Embarrassing Military Fails in History
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Credit:
Show Created by Daniel Turner (B.A. (Hons) in History, University College London)
Narrator:
Chris Kane
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Love your videos Keep up the good work
Pin of shame. Sellout
Stop, I HAVE 10 MILLION POWER IN RISE OF KINGDOMS
I Love Your Videos! And i Like @SimpleHistory!
@@engineergaming8920 thanks I will unsubscribe from this biased channel
Fun fact, after the British Invasion, a British Commander informed Lord West over the phone by saying, “I’m afraid we’ve invaded Spain, but we don’t think they’ve noticed.”
Lol
spanish people didnt defend it lol, the mayor do be capping
haha, that's a hilarious fact, The British invasion of Spain must have been quite stealthy.
@@Kingthere haha, the mayor be capping, huh? That's wild, bro.
The Most british explonation i read
The Royal Marines landing on south Spanish coast as opposed to Gibraltar for a training exercise is the only military blunder were you can see the funny side.
Imagine this scene recreated by Mr Bean
haha, that's a pretty funny military blunder, bro! Gotta love those unexpected training exercises.
@@wilsonweiseng6485 Haha, that would be hilarious! Mr. Bean putting his comedic twist on that scene would be pure gold.
@@SOLDAT_MENDES British officers and their poor map reading skills
@@wilsonweiseng6485 More Monty Python
That Spanish mayor has a great sense of humor.
Those Fisherman sure showed those invading Brits!
I remember that incident of the British invading Spain by mistake. My sibling and I's immediate reaction: "Gibraltar has a big rock, the beach you landed on doesn't - kind of a dead giveaway, chaps!"
Lmao!
@repentandbelieveinJesusChrist2 Shut up.
@repentandbelieveinJesusChrist2Take your propoganda elsewhere
Im Swiss and The Swiss Army had a similar incident when a Swiss Infantry Platoon falsely marched into Lichtenstein during a trainig exercice.
the swiss never invade anyone though lichtenstein must of been wildly confused like um switzerland why are you ending your centuries long none aggression policies. @@thomascaduff5731
My favorite military disaster has to the MISADVENTURES of the Baltic fleet sailing to Port Arthur during the Ruso-Japanesse war
It wasn't the Baltic Fleet but the second pacific squadron
Do you see torpedo boats? (cookie if you get the reference)
@RadioactiveSherbet what Japanese one's in the north sea
@@edwardhuggins84 Yeah. That "event" is mentioned in video about the 2nd Pacific Squadron by Drachinifel (which is where I learned of it.)
@@RadioactiveSherbet No torpedo boats, but I did see snakes and lizards all over the deck . . . and a parrot called me the most disagreeable name.
0:32 Operation Tiger 2:40 Sponsor 4:18 Battle of Crete 7:04 British Invasion of Spain 9:17 Charge of the Light Brigade 12:39 Battle of Adwa 15:13 Battle of Karansebes 17:39 Battle of Red Cliffs
You're a hero!
@@forrix6294thank you😊
Not the man we deserved, but the man we needed.
2:40 *Operation Sponsor
@@cristsan4171Operation Money*
For the British marines accidentally invading Spain, I half expected John Cleese as Sir Lancelot to pop out and say, "Sorry. Sorry, everyone. We sometimes get carried away."
'We've invaded Spain, but I think we got away with it;
And Eric Idle would pop up from the crowd and yell "Albatross!!!"
@@williammitchell4417 What flavor is it?
Haha, That s what I was thinking. It sounds like a Monte Python skit.
I imagine the scene from Life of Brian where an entire Roman legion is searching a tiny apartment.
The fact the Para’s in Crete got smoked so heavily and still went on to do what they did is an absolute testimate to their program.
I mean their loss to capture ratio was insane. Far from failure for the Germans
@@hawkmattz4215 I mean their loses were so high that this was the last major para operation the no-no Germans attempted. And don't forget that they captured Crete only after the gliders and transport planes continued to land and bring in reinforcements... while the Allies had communication problems.
@@TheWoollyFrog Communication problems? The entire first day was a shooting gallery of gently floating Nazi's.
