I don’t know - he could have sent a squadron or two to occupy the infantry while the rest of his force took out the guns; or perhaps had the horse artillery provide some covering fire; in short, a commander has a few more tricks up his sleeve than just shouting “everyone follow me!”
Or barring that, he could have seen that the attack was obviously suicidal, and waited a few minutes to clarify the order. Of course, that would mean that the lives of his men was more important than his honor.
The infantry was on a ridge. Cavalry has trouble with that.
And where was the horse artillery? Probably the same place as the ‘supporting infantry’ from the first written order.
He had been given a direct order, twice, and had been chastised for not following it. He had already taken grief in the past for not following orders fast enough. Nolan was screaming at him to get on with it.
Emphasis added. And whose fault was that? The reason I think he deserves more blame for the Charge (though not full blame) than a strict recounting of the events indicates is because someone who had an ounce of credibility with his men, his fellow officers, or his superiors would have been able to resist the order, or have it clarified; because he had no discernible military virtues whatsoever and was only in the position he was because he politicked for it, Cardigan was unable to do so.
In fairness the grief was taken more by Lucan than by Cardigan, and Lucan gave the order to Cardiagan. The fact that Lucan and Raglan spent much effort trying to blame each other for the disaster.
Furthermore, while Cardigan was very much a dick, much of his efforts in commanding the Charge helped reduce casualties. By keeping the men at a trot in the beginning he may have exposed the Brigade to more casualties from the canon lining the valley, but it meant their horses were not winded when they reached the Russian guns and the counterattack cavalry counterattack took place.
Wikipedia concludes:
Let me ask this: Does anyone blame Pickett for Pickett’s charge?
Cloudesley Shovel - 2
George Tryon - 2.
I agree that Tyron’s order was more of a fuck-up than Shovel’s navagational error, but it still isn’t really worthy of the list.
I’ll think on my last vote …
Sorry, Malthus, too late for that final vote.
The results of our 3rd round of voting:
**James II of England - 8
Earl of Cardigan, Cloudesley Shovell - 7 each **
George Tryon - 6
Douglas MacArthur - 5
Lord Chelmsford, George A. Custer, Hermann Goering, William Hull - 2 each
Rodolfo Graziani, Heinrich Himmler, Ernest J. King, 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 Franklin 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
George Armstrong Custer: Cavalryman lost at Little Big Horn
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
Bill Halsey: Leyte Gulf errors; two typhoons
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
Douglas MacArthur: Dismissed from Korea by Truman
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
Same rules for the next round, which will end at noon EST on Weds. Nov. 24.
Revised deadline:
On further consideration, due to the Thanksgiving holidays and my own travel plans, the next round will end at noon EST this Fri. Nov. 26.
New Round! Sweet!
OK, here goes:
Douglas McArthur -1 Vote Again, does not really qualify as ‘worst’ by any means.
George Custer -2 Votes I gave my reasons already.
**Maximilian von Prittwitz **-1 Vote, His plan actually would have been valid had Russia been anything better than ‘utterly inept’. He would never have a chance to be proven right or wrong. Lucky for his replacements is that the Russian army was ‘utterly inept’.
Gaius Terentius Varro - 1 Vote. There is a very good chance that Varro was not entirely at fault and the battle lost more by his co-commander.
Hey, that means I get an extra one later, right? Right? 
…
But seriously …
I’m still pushing to get George Tryon off - 2
Douglas McArthur shouldn’t be on either - some great plays, some terrible fuck-ups, but not ‘the worst’ - 2
Ernest J. King -1 Made some bad decisions, but not really worthy of “the worst”.
Well, maybe you need to start pulling.
Bill Halsey: 2 votes.
A single bad judgement call in the face of a well thought-out deception plan does not make a bad leader. Nor do the storms - Meterology was not then, and nor even now, a precise science. The man led the forces that smashed the IJN with great and brutal skill.
John Bell Hood: 1 vote.
In lesser commands, an extremely effective and capable tactician. Only when promoted beyond his skills did the wheel come off. Should have been left as a division commander.
Gaius Terentius Varro: 1 vote.
Livy was a bigot, and Aemilius Paullus was commanding the right wing - the wing that crumpled. The right wing was also traditionally commanded by the commander in chief, which would mean that Paullus had the command that day, not Varro. Also, despite his plebian background, Varro was warmly recieved on return to Rome, whilst the other leaders involved were savagely criticised. Conclusion: Varro was very likely railroaded by his rivals well-placed relatives and sycophants, including Polybius.
Douglas MacArthur: 1 vote.
Arrogant and a jerk, but loyal to his men, a skilled leader, and ultimately loyal to his country - He honestly thought that he read the global strategic situation more correctly than the President or Secretary of State. When called on the carpet, he went away as ordered.
Sticking with:
Douglas MacArthur – 2 votes
Adding:
George Custer – 2 votes (spectacular loss in his fatal battle overshadows Civil War success – I’m reminded of the Buffalo Bills seen as chokers because they lost so many Super Bowls, while truly awful teams of the era are long forgotten)
Bill Halsey – 1 vote (again, a decent won-lost percentage despite a notorious blunder)
Bill Halsey (a relative of mine by marriage), for the reasons stated - 2
George Tryon, for the reasons stated - 2
I’ll reserve my last vote in this round for now.
Tranquilis, Douglas MacArthur was “loyal to his men”? How so? I thought he was notorious for not particularly caring about the GIs in the field.
Maybe he wasn’t all that empathetic on a personal level - however, his “island hopping” strategy could be seen as much more effective in terms of keeping his men alive, especially compared to the way the Marines were used in the POA. MacArthur never send his infantry off on a direct assault if he could avoid it; you could hardly say the same about Nimitz. I don’t have the numbers with me, but I think MacArthur lost far fewer men than Nimitz, both in relative and absolute terms.
2 for Hull - didn’t get much support from his superiors… got out witted by a highly skilled general
1 for Varus, he was more of a governor than a general and ended up in an no win situation
2 Crassus just because he supported Caesar…
Lord Chelmsford:2 redeemed at Ulundi
do you guys really think Chelmsford was that bad?
He was mentioned in despatches
and he had great facial hair
I never said he was nice to them. In fact, he wasn’t. But he took care for them - all his campaigns were carefully planned and plotted to keep casualties as low as achievable, consistent with the goals. That’s real loyalty - Taking care of the troops in the ways that ultimately matter.
Further, his passionate insistence on retaking the Phillipines was in large part due to his loyalty to the Fillipino people and soldiers. Sure, there was the ego thing, but he loved the Phillipines and managed, despite general military consensus that the Phillipines were not strategically important, to get them relieved. Ironically, that relief actually spurred the fleet actions that finshed breaking the IJN forever, hastening the end of the war.
I’ll stick with 2 votes for GA Douglas MacArthur and 2 votes for LTC George Custer.
No idea for my fifth vote this week.
Douglas MacArthur 2
George Armstrong Custer 2
since both of them had notable successes as well as failures.
Lord Chelmsford - 2 (Bonus vote for the facial hair)
Douglas MacArthur - 1
Bill Halsey - 1
Gaius Varro - 1
