worst generals in vietnam

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. 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. It doesnt matter if theyve won more often than theyve lost. Delivered Wednesday. Scott claimed that Pillow was ''the only person I have ever known who was wholly indifferent in the choice between truth and falsehood. When talk of secession reached Pillows home state of Tennessee, he helped organize the state militia and was appointed a brigadier general in the Confederate army. The Vietnam War Crimes You Never Heard Of | History News Network It would be nice if all American generals were great. Many of the charges leveled against him have also been laid at the feet of . Not one to let his own failings stand in the way of personal glory, Pillow submitted fanciful accounts of his actions at the Battles of Contreras and Churubusco to various newspapers, incurring the wrath of overall American commander Winfield Scott. General Wheeler was often just flat wrong in what he told the President. 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. Fortunately, along came Reaganif not for that, Westmorelands military reversals could well have signaled the beginning of our end. There was no warmth, no apparent interest in his associates as people. Pillow suffered slightly more casualties than Grant in the engagement, which possibly makes the Battle of Belmont the high point of Pillows military career. This was heeded about as well as any piece of parental advice, anywhere ever. As for the British, they had lost the most valuable jewel of the Imperial crown. Nor is being a bad battlefield commander, by itself, sufficient to make the cut. Despite reports of the build-up of German forces and even knowing the date of the Germans attack, Gamelin did nothing, stating that he would await events. Luckily for the colonists, the Empire also had Cornwallis, a peer of the realm and truly pitiful commander. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Pillow pulled the troops back to the fort to resupply them. Not good, Hannibal. Of course, that is what they did when Ludendorff pushed for the use of unrestricted submarine warfare against Allied shipping. To accomplish this goal, Vietnam employs repressive policies that often contravene international human rights law. But MacArthur's strategy certainly helped unleash 300,000 Chinese "volunteers" who inflicted significant casualties on United Nations forces. Hannibal. 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. These records were transferred into the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration in 2008. Download the new FP mobile app to read anytime, anywhere. Over time Westmoreland asked for and received large numbers of U.S. troops, eventually totaling well over half a million. The enemy did not lose heart, did not cease aggression. McClellan was a superb organizer, a West Point-trained engineer who did much to build the Union army almost from scratch. It is probably not a coincidence that corruption in the military appears to have escalated since 2006, when the number of military generals started to jump sharply. This piece originally appeared in The National Interest https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/6-worst-military-leaders-ever-167526. Hundreds of thousands died of disease. Darius again was the first to flee the battle, abandoning all of his soldiers and his property to be taken by Alexander. Russias war is receiving critical assistance from authoritarian regimes around the world. To say that he failed in both regards is to dramatically understate the case. Alexander, Napoleon, Rommel. 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. His invasion of Canada came to an abrupt halt when he failed to capture Fort Malden, a British position that was a laughably short distance from Hulls headquarters at Fort Detroit. I flew into Vietnam in June 1968 as a young . Vietnam War. How does an admiral make a list of the worst generals? In 1847, U.S. troops once again surprised Santa Anna and captured his prosthetic leg. What was your impression of the man when you were working for him? Lpez was the son of Carlos Antonio Lpez, a dictator who had done much to modernize Paraguay in the mid-19th century. In the end, Chiang sacrificed more than a million Chinese soldiers and well over ten million Chinese civilians in his bid to stay in power. He continued on to suffer defeats at Spion Kop and Vaal Krantz, almost letting the war slip away from the British. 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. 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. This week marks exactly one year since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine. But beyond the goals of one leader in Moscow, it is also clear that Ukraine has suffered horrors of a historic nature. A more minor case, but one revealing of Westmorelands character, stemmed from his unwillingness to level with his senior Marine subordinate at the time of the 1968 Tet Offensive. These Are the Five Worst Generals of All Time The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. Among them are, of course, Lyndon Johnson himself, Robert McNamara, and General Earle Wheeler. In All U.S. Military History, These Are the 5 Worst Generals 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. The Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Memorial LectureThomas E. Ricks is a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). But its not just the United States. bar is to mention Vietnam. A final humiliation came during Mexican-American War. They dramatically upped their game, pressing the U.S. worldwide. Think about how history would have been different if Hannibal had a military plan to outlast Roman might. Watchthe conversation onFP Live, the magazines forum for live journalism, orreada condensed transcript. Hulls nerve was shattered. Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama. 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. Vietnam Communist Party Nominates Vo Van Thuong as New President - Sources Haste risked casualties and defeats at the hands of a formidable opponent like Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. T he Civil War was America's bloodiest conflict. Franz Conrad von Htzendorf of Austria couldnt decide which country he wanted to invade, so the German General Staff eventually took his armies away. Yet backstabbing your commander-in-chief in the middle of a war is taking ambition a little too far. 2. Somalia (1992-1994) 2. Military Hull responded by ordering the evacuation of Fort Dearborn, and the garrison was promptly massacred by a Potawatomi war band upon leaving the fort. Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) 24. 