@@Joseph-ic8xdand the Allied suffered almost 3,500 casualties (of which just over 1,700 were killed) and almost 12,000 were taken prisoner. The Royal Navy suffered 1 aircraft carrier, two battleships, six cruisers and seven destroyers badly damaged and another three cruisers and six destroyers sunk... German troops surrendered on march 1945.
@@hawkmattz4215 Why is the myth of Crete "disaster" still a thing?? It was a costly victory by Axis, but it is by no means a fail, let alone an embarrassing one. German paratroopers captured an Island that was defended by force twice their size and they inflicted significantly higher casualties on an opponent. The capture of Crete was a very important task since it staying in British hands would be a significant headache for the Axis. Axis didn't have naval superiority or capacity to mount a naval invasion so airborne invasion was the only option. Yes, it was a costly one, but still, it was a victory and a rather impressive one at that.
That Gibraltar incident reminds me a bit of an incident that happened in the Czech Republic in 2020. Due to a navigation error, several Polish soldiers occupied a chapel on the territory of the Czech Republic and prevented the locals from accessing it until they were informed that they were not in Poland but in the Czech Republic.
You cant fully blame the Pols. They forgot the recipe for ice.
Easy mistake to make. I actually entered Poland by mistake from the Czech Republic by train one time. 😄
I'm surprised that wasn't mentioned here. That was a bigtime screwup.
@@newsieboys1171How xddd
My great great great grandfather survived the Charge of the Light Brigade, as a corporal in the 17th Lancers. Last summer in London I met a Kazakh gentleman whose ancestors had commanded a cossack unit which tried to plug the gap caused when the Light Brigade eventually reached the Russian gunners. A sobering but tantalising prospect that our ancestors quite possibly crossed swords. We had a jolly good chat over a few drams of whisky.
Damn your great great great grandpa must be a veteran 🗿🍷
Kazakhstan, greatest country in the world All other countries are run by little girls Kazakhstan, number one exporter of potassium All other countries have inferior potassium Kazakhstan, home of Tinshein swimming pool It's length thirty meter, width six meter Filtration system a marvel to behold It remove 80% of human solid waste Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan, you very nice place From plains of Tarashek to northern fence of Jewtown Kazakhstan friend of all except Uzbekistan They very nosey people, with bone in their brain Kazakhstan, industry best in world We invented toffee and trouser belt Kazakhstan's ----------, cleanest in the region Except of course for Turkmenistan's Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan, you very nice place From plains of Tarashek to northern fence of Jewtown Come grasp mighty ----- of our leader From junction with the testes to tip of its face!
@@muhammadishfaq3907 You need a lesson in bragging! 🤣
My great great grandpa was actually the pontoon boat your great great grandpa was on, they might have known each other
a turk and a brit walk into a bar.....
Also never forget, a Toilet destroyed an entire submarine
And then the surviving crew got captured
Bruh moment
U-1206 to be exact
@@SeanDahle correct
My dad if he workerd in a dock
I wouldn't call the accidental invasion of Spain an embarrassment because Spain themselves clearly took it in stride and both side had their fun with it.
amazing how not so long ago they were mortal enemies, but then such a foible happening later on after a long war had already happened previously is a matter of humor. it's the thing about wars of money. wars of money end when the rich have made enough or die. on the other hand, wars of religion or ideals continue killing for millennia. it's a major relief, when the leader says "do it for your country" instead of "do it for your god". because you know it'll be over relatively soon or at least in the space of just one human lifetime instead of several.
@holdencolfield6676 well to be fair if the British were to actually invade Spain I think they would bring more than a few guys... it was pretty obvious it wasn't an invasion force and was a few confused men
@@konnerkramer329 fair point!
What about the USA's incompetent retreat from Afghanistan?
@byrons1339 That was Bidens fault everyone from day one including Trump said if we just pull the ripcord on the drawdown things will spiral out of control quickly Trump while in office had a plan properly drawn up that involved a somewhat steady and slow evacuation that would have kept things somewhat calm and gave less problems but obviously Bidens ilk threw the plan out once he took office and like everything he done since day one he made a complete shambles of it.
Honestly, I was fully expecting The Battle Of Little Bighorn to be on here. General Custer was way in over his head believing that superior firepower was gonna take down the Sioux, never realizing the enemy had a superior positional advantage and outnumbered them 3,000 to 700.
And superior firearms.
Right, Bay of Pigs 1961 as well.
