscription. Delivered Friday. Applications for the Gettysburg College-Gilder Lehrman MA program are open and considered on a rolling basis. It would be nice if all American generals were great. All rights reserved. I flew into Vietnam in June 1968 as a young . The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. He was responsible for coming up with the idea of using force to restore constitutional order in Chechnya. Relations between the United States and China seem to be getting frostier by the day. What can we glean from the current state of play on the battlefield? James K. Polk. Delivered Wednesday. 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. If it couldn't or wouldn't govern the country, who would? 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. Darius quickly lost everything and became nothing but a fugitive. Routed by U.S. forces under Winfield Scott, Santa Anna was again driven into exile. 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. The suppression of drug consumption and trade is high on the Government of Vietnam's agenda. War is an extension of politics, and if commanders dont help secure the desired political ends, they get a failing grade. What defines Santa Anna is his utter failure to subdue the Texican rebels and block American expansion. Westmorelands general mistake: severely underestimating the Communists. Even if Moscow holds onto territory, the war has wrecked its future. On September 9, 1965, Navy Cmdr. The early days of the 2003 Iraq War were bound to be a graveyard for military and political reputations, given the misperceptions and misjudgments behind America's ill-fated adventure in regime change and nation-building. Despite fresh salvos of Western sanctions, Tehran and Moscow are buddying up on defense ties. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. General William Westmoreland. Thats the point. Pillow faced a court-martial for stealing a Mexican cannon and attempting to spirit it home in his personal baggage, but Polk intervened to clear Pillows record. Seldom included in. 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. General Westmorelands close associate, General William DePuy, later admitted the futility of the Westmoreland way of war. This did not, however, achieve the postulated outcome. General Westmoreland had complete freedom of action in deciding how to prosecute the war within South Vietnam. But beyond the goals of one leader in Moscow, it is also clear that Ukraine has suffered horrors of a historic nature. And he was able to inflict massive casualties on the enemy. Still, it is his world-changing defeat at Yorktown that merits memorializing. See the vast swaths of land to the north and south that arent Paraguay? George Custer at the Little Big Horn and Lord Chelmsford at the Battle of Isandlwana leap to mind. Join in-depth conversations and interact with foreign-policy experts with. In 1847, U.S. troops once again surprised Santa Anna and captured his prosthetic leg. Finally, there was MacArthur's insubordination. The 20th century is the most violent century in history. Santa Anna, a lifetime gambler, was known for his risk taking in battle, but also his brutality. Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. Others would say that it is not victory, but success in fulfilling a mission that counts. He was also supremely gifted at overestimating the size of his opponents armies to a degree that beggared belief. World War I provided a forum for any number of truly horrible commanders to assert themselves. James Bond Stockdale was flying his A-4 Skyhawk on a mission over North Vietnam, just days after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, when his plane took fire and hurtled d Starting with the battle of Long Island, he lost way more fights than he wonyet he managed to win the war. His senior staff lacked diversity of experience and professional outlook, consisting mostly of people with backgrounds similar to his own, especially airborne. In 1847, U.S. troops once again surprised Santa Anna and captured his prosthetic leg. 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. Read More. Villeneuve lost 20 ships, while Nelson lost none. While Hull dithered, Brock captured Fort Michilimackinac, establishing British control of the Straits of Mackinac. 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. 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. If Gates had been in command, we might be paying for our groceries with shillings and pence. 3. 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. But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. Caepio reportedly lived out the remainder of his life in luxury, however. By the end of the conflict, America had unleashed the equivalent of 640 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs on Vietnam. In considering who should receive such a dubious honor, Ive consciously excluded bad leaders. There are issues around killing and counting unarmed civilians (non-combatants) as enemy combatants, as well as inflating the number of actual enemy who were killed in action (KIA).For search and destroy operations, as the objective was not to . 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). 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. But his crowning achievement was bad generalship in Korea. Simultaneously, he contacted Maximilian to offer the young emperor his services. While serving in Vietnam . Answer (1 of 4): The former Cham general/leader Che Bong Nga was killed in the battle against the enemy Dai Viet (old Vietnam) but Che Bong Nga was LUCKY to be mentioned by the enemy Dai Viet historians to allow people to remember him. Varus trust in Arminius was an obvious and terrible misjudgment. 9. Implementing the attrition strategy, Westmoreland typically employed a series of large unit sweeps conducted in the deep jungle regions along South Vietnams western borders. 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?). These American commanders have lost the battle for history. 13,091. 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. Lpez, possibly in a fit of madness, ordered the execution of hundreds of people, including some of his own family members. But there was something that not even the factories of New York and Chicago could produce, and that was time. Delivered Thursday. Lpez was the son of Carlos Antonio Lpez, a dictator who had done much to modernize Paraguay in the mid-19th century. There's an entire myriad of generals from the American Civil War that fought for the Union that were incredibly inept. What myths or misperceptions surround Westmoreland that you would like to clear up, if any? Luckily for the colonists, the Empire also had Cornwallis, a peer of the realm and truly pitiful commander. The 1970s were scary times. Westmoreland was on a treadmill. Seared into all who fought it and many who merely lived through it that conflict remains a bitter stew of second-guessing and recriminations. This was true in matters both great and small. Having several decades of duplicity to draw on at this point, everyone had a pretty good idea of how any such deal would turn out, and the aging general was rebuffed by both parties. A very influential visitor, Senator "Fritz" Hollings from Westmoreland's home state of South Carolina, had warned him about reliance on such ratios. Registration for summer courses begins March 18, 2023 and ends June 7, 2023. 