# 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:** 8
**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:** [November 27, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/141 "2010-11-27T22:07:48Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > No, they were a declared illegal assembly by the civil authorities to whom he was subordinate. Had he failed to follow his orders, he’d have been guitly at the very least of insubordination, and possibily mutiny. Or worse… And yet MacArthur was very aggressive and exceeded the scope of his orders in attacking the Bonus Army, didn’t he? President Hoover was appalled by how it was handled, ISTR. William Halsey, who made some mistakes but was generally a damn fine admiral - 2 Curtis LeMay, who never lost a battle and did what was asked of him - 2 George Tryon, for the reasons stated earlier - 1 ---
**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:** [November 29, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/142 "2010-11-29T17:32:39Z")
The results of our 5th round of voting: **William Halsey - 8 George A. Custer - 6** Gaius Terentius Varro - 3 Lord Chelmsford, Crassus, John Bell Hood, William Hull, Curtis LeMay - 2 each Benjamin F. Butler, George Tryon, Publius Quinctilius Varus - 1 each The boldfaced leader(s) above are eliminated. That leaves: Abdel Hakim Amer: Panicked, lost Sinai in 1967 Oreste Baratieri: Routed by Ethiopians at Adowa Braxton Bragg: Bungling, irritating Confederate general Duke of Buckingham: Useless sycophant, incompetent military leader Ambrose E. Burnside: Defeat from jaws of victory Benjamin F. Butler: “Beast” hated in New Orleans Luigi Cadorna: Lost twelve consecutively; hated, cruel William Calley: Ordered, led My Lai Massacre Christian de Castries: Dien Bien Phu loser Charles Alexander of Lorraine: Sustained career of incompetence Charles le Temeraire: Rash rather than “Bold” Lord Chelmsford: Zulu dawn at Isandlwana Crassus: Army pincushioned by Parthians Carlo di Persano: Loser of Lissa William George Keith Elphinstone: Lost an army in Afghanistan Maurice Gamelin: Relied on the Maginot Line Horatio Gates: Fled headlong from Camden, S.C. Gaius Claudius Glaber: Why fortify against slaves? Hermann Goering: Prancing figurehead misused Luftwaffe Rodolfo Graziani: Trounced in North Africa Douglas Haig: Incompetent British WWI general Paul D. Harkins: Ignorant, overoptimistic in Vietnam Heinrich Himmler: Nazi botched every field command John Bell Hood: Recklessly stupid, lost Atlanta, West William Hull: Surrendered peacefully to inferior forces Thom Karremans: Toasted Mladić, allowed Srebenica massacre Hugh Judson Kilpatrick: Nicknamed “Kill Cavalry” for reason Ernest J. King: Anglophobe disastrously opposed Atlantic convoys James Ledlie: Drunk during Battle of Crater Curtis LeMay: Reckless, nuke-happy SAC chief Tiberius Sempronius Longus: Lost to Carthage at Trebia Francisco Solano López: Almost unmade Paraguay George B. McClellan: Timid, bungling, arrogant Union commander John A. McClernand: Useless political hack hurt Union Ratko Mladić: Ordered Srebenica massacre; since indicted Napoleon III: Clobbered, captured at Sedan Nicias: Commanded ill-fated Syracuse expedition Arthur Percival: Surrendered Singapore to Japan Philip VI of France: Crushed own army at Crécy Maximilian von Prittwitz: Peed his pants in Prussia Romanus IV of Byzantium: Lost Battle of Manzikert Zinovy Rozhestvensky: Led Russian Navy to annihilation Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna: “Napoleon of the West”? Ha! Daniel Sickles: Almost lost Gettysburg single-handedly Manuel Fernandez Silvestre: Lost badly in Spanish Morocco Geoffrey Spicer-Simson: Naval commander undone in Africa Frederick William Stopford: Blunderer at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli George Tryon: Sunk his flagship on maneouvres Gaius Terentius Varro: Blamed for defeat at Cannae Publius Quinctilius Varus: Army totally annihilated in Germany William Westmoreland: Brutal, unimaginative technocrat William H. Winder: Lost Upper Canada; Washington burned Xerxes I of Persia: Epic blunders in Greece Zhao Kuo: Became idiom for “bad general” _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 Same rules for the next round, which will end at noon EST on Weds. Dec. 1. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/143 "2010-11-29T18:23:26Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > No, they were a declared illegal assembly by the civil authorities to whom he was subordinate. Had he failed to follow his orders, he’d have been guitly at the very least of insubordination, and possibily mutiny. Or worse. > > The Bonus Army business was shamefull, but you can place no blame on MacArthur for that. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > And yet MacArthur was very aggressive and exceeded the scope of his orders in attacking the Bonus Army, didn’t he? Maybe I can’t place blame on MacArthur for that, but many people present at the time did, and the were eyewitnesses. Are you aware that a baby _died_ as a result of Mac’s actions, and some military officers and civil authorities regarded his assault on the encampment as brutal? Many military people never forgave him. Specifically him, not Hoover. > [@Tranquilis](#): > > By WWII, the business of theater commander leading from anywhere near the front line was about a hundred years dead, so your comment about ‘sitting in bunkers’ is absolutely pointless, and indicates your argument is weak. Yeah, that’s why Rommel and Patton and Guderian were famously hundreds of miles behind the front, because they were keeping up with trends. And they were weak generals. ---
