Military mistakes in history

It has been said that the victor of a war is the side that makes the least number of mistakes, so I thought as a counterpoint to the 'Greatest Battles' thread, we could nominate some mistakes, blunders, bad planning, ineptitude - or possibly even tremendously bad luck/timing affecting the outcome of significant battles?

I will kick off by nominating General Rosecrans at the battle of Chickmauga, ACW, Sept 1863.

Rosecrans was informed incorrectly that he had a gap in his line. In moving units to shore up the supposed gap, Rosecrans accidentally created an actual gap, directly in the path of an eight-brigade assault on a narrow front by General Longtsreet's Corps. Longstreet's attack drove one-third of the Union army, including Rosecrans himself, from the field.

Anyone ,except descendants of the Mongols, attempting to invade Russia.

I think a lot of Generals committed mistakes in the ACW. Was it Chancellorsville where the Union general allowed Stonewall Jackson to move his whole corps to a flank and enfilade the whole Union force ?
Yes. I just looked it up
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chancellorsville

http://www.cracked.com/article/208_5...l-people-died/

Originally Posted by Super Sea Otter

http://www.cracked.com/article/208_5...l-people-died/

Brilliant ! Every one a real gem - I particularly found the U=Boat commanders name very apt

Originally Posted by Jihada

Anyone ,except descendants of the Mongols, attempting to invade Russia.

I think a lot of Generals committed mistakes in the ACW. Was it Chancellorsville where the Union general allowed Stonewall Jackson to move his whole corps to a flank and enfilade the whole Union force ?
Yes. I just looked it up
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chancellorsville

Indeed, General Joe Hooker - having got behind Lee's whole army, pinning it between between his forces and the Potomac river - outnumbering Lee 2 to 1 managed through timidity to lose the battle. Lee actually divided his forces and sent Jackson on that long march that enabled him to fall upon the Union right rear.

Arguably thought the loss of Jackson at Chancellorsville was a bigger disaster to the Confederate Cause than the loss of the battle was to the Union...

The Battle of Dyrrhachium, Caesars legions were put to flight by Pompey, but thinking it a ruse by Caesar, Pompey did not follow up his unexpected success, thus letting Caesar regroup and defeat him a short time later at Pharsallus

Very good ! I think it was that General Wallace wrote the most boring history book ever,'Ben Hur'.

Chiang kai-shek failure to finish off the Maos Communists.

Napoleons invasion of russia.

custers genius idea to attack a 7000 strong sioux camp with his (massive)amount of men

This one.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgpyyZg_KuM

Kind of silly to go to war with Russia and the US in the same year.

Originally Posted by killervomit2

custers genius idea to attack a 7000 strong sioux camp with his (massive)amount of men

Actually dividing his cavalry force not once but twice. And as if that was not enough, the Cavlary were armed with single shot Carbines while many of the Sioux+allies had Henry repeating rifles, outgunning as well as outnumbering the hapless cavalry.

Some really good Battlefield Archaeology has been carried out there - see

http://www.friendslittlebighorn.com/Archaeology.htm

and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frrGh...eature=related

.I wish they would do something similar for the battle of Isandlwana - did the 24th Foot (Warwickshires) really run out of ammunition for their Martini-Henry's or were they just swamped as the evidence (where the bodies were found) suggest?

Heck if there was anything would tempt me to South africa it would be to take part in such an investigation

.

The US Civil War is full of mistakes and Joe Hooker's one was one of the biggest.

However, my favour of greatest mistakes is the double battle of Jena and Auerstedt 1806 with the total desaster for Prussian + allied forces. the best way to show it is again this well known video here with base of the NTW Mod from the Lordz:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6f...ngl_videogames


Edit:

The other battle is that of Cowpens 1781 during War of Independence. Tarleton made here several big mistakes and Dan Morgan showed him that ignorance will be the reason of defeats. Also this victory was a decisive one because it was the turning point of the war (and I wrote my Diploma as historian about the war in the south too).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cowpens

Originally Posted by ♔Mandelus♔

Edit:

The other battle is that of Cowpens 1781 during War of Independence. Tarleton made here several big mistakes and Dan Morgan showed him that ignorance will be the reason of defeats. Also this victory was a decisive one because it was the turning point of the war (and I wrote my Diploma as historian about the war in the south too).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cowpens

I've been to the Cowpens battlefield. Morgan achieved a small scale Cannae. Tarleton charged after him and Morgan's skirmishers picked off his Dragoons and officers. By the time the british got to the main lie of Americans they had been seriously weakened. Morgan rallied his irregulars and ordered them to make a flanking maneuver. The result was a double envelopment.

