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m WP:CHECKWIKI error fix for #61. Punctuation goes before References. Do general fixes if a problem exists. - using AWB (11326) |
CourtCelts1988 (talk | contribs) m Reduced detail. These entries are not from an "anti British" point of view, and it is defamatory to assert that. Most of the criticism cited is from official British reports and senior British officers etc. Britain is great but not always right. |
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*[[Operation Eagle Claw]], a U.S. attempt to rescue hostages in [[Iran]]. This operation was marked by a series of mechanical and communication failures that led to the deaths of eight American servicemen, and failed to rescue the hostages. |
*[[Operation Eagle Claw]], a U.S. attempt to rescue hostages in [[Iran]]. This operation was marked by a series of mechanical and communication failures that led to the deaths of eight American servicemen, and failed to rescue the hostages. |
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*[[Srebrenica massacre|Srebrenica genocide]] In 1995 a Dutch battalion stood by and did nothing while women were raped, and 8,000 men and boys were abused and then, after separation from the women, were taken away and systematically murdered by units of the Bosnian Serb [[Army of Republika Srpska]] (VRS) [[command responsibility|under the command]] of General [[Ratko Mladić]]. The Secretary-General of the United Nations described the [[mass murder]] as the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War.<ref name="UN SecGen 10th anniv">[http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/sgsm9993.doc.htm UN Press Release SG/SM/9993UN, 11/07/2005 "Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the ceremony marking the tenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in Potocari-Srebrenica"]. Retrieved 13 July 2015.</ref> The Netherlands Army Battalion did nothing despite orders from Minister Voohoeve of the Netherlands had ordered that “under no circumstances was Dutchbat allowed to cooperate in the separate treatment of men.” The Supreme Court of the Netherlands confirmed that the Battalion and the state of the Netherlands were liable and responsible for failure in their duties.<ref>Judgement of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, 6 September 2013, First Chamber, 12/03324 LZ/TT (official English translation).</ref> |
*[[Srebrenica massacre|Srebrenica genocide]] In 1995 a Dutch battalion stood by and did nothing while women were raped, and 8,000 men and boys were abused and then, after separation from the women, were taken away and systematically murdered by units of the Bosnian Serb [[Army of Republika Srpska]] (VRS) [[command responsibility|under the command]] of General [[Ratko Mladić]]. The Secretary-General of the United Nations described the [[mass murder]] as the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War.<ref name="UN SecGen 10th anniv">[http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/sgsm9993.doc.htm UN Press Release SG/SM/9993UN, 11/07/2005 "Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the ceremony marking the tenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in Potocari-Srebrenica"]. Retrieved 13 July 2015.</ref> The Netherlands Army Battalion did nothing despite orders from Minister Voohoeve of the Netherlands had ordered that “under no circumstances was Dutchbat allowed to cooperate in the separate treatment of men.” The Supreme Court of the Netherlands confirmed that the Battalion and the state of the Netherlands were liable and responsible for failure in their duties.<ref>Judgement of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, 6 September 2013, First Chamber, 12/03324 LZ/TT (official English translation).</ref> |
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==21st Century== |
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*[[Royal Air Force Nimrod XV230|2006 Royal Air Force Nimrod disaster]]. During a [[reconnaissance]] flight on 2 September 2006 in [[Afghanistan]], XV230 had an on-board fire, explosion and crashed, killing 14 military personnel in Britain's biggest single loss since the [[Falklands War]]. [[Charles Haddon-Cave]] QC was appointed by the British government to lead the Nimrod Review, which was an independent enquiry into the causes of the crash. Unusually for an official British report, but much more like a US report, Mr. Haddon-Cave named names and spelt out exactly who was at fault, where incompetence lay, and why. His report said of the Nimrod that "Its production is a story of incompetence, complacency and cynicism" and he accused one of the senior RAF officers responsible of a "fundamental failure of leadership".<ref>Haddon-Cave, C. ''The Nimrod Review''. ISBN 9780102962659, HC 1025 2008-09 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nimrod-review</ref> The British government subsequently admitted responsibility for the deaths of the 14 servicemen aboard Nimrod aircraft, admitted that the aircraft was not airworthy, and accepted liability. <ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7797582.stm |work=BBC News |title=Nimrod victims' families sue MoD |date=2008-12-23 |accessdate=2010-03-27}}</ref> <ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5071466/MoD-admits-responsibility-for-Afghanistan-Nimrod-explosion-deaths.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |title=MoD admits responsibility for Afghanistan Nimrod explosion deaths |first=John |last=Bingham |date=2009-03-30 |accessdate=2010-03-27}}</ref> |
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*[[2007 Iranian seizure of Royal Navy personnel|2007 Iranian seizure of a party of crew from HMS Cornwall]] The Iranian navy captured a Royal Navy crew in international waters with no resistance offered by the British. Lieutenant Felix Carman RN was in charge of the British sailors until their capture. One of the Royal Navy sailors cried when his iPod was taken by his captors.<ref>Narain, Jaya. "Iran hostage Mr Bean branded 'disgraceful' by his own mother" ''Daily Mail''. 23 April 2007. (Retrieved 14 July 2015) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-449887/Iran-hostage-Mr-Bean-branded-disgraceful-mother.html#ixzz3focDQW8W</ref> Two official reports from the British government denied that any British officer or other British person was to blame.<ref>Settle, Michael. "No-one to blame for 'national embarrassment' of sailors' capture" ''Daily Record''. 20 June 2007 (Retrieved 14 July 2015). </ref> The Royal Navy captain, Jeremy Woods, who was officer commanding of HMS ''Cornwall'' ship involved was subsequently removed from his ship, although the UK Ministry of Defence denied that his removal had anything whatsoever to do with the event,<ref>Walker, Peter. "Navy: MoD moves captain in Iran captives affair" Guardian, 29 July 2008. (Retrieved 15 July 2014). http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/jul/29/military.iran</ref>, which was widely seen as a humiliation for the UK. |