**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:** [November 29, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/144 "2010-11-29T18:58:01Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > **Benjamin Franklin Butler:** OK, this guy was inept and much of a political hack general as you could find, but he only managed to do some medium level damage. My vote is mostly for the fact that he is listed as being ‘hated in New Orleans’. FUCK that. More goddamn Confederate pity party. Imm’a have to take a stand for my man Butler…as a military incompetent. Sure, he was a political appointee. Most sources seem to agree the man was smart as a whip and an absolute rascal. And he was hated for the occupation of New Orleans. But what he was most hated for in that case (the famous “women of the town” order) actually did some good…it suppressed Yankee-hatred to subsurface levels instead of outright assault. He was called “Beast” Butler, or “Spoons,” a reference to the Southern belief that he stole silverware from homes that hosted him. The circumstances of the order: Southern women had been acting increasingly hostile in the occupied city, culminating in a chamber-pot being emptied onto Admiral Farragut’s head. While funny, let’s recall that in those days typhus and other illnesses were fatal and all but untreatable; bathroom humor could kill. After Butler’s decree he was infamous in Europe and seethingly hated in the South, but the germ warfare stopped. [QUOTE=Wikipedia] New Orleans was [unusually healthy and orderly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin_Butler_%28politician%29#New_Orleans) during the Butler regime. [/QUOTE] But Butler was much less competent in outright military command, particularly on the offensive. His first battle, [Big Bethel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Big_Bethel), regarded by some as the first battle of the war, ended in humiliating defeat, despite his almost 3:1 numerical advantage. He was infamously bottled up in [Bermuda Hundred](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda_Hundred_Campaign), when his two corps failed to break out and seize Petersburg. Several marches were made; at first his subordinates failed him, but on subsequent attempts, Butler himself ordered the men back to their entrenchments as they were on the verge of smashing vastly weaker Confederate forces which were basically bluffing him. Petersburg was later taken in a ten-month siege at grievous cost. Butler then moved on to [not] attack Fort Fisher. He determined not to carry it by assault, then withdrew entirely, disobeying orders to lay siege to it. This eventually resulted in his being called in to testify before Congress’s Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War to justify his actions. During his testimony, he had _literally_ just finished detailing the strength of the fort and declaring it impregnable when someone burst into the chamber shouting news that [the fort had been taken by a lesser-known general](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Fort_Fisher). Butler smiled enigmatically and shrugged, and somehow escaped censure yet again. An occasionally cruel man (he was declared a war criminal in the South for executing a man who had torn down a Union flag) who was probably corrupt, unquestionably venal, and militarily unsound (given to indecision and hesitation in key moments), he was however right on the issue of slavery, getting into trouble for prematurely freeing slaves on his own authority. An interesting man to have over for dinner, instead of commanding you in battle. But for God’s sake count those spoons. . ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/145 "2010-11-29T19:08:59Z")
Sticking with: Lord Chelmsford – 2 votes Adding: Curtis LeMay – 2 votes (he’d have a better shot if the game were titled “Least Moral Military Leader”) Benjamin F. Butler – 1 vote (he often demonstrated hubris, but he did have some skills in negotiation and administration) ---
**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:** [November 29, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/146 "2010-11-29T19:13:54Z")
Curtis LeMay - 2 George Tryon - 2 Benjamin Butler - 1 (seems to have been a poor commander, but not done much damage to the Union cause thereby, compared to the other available Civl War generals) ---
