5 Of The Worst Military Blunders In History

the outcome of battles can often be decided by forces outside of man's control such as bad weather or just bad luck however there have been numerous occasions throughout history when an individual mistake has resulted in catastrophe turning certain victory into humiliating defeat whether as a result miscommunication arrogance or just plain ignorance here are my choices for five of the worst military blunders in history number five the charge of the Light Brigade an ambiguous order issued during the heat of battle would lead to the deaths of 110 men in a suicidal cavalry charge that would politically encapsulate the popular image of the British Army as lions led by donkeys incredibly brave soldiers following insane orders issued by incompetent and uncaring aristocratic officers an image that would continue to haunt the British Army as recently as the blood-soaked battlefields of the first world war in October of 1854 the men of the British Army would find themselves laying siege to the Russian port and fortress of Sevastopol and the Crimea with the once invincible Ottoman Empire seemingly in terminal decline the Russian Tsar saw an opportunity to expand south and seize land from the Turks around the strategically important Black Sea thus giving Russia direct access to the Mediterranean and perhaps even taking the prized city of Constantinople itself concerned by this Russian expansionism Britain and France were unwilling to stand back and so dispatched troops to defend the Turkish allies hoping to capture Russia's main naval base on the Black Sea 60,000 anti troops landed in the Crimea and surrounded Sevastopol with rings of trenches and heavy artillery pieces and began bombarding the port however near the harbor of balaclava the trapped Russians launched a daring attack against the Allies hoping to seize their defenses and artillery and thus break the siege the Russian attack began successfully managing to capture the strategic Hills surrounding the area along with several valuable pieces of artillery which fleeing allied troops had abandoned as Russian forces prepared to drag the captured prizes back to their positions the furious British commander Lord Raglan insisted that they be stopped and commanded his light cavalry to be dispatch to rescue the guns the speedy but lightly armored Brigade being ideal for such a task as they would be able to reach the slow-moving artillery before they could be taken away despite the plan being sound the way in which the order was issued and delivered was not and would lead to disaster from his elevated position Lord Raglan had a clear view of the surrounding area including the captured guns on the hills however the Light Brigade were down in the valley and so the guns being carried away by the Russians were out of sight Lord Raglan zorder simply instructed the light cavalry to charge to prevent the Russians carrying off the guns without specifying exactly where they were supposed to charge at the time the only Russian artillery visible to the commander of the Light Brigade were those at a different location which were dug in and well fortified at the other end of the valley yet charging such a well-defended artillery position with light cavalry would surely be suicide the Light Brigade x' commander asked the man carrying the order for further clarification however the impatient messenger simply replied with a wide and imprecise sweep of his arm which seemed to gesture towards the mass of deadly looking Russian defences at the end of the valley unwilling to show hesitation fear or question a direct order despite the order meeting a likely horrific death for him and his unit the light brigade commander prepared his men for a frontal assault on the Russian artillery positions that were dug in and prepared to fire the 670 men mounted the horses drooler Sabres and Lance's and began to gallop into what later became known as the valley of death facing heavy artillery and musket fire from the front and both sides the lightly armored cavalry men were cut down in droves as they charged into the hail of bullets shells and grape shot yet despite being showered in the blood and brains of their friends who were being blown apart all around them the charge of the Light Brigade did not waver leading to one Russian officer later reporting that his men fought the British soldiers must have been drunk to undertake such a clearly suicidal attack despite being bombarded from three sides incredibly the Light Brigade managed to reach the Russian guns and kill many of the crew before eventually being forced back by Russian cavalry which were guarding the position forced to ride back through the blood-soaked Valley once again onto heavy fire the insane charge had lasted a mere 20 minutes resulting in a 40% casualty rate with 110 killed and 161 wounded yet despite seemingly having thrown the lives away in a foolhardy attack the men became national heroes with the reputation of British cavalry being greatly enhanced as news of the charge spread around the world however the same could not be said for the men in charge and the widespread demand for greater professionalism in military affairs began to take root the charge of the Light Brigade becoming a byword for the slaughter and carnage that can be inflicted when orders are unclear number four the Battle of