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*'''British defeat in Iraq, 2007'''. In 2007 the British Army retreated from Iraq without having stabilized the situation on the ground and abandoned the population of Basra to violence and lawlessness. "Britain suffered defeat in Iraq", said a US general, <ref>"Britain suffered defeat in Iraq, says US general" BBC, 29 September 2010. (Retrieved 14 July 2015). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11419878</ref>Jack Keane, who stated that the UK had left the local population to be terrorized. After the British Army retreated from the centre of Basra in 2005 45 women were killed by the militia for "un-Islamic" behaviour such as not wearing a veil. A British general who was in charge said that it was not Britain's finest hour and was not cricket.<ref>BBC. Ibid.</ref> |
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*[[September 2012 Camp Bastion raid|Raid on Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, 2012]]. Insurgents destroyed or severely damaged eight USMC [[McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II]]s and killed a number of US personnel at [[Camp Bastion]] in [[Afghanistan]]'s [[Helmand province]] on the night of 14 September 2012. The attack was "the worst loss of U.S. airpower in [[Bien Hoa Air Base#Mortar attack|a single incident since the Vietnam War]]."<ref>{{cite news|title=Attack on Camp Bastion: The Destruction of VMA-211|url=http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/attack-on-camp-bastion-the-destruction-of-vma-211/|author=John D. Gresham|accessdate=24 September 2012|newspaper=Defense Media Network|date=20 September 2012}}</ref>. Although UK forces were operationally responsible for defence of the base, only the US conducted a thorough enquiry and held its senior officers accountable for doing their duty competently. The UK's House of Commons found that the British Ministry of Defence was defensive and obstructive when it tried to investigate<ref>" the Commons cross-party defence committee, describes the attitude of the Ministry of Defence when the MPs tried to establish the facts surrounding the attack as "obstructive and unhelpful"" in: Norton-Taylor, Richard. "Camp Bastion attack revealed 'high-level complacency'", ''Guardian'', 16 April 2014. (Retrieved 14 July 2015). http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/16/camp-bastion-afghanistan-complacency</ref>, and the UK press reported widespread incompetence and complacency in the British personnel. Rumours at the time that the Tongans had been asleep on sentry duty while under British command were officially denied by the UK Ministry of Defence, which also refused to state whether any British officers had been disciplined.<ref>Farmer, B. "British were warned of Camp Bastion flaws before Taliban attack British commanders were warned of dangerous weaknesses in the defences of the sprawling Helmand base where Prince Harry was stationed, just months before Taliban fighters stormed in to destroy aircraft." ''Daily Telegraph.'' 2 October 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2015. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10349535/Commanders-were-warned-of-Camp-Bastion-weaknesses-before-Taliban-attack.html</ref> |
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*'''2015, Britain unable to keep Russian spy submarines clear of its [[UK Trident programme|Naval base]] because of defence cuts.''' After having to cut the Nimrod fleet and choosing to cut various other equipment systems without making any replacement, the UK had by 2015 lost its capability to detect potentially hostile foreign submarines from performing close surveillance of its nuclear submarine base at at Gare Loch on the River Clyde, <ref>Merrill, J. "MoD asks for American help in searching for Russian submarine near Scotland" Independent. 8 January 2015. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mod-asks-for-american-help-in-searching-for-russian-submarine-near-scotland-9966080.html</ref>, with Russian submarines sighted off the Scottish coast and the UK unable to do anything about them without begging for help from its allies who have retained defensive and counter-surveillance capability, including the USA, Canada. <ref>Ward. V. "MoD forced to ask US for help in tracking 'Russian submarine' Mystery foreign submarine thought to be lurking near Faslane naval base" ''Daily Telegraph.'' 9 Jan 2015 (retrieved 14 Jul 2015). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11334836/MoD-forced-to-ask-US-for-help-in-tracking-Russian-submarine.html</ref> |
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*'''UK misrepresents national accounts on defence spending to try to meet NATO commitment.''' After more than a decade of cuts to defence budgets and military capability, and a number of defeats in the field, major equipment failures and national embarrassments, UK defence spending in 2015 was not only below the level to which the UK had committed by treaty to its allies, but was obviously causing the UK to be too weak to defend itself even from minor incursions.<ref>Stacey, Kiran, "UK ministers accused of ‘cooking books’ on defence spending" ''Financial Times''. 13 July 2015. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1a458398-296f-11e5-acfb-cbd2e1c81cca.html?siteedition=uk#axzz3fp3B1wDi</ref> <ref>Clark, M. "The grim truth about our defence budget Solemn pledges on spending were made by Britain and its Nato allies, but they have failed to materialise" ''Daily Telegraph.'' 6 Feb 2015. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11394108/The-grim-truth-about-our-defence-budget.html</ref> In order to pretend that it was not failing in its obligations to maintain critical spending, the Conservative government under David Cameron redesignated the secret intelligence budget as "Defence". This had not effect on actual defence spending, but enabled the government to claim that it had increased defence spending.<ref>''Financial Times, ibid.''</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
Revision as of 14:37, 14 July 2015
A military disaster is the unexpected and sound defeat of one side in a battle or war, and often changes the course of history.