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. Whatever its military wisdom or lack thereof, it was a decision that should not have been made by generals under the American political system. Fifty years ago today, President Lyndon Baines Johnson announced his fateful decision to double the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam. (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. 336 pages | 16 halftones | 6 1/4 x 9 1/4. Varus placed his legions in a position where their fighting strengths would be minimized and that of the Germanic Cherusci tribesman maximized. Here's What You Need To Remember:The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. 10 Redvers Buller 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. Of course, that is what they did when Ludendorff pushed for the use of unrestricted submarine warfare against Allied shipping. Darius family would be captured and even lost the Battle of Gaugamela, where so many factors were in his favor. Westmorelands own book about himself gives some indication of how he would react to this more recent one. Delivered Monday-Friday. 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 1940, after increasing pressure from dictator Benito Mussolini and facing demotion, Graziani followed orders and invaded Egypt with his Tenth Army. At the height of the Cold War, he dealt decisively with neither. 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. Delivered Wednesday & Sunday. Military. Darius did not take the field against Alexander until a year and a half after Granicus, at the Battle of Issus. Hannibal. (You May Also Like: The Five Best U.S. 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. 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. 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. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. What is the standard of shame for induction? With the Little Corporal running everything, Europe might have become a very different place. 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. Michael Peck is a contributing writer at Foreign Policy and a writer for War Is Boring. Grachev played a key role in initiating and leading the First Chechen War. The unprecedented violence of battles such as Shiloh, Antietam, Stones River, and Gettysburg shocked citizens and international observers alike. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. 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. 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. How theyve practiced the art of war is immaterial, too. There appeared to be little serious planning for what would happen the day after Saddam was gone. Want to read more on this topic or region? Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved, as Continental Army commander during the momentous American defeat of a British army at Saratoga in 1777, The Five Best U.S. A monthly digest of the top articles read by FP subscribers. Innumerable battlefield commanders have had disastrous days at the office. Lyndon Johnson had no understanding of military affairs whatever, nor did Robert McNamara. 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. Little Mac would prove himself to be a superb organizer who kept his army well supplied, efficiently run, and happy. He retreated to Malta but was captured when that island fell to the British. Without question, many lives would be saved if their tactical professionalism were enhanced.. The man who appealed for Varus help was Arminius, a Romanized Germanic prince. He would eventually be betrayed and killed by a friend. 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. Fighter Aircraft of All Time). They kept it as a war trophy, exhibiting the leg at county fairs. Lewis Sorleys new book, Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam, is being published today by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. With high hopes set upon his shoulders at the beginning of the American Civil war, quickly becoming General-in-Chief of the Union Army, McClellan would earn the distinction as a general of little action. He was a teacher in the Chicago suburbs and Seoul, Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Evening roundup with our editors favorite stories of the day. If pressed to rank the miscreants, I would place Wheeler first, then LBJ, and then McNamara, with all entitled to recognition as important accomplices in dooming the endeavor. After occupying Jerusalem and crucifying 2,000 Jewish rebels in Judaea, Varus went off to govern Germania and tame barbarian tribes. He graduated second in his class at West Point (well ahead of classmates Stonewall Jackson, George H. Gordon, and George Pickett). 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. Its quite exclusive: combat leaders who had the fate of their people in their hands and squandered it all. Where is Carthage you ask? It doesnt matter if theyve won more often than theyve lost. From Kaiser Wilhelm to Hitler and Saddam Hussein and Gadhafi, there is no end of national leaders who squandered their nations blood and treasure in futile conflicts. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. Not that Fredendall didn't have real issues that would have tried any commander. (You May Also Like: The Five Best Generals in U.S. History). He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. Driven into exile in 1845, he contacted U.S. Pres. In a war that saw more than its share of unskilled politically appointed generals, Pillow was arguably the worst on either side. 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). Saul David reviews a surprising study of military failure and names his own five most infamous generals Saul David Thursday February 17 2022, 12.00am , The Times 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. He decided to conduct of a war of attrition, using search and destroy tactics, in which the measure of merit was body count. Villeneuve was then to return in secret and help establish naval dominance of the English Channel in preparation for a land invasion of Britain. They dramatically upped their game, pressing the U.S. worldwide. Follow him on Twitter:@Mipeck1. The Persians had a mixed record against the Greeks. Weekly update on developments in India and its neighbors. Grant left politics to the politicians and did what had to be done. Sorley skillfully uses Westmoreland's own words to show time and again his duplicity at worst and his lack of touch with reality at best. 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. Westmoreland held a press conference in which he categorically denied any such loss of confidence. At this point, things somehow got worse for Hull. Quintus Servilius Caepio takes the cake amongst the worst Roman generals ever to take command of a legion though. Alexander went on to march halfway across Asia, creating an empire, albeit short-lived, that changed the history of three continentsnot bad for an ancient millennial.

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