worst generals in vietnam
Yes, Westmoreland was the general who lost Vietnam. All rights reserved. History is not a fixed set of facts. In a war that saw more than its share of unskilled politically appointed generals, Pillow was arguably the worst on either side. Francisco Solano Lpez managed to stumble into a war with pretty much all of that. Instead of sweeping around the French defenses in a massive flanking movement, the Germans were checked at the First Battle of the Marne. On March 24, 1976, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1 st Viscount of Alamein, hero of World War II, died at home in England. He was killed in combat on March 1, 1870. 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. Driven into exile in 1845, he contacted U.S. Pres. 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. His poor tactical decisions resulted in his army being routed by a smaller force of Redcoats and Loyalists at the Battle of Camden in South Carolina in 1780. Hull withdrew after a series of harassing attacks by Tecumsehs highly mobile raiding parties. But with that kind of advantage in troops and firepower, who wouldnt? Hull was thoroughly outclassed. British Gen. Isaac Brock possessed a remarkable ability to anticipate his opponents moves and reactions, and it was not long before he had taken full measure of Hull. He ran as a Democrat against Lincoln in the 1864 presidential election. For the most accurate and up-to-date information, consult individual encyclopedia entries about the topics. 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. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. By the end of May 1862, Confederate commanding Gen. Joseph E. Johnston had withdrawn his forces to Richmond, and McClellan was close enough to the Confederate capital to hear its church bells ringing. Napoleon. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Pillow pulled the troops back to the fort to resupply them. While serving in Vietnam . 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. There were available better concepts of how to prosecute the war. 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. Westmoreland was on a treadmill. The Soviets saw the American humiliation in Vietnam as a turning point. After only 10 weeks into the Pacific War, Percival became responsible for the largest surrender of British-led forces in history. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. James Jay Carafano is a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges. Sure, he won big at the Alamo. McClellan was a superb organizer, a West Point-trained engineer who did much to build the Union army almost from scratch. Although Westmoreland denied it, he imposed a ceiling on the reported number of enemy by instructing his intelligence officers to adhere to a command position of not more than 300,000, even though newly acquired and more accurate data developed in his own headquarters then indicated a much higher figure. The elder Lpez had bequeathed to his son a relatively powerful military by regional standards but had cautioned Francisco against using it to settle diplomatic issues. 4. A curated selection of our very best long reads. The Legion numbers XVII, XVIII and XIX never again appeared in the Roman Armys order of battle due to the shame and ill luck they carried. In 1940, after increasing pressure from dictator Benito Mussolini and facing demotion, Graziani followed orders and invaded Egypt with his Tenth Army. The 1970s were scary times. 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. 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. His forces outnumbered Alexanders men by at least a 2 to 1 ratio, but Darius was still outflanked, defeated and forced to flee. The latest news, analysis, and data from the country each week. The 5 Worst Generals in U.S. History. Weekly update on whats driving U.S. national security policy. Youre on the list! How do you measure military leaders? In other words, this book is a "how-not-to" guide to leadership. Watch the conversation or read the condensed transcript. 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. Perhaps Mao would have intervened anyway. Fifty years ago today, President Lyndon Baines Johnson announced his fateful decision to double the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam. And what then? So what is the standard of shame for induction? Years later, when Marine Corps historians were at work on their history of the war, Westmoreland met with them. This piece originally appeared in The National Interest https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/6-worst-military-leaders-ever-167526. 3. 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. 2. Antonio de Padua Mara Severino Lpez de Santa Anna. 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. Delivered Wednesday & Sunday. Persian Gulf (1988) (Oil Platforms) 2. Rommel is by far the greatest military general of the . 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. When major U.S. ground force deployments were under consideration in July 1965, for example, LBJ worried that North Vietnam would respond by pouring in more men of its own. In a war that saw more than its share of unskilled politically appointed generals, Pillow was arguably the worst on either side. He bears a lot of responsibility for one the greatest reversals of military fortune ever experienced by a super power. 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. In the opening month of World War I, Ludendorff and Paul von Hindenburg scored a crushing victory over the Russians at Tannenberg. Innumerable battlefield commanders have had disastrous days at the office. Registration for summer courses begins March 18, 2023 and ends June 7, 2023. By the end of the conflict, America had unleashed the equivalent of 640 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs on Vietnam. Grachev has also been linked to corruption among the higher ranks of the military, specifically the assassination of journalist Dmitry Kholodov. As a result, American military power and prestige took a dramatic downturn. 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. 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. Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition. Essential analysis of the stories shaping geopolitics on the continent. Ukraines economy and infrastructure have been dealt blows that will take decades to recover from. He was certainly nave, but the Boy Scouts need to be defended here. Hannibal. 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. Click + to receive email alerts when new stories are published on. Westmoreland is often described as a Boy Scout, usually implying, it appears, that he was well-intentioned but nave. Still, it is his world-changing defeat at Yorktown that merits memorializing. Join in-depth conversations and interact with foreign-policy experts with. A very significant instance was his determination to arbitrarily hold down the estimate of enemy strength during a 1967 order of battle controversy. The British blockaded the port at Cdiz with a numerically inferior force, and Villeneuve, upon learning that he was to be relieved of command, rashly struck out at Nelsons fleet. That dubious distinction falls to William Hull, the only general officer in American history to be ordered before a firing squad for cowardice and dereliction of duty. The suppression of drug consumption and trade is high on the Government of Vietnam's agenda. Thats the point. 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. The premise was that, if he could kill enough of the enemy, they would lose heart and cease their aggression against the South Vietnamese. 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. General William Childs Westmoreland (1914- 2005) with President Johnson in South Vietnam #1. This proved possible only with enemy cooperation, since they could break contact and limit casualties as they wished by withdrawing into sanctuaries across the border. General William Westmoreland. 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. 9. It doesnt matter if theyve won more often than theyve lost. His battlefield losses marked the end of the Persian Empire. The war soon ended in a Russian defeat, with hundreds of thousands of military and civilian casualties. For many soldiers, a major tipping point happened when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968, news of which reaches the soldiers in Da 5 Bloods during one particularly stirring scene . He would eventually be betrayed and killed by a friend. But there was something that not even the factories of New York and Chicago could produce, and that was time. 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. Brock, sensing an opportunity, advised an immediate march on Fort Detroit. Weekly update on developments in India and its neighbors. 10. The Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Memorial LectureThomas E. Ricks is a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). After occupying Jerusalem and crucifying 2,000 Jewish rebels in Judaea, Varus went off to govern Germania and tame barbarian tribes. Hull responded by ordering the evacuation of Fort Dearborn, and the garrison was promptly massacred by a Potawatomi war band upon leaving the fort.