the Teutoburg forest just over two thousand years ago a series of blunders led to the roman empire suffering wars perhaps its greatest defeat in the wild forests of northern germany when three cracked legions of the roman army were wiped out in a bloody ambush that would see 35,000 legionaries cut down in battle or captured and sacrificed to the Germanic gods the severed heads nailed to the forests densely packed trees in a grim offering of thanks for the incredible victory the tribesmen had won against their hated enemy at this time in history Rome was arguably at the height of its panel and had conquered much of Europe and the Middle East having recently been through a period of major a territorial expansion which had seen a concerted effort to bring about the wonders of Roman civilization to the unruly German barbarian tribes who inhabited the mysterious lands north of the River Rhine when a man named varus took command of the three legions which were tasked with pacifying the German lands which had recently been added to the Empire he perhaps felt confident with his new position as the tribes in the area had recently suffered a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of Rome's professional armies however trouble was brewing in the dark forests trouble that was being fermented by a man who was supposed to be viruses loyal advisor when Rome defeated an enemy tribe it was often custom to take the children of high-ranking Chiefs as hostages bringing them back to Rome where they could be given a solid Roman education and exposed to the superior culture the Empire had to offer in the hopes that this would make them royal citizens who would espouse the benefits of being a part of the empire to the kinsman while ensuring that the Concord Chiefs shied away from any thoughts of rebellion a man named Arminius was one such hostage the son of a defeated German chieftain who had been educated in Rome served in the legions and even obtained Roman citizenship yet it seems as though Arminius had not forsaken loyalty to his people and after being sent to Germany to serve as a trusted advisor to General Farris he began secretly making contact with the local tribes to prepare a rebellion having forged two makeshift alliance of tribes who had previously been enemies Arminius fabricated stories of a minor uprising against Roman rule which was supposedly taking place in the east and urged varus to march his legions into thick forests that were unfamiliar to the Romans in order to quell the uprising immediately before it spread any further Arminius offered to the company the Romans and show them the quickest route to reach the site of the supposedly bel Yin however he was in fact leading them into an ambush but would see them all put to the sword yet disaster could easily have been averted another prominent German nobleman in the service of the Romans had warned general varus the night before his planned departure that Arminius was planning to betray him even identifying the leaders involved in the conspiracy yet believing Arminius to be loyal such warnings were simply ignored by failing to heed reliable warnings of imminent betrayal and ambush and by trusting the word of a man whose homeland he was about to brutally subjugate general varus began his march to disaster however his mistakes would not end there as legions made their way through the dense forests they marched in a single long column which was growing increasingly stretched out his army perhaps spread along a line some 12 miles long yet varus failed to send out scouts to check that no nasty surprises were awaiting him the head Arminius quietly slipped off into the forest to join his German allies and prepare to spring his trap as the Romans moved blindly through the narrow muddy tracks the German warriors descended on them raining down javelins on the hated enemies before moving in with swords drawn Arminius fully understood Roman battle tactics and was able to concentrate his forces at the legions weak points chaos spread through the Roman ranks as each end of the line was unable to see what was happening ahead with them all behind them and general varus's lack of experience was laid bare for all to see as a storm raged above them the men of the legions were cut down despite making several brave attempts to escape and with the day all but lost Ferris fell on his sword along with the majority of the senior officers whatever little morale remained collapse as the now leaderless men were picked off one by one with just a handful managing to escape the killing grounds to bring news of the calamity back to the Empire the rest were butchered where they stood taken as slaves or horrific ly sacrificed to the gods the severed heads nailed to trees in a McCollum display of worship general varus's failure to heed warnings and follow proper procedure had led to the destruction of his legions with as many as 35,000 dead the trauma of such a total defeat ensuring that the Romans never again tried to conquer the lands east of the Rhine and showing the world that men who were considered to be nothing more than barbarians were in fact able to crush the best that Rome had to offer number three the Battle of Hattin it's often said that the mark of a good leader is the ability to follow sound advice however King Kai of the Kingdom of Jerusalem would do the exact opposite instead