Comments on: Top 10 Utterly Useless Military Commanders

By: edzyl

edzyl — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:02:09 +0000

I agree with James. Elephants, Chariots, and other cavalry cannot withstand the phalanx formation of the Macedonians. That s why Darius lost the battle. The infantry of the persian empire was weak too against both alexanders cavalry and infantry. In my opinion, Darius was just an unlucky general to be caught in a war against the inevitable might of the greatest general in history

By: edzyl

edzyl — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 08:54:38 +0000

Darius III was not very useless after all. He lost the war against alexander because alexander had a much well armored and well trained soldiers. Alexander was a great commander too. In my opinion every commander in history cannot withstand alexander’s might in battle. Darius was just an unlucky general to be attacked and annihilated by the inevitable force of alexander the great.

By: ericvg16

ericvg16 — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:11:07 +0000

I would also add Lord Byron (no, not the poet) during the English Civil War. He had Nantwich surrounded around a sheet of ice, but refused to send his army over. When the ice melted soon after, his army was cut in half and routed. Then, at Marston Moor, he attacked too soon, and lost most of England to Cromwell and his Roundheads.

By: Lee Metford

Lee Metford — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 02:31:05 +0000

I would swap out Westmoreland for Colin Powell. We came out on top during the Tet offensive. Sun Tze my not have favored war by attrition, but Clauswitz didn’t have a problem with it. Colin Powell ended the Gulf War too soon for reasons neither of military or political importance. He let total victory slip through Basra. I would also swap out Gamelin for Hitler who was a disastrous military leader. Hitler believed himself to the master tactics, operations and strategy and clearly was not. He had one of the greatest military minds at his disposal and if he wasn’t ignoring them he was berating them.

By: Mecha-fan

Mecha-fan — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:21:45 +0000

I would like to disagree with the number 1 spot. You should also know that his men were facing tactical skirmishes while they were in a long line about 2 miles long that is perfect for hit-and-run attacks. And that was way before the start of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, which has happened when at least 1/3 of Varus’ army has been wiped out (not counting the civilians who came along) and were fatigued and demoralized.

Also, Arminius is an Elite Roman Officer and the right hand of Varus so it’s obvious that he had trust in his second man until he was betrayed. Long story short, Varus doesn’t deserve to be in this list. No at all…

By: Civil War buff

Civil War buff — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:58:57 +0000

McClellan should be swapped with Burnside. Just my opinion

By: Levi Aldebol

Levi Aldebol — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:11:31 +0000

I’ve read some about some of the generals on Bill’s list, and man, these guys were totally incompetent. Marcus Crassus was #1 on the Book of Lists 10 Worst Generals in History, and Philip VI, Winder, Santa Anna, Burnside, Nivelle, and Gamelin all made the list. A few that were on that list as well were the above mentioned Horatio Gates, Sir Ian Hamilton (why this guy was knighted, I’ll never know), and Aleksander Samsonov.

By: Bill Meadows

Bill Meadows — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:58:55 +0000

MY List

1.Marcus Crassus

2.Philip 6th

3.John Burgoyne

4.William Winder

5.Santa Anna

6.Ambrose Burnside

7.Braxton Bragg

8.Robert Nivelle

9.Maurice Gamelin

10.Lloyd Fredendall

By: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 18:56:20 +0000

REad some damn history. Gallipoli was not exactly Churchill’s fault. He gets the blame for it, but the commanders in the field are the ones who are at fault. Had the French not waited, had the navy moved up the coast quicker and had the forces on the ground advanced, Gallipoli would have been a success.

By: VJ63

VJ63 — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 12:32:53 +0000

then hitler should be on this list too