A military disaster can range from a strong army losing a major battle against a clearly inferior force, to an army being surprised and defeated by a clearly superior force, to a seemingly evenly matched conflict with an extremely one sided result. A military disaster could be due to bad planning, bad execution, bad weather, general lack of skill or ability, the failure of a new piece of military technology, a major blunder, a brilliant move on the part of the enemy, or simply the unexpected presence of an overwhelming enemy force.
Ancient era
- The Battle of Salamis in 480 BC where a huge Persian fleet is defeated by a united Greek force.
- The Athenian expedition to Syracuse in 415 BC.
- The Battle of Changping (262–260 BC), in which 400,000 captured troops from the State of Zhao were buried alive after their commander Zhao Kuo fell for a trick of the commander from the State of Qin.
- The Battle of Cannae in 216 BC, where Hannibal destroyed the 16 Roman and Allied legions led by Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro. In all, perhaps more than 80 percent of the entire Roman army was dead or captured (including Paullus himself).
- The Battle of Julu in 207 BC where Chu forces under Xiang Yu defeated a much larger Qin army. Qin's losses mounted to well over 100,000. The Qin dynasty collapsed soon after.
- The Battle of Mobei in 119 BC, where the entire Xiongnu army of over 100,000 men was destroyed by the Han army. This battle and its aftermath ensured the supremacy of the Chinese over the northern barbarian tribes for the next few hundred years.
- The Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, when Crassus with 40,000 soldiers marched into Parthia expecting to be victorious, chose to march a direct route through the desert instead of the mountains of the north, and was entirely anniliated by 9,000 Parthian soldiers
- The Siege of Alesia in 52 BC, where Gaius Julius Caesar, leading roughly 50,000 Roman soldiers, laid siege to the rebel Gauls, led under Vercingetorix, fortress of Alesia, who numbered roughly 85,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry. The Belgae tribe attempted to relieve the siege with an army of 260,000 warriors. The Romans, through the personal leadership of Titus Labienus, wrought a terrific slaughter upon the Belgae; this demoralising event led the defenders at Alesia to yield, ending Vercingetorix's rebellion.
- The Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, where German warriors destroyed three Roman legions.
- The Battle of Watling Street in 60 or 61 AD, where, Tacitus and Cassius Dio suggest, between 100,000 and 250,000 British warriors and tribespeople led by the British Iceni queen, Boudicca, faced off against 10,000 Roman soldiers led by the governor of the British province, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus. The result was an overwhelming annihilation of the Britons, upwards of 80,000 killed, with around 400 Romans dead, according to Tacitus. This ended the British rebellion that had devastated Roman-British provincial towns.
- The Battle of Guandu in 200 AD, in which the more powerful army of Yuan Shao failed to guard its supplies, and was defeated by Cao Cao.
- The Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD, where Liu Bei's advisor Kong Ming and Sun Quan's advisor Zhou Yu destroyed Cao Cao's much larger navy with fire.
- The Battle of Edessa occurred in 259 AD when Emperor Valerian with a 70,000-strong Roman army marched into Persia to end Persian advances into Roman territory. The outcome was an overwhelming Persian victory and the entire Roman army was decimated.
- The Battle of Adrianople in 378 AD, in which the emperor Valens was killed while Gothic heavy cavalry ambushed and decimated his Roman heavy infantry.
Medieval era
- The Battle of Salsu in 612, during the second Goguryeo-Sui War, between the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo and the Chinese Sui Dynasty. Goguryeo cavalry forces defeated the massive Sui army at the Salsu River(Chongchon River).
- The Battle of Yarmuk in 636. The bulk of the Byzantine military along with their Christian Arab allies are destroyed.
- The Battle of al-Qādisiyyah in 636. The Arab Muslim army decisively defeated the larger Sassanid Persian army resulting in the Islamic conquest of Persia.
- The Battle of Tours in 732. The Muslim Moors marched into France meeting no foes. The Moors met the Christian Frankish forces led by Charles Martel at Tours. Despite the Moorish advantage over the Franks militarily, they were defeated decisively by the Franks.
- The Battle of Acheloos in 917. An enormous Byzantine army of 110,000 men was tactically outwitted by a smaller Bulgarian force, causing the death of 90,000 soldiers, 70,000 of whom were Byzantines in one of the bloodiest battles in the Middle Ages. The bones of tens of thousands who perished could be seen on the battlefield 75 years later.
- The Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066. A Norwegian army under king Harald Hardrada is destroyed by an Anglo-Saxon army under King Harold Godwinson. The battle is so costly for the Norwegians that only a fraction of the fleet used to transport the army is needed to pick up the survivors.
- The Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Anglo-Saxon King Harold is slain in battle with the Normans led by William the Conqueror, resulting in the Norman Conquest of England.
- The Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The Byzantine Empire suffers a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Seljuks, resulting in the capture of Emperor Romanos IV.
- The Battle of Hattin in 1187, where overconfident Crusader forces from Jerusalem became trapped in a waterless desert area, and thus became easy prey for the Saracen forces of Salah-ud-din (Saladin)
- The Battle of Kalka River, 1223. A Mongol army obliterates an allied Kievan-Rus'/Cuman army at a river crossing on the Kalka in the Ukraine. The Mongols draw the Russo-Cuman force out until they are overextended, then attack with their heavy cavalry and destroy the allied forces in detail. The Mongols capture several Russian princes and ritually execute them by crushing them beneath a feasting table on which the Mongol leaders dance and feast.
