Yes, it’s almost certainly true that McClellan made much more critical errors before the battle than Burnside did during it. Thanks for the insight.
Re: Sofa King’s comment
I heartily concur in any statement that lays blame for anything whatsoever at the feet of McClellan.
(Now, let’s see who has something to say in his defense…)
Re: RickJay’s comment
I’m not all that familiar with the details of the fall of Singapore beyond the basics (all defenses focused on attack from the sea because Malayian approaches were “impassible”). I have the impression that Percival suffered from something of the defeatist malaise that infected the Russian fleet at Tsushima. Can you elaborate on the blunders?
Western Union declining Alexander Graham Bell’s offer to sell them his telephone patents. They didn’t see any real value in a device that would be used only to tell someone that a telegram had arrived.
The Portland Trail Blazers passing up Michael Jordan so they could draft Sam Bowie instead.
MacArthur’s day of catatonia upon learning that the Japanese were attacking the Philippines, allowing them to secure a strategic advantage against an uncommanded defense.
If memory serves, Hitler delayed Barbarossa for six weeks (against meek and muted protests from his generals) in order to eradicate the anti-Nazi martial government formed in Yugoslavia by General Mirkovitch. Whilst having an unfriendly power in the Balkans would have been a potential military drain on Barbarossa in the long term, it is arguable that by delaying the entire operation in order to basically venge his spite on his defiers, Hitler made Barbarossa unachievable.
Having said that, the casualness in which he committed himself to bringing America into the war by agreeing to declare war on her when Japan did so (without Hitler’s support it is doubtful whether Japan would have seriously countenanced a frontal attack on the US) was probably a bigger, more impressive blunder. He even managed to compound his error by not getting Japan to agree to attack Russia from the East, which might have altered the entire course of the Russian defence.
“Whoops!” is, I believe, the operative phrase.
I also think that popular German singing sensation Nina’s prevarication over armpit shaving to be one of the great historical blunders… but for that she might be ruling the roost over Britney even now…
You know, whenever I sit back and wonder why sometimes I suck so bad at strategy games I suddenly remember, “Oh yeah, My last name is Burnside.”
Ted Kennedy leads fight to create HMO’s in the early 70’s, now is leading the fight for patients bill of rights because he believes that HMO’s are destroying America.
They decided to make A Night At the Roxbury.
The cast of Star Trek decides to record all those solo albums.
Joe Piscopo leaves SNL to be a movie star.
David Caruso leaves NYPD Blue to be a movie star.
Pauly Shore thinks he is a movie star.
Everybody decides to do parody ads of The Crocodile Hunter.
American churches declare Elvis, The Beatles, and Christian Rock ‘evil’, and ruin their respectability to many people.
They cancelled NewsRadio, but left Veronica’s Closet on for 3 years.
That guy with the rainbow wig that held up those John 3:16 poster at basketball games actually thinks anybody is gonn turn to religion because of him.
Kathy Lee leaves Regis for a singing career.
Re: Carps’ post –
See my own (rather lengthy) post above regarding whether Germany’s Balkan operations delayed the invasion of Russia. While there have been many reasonable criticisms of other of my assertions in that opus, my assertion still stands that I’ve never seen detailed support for the assertion that the invasions of Yugoslavia and Greece delayed that of Russia. Weather and overall logistical difficulties were the real factors dictating the Barbarossa start date.
Regarding Hitler’s support of Japan, and declaration of war on the U.S. –
While this is often depicted as mere hubris on Hitler’s part, I think it’s better understood as an attempt to make the best of a bad situation. Hitler had always figured that America would gravitate to support Britain as it had in World War I (a belief rooted in personal dislike and race-based politico-cosmology as much as simple historical precedent). His initial hope had been to settle his differences with Britain before America could overcome its isolationist inertia. When Britain wouldn’t back down, one factor influencing Hitler’s decision not to invade it was likely a desire to keep matters in the west at a relatively low intensity so as to discourage American intervention. The invasion of Russia, it was hoped, would offer further discouragement (why go to war in defense of the Bolshevik menace?). Germany’s diplomatic overtures to Japan were meant simply to give the U.S., and to a lesser extent Britain, something to worry about on the opposite side of the world, further discouraging their interference with Germany.