It's an Amercian chanel they tend to gloss over their owns mistakes.
@@TheBraderz67 we don’t make mistakes, just happy accidents.
@@TheBraderz67no really, I’m sure your side never made any mistakes at all, probably someone else’s fault.
Bro shoulda mentioned the navy seals who got caught storming a beach in mogadishu and were met with cameras and tourists.
Literally the thumbnail.
@@v.emiltheii-nd.8094royal marines and Navy seals are abit different my friend
@@v.emiltheii-nd.8094 yeah but those arent seals lol, it was also at night
It was SEALs and Marine Force Reconnaissance, and the reporters had been tipped off by the Pentagon ahead of time about the landing site for the purpose of getting good coverage, but the notice to keep the reporters away from the landing site until after the troops landed was sent out too late.
"Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Winston Churchill.
He spoke facts.
Ghost Winston Churchill: I'm looking at you Putin.
time for the 2nd battle of posada
And here we are
Says the guy who tossed away lives at Gallipoli like they were scraps off his plate.
Germans: *land on Crete* meanwhile the local Cretans: Time for the durability test.
Yes and then they got tested too, the durability of Kandanos (and its population) wasn't that high.
Cretans*
@@BibleBlack666laughs in Berlin getting razed
The battle of Karansebes has to be THE most embarrassing defeat. Defeat? I don't even think it could be considered a defeat if you're firing on your own guys.
The absolute worst case of friendly fire where you get a perma-ban from life if killed.
The only positive of the Charge of the Light Brigade was the Russians thought the English Calvary were maniacs who would gladly die to advance on their positions and it scared them greatly. Also, it was not mentioned the gallantry of the French calvary who advanced to save their British ally and diverted a lot of the Russian fire which is how the Light Brigade escaped.
bongs made it up actually, russians probably thought british were retarded
Custer at Little bighorn, the British at Isandlwana, Operation Barbarossa, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the French at Dien bien phu, Lloyd ferdinandall at Kasserine pass, US entry into Vietnam, Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, the list goes on
Well Confederates are idiot traitors, so not surprising
The Zulus made their king proud. Amandla! 🇿🇦✊🏼🇺🇸
The Soviets won both the Winter War and the Continuation war. Casualties don't come into it, wasn't "The loss outweighed the gain" the Soviets controlled the Finnish Economy and took alot of their commercial economy and resources for well over after the death of Stalin.
@@eaglesfan226 and the 24th Regiment of Foot made their queen proud
The Disaster of Annual
the spanish mayor's speech about defending the town the british accidentaly landed on, is pretty tounge and cheeck about the incdent imo. as other than giving some fisherman a mini heartattack, nothing else really happened
Propaganda
So good.
@@lpedr0l that to tho who would use that as proaganda?
@@Bluepizza1684probably the Spanish Mayor.
@@Bluepizza1684 Sorry mate, I don't get what you meant by "that to tho"
"Slaughtered by enraged Cretins." Never thought I'd ever hear that.
"Cretans", but unfortunately the two words do sound basically the same.
Ah, the red cliff was more incredible than embarrassing. The masterful mind of zhuge liang predicted an un-seasonal southern wind as the army of wei came from the north. Had this wind not come the fire attack would have failed. Wei's strategists covered everything they could, but the weather is difficult to predict, especially back then. It is never embarrassing to lose to the sleeping dragon. The embarrassing part was cao cao and his significantly reduced forces running all the way back to north china and after this devastating loss, wei was never able to make a serious push south ever again.
Some historians believe that the burning of Cao Cao's army isn't from failed into ruse, but due to plague occured in his army and old way to deal with plague is to burn the corpse and ship of infected. Cao Cao want to hid this issue so said his ship burned from enemy ruse which opponent choose to take credit from it.
Also Cao Cao had sent a spy to the Sung clan, an idiot who was supposed to learn of their secrets. Instead he took a letter, which was a trap by the Sung clan, and the letter describes the Cao cao' s navy trainers( or was it commanders) were secretly sabotages for the Sung clan, they're not but Cao cao' s spy was sure the information was genuine. So the Sung clan made Cao cao executed two of his men and found out the hard way
@@MrAnonymous00100I heard it was ocean sickness or something like that since the troops weren't used to navy warfare
@@MrAnonymous00100 well I am not some historians
Yeah, the Battle of Red Cliff was definitely a remarkable feat of strategy by Zhuge Liang. The unpredictable southern wind played a crucial role in the success of the fire attack. Losing to the sleeping dragon is no embarrassment, and it had long-lasting effects on Wei's ability to advance south. Impressive stuff.
