# Biggest Mistake in History?? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2002, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454 "2002-03-15T12:45:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Illuvatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b38774/32.png) [@Illuvatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuvatar)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/1 "2002-03-15T12:45:49Z")
What do you think was the biggest mistake in history?.. whether it was good or bad. What I can remember at the moment is England overtaxing the american colonies without giving them representation in their parliament. If they did this then England would have ruled the entire Earth now. But they screwed up REAL bad. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/2 "2002-03-15T12:55:03Z")
A common choice is Hitler’s decision to invade Russia, or at least his sense of timing in doing so. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/3 "2002-03-15T12:57:52Z")
“Hmmm, let’s see… Yup, I think I 'll release Bararabas. That’s the ticket.” (or “welease woger” for you purists). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/4 "2002-03-15T12:58:46Z")
There are many who would say that the British Empire itself was a mistake. I would imagine that the British Empire would have collapsed anyway, and that the United States would have sought independence anyway too, though maybe not at that precise time. If you’re talking mistakes in the last century, I would rate the following as pretty bad: invading Poland; the Holocaust; the genocide of the Armenians; assassinating the Archduke Ferdinand; the Great Leap Forward; the Cultural Revolution; the manner in which the state of Israel was set up; Apartheid. Really and truly, though, the question doesn’t really have any answer, as history is a catalogue of randomness. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/5 "2002-03-15T13:07:26Z")
It can be argued that there were several mistakes very, very early in the Roman Empire that neutered the Senate, and turned the Empire down its course of decline. Of course, it can also be argued whether or not an Empire of that size with that relatively low level of technology could support a representative government of any sort. So, instead of that…Communism? The poor final wording of the Second Amendment (which will eventually lead to people believing that it does not confer an individual right, allowing a totalitarian hereditary liberal empire to rise, which will crush the free society under its bloody jack-booted heel, turning us all into drugged meat-puppets and slaves of the New World Order)? Passing over Michael Jordan in the draft? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/6 "2002-03-15T13:13:30Z")
I’m not sure communism _per se_ counts as a terrible mistake. The form it took in Russia after 1917 certainly, but blaming Marx for that seems a bit harsh. Can we blame thinkers for the way their ideas turned out when implemented by others? (serious question) ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/7 "2002-03-15T13:49:00Z")
Boston Red Sox trade Babe Ruth for an old glove and 37 cents. Well, maybe not all of history, but that pretty much clears up the baseball end of things. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/8 "2002-03-15T13:50:37Z")
Well, seriously, it has to be Man being duped into believing in God and organizing religion as a part of that belief. At a minimum, organizing religions is gotta be the biggest mistake…ever. ---
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/9 "2002-03-15T14:29:47Z")
Eating the apple. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/10 "2002-03-15T14:35:35Z")
Hey those hairy guys aren’t doing too well. Lets give them one of our big black rectangles. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/11 "2002-03-15T16:07:18Z")
**Zebra** : \ In my field of study (the English Reformation) the biggest mistake would be when Holy Roman Emperor dashed off that memo to Rome: “Your Holiness, don’t let that King Hank get an annulment! Just let him fool around with mistresses, like every other monarch does!” ---
**Author:** ![dono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e0b2c6/32.png) [@dono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dono)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/12 "2002-03-15T17:56:53Z")
**Illuvatar** , I’d recommend Tuchman’s _The March of Folly_ for her take on your question. One of the follies she examines is the British response to the American rebellion. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/13 "2002-03-15T17:57:28Z")
“I do.” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/14 "2002-03-15T18:31:37Z")
I would vote for the various decisions that were made to declare war at the start of World War I to be, collectively, the single worst decision of all time. The first World War killed ten or fifteen million people for basically no reason at all, set the social development of civilization back several decades, led to the rise of the murderous ideologies of Communism and fascism, and was the direct cause of the SECOND World War. I would guess that the First World War ultimately caused a hundred million deaths at least, unimaginable levels of material loss, and human suffering to match all the other human suffering in the history of our species. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/15 "2002-03-15T19:45:30Z")
Holy Roman Emperor **Charles V**. Charles V. Charlie Five. My dissertation got sent back for less grievous omissions. ---
**Author:** ![ResIpsaLoquitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@ResIpsaLoquitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ResIpsaLoquitor)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/16 "2002-03-15T20:29:45Z")
I don’t know if this was the “biggest,” but it’s up there. I remember learning in my Civil War class in high school about how General McClellan (who I believe was running the Union Army before Grant) accidentally stumbled across General Lee’s marching orders. He thought they were a hoax and tossed them. Thus, the Civil War arguably went on two or three years longer than it could have. I know I’m missing some bits of the story…any historians want to elaborate it? ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/17 "2002-03-15T20:35:40Z")
Game six…1986…Bill Buckner…'nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Kahuna\_Burger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Big\_Kahuna\_Burger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Kahuna_Burger)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/18 "2002-03-15T20:36:07Z")
The Mongols turning back at the gates of Vienna. I can imagine them saying “Europe, who needs it?” ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/19 "2002-03-15T20:47:42Z")
Napoleon’s march to Moscow. He left with 400,000, got to an abandoned city, and by the time he got home had only 10,000 soldiers left. And it’s a mistake by anybody’s definition - it was one person choosing to do something that had horrific results. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454/20 "2002-03-15T21:01:43Z")
In 415 Cyril, the Patriarch of Christianity (kind of like the pope), ordered that all Jews be expelled from Alexandria. Why is this the biggest mistake of all time? The Roman prefect of Alexandria disagreed with the decision. Fighting began between the Church and State and the Library of Alexandria was destroyed in the process. It had housed the equivalent of more than 100,000 books and most of the knowledge of the ancient world. Its destruction probably delayed the development of modern western science and culture more than ten centuries. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-mistake-in-history/98454.md?page=2)