My knowledge of Japanese wartime internal politics is somewhat limited, but my understanding is that the political capital of the army diminished after its unsuccessful border clashes with the Soviets in 1939. The navy, whose strategic interests were directed toward the East Indies rather than Russia, had more clout by the end of 1941. Moreover, America’s oil embargo posed a crisis for Japan, requiring that they secure a new source of oil as soon as possible to support operations in Japan before stockpiles ran out. An attack on Russia was therefore not an option for Japan at the time, even if Germany had pressed for it.
While Germany might rather Japan had waited a bit longer before making its move, The escalating North Atlantic naval war had made it obvious by that point that the U.S. was only going to continue to increase its support for Britain. By declaring war, Hitler probably felt that the political benefits of taking the initiative, as well as the military benefits of an all out submarine offensive against U.S. shipping, outweighed the benefits of any minor additional delay there might have been before the U.S. issued its own declaration.
…and while pop singing fads have a pretty short shelf life anyway, that armpit thing couldn’t have helped matters much. Yikes! I still remember the shock myself.
Now I can’t wait for the anti-shaving lobby to come out of the woodwork…
“I did NOT have sex with that woman!”
Enough said.
I guess Trent Lott trying to force the patent office to give out a patent for a perpetual motion machine was pretty stupid.(Since really he should have known better.)
waving to Stevie Wonder. :rolleyes:
Interesting thread resurrection. (I wonder why the post:view ratio is so insanely high??)
Since the bulk of this thread was pre-9/11, I’ll have to nominate Osama bin Laden’s whacked-out belief that by destroying one of our largest buildings with hijacked airliners, we would immediately renounce our “Great Satan” ways, withdraw support from Israel, convert everyone to Islam, and force all our women to wear veils from head to toe.
The nutcase obviously has no idea how things work around here. We mourn our dead, then make Osama bin Laden toilet paper.
coughUrban Legend!cough
I’d go with the Mongol hordes stopping at the gates to the city of Vienna. They could’ve gone on to control Europe, but their archaic power structure made them retreat.
June 3rd to 6th 1942: The battle of Midway.
The Imperial Japanese Navy had 4, count 'em, four aircraft carriers. The US navy had three, one (Yorktown) having recently been damaged in the Battle of the Coral Sea. The Japanese navy had some eight battleships. USN battleships? None. The Japanese had a large cruiser screen, with a good mix of heavy and light ships. Out of the USN cruisers, there was a grand total of one heavy, IIRC. The destroyer screens were also mismatched. The Japanese also had some twice the air power that the Americans did, with superior aircraft and experienced pilots. As a matter of fact, the Japanese force at Midway was the largest fleet in history up to that time.
The Japanese got their asses handed to them.
When launching the attack, the IJN launched basically their entire fighter complement against Midway, doing a nasty job on the Marine pilots based there. Then, having run out of gas and sundries, the Japanese pilots turn about and return to their carriers.
Enter Rear Admiral Spruance and the divebombers from USS Enterprise and Hornet while most of the IJN fighters are refueling. A few minutes later, add aircraft from USS Yorktown. Eventual result: Heavy losses to US aircraft, but three flattops sunk in as many minutes. It was all downhill from there.
Final tally: IJN carriers lost: All four. US carriers lost: One (Yorktown). The rest (warning: cliche approaching fast!), as they say, is history.
This, of course, stems from an earlier Japanese stupid decision - the one they made not to change their code, figuring it was way too complicated for anyone to crack. All the US espionage guys had to figure out was what place the Japanese were referring to to stage their feint.
Oh, that’s right; did I mention that Midway was supposed to be a trap? An attempt was made, by striking the Aleutians as well, to get the US to further divide its forces, making the final destruction of the US military in the Pacific still easier. The Japanese wanted a big battle. They sure as hell got one!
And as long as I’m talking about the Pacific War, how about the USS Indianapolis? That story is just tragic. As well as incredibly stupid.
Just about everyone has included battle scenarios here. I would go with something ickier. President Bush(Senior) , knowing he feels like death warmed over due to the flu, going to that banquet in Japan and throwing up in public on the Japanese guy next to him.
Here are some sports suggestions from the Washington Times:
Sorry to be such a prick but Augutus made himself in fact an in name Imperator up to that moment Emperor was only a military rank, Octavio turned it into a complete new thing. He did that because the romans hated the title of king.
The worst mistake ever uhm there are so many to pick. Barbara Touchman wrote a book about it. The decission to impose a tax in the american colonies, the invasion of vietnam, the pope’s policies during the 15 16 centuries that lead to reform she considers figures in her book “the march of folly”