“You’re a superpower, but who paid the price with the endless destruction of Russian lives!” Rasputin
ERB!
🌽
Idk but that kind of sounds cool.
Ok
"Hey, man, it's all about the consequences of power, right? Every superpower has its costs, and unfortunately, Russian lives paid a heavy price. History can be brutal like that."
The British Invasion of Spain is the only comedic one on the list because no one got hurt and even the most well trained and competent soldier can make a mistake.
I understand not everyone is talented to lead, but I thought through climbing the military ranks, if someone is able to become a 4 star general or any senior level, he or she should be talented enough to lead. If not, then the problem is not the person at the position, but the system that puts him there.
Dumb luck
Meritocracy is a relatively new invention. In the old days military commanders were appointed for having the right family name. The idea was that since elites had the means to educate their kids in a variety of subjects (including matters of war), those kids would grow up to be good leaders. That didn't always work out. And even with the meritocratic system of today, corruption still allows individuals to grab ranks they don't deserve due to family wealth or social capital.
@@TheWoollyFrog kinda explains why back in the day when the emperor would execute a who clan when it's one man's fault
Got that right..probably paid for rank...or knew the right people
I think from Lt. Colonel on up its a Congressional approval. So most of those ranks are political in nature. Also, during times of peace and not life and death, complacency happens. It's a complicated situation and this is a simplified answer but here you are.
I like how the sponsor shows greece and when it ends it shows about crete.
crete is apart of Greece lol
@@Nicholas7137 Nope its part of Türkiye
@@Nicholas7137 i know dude.
@@DespothLord Turks are from central Asia they do not own Anatolia,Cyprus or the rest of Greece
@@user-no4su7je2nThat may be where they originated but the nation of Turkey does at least officially hold anatolia and arguably a part of cyprus…
When you included an animation of a Union general being shot in the intro, I was ready to come in to General Sedgewicks defense, because you had previously made a mockery of him in a different video. Gen Sedgewick was a beloved general, and was extremely intelligent. His death was, to put it lightly, really unexpected, as rifled muskets weren't in wide use at the time. His death sent ripples throughout the army, and he was mourned by many, even by some Confederate officers who had known him.
The Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna, after winning the battle of the Alamo, set up a camp on the banks of the San Jacinto River and left this position without sentinels. In 18 minutes, 1,900 Texans defeated all the Mexican army due to an omission by their general.
Didn't help that the Mexicans were having a Siesta. The Texians (they called themselves that at the time) knew that. Also, the USA was definitely looking for a fight in the Mexican-American war, but Mexico clearly wasn't trying to avoid one either. Kind of an L on them
Oops! Santa Anna's omission of leaving the camp without sentinels was a major blunder. In just 18 minutes, the Texans took advantage and defeated the Mexican army. Talk about a costly mistake.
@@dolphingoreeaccount7395 haha, siesta or not, the Texans took advantage of the situation! And yeah, both sides were ready for a fight in the Mexican-American war. It was an L for Mexico indeed.
Man tried to be Napoleon of the Americas and Alamo was a Pyrrhic Victory, after that Sam Houston cleaned the Santa Anna mess.
'Two for Texas,' a movie that came out a while back about that battle. Also was included in the latest 'Alamo' remake, I think in 2005. Short and rather one-sided, but still intense, in my opinion.
8:50 invading for just 5 minutes truly goes to show how successfully invasion was
Talk about top military successes
Bot
nah, bro, invading for just 5 minutes doesn't really make it a successful invasion. It's more like a failed attempt or a minor skirmish.
@@SOLDAT_MENDESYeah, and it was a embarrassing moment.
“Perpetrated by hopeless half-wits claiming to be commanders of men.” …BARS
I was expecting a story about the former danish navy frigate HDMS Peder Skram, that during a training session, accidentally fired a live Harpoon missile into a summerhouse area, severing several powerlines on it's way and blew up 4 summerhouses and damaging additional 130. No people were killed or hurt.