- The Battle of Legnica, 1241. A Mongol army under Baidar crushes an allied force of Poles, Germans, Bohemians, crusaders and mercenaries under King Henry II the Pious of Poland. Poor discipline within the allied ranks allows the Mongols to destroy first the knights and then the infantry. Henry II is killed, as are many nobles and princes, and most of the allied army except for the Bohemian contingent, which the Mongol army decides not to pursue having incurred heavy casualties.
- The Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. English Earl John de Warenne's well-equipped army were trapped on a narrow bridge by William Wallace's 15,000 unarmored, lightly armed Scots, bearing the traditional long spears of lowland Scotland. The bridge had been chosen as the point of engagement by Warenne, even though the river could easily have been forded just a few miles upstream.
- The Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. A Scottish army of around 7000 men under King Robert I defeats a roughly 20,000-strong English army near Stirling Castle. The English knights fail to penetrate the schiltrons of Scottish spearmen on the first day, and are routed completely the next day when Robert decides to counter-attack. King Edward II of England only narrowly escapes capture, and some of England's most important nobles are killed or captured.
- The Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 was the rout of an allied army of Hungarian, Wallachian, French, Burgundian, German and assorted troops at the hands of an Ottoman force in modern-day Bulgaria. It is often referred to as the Crusade of Nicopolis and was the last large-scale crusade of the Middle Ages.
- The Battle of Agincourt in 1415. A large French army, with a large contingent of knights, was defeated by Henry V's much smaller army, which included the famed English longbowmen.
- The Tumu Crisis in 1449. A very large force (500,000) of the Ming dynasty were defeated by a very small army (20,000) of Mongols, and the Zhengtong Emperor of the Ming dynasty was captured. This battle is regarded as the greatest military debacle of the entire Chinese history. There is a legend that Zhengtong Emperor had been working as a herder during the capture in Mongol.
16th century
- The Battle of Myeongnyang, on October 26, 1597, the Korean Joseon Navy, led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin, fought the Japanese navy in the Myeongnyang Strait, near Jindo Island, off the southwest point of the Korean peninsula. With 13 ships remaining from Admiral Won Gyun's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Chilchonryang, Admiral Yi held the strait as a "Last Stand" battle against a fleet of 133 Japanese warships and at least 200 logistical support ship
- The Battle of Flodden Field in 1513. A Scottish invasion of England is defeated, resulting in the death of the King James IV of Scotland
- The First battle of Panipat in 1526. Babur sacked Delhi and defeated Ibrahim Lodhi.
- The Siege of Vienna in 1529 marked the height of the Ottoman Empire. Suleiman the Magnificent failed to capture the city, despite significant advantages in manpower.
- Battle of Solway Moss in 1542. 15,000–18,000 Scottish troops were defeated by 3,000 English after becoming trapped in a bog.
- Battle of Okehazama in 1560. Imagawa Yashimoto's invasion of Owari province halted completely, after being ambushed by Oda Nobunaga's force during the night, leading to large casualties, many officers (including Yashimoto) dying, and his army being forced into a rout and eventually disememberment.
- Great Siege of Malta in 1565. The siege resulted in catastrophe for the Ottoman Empire.
- The Battle of Lepanto in 1571. The Holy League's fleet defeated the Ottoman fleet in one of the largest naval battles of human history. The Ottomans lost 240 ships (out of about 300), while the League lost 12 of their 210 ships.
- The Spanish Armada in 1588. An English fleet sends fire ships into the Spanish invasion fleet destroying some and scattering the rest effectively ending the invasion threat. The Armada would later run into storms and almost half the ships never returned to Spain, as well as more than half the troops.
- The English Armada in 1589, where the English fleet was defeated by the recovering Spanish fleet. This allowed the Spanish fleet to quickly recover and maintained their shipping from the Americas.
- The Battle of the Yellow Ford in 1598. An English force of 4000 is ambushed by Irish defenders under Hugh O'Neill and defeated. This temporarily put Ireland out of English control, allowing the rebellion to spread throughout Ireland.
17th century
- The Raid on the Medway in June 1667. a Dutch fleet led by Michiel de Ruyter sailed up the river Medway and attacked the English fleet laying at anchor at their home base of Chatham. Ending in a decisive victory for the Dutch, and an unfavorable peace for the British in the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
- The Battle of Saraighat in March 1671. The Ahoms under their general Lachit Borphukan defeated the Rajput general Ram Singh`s Mughal imperial forces consisting of 4,000 troopers (from his char-hazaari mansab), 1,500 ahadis and 500 barqandezes by an additional 30,000 infantrymen, 21 Rajput chiefs (Thakurs) with their contingents, 18,000 cavalry, 2,000 archers and shieldmen and 40 ships.
18th century
- The Battle of Poltava in June 1709. Charles XII of Sweden's disastrous defeat ended his wintertime march on Moscow during the Great Northern War and marked the beginning of the end of the Swedish Empire.
- The Battle of the Salween River in September 1718. An entire Qing army was destroyed by Zunghar Mongols.