Originally Posted by Shellshock1918

I've been to the Cowpens battlefield. Morgan achieved a small scale Cannae. Tarleton charged after him and Morgan's skirmishers picked off his Dragoons and officers. By the time the british got to the main lie of Americans they had been seriously weakened. Morgan rallied his irregulars and ordered them to make a flanking maneuver. The result was a double envelopment.

Yep, it was a small scale battle, even at this war small (in comparsion to the European battles of this age very small) but it was a dicisive victory because Cornwallis lost important parts of his forces here and gave a moral boost to the US.
BTW, I was too about 15 years ago. Was funny that many visitors in the past when i was there knew only the civil war action but not that of Dan Morgan ....

Some people consider the, charge of the Scots Greys at Waterloo, the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, Isandalwana, Jutland, Dieppe, Dunkirk, Dien Bien Phu, and Arnhem all to be blunders.

More interesting I think are those mistakes that actually made things better, two I've mentioned above. For example, the charge of the Light Brigade, although it was very brutal, and a big error, IIRC was actually rather successful and also IIRC saved the heavy brigade. Dieppe made Normandy more possible. If anyone else knows of any more tactical or strategic blunders that actually improved things I'd like to read about them.

Originally Posted by Darkhorse

For example, the charge of the Light Brigade, although it was very brutal, and a big error, IIRC was actually rather successful and also IIRC saved the heavy brigade.

Though the Light Brigade did successfully capture the Russian cannons they charged towards it wasn't a success because they weren't supposed to attack them and they suffered a lot of casualties. The only reason the Heavy Brigade didn't suffer any casualties is that Lord Lucan didn't follow after the Light Brigade (even though he was told to). Had the Heavy Brigade supported the Light Brigade there may have been far fewer casualties.

The Battle of Chaldiran is good example of a military blunder as Shah Ismail allowed the Ottomans to deploy their barricades and gunpowder weapons, rather than attack them. This gave the Ottomans a large advantage during the battle.

I remember there was once a show on the History Channel called 'Great Military Blunders'. Anyone have any clips from it.

Originally Posted by Darkhorse

Some people consider the, charge of the Scots Greys at Waterloo, the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, Isandalwana, Jutland, Dieppe, Dunkirk, Dien Bien Phu, and Arnhem all to be blunders.

More interesting I think are those mistakes that actually made things better, two I've mentioned above. For example, the charge of the Light Brigade, although it was very brutal, and a big error, IIRC was actually rather successful and also IIRC saved the heavy brigade. Dieppe made Normandy more possible. If anyone else knows of any more tactical or strategic blunders that actually improved things I'd like to read about them.

I think Darkhorse has the right idea, a thread about supposedly disasterous, but IRL successful battles, or actions would make a great thread

Originally Posted by ChosenManTim

I think Darkhorse has the right idea, a thread about supposedly disasterous, but IRL successful battles, or actions would make a great thread

Maybe I'll start one in VV when I get home from work.

When Charlie Company, 2nd Ranger Battalion fails to kill "Steamboat Willie" on route to Ramelle and he, as a result, kills Tom Hanks on the outskirts of Ramelle. Oh wait...

Any war involving Israel.

Hattin, where the crusaders decided it would be a good idea to chase the Fatimid force into the desert, thereby depriving themselves of water.

Agincourt, where, well, let's just say the Fench really messed up quite badly.

Hastings, where the Anglo-Saxons fell the oldest trick in the book: the feigned retreat.

And of course, the Battle of Neville's Cross, where the Scots decided it would be a good idea to invade northern England while the English were busy kicking French butt (This being only 2 months after Crecy). Turns out the Scots didn't do their research properly, as England's Edward III had left Ralph Neville, Henry Percy and the Archbishop of York behind with 5,000 men just in case the Scottish tried it on. Long story short: England won, the Scottish ran away, and king David II was found hiding under a bridge and held as a captive for 11 years.

Originally Posted by Darkhorse

If anyone else knows of any more tactical or strategic blunders that actually improved things I'd like to read about them.

I remember reading about how the US won the battle of midway simply because a bo,ber squadron got lost, and managed to find the battle just as the Japanese planes were refuelling/reloading. This allowed this particular squadron to sink 3 Japanese carriers, along with all their aircraft in just a few short minutes.


EDIT: Here it is, just below the astronaut thing:

http://www.cracked.com/article_18421...ppened_p2.html