Reminds me of the USS William D. Porter, a U.S. Naval Destroyer whose mistakes included shooting a live torpedo at the USS Iowa, which U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt happened to be on board.
A Danish uboat also shoot a torpedo into a beach outside a summerhouse area by accident. It blew up, but only made a hole in the ground.
@Scrapyard24c I remember that, this was covered by thefatelectrician
shocked in finally seeing the man behind the voice for such a long time now and on top of that. he mentions the game i have been invested in for the past 3 years. amazing game and nice to finally put a face to the voice
Your using the Term battleship, for a landing craft support ship, i feel there are a few mistakes in this bit. I don't mean this as hostile critisums but prehap when you write your script, verify the proper classes, because a battle ship and a landing craft support vessel are vastly different. You also use missles instead of torpedos, which are different even refering to missle in the general can cause confusion.
Also E-boats. Wtf are those?
@@alexturnbackthearmy1907boats made by tesla
You're right, battleships and landing craft support ships are indeed different. And I'll make sure to clarify the distinction between missiles and torpedoes to avoid any confusion.
@@alexturnbackthearmy1907 E-boats, also known as Schnellboote or S-boats, were fast attack craft used by the German Kriegsmarine during World War II. They were armed with torpedoes, Flak guns, and machine guns, and played a significant role in naval warfare.
@@SOLDAT_MENDES Thanks. Never heard them called that way, its either Schnellbort or torpedo boat.
These visuals are AWESOME, makes me enjoy history even more!
The Italian loss in Ethiopia is even worse when you consider it's about 1 combat soldier for every 2.5 support soldiers. So losing 9,000 captured or killed out of 20,000 amounts to losing nearly every combat soldier and significant numbers of support units captured. That force was virtually wiped off the map.
It reminds me of an incident a few decades ago. NATO was having an exercise and some US vehicles were going to take a civilian car ferry from Denmark to Norway. They ended up in Sweden and were met by Swedish police who rejected the squad. I don't remember which ferry they then took.
Hello from Detroit Michigan brother thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise and for taking us along with you on your adventure through time
Of all the military fails that are on the list, the battle of karanzabes is probably the most craziest military fails that we have ever seen and how chaotic it really is, I mean it only happened only because of getting drunk.
and it's probably fake
Non-combat but rather hilarious addition: In 1935 the Mauna Loa volcano of Hawaii erupted and lava flows threatened the town of Hilo. The Army Air Corps responded by dropping bombs containing 355 pounds of TNT on the volcano in an effort to divert them. This failed quite spectacularly. Not only did the bombs fail to divert the lava flows, but several failed to detonate, leaving the area with a combined erupting volcano/unexploded ordinance situation. So basically if anyone asks, the answer to “Has the US Army ever bombed a volcano?” is a resounding “Yes.”
Ok. Accidentally invading an ally through training is too funny. Glad both sides had a laugh in that. 😂
Sounds like the movie Stripes!
The fallschirjager in 1941 were unable to carry their own weapons as the were to heavy so they were armed only with knifes of pistols and had to look for supply drops that contained their main weapons. Great video still
You gotta admit though, despite its weight, The FG42 Fallschirmjägergewehr 42 was a pretty innovative/ awesome firearm with its open / closed bolt design for single fire accuracy and better cooling for auto. I wish they were more common.
@@JRath905The FG-42 may be advance in the time but does the gun will change the Battle of Crete even produced in substantial numbers? I think not since it will be dropped in separate weapon crates and the battle will be the same Plus this battle is the last hurrah of fallschirmjäger being airworthy. It was noted by Kurtz student that Crete is the graveyard of the fallschirmjäger
@@JRath905the FG42 was being designed and built after Operation Merkur. Back then they were armed with pistols, Mp40s, k98k and MG34.
@@JRath905It was an overly complicated and over-engineered gun. It would be better if it was just a closed bolt only design.
We finally see the gentleman who narrates this great bits of history. Great job with this great channel! 👍
Napoleon's march to Moscow qualifies too. He basically destroyed his momentum and empire in a futile campaign against an enemy that was more interested in bleeding his army than fighting straight away.
Army:"The army don't make mistakes son" Me: ._.
I thought Custer and The Battle of Little Bighorn would’ve been on here for sure.
I think this could become a series as there are so many examples 😮
7:04 let the first person who never made a mistake at work cast the first stone.