- The Battle of Cartagena de Indias in March–May of 1741. This battle, fought in the War of Jenkins' Ear, saw a huge British amphibious force of 26,400 men and 186 ships beat back and defeated by 4,000 Spanish troops and just 6 ships. The British pulled back after losing over 8,000 men killed, 7,500 wounded losing 1,500 guns and 50 ships.
- The Battle of Plassey on June 23, 1757 when the British East India Company decisively defeated a much bigger force fielded by Siraj Ud Daulah and gained their first major foothold into India.
- The Battle of Trenton was a pivotal battle of the American Revolutionary War that took place on the morning of December 26, 1776 in Trenton, New Jersey. American forces commanded by George Washington surprised and decisively defeated Hessian mercenaries fighting for the British.
- The Battle of Saratoga in September–October 1777. John Burgoyne's British Army is captured after the by the American Army under Horatio Gates. The victory humiliates the British Army, and brings France into the war on the side of the Americans.
- The Great Siege of Gibraltar in June 1779 – February 1783. During the American Revolution a combined Franco-Spanish force lays siege to a British garrison for nearly four years. A 'Grand Assault' of over 60,000 men, and 150 assault vessels by the bisieging forces on September 1782 results in total disaster, with over 6,000 casualties and dozens of ships lost.
19th century
- The British invasions of the Río de la Plata. Taking place during the Napoleonic Wars, the British intended to take advantage of Spanish weakness in South America during that time. While stationed in Cape Town in early 1806, Home Riggs Popham asked his superior, David Baird, permission to stage an invasion of Buenos Aires; Popham and some British forces under William Carr Beresford captured Buenos Aires on June 27, 1806. At first they were successful, and the Spanish Viceroy fled to Cordoba. However, the local Criollo forces under Santiago de Liniers and others were not pleased and eventually wrested control of Buenos Aires back from the British. While a British invasion of the Banda Oriental (present-day Uruguay) on February 3, 1807, under Samuel Auchmuty, was successful, a second invasion of British forces in Buenos Aires that took place in late June and early July 1807, under the command of John Whitelocke, proved quite disastrous due to incompetence and other factors, with a decisive Criollo victory by Liniers and so forth, and then the British forces capitulated from the entire River Plate region. Subsequently, Whitelocke was court-marshalled and cashiered.
- The Battle of Bladensburg. War of 1812, the rout of American forces in 1814 by a smaller force of raiding British regulars and Marines under General Robert Ross, which led to the British Burning of Washington. Described in an 1816 American poem as the Bladensburg Races after American troops ran through the streets of Washington in disarray. Ross was later killed by American soldiers on campaign during the Battle of North Point but was subsequently honoured posthumously as Ross of Bladensburg. His US opposite, General William H. Winder, was later court-martialled but cleared of blame.
- Napoleon's Invasion of Russia in the summer and winter of 1812 where Napoleon lost almost all of his troops; it was the turning point of the Napoleonic wars.
- The Battle of New Orleans. War of 1812. On January 8, 1815, a British force of more than 8,000 attacked entrenched positions manned by 4,000 Americans commanded by Andrew Jackson, and were smashed—losing more than 2,000 killed and wounded, to 55 killed and 185 wounded. Ironically, it was fought after the Americans and British had agreed to peace (the Treaty of Ghent, Belgium), but sea-borne communications were too slow to prevent the battle.
- The Battle of Waterloo. Napoleonic Wars, June 18, 1815. Napoleon was defeated by a coalition of Anglo-Prussian forces. This led to his exile to St. Helena, where he died six years later.
- The Battle of Koregaon, 1st Jan 1818: Fought between the British light Native Infantry (500 in number) and Peshwai Forces of 28,000. The troops fought continuously for more than 12 hours without food or water. Peshwai forces finally surrendering by day end.
- The Battle of San Jacinto. Texas Revolution, April 21, 1836. General Santa Anna, fully aware that the Texian Army was very nearby, ordered his exhausted army to take an afternoon siesta and failed to post standing skirmishers or sentries. This led to an absolute rout when the Texian Army under command of General Sam Houston made a surprise attack in broad daylight, with 630 of Santa Anna's 1400 troops killed against 9 Texians and almost the entire remainder captured, including Santa Anna himself. This also proved to be the decisive battle of the entire war as the Republic of Texas then successfully negotiated with Santa Anna the withdrawal of all of his remaining troops from Texan soil at the Treaties of Velasco.
- The Battle of Blood River or Bloedrivier or Ncome. Zulu purge of Trekkers in Natal after murder of Piet Retief, December 16, 1838. Dingaan by his chief Ndlela with 15,000 to 22,000 Zulu impi after great surprises attacks at Bloukrans and Weenen massacre which saw countless Trekker man (41) women (56) and children (185) killed, marched against Andries Pretorius and his 464 commando Trekkers plus non combat servants. The Zulu surrounded the trekker laager and waited for daybreak. The battle was fought till the afternoon. Over 3,000 Zulu were killed and unknown number injured. On the Trekker side only 3 were lightly wounded under whom Andries Pretorius. The Trekkers made a Vow, Day of the Vow or Gelofte to the God of Heaven and Earth in the days leading up to the victory.
- The Charge of the Light Brigade. Crimean War, 1854. A British officer misinterpreted an order and led a suicidal charge against the Russian guns. ("Not tho' the soldier knew, someone had blunder'd", Tennyson)
- Battle of the Little Bighorn. June, 1876 – Montana Territory. Lieutenant Colonel George Custer attacks a superior force of armed Native American warriors, gets himself and his entire command killed, the only survivor being a lone horse. 268 U.S. troopers were killed and 55 were wounded.