choosing to follow advice which would lead to him unnecessarily abandoning a well supplied fortified position and marching his army into the searing heat of the desert where delirious with first it was utterly destroyed by the legendary Muslim commander Saladin on the 4th of July 1187 leading to the eventual fall of his kingdom and Jerusalem itself which is foolhardy march into the desert had now left virtually undefended after the death of King Baldwin the 4th and soon after his young son King Boardman v the Kingdom of Jerusalem was thrown into a succession crisis as two powerful camps applied for the throne with the backing of powerful men such as gerard de right fort the Grand Master of the Knights Templar and Reynald of Chatillon an influential French nobleman Guy of ruzhin on eventually prevailed and was crowned however he would not forgive those who had opposed him a grudge which would lead to disaster in their not so distant future meanwhile in the lands round the fledgling and divided Crusader state Saladin had been uniting the various Muslim factions which had been in danger of descending into in fighting instead urging them to unite in a holy war to drive out the Christians who occupied Jerusalem yet despite gathering a large base of support Saladin knew that an all-out assault on the well defended fortresses of the Crusader kingdom was an ill-advised strategy and put divisions amongst his own people still threatening to overwhelm him he had wisely made a temporary truce with King Kai to buy more time the long-established Crusader barons also knew that in order to survive in a hostile world peace and coexistence was their best bet at preserving their fiefdoms however newer arrivals to the Kingdom of Jerusalem such as Rey now that shuttle on had not traveled all the way to the Holy Land to coexist they had come to fight and carve out a name for themselves in 1187 rainout broke the truce by raiding a Muslim Caravan perhaps even assaulting Saladin sister in the raid such an attack could not go unanswered by Saladin war had come sundered in assembled a massive army of 30,000 men and planned to lure the Crusader army out of their well defended position realizing that his best chance at Victory Lane in a field battle and so he marched on Tiberias where he captured the town and laid siege to his fortress which belonged to Raymond a crusader who had previously opposed King Guy despite his wife being trapped inside the fortress Raymond urged King Guy to ignore the siege and instead keep the Crusader Army stationed in its well fortified and supplied encampment Muslim invasions had been defeated in the past by refusing to engage them in battle instead relying on letting the Muslim armies conduct long sieges on the kingdom's many castles where time and the burning Sun would eventually break the procedures will and caused the medon to return home to their families with strong defenses and easy access to water the Christian army seemed to be in the stronger position all they had to do was stay put cover the king guys still held a bitter grudge against Raymond the man who had earlier opposed succession to the throne believing that any advice he offered was delivered with malicious intent and so he decided to do the exact opposite with both the Grand Master of the Knights Templar and Reynald of Chatillon inviting the King to march out and fight King guy ignored Raymond's wise counsel and marched his army into a waterless desert to do battle with Saladin leaving behind just a handful of Knights to defend Jerusalem the 20,000 strong Crusader army marched along a waterless path while the scorching Sun beat down on them and on the constant missile attack from Saladin skirmishers only to find Saladin's main army standing between them and the area's only source of water it was now that King guy made his second mistake instead of launching an all-out attack to break through he decided to camp his army overnight on the barren hills at Hattin his army was already delirious from thirst yet another night spent in the waterless desert would only weaken them further by the next morning Saladin's forces had surrounded the crusaders camp and although the demoralized half-dead men made several valiant charges to break through the safety all hope of escape soon faded and most of the 20,000 men were slaughtered or taken as slaves King Kai and many of his Nobles were spared however the truce Baker Reynald of Chatillon was beheaded for his crimes in fielding the giant army the Crusaders many castles had been depleted of men and were now left vulnerable allowing Saladin to capture 52 towns and forts including Jerusalem in the weeks after the battle a calamity that would lead to the Third Crusade and another cycle of bloodshed just two years later as the kings of Europe desperately tried to reclaim the lost Holy Land for Christendom number two the Battle of Carranza Bosch in 1788 a simple argument over some alcohol rapidly escalated into a deadly friendly fire incident at the detachment of the Austrian army turned on itself in the night of drunken chaos and confusion that would leave hundreds or even thousands dead as confused and terrified men fired on shadows in the night that they fought for the enemy but were in fact friends the Austrian Empire had honored its alliance with Russia joining their ongoing war against the Ottoman Empire who