When you said led by their unit commander. I totally heard eunich commander and was like was that statement necessary 😂😂
"should we hatch a plan to frag the co?" "yeah" "how should we go about it, cut off his genitals?" "nah, he came out of the academy that way"
That is not at all what I thought u looked like
Videos like these are important because it helps us learn from our mistakes
The American Civil War battle of Cold Harbor, 1864, would have made a good addition to this list. General Grant completely dropped the ball with his army, sending 5000 men to their deaths in less than 20 minutes, due to poor planning of all kinds, over confidence, and selfishness. The carnage that followed the 2 waves of attacking Union troops was so bloody, so quick, so complete, that the 3rd wave of infantry refused to charge when given the order. Then Grant would not allow the wounded to be evacuated from the field, because to him, that would imply he lost, and his ego would not have it. Ironically, though, some Confederate soldiers left their emplacements to rescue the nearest wounded Union soldiers. Only after the battle was completely over, and the Confederates had left, did Grant allow the evacuation of fallen soldiers, but it was too late - all but 2 of them had died. Later, however, Grant himself said he would always regret the attack at Cold Harbor. And he should. Perhaps that is where he earned the nickname 'The Butcher.'
This guy teaches me more about war than my history teacher
Its not always war for history teachers to teach their students they need to follow the syllabus
Awesome to see an event from The Three Kingdoms. Even better when you got the names correct. 👍
So, this is where the poem Charge of the Light Brigade came from.
Just to note, Cao Cao's clan name was not 'Wei' 魏 it was "Cao' 曹. Wei comes from his personal fiefdom, the Duchy [213 AD] and later the Kingdom [216 AD] bestowed on him by the then Emperor Xian of Han.
Damn this makes me wanna play Dynasty Warriors!! Wei Yan was my guy!
2:16 isn't a battleship, it's an LST
Hopefully there's a part 2 of this video, showcasing more failures like the Bay of Pigs 1961.
The poem "Charge of the Light Brigade" inspired the 1983 Iron Maiden song "The Trooper."
really? i like that song it goes hard
@@strazed1it's a pretty dope song.
I saw the movie
@@furimindusties5736 pretty overplayed but yes definitely a dope song
@@eaglesfan2261936 & 1967
Way to go Simple History!
As for the Battle of Karansebes, that goes to show reality is often stranger / more ridiculous than fiction.
I wouldn't call the last one an embarrassing fail but rather a genius way to fend off a larger army.
As a Briton I would like to point out that this video demonstrates how we managed to persuade the world that we invaded Spain just by an innocent navigational accident. So we can't really be blamed. I see reputation-saving opportunity here. Now all we have to do is persuade the world we thought Egypt, South Africa, America, Canada, the Bahamas, India, Burma , Singapore, and Hong Kong were just misguided attempts by the Mersey ferry to find Birkenhead. Then maybe they'd let us off? 🤔
Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake
Thumbnail: "WE'RE SEIZING THIS NUDE BEACH!!!!...For freedom!"
16:22 A new definition of the enemy conquering you without firing a single shot.
I'm surprised that the Battle of Little Bighorn (AKA Custer's Last Stand) wasn't included in this list.
That and the entirety of Vietnam. But y'know Americans won't talk about that.
@@sharpshotm16Vietnam was marked by multiple military successes. The battles were all victory. It was the South Vietnamese who lost the war.
@@emberfist8347 The south Vietnamese did lose the war, but so did the American populous. 282 thousand US and allied dead. Many more wounded. War crimes by both sides, US diverting funds to Vietnam rather than the ongoing civil rights issue, invasion of neutral countries (Laos and Cambodia) 168 billion dollars spent. And for what. You may have inflicted more deaths on VC and NVA (plus Chinese support) than they did on US or ARVN, but when the country falls almost immediately after you leave, with little to no progress from 1964 to 1972, and the deaths of countless civilians (See My Lai massacre) with 30% of US troops on hard drugs to cope, and many more with long lasting PTSD, are you really winning? Just because you pushed back the Tet offensive after a week, just because you suffered less casualties than the opposing side, does not mean a war was won. The US should not have been involved in Vietnam in the first place, should not have funded the French when it was under french control, should not have set up Diem as a tyrannical leader to the South Vietnamese, despite their protest, (See Quang Duc) and just to commit massacres, and I do not deny NVA / VC massacres of POWs, but to then abandon the country to save their own skin, abandoning Thieu after saying that Vietnamisation would work. The US fought a pointless ideological proxy war, starving the US citizens of funding for social issues, sentenced many to their deaths, and ravaged the Vietnamese with chemical warfare (see agent orange) and napalm that still cause cancer and saw the destruction of many civilians homes. That is not winning a war.