- Battle of Isandlwana. A Zulu impi armed mostly with spears destroys two British battalions armed with rifles.
- William Elphinstone's disastrous retreat in 1842 during the First Anglo-Afghan War led to the loss of almost his entire command.
- Both the Battle of Fredericksburg and the Battle of Cold Harbor become horrible one-sided battles in which Union advances on entrenched Confederate units result in horrendous casualties during the American Civil War.
- Pickett's Charge by the Confederates in the Battle of Gettysburg was easily repulsed and, along with the cost of the previous two days of the battle, permanently crippled the Army of Northern Virginia.
- HMS Victoria collided with HMS Camperdown and was sunk with the loss of 358 lives after the fleet commander George Tryon ordered a sudden turn during maneuvres in 1893.
- The Battle of Adwa fought between the Italians and Ethiopians in 1896. The Italians were completely defeated and the battle confirmed the independence of Ethiopia.
20th century
- The Battle of Tsushima – the Russian Baltic fleet was sent halfway around the world and was comprehensively defeated by the Japanese in the Tsushima Straits in 1905.
- The Battle of Kolubara – a well supplied Austria-Hungarian invasion force of 450,000 was pushed back out of Belgrade by a relatively poorly armed force of 250,000 Serbians in 1914. The Austro-Hungarian force had become over-extended and had not prepared any defences and was caught off-guard by an unexpected counter-attack. Over 200,000 Austria-Hungarians were killed, captured, or wounded and about 130,000 Serbians.
- The Battle of Sarikamish – Ottoman forces attack Russian fortifications in the Allahuekber mountains in late 1915. They suffer devastating losses because of their use of outdated tactics and ill-preparedness for low-temperature combat.
- The Gallipoli Campaign April 1915 to January 1916. A combined British, Commonwealth and French attempt to capture Istanbul becomes a stalemate on the Gallipoli peninsula and is abandoned.
- The Battle of Verdun – A German attempt to destroy the French Army swiftly during WWI. The German plan was to inflict mass casualties on the French, while taking little of their own. It largely backfired, as Germany experienced incredibly high casualties over a 9-month period, which they did not recover from.[citation needed]
- The Battle of the Somme – an attempt by Allied forces to break the German line during WWI, remembered most for the incredibly high casualties suffered by the British Army. Over 19,000 British soldiers were killed on the first day of the battle, due in part to ineffective artillery preparation of the objective and a gross underestimation of German fortifications.
- The Battle of Warsaw (1920) also known as the Miracle at the Vistula was the decisive Soviet defeat in the Polish–Soviet War.
- The Battle of Annual in 1921. A 20,000-man Spanish-Moroccan force in the Rif was defeated by Abd el Krim's much smaller rebel force, initiating the Rif War.
- The Maginot line – although from a strictly technical viewpoint the line itself functioned as designed, it was emblematic of a deeply flawed defensive strategy.
- The Battle of France in 1940 – the Allied Army moved to meet the Germans inside Belgium, believing the Maginot Line would force the Germans to rerun the Schlieffen Plan, but was cutoff by a German advance through the Ardennes, which the French had believed was impassable for tanks. Unlike World War I when trench warfare caused Paris to stay French for four years, the entire Battle for France was over in 2 months.
- The Winter War from November 1939 to March 1940 – The Soviet Union invaded Finland with the goal of conquering it completely in a few weeks. Instead, the war lasted several months and ended in a peace treaty leaving the Soviet Union having gained 11% of Finlands territory and 30% of its economy whilst suffering heavy losses, although they were in possession of more than three times as many troops, thirty times as many planes and one hundred times the amount of tanks.
- Operation Compass in North Africa during winter 1940/41. The Italian army built their forts too far apart so they were not mutually supporting, and lacked tanks or other mobile forces. A British force of 35,000 men was able to rout the Italian army of 150,000, forcing them back 800 km (500 mi) and capturing around 3 times their own number for almost no losses.
- Operation Typhoon, the failed German drive towards Moscow in 1941 was exacerbated by the German decision to not bring along any winter clothing and vehicle antifreeze.
- The fall of Singapore (believed to be an impregnable fortress) in February 1942 to two Japanese divisions was the largest surrender of British-led troops in history and destroyed the linchpin of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command. The British Commonwealth overestimated the size of the Japanese invasion force which was ⅓ of the size of the defending force and surrendered.
- The naval Battle of Midway. Admiral Yamamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy attempted to invade the American navy base at Midway Island. U.S. Navy intelligence broke his codes and anticipated the attack. The Imperial Japanese Navy lost four fleet carriers in three days partly due to the decision to refuel their aircraft simultaneously on the flight deck, making the fuel hoses and aircraft vulnerable to bombing.
- The Allied Dieppe Raid on German-occupied France in 1942 ended with ~60 % of the attacking force being lost in battle without any of the major objectives of the raid achieved.
- The Battle of Krasny Bor – few Spanish and German troops stopped the offensive of an enormous Soviet force.
- The Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942/43 was one of the turning points of World War II. The German General Friedrich Paulus failed to keep a mobile strategic reserve and the entire (and formerly invulnerable) 6th Army was surrounded on all sides by a rapid Soviet flanking attack. Rubble caused by excessive bombing and artillery by the German troops had left their tanks unable to effectively enter the city. The German troops in Stalingrad surrendered even though Adolf Hitler had promised that they would never leave the city.
