Dien Bien Phu, Cannae, the first Gulf War... which military defeats do you think have been the greatest military defeats in history, and why?
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Originally posted by Ironduke View PostDien Bien Phu, Cannae, the first Gulf War... which military defeats do you think have been the greatest military defeats in history, and why?
The first gulf-war... Are you talking about Desert Storm? Defeat for... the US? How so?
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Given my interest in WW2, all my votes are of that era:
1. Fall of France 1940. The "impenetrable" Maginot wall manned by one of the "finest armies in the world" fell at the blink of an eye. Significance? WW1-ish battles was no longer the way one would conduct land war, and the Western Allies failed to recognize it, thus losing a major ally.
2. The opening battles of the Pacific War -- Pearl, Malaya, Philippines, Wake, Guam within the first month, then Singapore and a bulk of the South Pacific within the next couple of months. In the first months of the Pacific War, Japan won every single battle on a multi-front war against multiple Allied nations and gained control of an area larger than the size of the United States. The Japanese mobile fleet alone had destroyed five battleships, one carrier, two cruisers, seven destroyers, dozens of merchantmen, transports, and various other vessels, along with hundreds of aircraft, all within these opening months of the Pacific War.
3. Midway. Already mentioned by Kansas Bear.
4. Stalingrad. The Germans suffered 850,000 casualties, which I don't believe is the largest they had suffered in the European War (correct me if I'm wrong, please). The real significance, though, was that in addition to the setback suffered at Moscow the German Army morale was now on an irreversible downward spiral on the Russian Front.Pete
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Originally posted by Asim Aquil View Post
The first gulf-war... Are you talking about Desert Storm? Defeat for... the US? How so?
Because the Coallition didn't finish the job, and had to come back to do it again, and become bogged down in the quagmire they created by not finishing the job in the first place.When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow. - Anais Nin
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Losing a fleet at the Nile meant that Napoleon lost an army in Egypt, and eventually an empire.
Losing a skirmish at Freeman's Farm meant the British lost a battle at Saratoga, and eventually the most valuable colony in the history of the world.
THOSE are big goddam' crushing losses, folks.
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general Castor last stand. all regiment was regarded as best indian killers, Indians killed every one of his man, using terrain and lever action yellow boy, Castors man were armed with single shot trap door rifles, none survived that batle(or more likely slauther), after that indians choped bodies in pieces. it's their belif that dead enemy will meet you on the other side, and continue fighting you, for that reason indians choped dead enimys to pieces, so they won't fight them on the other side."Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" B. Franklin
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Battle of Amiens, August 1918 - broke the stalemate in the Trenches once and for all, and marked the end of trench warfare worldwide. Germany surrendered 3 months later.
Teutoburger Wald - Stopped the Eastwards expansion of the Roman Empire in Europe dead, for all time. Had Germany been Romanised, the subsequent history of the world would be unrecognisably different.Rule 1: Never trust a Frenchman
Rule 2: Treat all members of the press as French
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Originally posted by pdf27 View PostBattle of Amiens, August 1918 - broke the stalemate in the Trenches once and for all, and marked the end of trench warfare worldwide. Germany surrendered 3 months later.
Teutoburger Wald - Stopped the Eastwards expansion of the Roman Empire in Europe dead, for all time. Had Germany been Romanised, the subsequent history of the world would be unrecognisably different."Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."
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What about the battle of Lake Hassan/Halhin-Gol? I think it was in '39 or '41, where Zhukov tricked the Japanese to start a preemptive strike against Russian troops that seemed to be preparing for an attack, yet the Japanese were met with camouflaged fortifications and a counterattack.
It ended with a defeat for the Kwantung army where the Russians "avenged" Tsuhima and most importantly "scared off" the Japanese, forcing them into neutrality. Thus, the Red Army could move their Siberian troops into Europe, adding even more man- and firepower to the front to fight the Germans, which proved to be vital in Operation Uran.I'm sorry for my English - can make grammar mistakes sometimes :(
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I am going to list two events that combined to create the modern Russian mindset that paved the way for two world wars.
The defeat of the Keivan Rus by the Mongols and just a few short years later the defeat of the Tuetonic Orders by Alexander Nevsky. The two combined to create a half euro-half asian mindset that medled fuedlaism with the idea of a God-King that kept Russia stuck in the middle ages for far to long and led directly to October 1917.
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