**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:** [November 29, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/147 "2010-11-29T19:28:53Z")
New Round! OK, let’s get Butler out of there. He wasn’t ‘ept’ but there are much worse on that list: \*\*Benjamin Butler \*\*- 2 votes as I explained before **Varro** - 2 Votes against propaganda blame! **Rodolfo Graziani** - 1 Was sent into a no-win situation and knew it. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/148 "2010-11-29T19:45:50Z")
**Lord Chelmsford** - 2 **Geoffrey Spicer-Simson** - 1: What was his major blunder? **Curtis LeMay** - 1 **Christian de Castries** - 1: Thoroughly outgunned at Dien Bien Phu, but not his decision to defend there. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/149 "2010-11-30T06:24:28Z")
Curtis LeMay, who never lost a battle and did what was asked of him - 2 George Tryon, for the reasons stated earlier - 2 Benjamin F. Butler, ditto - 1 ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/150 "2010-11-30T13:18:56Z")
**Lord Chelmsford:2 Hermann Goering 2 Heinrich Himmler 1** ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/151 "2010-11-30T15:52:22Z")
Lord Chelmsford: 2 Gaius Varro: 2 Curtis LeMay: 1 ---
**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:** [December 1, 2010, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/152 "2010-12-01T08:44:23Z")
**George Tryon** - 2. Too meh. **Gaius Terrentius Varro** - 2. Too uncertain. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/153 "2010-12-01T16:24:27Z")
Agree that LeMay is more of a “potentially worst military leader, but it never happened” if you’re talking about a global nuclear exchange, and “just another ruthless bastard” if you’re talking about the strategic bombing of Japan’s cities. I don’t understand why people are moved to vote Goering off so soon. Although we consider him a buffoon, he was actually a decorated officer and the Nazis put him in charge. He promised he’d destroy the RAF in the Battle of Britain and then managed to lose through a combination of: [ul] [li]simply not putting much effort into thinking about how to do it[/li][li]failing to understand the new technology of radar[/li][li]failing to adapt to the unexpectedly well-coordinated RAF response[/li][li]repeated, ill-timed meddling in the targeting priorities[/li][li]believing uncritically in wildly overoptimistic claims by his pilots (despite his own WWI experience with pilot claims)[/li][/ul] At one point the Germans had fought roughly equal numbers of RAF aircraft on their previous mission, yet somehow Goering was persuaded that intelligence analysts now thought that Britain was down to only _40_ operational fighters. Maybe he thought the 700+ he’d faced _only the day before_ were all being repainted? One hallmark of a truly bad military leader is when they draw the wrong lesson from real-world experience. The big lesson Goering drew from the Battle of Britain was that the British wouldn’t “come up and fight,” facing the Luftwaffe in battle so that their fighter strength could be destroyed. This was _after_ he’d decided to stop attacking their bases (which had in fact almost worked before he prematurely called it off in favor of ineffective savagery against civilians) edit: and which could be characterized as “going down to fight them where you find them,” thus being equivalent to what he complained they were too afraid to do. Rightly or wrongly, Goering was certain in his own mind that a numerically inferior fighter force that came up to face escorted bombers could be destroyed, opening its homeland to invasion. So what was his response to Allied bombing? He sent his numerically inferior Luftwaffe up to “fight it out,” where it was indeed destroyed, opening his homeland to invasion, exactly as his own theory predicted. Maybe not the worst ever, but I say he should stay on the list until after we’ve booted off the non-losers and accident victims, at least. And maybe also the massacre guys…Goering ordered bombing of civilians _and lost big-time_. Plus, I enjoyed calling him “prancing.” And McClernand should go off the list before Butler, when you’re booting Union political generals. Still concerned I don’t know enough about some of these guys. My votes: **George Tryon - 2 Curtis LeMay - 2 John McClernand - 1** . ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/154 "2010-12-01T16:38:21Z")
Don’t forget Goering’s role in the abandonment of the 6th Army at Stalingrad. He insisted that he could resupply them by air, but the best he managed to deliver was 1/10 their needed daily supply. It was an insane boast. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/155 "2010-12-01T17:03:18Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > Don’t forget Goering’s role in the abandonment of the 6th Army at Stalingrad. Gah! That’s _exactly_ what I’ve forgotten! And it’s the logistics (the “important” part) of the biggest battle / turning point in the war! ---