- Operation Bagration (1944) the Soviet summer offensive sliced through the Germans and reached Poland within two weeks, the offensive also destroyed army group centre, the backbone of German forces in the east.
- Operation Market Garden A British plan to cross the Rhine to the North and lead to encircling the Ruhr Area and end the war by Christmas 1944. The plan failed due to the slowness of the ground force, delayed by having to advance along a single road, making them vulnerable to attack on both sides, not meeting up with the airborne force. It cost 15,000–17,000 Allied casualties.
- Battle of Tianquan, Chinese Communists defeat much larger Nationalist opposition in 1950.
- The Battle of Inchon in September 1950 was an amphibious invasion and battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory for the United Nations forces led by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. The battle led to the recapture of the South Korean capital Seoul two weeks later.
- The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, which forced the French to withdraw from northern Vietnam in 1954.
- The Bay of Pigs Invasion, a United States-backed 1961 attempt to overthrow Cuban President Fidel Castro with 1,500 Cuban exiles. Not only were the exiles heavily outnumbered when they reached the bay, but the US-promised air support never came to aid the exiles.
- The Six-Day War, in response to Arab threats of invasion, Israel launched surprise air attacks which almost completely destroyed the Air Forces of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, then launched a series of ground, air, and naval attacks which saw the capture of the Sinai from Egypt, the West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria, and heavy Arab losses in personnel and material.
- Tet Offensive an offensive started by North Vietnam and Vietcong in 1968. Although the offensive was a military defeat for the communists, it had a profound effect on the US government and shocked the US public, which had been led to believe by its political and military leaders that the communists were, due to previous defeats, incapable of launching such a massive effort.
- The Battle of Longewala – during the western theater of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Pakistan launched a large-scale offensive (involving of 2,800 soldiers, 65 tanks and more than 130 other military vehicles) to capture a small Indian Army post at Longewala manned by 120 personnel and one jeep-mounted recoilless rifle. Despite numerical inferiority, the Indian Army successfully held on to the post during the night. In the morning Indian Air Force aircraft were launched at first light. This air offensive halted the progress of the Pakistani regiment. The ensuing battle resulted in destruction and capture of more than 100 Pakistani tanks and military vehicles.[1][2]
- Operation Eagle Claw, a U.S. attempt to rescue hostages in Iran. This operation was marked by a series of mechanical and communication failures that led to the deaths of eight American servicemen, and failed to rescue the hostages.
- Srebrenica genocide In 1995 a Dutch battalion stood by and did nothing while women were raped, and 8,000 men and boys were abused and then, after separation from the women, were taken away and systematically murdered by units of the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) under the command of General Ratko Mladić. The Secretary-General of the United Nations described the mass murder as the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War.[3] The Netherlands Army Battalion did nothing despite orders from Minister Voohoeve of the Netherlands had ordered that “under no circumstances was Dutchbat allowed to cooperate in the separate treatment of men.” The Supreme Court of the Netherlands confirmed that the Battalion and the state of the Netherlands were liable and responsible for failure in their duties.[4]
21st Century
- 2006 Royal Air Force Nimrod disaster. During a reconnaissance flight on 2 September 2006 in Afghanistan, XV230 had an on-board fire, explosion and crashed, killing 14 military personnel in Britain's biggest single loss since the Falklands War. Charles Haddon-Cave QC was appointed by the British government to lead the Nimrod Review, which was an independent enquiry into the causes of the crash. Unusually for an official British report, but much more like a US report, Mr. Haddon-Cave named names and spelt out exactly who was at fault, where incompetence lay, and why. His report said of the Nimrod that "Its production is a story of incompetence, complacency and cynicism" and he accused one of the senior RAF officers responsible of a "fundamental failure of leadership".[5] The British government subsequently admitted responsibility for the deaths of the 14 servicemen aboard Nimrod aircraft, admitted that the aircraft was not airworthy, and accepted liability. [6] [7]
- 2007 Iranian seizure of a party of crew from HMS Cornwall The Iranian navy captured a Royal Navy crew in international waters with no resistance offered by the British. Lieutenant Felix Carman RN was in charge of the British sailors until their capture. One of the Royal Navy sailors cried when his iPod was taken by his captors.[8] Two official reports from the British government denied that any British officer or other British person was to blame.[9] The Royal Navy captain, Jeremy Woods, who was officer commanding of HMS Cornwall ship involved was subsequently removed from his ship, although the UK Ministry of Defence denied that his removal had anything whatsoever to do with the event,[10], which was widely seen as a humiliation for the UK.