@@sharpshotm16 Martin Luther King Jr. said, "The promises of 'The Great Society' have shot down on the battlefields of Vietnam." He was right.
@@marioneno Fully agree. That war cost US development many years
Ah yes, nothing like watching a video that released 4 minutes ago at 10PM after trying to book a cruise only to realise all of the rooms were booked ._.
Mediterranean?
@@bvllseye4068 yep
One "small" blunder can make the whole house of cards collapse.
You are like a history teacher for yong kids you are truly a good man
Well, it starts with the classic mortar fails...
Spanish fisherman:"You no come back ever. I don't like you British soldier. And all you British soldier look alike!" British soldier:"Huh? We all look alike, eh? Well, look who's talking!"
More of these, even if shorter, i love how silly these are
Intresting stories are only told by real man thank you for your time great story telling
It so rare to see simple history teaching about ancient chinese history
Where is the Emu War?
7:54 i like how the marines are portraid with fearless faces making the marines, while also drinking tea, making them British. 😂
You know you fuc*ed up when your paratroopers are killed by farmers with pitchforks.
The airborne invasion of Crete had far reaching consequences as it was ultimately the cause of the scraping of operation Herkules which meant that Malta got to fight on! Although, I think Herkules would probably have been an even bigger disaster had it gone ahead.
I'm from the UK but I've been living in southern Spain for the past year. I also happen to live a 20 minute drive from Gibraltar and I've visited the territory many times since my move. It's a nice little reminder of home and the people there are very friendly and pro-British 🇬🇧🇬🇮
After playing Dynasty warriors for so long it is strange to see Cao Cao and Wei not wearing blue XD And it was Pang Tong who convinced Cao Cao to chain up his ships to shop his men from getting sea sick, but that was part of Zhou Yu's and Zhuge Liang's plan
History will always remind us about mistakes being made in battle.
The civilians on Crete should’ve all received the Greek equivalent of the Medal of Honor
Most who assulted German paratroopers didnt survive the war
In red cliff movie cao cao beheaded both of his naval officers over some conspiracies treason thing and one of his guy said if they beheaded both there will be no one command the fleet and cao cao was too late to stop exercution and both get beheaded and the fleet command collapse and then get destroyed during battle started Ps: all of this was set up by Zhou yu thinking that his officers donating the arrow and try to kill him But he realised he was being tricked
Someone in the comments said the one sentence that nails all of this, and it's a quote from the art of war by Sun Tzu,and that is never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake. I think that sums up in 1 short sentence all the military debacles of history and the people who made them.
"Your commander is in the moor." "il est mort?" Alleged exchange between a local farmer and French mercenaries in the 1100's in the Netherlands, after which the mercenaries retreated, splitting the invasion force in two, creating an opportunity for frisian warriors to destroy the invading army.
I was lucky my grandfather was on the other side of the island of kriti (in the hospital) when the Nazis landed right next to his hometown But my grand uncles were some of the ones getting rifles from museums and using pitchforks
I like how simple history means not knowing the difference between a missile and a torpedo
Other examples: King Guy vs Saladin, Romania in 1916, WW2 Italy in Greece & Egypt, USSR in Finland, Pickett's Charge, Carrus vs Parthians, Battle of Teutoburg Forest, Battle of the Somme, Battle of Vaslui, 2nd siege of Vienna, King Harold vs William the Conqueror Final Battle, Battle of Agincourt, Dunkirk, France during the Ardennes campaign, Santa Anna's siesta, operation cottage, eagle claw, John Chapman's last stand, Bay of pigs, Paraguay during War of the Triple Alliance.
