# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 26
**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 15, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/501 "2011-02-15T18:44:59Z")
Other possible ideas for down the road: [ul] [li]Greatest Weapon (possibly excluding nuclear explosives)[/li] [li]Or, to be different, Most Beautiful Weapon (would that come down to Spitfire vs sailing Frigate?)[/li] [li]Greatest Military Quotation (excluding fictional quotes)[/li] [li]Greatest Warship[/li] [li]Greatest Warplane[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/502 "2011-02-15T21:53:48Z")
War is hell. You can quote me on that. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/503 "2011-02-16T15:50:52Z")
Most decisive Naval Battle setup thread if anyone interested: > **[Most Decisive Naval Battle Nomination thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=597371)** > > As was done in the Worst military leader of all time thread http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=585694 (winner: Luigi Cadorna, followed closely by Arthur Percival and Francisco Solano López) which I joined late but was amused... ---
**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 16, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/504 "2011-02-16T17:46:16Z")
Thanks, **BlinkingDuck** , for the Naval Battle thread. I’ve already posted. The results from Round 36 of voting: **Arthur Percival - 8** Luigi Cadorna - 2 The boldfaced leader above is eliminated. That leaves our winner of the ignoble, craptastic and entirely uncoveted title of Worst Military Leader, according to Doperdom: Luigi Cadorna: Lost twelve consecutively; hated, cruel _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 Francisco Solano López Arthur Percival Many thanks to you all for playing! Hope you had as much fun and learned as much as I did. ---
**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 16, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/505 "2011-02-16T19:23:57Z")
Hooray! ---
**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 16, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/506 "2011-02-16T19:28:12Z")
Not my choice, but the one thing I really like about this particular winner - I was not particularly conversant with him before this thread. Me learning new things = win :). Thanks for the game. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/507 "2011-02-16T19:39:13Z")
We have our anti-Genghis Khan (he won the “best” general game). Wear your crown with pride, Cadorna. 😃 And three cheers for our host, **Elendil’s Heir** , for doing all the work to make this most entertaining and informative game possible. Hip, Hip, Hurrah! 🙂 ---
**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 16, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/508 "2011-02-16T19:54:31Z")
My pleasure. Now I have to go tell all of my Italian friends the result… ---
**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 17, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/509 "2011-02-17T01:01:32Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > By the way, as we head towards the finish line, might I suggest “Most Historically Significant Battles?” Not most decisive - Carrhae was quite decisive, but as noted it was probably not of more than immediate and local significance. I don’t know that there is an obvious and immediate winner in the “most significant” category and there is certainly room for argument for some of the obvious targets. I concur. For example Europe defeating Eastern encroachment would you pick Salamis or Vienna or Barcelona? Would you pick a specific battle in the American War of Independence or Hundred Years War? In general, was WWI or WW2 more significant? And where would the Battle of Ikh Bayan or the Siege of Changchun fit into all of this? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/510 "2011-02-17T01:50:02Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Not my choice, but the one thing I really like about this particular winner - I was not particularly conversant with him before this thread. > > Me learning new things = win :). Thanks for the game. I recall from a _Farewell to Arms_ Hemingway recounting the execution of Italian officers after the battle of Caporetto (which his hero barely escapes). Now I know more who was responsible for it. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/511 "2015-05-06T14:51:42Z")
Just stopping by to mention Cadorno et al are straight-doped again in Why was Italy’s performance in WWI so poor? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/512 "2015-05-06T15:08:12Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Just stopping by to mention Cadorno et al are straight-doped again in Why was Italy’s performance in WWI so poor? Well, that was a trip down memory lane. Best game thread ever, in my opinion. 🙂 ---
**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:** [May 6, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/513 "2015-05-06T15:43:33Z")
My thanks to you both! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783.md?page=25)