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. Darius was a different sort of game-changer. Top Ten Reasons Field Marshal Montgomery is Not so Great Michael Peck is a contributing writer at Foreign Policy and a writer for War Is Boring. In 1940, after increasing pressure from dictator Benito Mussolini and facing demotion, Graziani followed orders and invaded Egypt with his Tenth Army. The Texans only suffered 2 casualties, as opposed to hundreds of Mexican casualties. 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. But its not just the United States. These battlefield bumblers serve to provide that contrast. Westmorelands general mistake: severely underestimating the Communists. Yet, Hannibal nevertheless ranks as one of the worlds epic fails. 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. Despite fresh salvos of Western sanctions, Tehran and Moscow are buddying up on defense ties. 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. Battle of Dak To in the Vietnam War - ThoughtCo How well that would have worked can be seen when Gates was sent to command American troops in the South. 5. Their orientation, indeed the core of Scoutings values, is selflessness and service to others. The enemy simply kept sending more and more replacements to make up his losses. This was the most fearsome army in the Vietnam War This would be known as the Tet Offensive and would become a major turning point in the war. Army Chief of Staff General Harold K. Johnson put one forth in the PROVN Study, a Program for the Pacification and Long-Term Development of Vietnam. That document held that Westmorelands approach was not working and could not work because it ignored the real war in South Vietnams hamlets and villages, where the covert enemy infrastructure was through coercion and terror dominating the rural populace. But his persistence and inspiration kept the Continental Army in the field through the worst of times, which is why his face is on the one-dollar bill. Would he be upset if he were alive to read this book today? 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. 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. 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. But the argument is unbalanced. The Germanic fighters demolished the three Roman legions. In the end, the Romans leveled Carthage and salted the earth. Major General Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend The idiot who, seeking self aggrandisement, led his army, Force D, to disaster at Kut in WW1. 10. As the commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, he faced a two-front war, an insurgency in the South and an invading army from the North. The American Civil War was a factory for producing bad generals such as Braxton Bragg and Ambrose Burnside. Who were the most feared soldiers in Vietnam? - 2023 Westmorelands devotion to advancing his own interests, even when necessary by misrepresentation, was fundamentally at odds with what Scouting is all about. 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. 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. Germanic tribes sacrificed Roman officers on altars to their gods. Ulysses S. Grant, who replaced McClellan, understood this. Fighter Aircraft of All Time). But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at homenot elsewhere. When two able and progressive Nationalist generals, Pai Chunghsi and Li Tsung-jen, begged the generalissimo to adopt similar methods, Chiang rejected them outright. The 5 Worst Generals in U.S. History | RealClearHistory 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. Civil War Casualties | American Battlefield Trust 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. 9 Noteworthy Bog Bodies (And What They Tell Us), 12 Novels Considered the Greatest Book Ever Written, Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution, https://www.britannica.com/list/9-worst-generals-in-history. He was called the inevitable general. A West Point graduate, he served in World War II and Korea. While there is much to criticize LBJ for in his conduct of the war, one cannot help having some sympathy for the dilemma posed by the often wildly conflicting advice he was getting from his senior aides and advisors, including those in uniform. General Westmorelands close associate, General William DePuy, later admitted the futility of the Westmoreland way of war. 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. Black Vietnam Veterans on Injustices They Faced: Da 5 Bloods - Time Todays list: The top ten reasons Gen. Westmoreland lost the war in Vietnam, Want to read more on this topic or region? Fort Bragg was named in 1918 during the Jim Crow era. While Maximus was conducting negotiations with the Cimbri, a Germanic tribe that had invaded the Roman province of Transalpine Gaul, Caepio rashly attacked the Cimbri army on October 6, 105 BCE. 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. He earned a B.A. The Worst American Civil War Generals and Commanders And he was able to inflict massive casualties on the enemy. Varus was stationed with three of his legions, the 17th, 18th and 19th when news arrived of a revolt growing in the Rhine area. 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. His senior staff lacked diversity of experience and professional outlook, consisting mostly of people with backgrounds similar to his own, especially airborne. Marine Corps Casualties 1775-2016 - Marine Corps University What was the worst battle of Vietnam? 4. Antonio de Padua Mara Severino Lpez de Santa Anna. Essential analysis of the stories shaping geopolitics on the continent. If it couldn't or wouldn't govern the country, who would? The Romans marched right into the ambush that Arminius laid thus leading to the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. 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 . Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security. Advancing to the North Korean border with China also was a red flag for Mao-Tse Tung, who feared that American troops on his border were a prelude to U.S. invasion. 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. 336 pages | 16 halftones | 6 1/4 x 9 1/4. What does that mean for trade and globalization? - 1 Best: 1996 Chicago Bulls. There is no Carthage. As a result, American military power and prestige took a dramatic downturn. 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. Your guide to the most important world stories of the day. What a Lovely War and then in the 1989 television comedy series Blackadder Goes Forth. 3. James Jay Carafano is a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges. Years later, when Marine Corps historians were at work on their history of the war, Westmoreland met with them. In other words, this book is a "how-not-to" guide to leadership. 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.

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