20 of the Most Impressive Moments of Incompetence in Military History

‘Caligula’
20 of the Most Impressive Moments of Incompetence in Military History
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War is pretty serious business. Like, there are people who would be offended by that sentence purely for the implication that it's not the most serious business. We’re talking history-rippling decisions that can have devastating consequences not only for the people who will fight and die for them but for the entire world. Not exactly a relaxing hang.

Still, it’s not like there are qualifying exams or governing bodies for appointing warlords. It’s all about proving yourself competent and literally rising through the ranks. But how many dudes do you know that have managed to fail upward at your local Toyota dealership or comic book store? It’s the same for the military. 

That’s why user HarpuasGhost asked r/AskReddit, “Who is the biggest idiot in military history?”

aerfgadf . 10mo ago Ala al-Din Muhammad. When Genghis Khan asks you to trade and you respond by killing the messenger and all of the merchants, you are going to have a bad time.
phonethrower85 10mo ago What about that guy that nearly started a war with Britain over a pig?
. 10mo ago The guy who led all his Japanese troops into a croc infested swamp and lost almost 1000 of his men
txholdup . 10mo ago Hitler was pretty good at ignoring facts and moving faux armies to attack real foes.
Boognish84 . 10mo ago The grand old duke of York. Не had 10,000 men, which he matched up a hill, and when they were up, he then marched them all down again.
Chumlee1917 10mo ago Tommy Franks going, I don't need to think about what happens after I capture Baghdad and before that, I got Bin Laden pinned at Tora Bora....I can trust those warlords to cover the Pakistani border.
. 10mo ago Dareios, who underestimated Alexander at Issos in 333 ВСЕ. This was followed by the total destruction of the mighty Persian Empire because he thought there wasn't any need to protect Persepolis. I guess this counts as the biggest loss in history?
atreides78723 10mo ago . Edited 10mo ago Horatio, Lord Kitchener Не didn't like to have his orders to others written down because he didn't want his whims of the moment to be contradicted by anything, not even by a piece of paper he had written previously.
Strait409 10mo ago Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Не set up his own defeat after the fall of the Alamo and the Goliad massacre by allowing himself and his soldiers a midday siesta on April 21, 1836. The pissed-off Texians came upon them as they were napping, and the rout was on.
Shortbus_Playboy 10mo ago Edited 10mo ago Caligula. Emperor Caligula made many bizarre decisions during his reign. Certainly one of them was declaring war on the god of the sea, Poseidon Neptune. Не ordered his soldiers to go to the beach and stab the sea and waves with their swords and throw spears at them.
Littleleicesterfoxy 10mo ago Can I just add John Sedgwick if only for his rather wonderful stupid death. Не was at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, stuck his head above the parapet to check the enemy sharpshooters and exclaimed they couldn't hit an elephant at this dist...
- Flying_Dustbin 10mo ago Lloyd Fredendall. Не was responsible for the fiasco at Kasserine Pass and spent the rest of war stateside in training commands. Не was replaced by George Patton, who initially sympathized with Fredendall, but after seeing how much of his new command was in disarray remarked: I cannot see what Fredendall did to justify his existence.
Evilsmile 10mo ago Maybe not the worst by lasting effects, but I think L. Ron Hubbard once fired on a Mexican island because he thought it was a ship. Or a log he thought was a submarine. Не claims he knew what both objects were and it was just target practice, but the island had people on it and he nearly commited an act of war against Mexico. This was after he was already stationed off the coast of California because he was too incompetent to be sent into actual fighting.
SilentCockroach123 10mo ago George McLellan. Not only was he inept enough to make you think he was trying to lose, but also had zero self reflection. Не could ended american civil war years sooner and spare many lives, but he refused, becouse he thought the confederates have more soldiers than him, although everyone else knew it isn't the case. Later in the war he ran against Lincoln in presidential elections and his victory was probably the only way confederacy could have won.
0 10mo ago Edited 10mo ago Francisco Solano Lopez. Leader of Paraguay, who started a war with Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay at the same time. This conflict was so disastrous that it cost Paraguay 60% of its population and left it with only 28,000 men in the entire country. They lost a quarter of their territory to the victorious nations. And of course created such political instability that in the following 66 years they had 32 presidents, 2 major assassinations, 6 coups and 8 failed revolutions.
Plus_Duty479 10mo ago Gaius Claudius Glaber ... was a military commander of the late Roman Republic, holding the office of praetor in 73 ВС. During his term, he was defeated in the Battle of Mount Vesuvius against the forces of Spartacus during the Third Servile War. They note his force of Roman militia (not professional legionaries) was destroyed because he was unable to adapt to the gladiators' unorthodox tactics. After Glaber besieged the slaves on slopes of Mount Vesuvius, he failed to anticipate what they would do next. Spartacus' forces used rappelling lines made from local vegetation to scale down
AlpacaCavalry 10mo ago Probably a lesser known dude in the west, but a Korean guy named Won Kyun is a pretty bad idiot. Some of you may know Yi Sun Shin, who was Won's predecessor. Won lead the very same fleet that Yi used to smash the Japanese navy without taking a single loss, and lost them all in a single bumbling battle. It was so disastrous that the guy also died in that same battle, and the king of Joseon had to basically pull Yi out of serving his sentence as a common foot soldier to do something. Anything.
destuctir 10mo ago Gaius Flaminius. Knowing Hannibal war dangerous in the 2nd Punic War, he ignored the fact his intelligence said he was outnumbered, and he ignored the fact his patrols failed to report in during the morning (because Hannibal had successfully had them all killed in the night to reposition his army without Flaminius knowing). Не then marched his army between a forest and a lake, in heavy fog that stopped him seeing any approaching enemy, because he assumed Hannibal, who knew his location, was going to stay at camp and just let the Romans assault them. His fellow
skaliton 10mo ago There was a ranking officer in the US civil war who was repeatedly captured and released by the Union forces (Braxton Bragg) for being so incompetent that having him freed and in command was better than risking 'someone else' leading. Essentially he won a few minor battles early and was promoted way over his competency and was terrible
daithisfw 10mo ago That airman who was posting military secrets to a discord server just to win a stupid argument with teenagers and dipshits.

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