# Worst Military Leader (game thread) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 15, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783 "2010-11-15T21:20:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/461 "2011-02-09T19:05:47Z")
You make a good point - Luigi Cadorna may edge out _everyone_, simply because his repulsive brutality and contempt towards his own side amounts to a formidable level of anti-panache - combined with a good helping of loser-dom, of course; but then, everyone left had that. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/462 "2011-02-09T19:35:16Z")
Hmmm looking over Lopez again…I think I underestimated him. So, I’m going to vote for Charles as well. Charles - 2 If Charles goes…I am happy with any of the remaining 3 ‘winning’ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/463 "2011-02-09T19:41:12Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > You make a good point - Luigi Cadorna may edge out _everyone_, simply because his repulsive brutality and contempt towards his own side amounts to a formidable level of anti-panache - combined with a good helping of loser-dom, of course; but then, everyone left had that. I’m thinking the same. Percival may have been the height of incompetance…but he was not…evil. If there is evil in the world, Luigi was it. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/464 "2011-02-09T19:48:55Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > I’m thinking the same. Percival may have been the height of incompetance…but he was not…evil. > > If there is evil in the world, Luigi was it. Interesting if so that both the best (Ghenghis Khan) and the worst (hopefully, Luigi) would share one trait in common - they were both horribly evil men, albeit in different ways. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/465 "2011-02-09T20:07:02Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Interesting if so that both the best (Ghenghis Khan) and the worst (hopefully, Luigi) would share one trait in common - they were both horribly evil men, albeit in different ways. 😃 Yea but GK didn’t suck as a general 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/466 "2011-02-10T04:06:07Z")
Sticking with: Arthur Percival – 1 (as already mentioned, not evil) Charles le Temeraire – 1 (and it appears he’ll be the next to go) I was aware of López before this game, but had somehow remained ignorant of the execrable Cadorna. So while Francisco is my “sentimental favorite”, I’ll have no problem seeing Luigi decorated as the “generalminimo” (or whatever the opposite of “generalissimo” may be). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/467 "2011-02-10T05:38:56Z")
Arthur Percival - 2 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/468 "2011-02-10T13:29:37Z")
Francisco Solano López -2 Votes ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/469 "2011-02-10T14:57:50Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > Sticking with: > > Arthur Percival – 1 (as already mentioned, not evil) > Charles le Temeraire – 1 (and it appears he’ll be the next to go) > > I was aware of López before this game, but had somehow remained ignorant of the execrable Cadorna. So while Francisco is my “sentimental favorite”, I’ll have no problem seeing Luigi decorated as the “generalminimo” (or whatever the opposite of “generalissimo” may be). I was the opposite. I was aware of how bad Luigi was…but had not heard of Lopez. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/470 "2011-02-11T05:58:34Z")
**Charles le Temeraire** - 2. Sorry, Charlie - I nominated you, but you just don’t suck _quite_ enough. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/471 "2011-02-11T13:56:57Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > infamously taunted Elton Farnsworth to his death outside Gettysburg. For the record I owe [**Elon** J. Farnsworth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_J._Farnsworth#Death_at_Gettysburg) an apology. Darnit, I _thought_ the spelling looked suspect, but was in too much of a hurry to do more digging. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/472 "2011-02-12T02:50:37Z")
The results from Round 34 of voting: **Charles le Temeraire - 10** Francisco Solano López, Arthur Percival - 3 each The boldfaced leader(s) above are eliminated. That leaves: Luigi Cadorna: Lost twelve consecutively; hated, cruel Francisco Solano López: Almost unmade Paraguay Arthur Percival: Surrendered Singapore to Japan _Eliminated:_ Ulysses S. Grant William T. Sherman Pyrrhus of Epirus Benedict Arnold James II of England Earl of Cardigan Cloudesley Shovell Douglas MacArthur William Halsey George A. Custer Curtis LeMay Lord Chelmsford George Tryon Geoffrey Spicer-Simson Benjamin F. Butler Xerxes I of Persia Ernest J. King Gaius Terentius Varro John A. McClernand Daniel Sickles Christian de Castries Maximilian von Prittwitz Rodolfo Graziani William Westmoreland Crassus William Calley Carlo di Persano Heinrich Himmler William H. Winder Ratko Mladić Paul D. Harkins Oreste Baratieri Romanus IV of Byzantium Varus Hermann Goering Zinovy Rozhestvensky William Hull George B. McClellan Judson Kilpatrick Thom Karremans Ambrose Burnside Gaius Claudius Glaber Douglas Haig Braxton Bragg Duke of Buckingham Maurice Gamelin Horatio Gates Manuel Fernandez Silvestre Nicias Tiberius Sempronius Longus Frederick William Stopford Napoleon III Philip VI James Ledlie John Bell Hood Charles Alexander of Lorraine Zhao Kuo Abdel Hakim Amer Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna William George Keith Elphinstone Charles le Temeraire Each player still gets just two votes, to be used on a single nominee or split between two. The next round will end at noon EST on Mon. Feb. 14. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/473 "2011-02-12T04:24:49Z")
used the original list ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/474 "2011-02-13T06:03:48Z")
I’ve been reading this thread with much fascination. Sorry for not voting — at least until a couple rounds ago, there were too many people for me to judge, really. Nonetheless: **2 points — Lopez**. His sins were many, but they were more political than military. It looks as if he got snookered into fighting three countries at once — stupid, sure, but purely a political failure. Killing your own family members? Personal, really, but very much more political than military. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/475 "2011-02-13T07:24:27Z")
It’s very tough now - I’ll have to give my **2 votes to Lopez**. As a co-nominator I’m happy he got this far but Percival and Cadorna shade him out just a touch. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/476 "2011-02-13T13:50:37Z")
Another 2 for Lopez. As I noted some of the turning point losses he had little to no control over. Bit off more than he could chew is his major error. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/477 "2011-02-13T14:27:06Z")
2 for Cadorna. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/478 "2011-02-13T14:32:28Z")
Another 2 for Lopez. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/479 "2011-02-13T16:47:27Z")
In a losing cause - Percival 2 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/480 "2011-02-13T17:14:01Z")
Another 2 for Lopez. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783.md?page=25)