The Finns were amazing in their fight against the Soviet army. Even though they lost, the Finnish army used incredible tactics against their enemy, and it resulted in total chaos for the Russians: What was supposed to take 6 weeks (according to some sources) at the most, it took 6 months, and almost a million Soviet soldiers to finally achieve what they wanted. Also, from what I heard, Stalin was said to have lost his temper at his army's delay at some point, when the weeks started turning into months. One officer (or whoever) that bore the brunt of this verbal assault, was said to have responded angrily himself, reminding Stalin that he killed 90 percent of his officers - including his best generals. This did not go unnoticed by Hitler, and probably emboldened him even more to invade the USSR, and Stalin's military purges and complacency almost lost him his own country.
@@marioneno anyone who willingly implements communism is not the brightest of the bunch. in fact, they arent bright at all
Ouch... Joseph II. and his "superior" skills... 😆😆😆😆 He was called in my country as "King with a hat (instead of crown)". The only thing he did, was making trouble for the people... 😂😂😂😂
“Ohhh, what a humiliating defeat! Ik when I am beat, so of course take a seeeat!” Ivan the Terrible
Cringe
@@believeinmatterdude, so uncool
Epic rap battles of history!
@@corymorimacori1059 signing in to your other profile to leave a comment on your own comment 😂
Haha, Ivan the Terrible had his fair share of defeats, no doubt, Taking a seat after a humiliating defeat is sometimes the best move.
5:47 best sentences in the video
Honorable mention: Custard’s Last Stand
I feel the entire Russian Civil War and Chinese Civil War (the 1949 one, not the trillion other ones) fit in this category. Oh and maybe some of our wars in the Middle East, except those were more or less short term successes that collapsed hard over time.
How are those "military fails" though? They are an entire conflict made up of hundreds of thousands of smaller battles that eventually decided the fate of billions of men, not a single battle that one side failed due to incompetence.
@@leoli2450 incompetent heads of leadership that basically lost the war before any battle was fought. Victories on the field are useless if the momentum behind those can't shift with it.
russian civil war, chinese civil war, middle east wars - a whole lot of chaos and shifting fortunes, bro, Some short-term successes, but long-term stability can be a challenge.
@@leoli2450 true, bro, The Russian Civil War and Chinese Civil War were complex conflicts with numerous battles and factors at play. It's more about the overall outcome and the impact on the nations involved rather than individual military fails.
@@SOLDAT_MENDES we took the Middle East easily, but that was because we opened the war with conventional warfare. It was the guerilla war that followed that spelled our downfall.
Operation Tiger was used as the basis for the plot of an episode of Foyle's War (British murder mystery series set in WWII). An American officer who had to count all the dead American soldiers harassed a British officer who'd screwed up and made it possible for the Germans to make their attack...to the point he committed suicide, if I recall correctly. I'd always wondered about the truth of the event the episode was based on. There's an excellent Chinese film that features the battle of Red Cliffs. If I could remember the title, I'd say, but that was a year or two ago I saw it (I think I have a copy, but I'm in the hospital, so I can't check right now.
Battle of Yiling: Liu Bei ordered the main Camp to be set up under the trees. Lu Xun the Wu Grand Commander took the opportunity to use fire since it's a dry season and successfully defeated the Shu Army who took alot of casualties.
Small correction.. Operation Tiger was first cald Operation Stone. It was supposed to take place in Norway but the Germans found out about it. A girl called Jinni Froins poisoned the crew of 4 amphibious artillery peices with exactly to much chemicals in them. So the Danish built a tunnel and all was sorted without any information leaked. Imagine if this not had happened.. We would all had to dig hard in our family trees to avoid beeing punished. Peace!
"Embarrasing military fails" the entire soviet military:
Current Indian military ( sunk its own submarine, shot down its own helicopter, lots of planes crash...)
@@tforaodgyes lol
@@AfraimAtta an exhausted Germany
@@AfraimAtta an exhausted germany that was having to deal with a real threat the allies and was fighting an enemy being supported by said allies and the allies having turned their resources and factories into Ash a union that only could hold because of germanys weakness and the allies and their human wave strategys
At least they won WW2
16:25 anyone know if they ever found the guys that did this? That’s absolutely insane
5:29: I don't know what I'd find worse if I had been a Fallschirmjäger during the invasion of Crete: Getting down to the ground with a violent bout of dizziness, or getting killed while suffering said dizziness in mid-air. 8:55: The shortest, funniest and un-bloodiest invasion in human history! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 16:03: One's worst enemy can truly be yourself.