were long-term rivals of both nations keen to drive the Ottomans back and perhaps gain new territory in the process a force of a hundred thousand Austrian soldiers was camped near the town of Carnes adesh in modern-day Romania were they prepared to launch their attack and the army settled down for the night a group of cavalry men were sent ahead to scout the area however the men failed to find the enemy instead encountering a group of merchants selling alcohol keen to seize a hard-earned opportunity to relax the men began drinking but were interrupted by a group of infantrymen who came to investigate the source of the commotion the infantryman were keen to join in with the heavy drinking but the cavalry men were reluctant to share the hall and made their feelings clear unsurprisingly an argument broke out between the two groups of soldiers as punches were thrown and insults hold in the confusion that ensued shots were fired and one of the infantryman yelled out that he had seen the Turks arrive perhaps in an effort to frighten the men who'd refused to share the alcohol however things quickly got out of hand but even that the Turks were about to attack many of the soldiers ran away back towards their camp what the rest of the army had heard the gunshots as well as the yelled warnings about the Turks arrival the camp descended into panic as men grabbed their weapons and prepared for battle while others fled for their lives into the darkness the situation made even worse by the fact that the austrian army at the time was composed of men of various different nationalities many of whom spoke different languages heightening the confusion that was unfolding convinced that they were under attack some of the Austrian soldiers fired at every shadow they saw moving in the distance believing that they were killing Ottoman soldiers when in fact it was their own side they were shooting at with dozens of men attempting to flee the camp cut down in a hail of friendly musket fire one of the officers even ordered his artillery to open fire on the swarming mass of men in the distance the devastating bombardment of shells tearing through the crowds of men as they attempted to flee to safety by Sunrise the horror of the error was revealed as hundreds or perhaps even thousands of men a dead around the camp without a single Ottoman soldier in sight by the time the Ottoman army really did arrive two days later the decimated and demoralized men remaining were easily defeated and the nearby town captured the story seems almost unbelievable and indeed the facts surrounding the battle are hotly disputed today with some arguing that it's likely the tale was simply made up or just exaggerated especially when you consider that the earliest known account of the battle was written 40 years after it supposedly took place however it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the Austrian authorities at the time might not have wanted to publicize the embarrassing incident which could have jeopardized the entire war effort or at least ruin the careers of important officials whether real made-up or exaggerated the story of the Battle of Carranza beshe highlights just how dangerous friendly fire during wartime can be with even modern armies today still plagued by the problem despite modern communications technology number one Napoleon invades Russia in the summer of 1812 the invincible military genius Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte assembled an army of six hundred and eighty thousand men to carry out an invasion designed to bring Russia to Ill thus isolating and bankrupting his eternal rivals the British and securing French domination over Europe yet his overconfident assumption that he could defeat the Russians in just a few short weeks bordered on delusion and would lead to the deaths of three hundred and eighty thousand of his men and the near complete destruction of the grand army that had confidently entered Russian territory a few months earlier despite not losing a single battle during the invasion victory eluded him as the retreating Russians followed a scorched-earth policy depriving the invaders of food and shelter while luring them deeper and deeper into the vast expanse of Russia each while marched taking the men further from home and supplies and leaving them exposed and ill-prepared for the rapidly approaching winter where disease starvation and the bitter cold finished off his battle weary veterans in early 1812 Napoleon was a commander who had grown accustomed to winning time and time again he had bested the armies of the European powers in a string of brilliant victories his genius like understanding of tactics and logistics enabling him to bring much of Europe under French control yet despite his domination of the continent Britain remained a thorn in his side with the powerful Royal Navy preventing French armies from crossing the English Channel to destroy his last major rival unable to destroy Britain on the battlefield Napoleon instead began an economic war designed to ruin the British economy by preventing British trade with the rest of Europe this embargo became known as the Continental System which all of the beaten leaders of Europe were coerced into joining by Napoleon's terrifying military might yet despite agreeing to join the Continental System after being defeated by Napoleon in 1807 by 1810 