**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:** [December 1, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/156 "2010-12-01T17:15:12Z")
The results of our 6th round of voting: **Curtis LeMay - 10 Lord Chelmsford - 8 George Tryon - 8** Gaius Terentius Varro - 6 Benjamin F. Butler - 5 Hermann Goering - 2 Christian de Castries, Rodolfo Graziani, Heinrich Himmler, John A. McClernand, Geoffrey Spicer-Simson - 1 each The boldfaced leader(s) above are eliminated. That leaves: Abdel Hakim Amer: Panicked, lost Sinai in 1967 Oreste Baratieri: Routed by Ethiopians at Adowa Braxton Bragg: Bungling, irritating Confederate general Duke of Buckingham: Useless sycophant, incompetent military leader Ambrose E. Burnside: Defeat from jaws of victory Benjamin F. Butler: “Beast” hated in New Orleans Luigi Cadorna: Lost twelve consecutively; hated, cruel William Calley: Ordered, led My Lai Massacre Christian de Castries: Dien Bien Phu loser Charles Alexander of Lorraine: Sustained career of incompetence Charles le Temeraire: Rash rather than “Bold” Crassus: Army pincushioned by Parthians Carlo di Persano: Loser of Lissa William George Keith Elphinstone: Lost an army in Afghanistan Maurice Gamelin: Relied on the Maginot Line Horatio Gates: Fled headlong from Camden, S.C. Gaius Claudius Glaber: Why fortify against slaves? Hermann Goering: Prancing figurehead misused Luftwaffe Rodolfo Graziani: Trounced in North Africa Douglas Haig: Incompetent British WWI general Paul D. Harkins: Ignorant, overoptimistic in Vietnam Heinrich Himmler: Nazi botched every field command John Bell Hood: Recklessly stupid, lost Atlanta, West William Hull: Surrendered peacefully to inferior forces Thom Karremans: Toasted Mladić, allowed Srebenica massacre Hugh Judson Kilpatrick: Nicknamed “Kill Cavalry” for reason Ernest J. King: Anglophobe disastrously opposed Atlantic convoys James Ledlie: Drunk during Battle of Crater Tiberius Sempronius Longus: Lost to Carthage at Trebia Francisco Solano López: Almost unmade Paraguay George B. McClellan: Timid, bungling, arrogant Union commander John A. McClernand: Useless political hack hurt Union Ratko Mladić: Ordered Srebenica massacre; since indicted Napoleon III: Clobbered, captured at Sedan Nicias: Commanded ill-fated Syracuse expedition Arthur Percival: Surrendered Singapore to Japan Philip VI of France: Crushed own army at Crécy Maximilian von Prittwitz: Peed his pants in Prussia Romanus IV of Byzantium: Lost Battle of Manzikert Zinovy Rozhestvensky: Led Russian Navy to annihilation Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna: “Napoleon of the West”? Ha! Daniel Sickles: Almost lost Gettysburg single-handedly Manuel Fernandez Silvestre: Lost badly in Spanish Morocco Geoffrey Spicer-Simson: Naval commander undone in Africa Frederick William Stopford: Blunderer at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli Gaius Terentius Varro: Blamed for defeat at Cannae Publius Quinctilius Varus: Army totally annihilated in Germany William Westmoreland: Brutal, unimaginative technocrat William H. Winder: Lost Upper Canada; Washington burned Xerxes I of Persia: Epic blunders in Greece Zhao Kuo: Became idiom for “bad general” _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 Same rules for the next round, which will end at noon EST on Fri. Dec. 3. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/157 "2010-12-01T18:35:45Z")
Gaius Terentius Varro 2 Benjamin F. Butler 2 Hermann Goering 1 yes I copy pasted the runner ups…lets get them out of the way ---
**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:** [December 1, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/158 "2010-12-01T19:53:08Z")
Benjamin F. Butler, who wasn’t the best general ever, but wasn’t an utter disaster - 2 John A. McClernand, ditto - 2 Geoffrey Spicer-Simson, too obscure to stick around much longer - 1 > **[Geoffrey Spicer-Simson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Spicer-Simson)** > > Captain Geoffrey Basil Spicer-Simson DSO, RN (15 January 1876 – 29 January 1947) was a Royal Navy officer. He served in the Mediterranean, Pacific and Home Fleets. He is most famous for his role as leader of a naval expedition to Lake Tanganyika in 1915, where he commanded a small flotilla which defeated a superior German force during the Battle for Lake Tanganyika. > Geoffrey Basil Spicer Simson was born in Hobart, Tasmania, on 15 January 1876, one of five children. His father, Frederick Simson... ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/159 "2010-12-01T20:48:52Z")
Sticking with: Benjamin F. Butler – 2 Adding: Christian de Castries – 1 William Westmoreland – 1 Returning to: Xerxes I of Persia – 1 ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783/160 "2010-12-01T20:50:25Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Geoffrey Spicer-Simson, too obscure to stick around much longer - 1 > > [Geoffrey Spicer-Simson - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Spicer-Simson) but, but, did you read about the grass skirt? a grass skirt is like negative facial hair [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-military-leader-game-thread/560783.md?page=9)