the Tsar of Russia had quietly begun trading with British merchants due to the damage the embargo was having on his own economy trade with Britain was simply too profitable to neglect however this act of betrayal would incur Napoleon's wrath furious with the Tsar's decision to break the embargo and with tensions already high over other disagreements Napoleon began making plans for a massive invasion that would force the Tsar to rejoin the Continental System and thus starve the British of money forcing them to sue for peace and sealing his victory over Europe once and for all under the guise of liberating Poland from Russian control the largest army ever assembled the European history entered Russia on the 24th of June 1812 out upwards of 600,000 men marched on Moscow Napoleon hoped to win a quick and decisive victory that would force the Tsar to the negotiating table where faced with the prospect of losing his entire country he would readily agreed to Napoleon's demands upon him and rejoin the Continental System the French army rapidly marched east through Russia winning several skirmishes and battles along the way yet after each engagement the Russian army managed to escape destruction slipping away to continue the scorched earth retreat despite this Napoleon refused to give up and pressed his army onwards deeper into desperately hoping to catch the Czar's armies and deliver a killing blow the rapid pace they said leaving the crucial supply wagons trailing ever further behind as the French advance they encountered nothing but burnt out towns ruined countryside and devastated farmland with the majority of their supply wagons now miles behind them and unable to live off the barren land starvation began to set in as the once-proud soldiers spent the night scavenging instead of sleeping the exhausted and emaciated men providing easy pickings for roving bands of Cossacks who were dispatched to capture or kill any French soldiers they could find exposed in the wilderness yet still Napoleon pressed on eventually winning a costly victory of the Battle of Borodino which was one of the bloodiest in history with 70,000 casualties inflicted on a single day however even with this victory the Russian army once again managed to retreat intact denying Napoleon of the decisive victory he's so craved the past the Moscow now lay open and undefended it's upon taking the city Napoleon was shocked to find it virtually abandoned he had captured the greatest prize of all the spiritual heartland of the Russian Empire yet the Tsar stubbornly still refused to sue for peace victory on the battlefield had not meant victory in the war and the Russians weren't aware that time and nature was on the side as each day passed Napoleon's supply shortage grew ever more severe while the bitter Russian winter loomed menacingly on the horizon with much of Moscow destroyed in a raging fire even shelter from the elements was denied to many of his soldiers and so with no prospect of the Russian surrender he had so desired materializing Napoleon was forced to withdraw from Moscow and retreat westwards in October 1812 lest his entire army starve and freeze to death in the weeks that followed the Tattered Remnants of the once Grand Army made the way on foot through what was rapidly becoming a frozen wasteland the onset of winter bringing with it an icy grave for countless thousands as the men had only been issued with summer clothing due to Napoleon's expectation of a swift victory exhausted starving stricken by contagious disease and under constant pack by Russian peasants and skirmishers the ranks of the living were slowly whittled away with each passing day and as the body count rose discipline and morale amongst the men collapsed faced with an enemy who would rather destroy their own country than surrender napoleon witnessed his men reduced to eating the few remaining horses they had with them while some of the men even ate each other in a last-ditch attempt to stay alive by the time the ragged band of survivors made it out of russia in november just 27 thousand men were still standing with a staggering 380,000 presumed dead and another 100,000 taken prisoner in just a matter of months Napoleon had lost the greatest army ever assembled in history and was left severely weakened with his reputation as invincible now being questioned by the other European powers who sensed an opportunity to finally break free from his iron grip leading to the war of the sixth coalition and Napoleon's eventual defeat and exile on Elba so those are my choices for five of the worst military blunders in history let me know which are the blunders you would have included in the list in the comments below and I'll see you again soon

Channel: Unknown5

Views: 998,646

Rating: 4.7771716 out of 5

Keywords: blunders, mistakes, history, historical, documentary, documentaries, top 5, top 10, top 15, top 20, unknown5, military, military blunders, napoleon, Teutoburg Forest, ancient history, medieval history, list videos, education, educational, facts, worst mistakes, biggest mistakes

Id: aiIsGxgzkn4

Length: 25min 22sec (1522 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 18 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/theamericanitinerant]

Very cool. Are there more of these?

[u/neckbeardbro]

Two of these should involve people who think invading Russia is a good idea.