- British defeat in Iraq, 2007. In 2007 the British Army retreated from Iraq without having stabilized the situation on the ground and abandoned the population of Basra to violence and lawlessness. "Britain suffered defeat in Iraq", said a US general, [11]Jack Keane, who stated that the UK had left the local population to be terrorized. After the British Army retreated from the centre of Basra in 2005 45 women were killed by the militia for "un-Islamic" behaviour such as not wearing a veil. A British general who was in charge said that it was not Britain's finest hour and was not cricket.[12]
- Raid on Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, 2012. Insurgents destroyed or severely damaged eight USMC McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier IIs and killed a number of US personnel at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan's Helmand province on the night of 14 September 2012. The attack was "the worst loss of U.S. airpower in a single incident since the Vietnam War."[13]. Although UK forces were operationally responsible for defence of the base, only the US conducted a thorough enquiry and held its senior officers accountable for doing their duty competently. The UK's House of Commons found that the British Ministry of Defence was defensive and obstructive when it tried to investigate[14], and the UK press reported widespread incompetence and complacency in the British personnel. Rumours at the time that the Tongans had been asleep on sentry duty while under British command were officially denied by the UK Ministry of Defence, which also refused to state whether any British officers had been disciplined.[15]
- 2015, Britain unable to keep Russian spy submarines clear of its Naval base because of defence cuts. After having to cut the Nimrod fleet and choosing to cut various other equipment systems without making any replacement, the UK had by 2015 lost its capability to detect potentially hostile foreign submarines from performing close surveillance of its nuclear submarine base at at Gare Loch on the River Clyde, [16], with Russian submarines sighted off the Scottish coast and the UK unable to do anything about them without begging for help from its allies who have retained defensive and counter-surveillance capability, including the USA, Canada. [17]
- UK misrepresents national accounts on defence spending to try to meet NATO commitment. After more than a decade of cuts to defence budgets and military capability, and a number of defeats in the field, major equipment failures and national embarrassments, UK defence spending in 2015 was not only below the level to which the UK had committed by treaty to its allies, but was obviously causing the UK to be too weak to defend itself even from minor incursions.[18] [19] In order to pretend that it was not failing in its obligations to maintain critical spending, the Conservative government under David Cameron redesignated the secret intelligence budget as "Defence". This had not effect on actual defence spending, but enabled the government to claim that it had increased defence spending.[20]
See also
References
- ^ Lal, Pratap Chandra. My Years With The IAF. ISBN 978-81-7062-008-2.
- ^ Palit, D. K. (1972). The Lightning Campaign: The Indo-Pakistan War, 1971. Thomson Press. p. 86. ISBN 1-897829-37-X.
- ^ UN Press Release SG/SM/9993UN, 11/07/2005 "Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the ceremony marking the tenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in Potocari-Srebrenica". Retrieved 13 July 2015.
- ^ Judgement of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, 6 September 2013, First Chamber, 12/03324 LZ/TT (official English translation).
- ^ Haddon-Cave, C. The Nimrod Review. ISBN 9780102962659, HC 1025 2008-09 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nimrod-review
- ^ "Nimrod victims' families sue MoD". BBC News. 2008-12-23. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
- ^ Bingham, John (2009-03-30). "MoD admits responsibility for Afghanistan Nimrod explosion deaths". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
- ^ Narain, Jaya. "Iran hostage Mr Bean branded 'disgraceful' by his own mother" Daily Mail. 23 April 2007. (Retrieved 14 July 2015) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-449887/Iran-hostage-Mr-Bean-branded-disgraceful-mother.html#ixzz3focDQW8W
- ^ Settle, Michael. "No-one to blame for 'national embarrassment' of sailors' capture" Daily Record. 20 June 2007 (Retrieved 14 July 2015).
- ^ Walker, Peter. "Navy: MoD moves captain in Iran captives affair" Guardian, 29 July 2008. (Retrieved 15 July 2014). http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/jul/29/military.iran
- ^ "Britain suffered defeat in Iraq, says US general" BBC, 29 September 2010. (Retrieved 14 July 2015). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11419878
- ^ BBC. Ibid.
- ^ John D. Gresham (20 September 2012). "Attack on Camp Bastion: The Destruction of VMA-211". Defense Media Network. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
- ^ " the Commons cross-party defence committee, describes the attitude of the Ministry of Defence when the MPs tried to establish the facts surrounding the attack as "obstructive and unhelpful"" in: Norton-Taylor, Richard. "Camp Bastion attack revealed 'high-level complacency'", Guardian, 16 April 2014. (Retrieved 14 July 2015). http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/16/camp-bastion-afghanistan-complacency
- ^ Farmer, B. "British were warned of Camp Bastion flaws before Taliban attack British commanders were warned of dangerous weaknesses in the defences of the sprawling Helmand base where Prince Harry was stationed, just months before Taliban fighters stormed in to destroy aircraft." Daily Telegraph. 2 October 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2015. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10349535/Commanders-were-warned-of-Camp-Bastion-weaknesses-before-Taliban-attack.html
- ^ Merrill, J. "MoD asks for American help in searching for Russian submarine near Scotland" Independent. 8 January 2015. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mod-asks-for-american-help-in-searching-for-russian-submarine-near-scotland-9966080.html
- ^ Ward. V. "MoD forced to ask US for help in tracking 'Russian submarine' Mystery foreign submarine thought to be lurking near Faslane naval base" Daily Telegraph. 9 Jan 2015 (retrieved 14 Jul 2015). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11334836/MoD-forced-to-ask-US-for-help-in-tracking-Russian-submarine.html
- ^ Stacey, Kiran, "UK ministers accused of ‘cooking books’ on defence spending" Financial Times. 13 July 2015. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1a458398-296f-11e5-acfb-cbd2e1c81cca.html?siteedition=uk#axzz3fp3B1wDi
- ^ Clark, M. "The grim truth about our defence budget Solemn pledges on spending were made by Britain and its Nato allies, but they have failed to materialise" Daily Telegraph. 6 Feb 2015. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11394108/The-grim-truth-about-our-defence-budget.html
- ^ Financial Times, ibid.
Further reading
- Military Intelligence Blunders and Cover-Ups, by Colonel Hughes-Wilson John (ISBN 0-7867-1373-9)
- Geoffrey Regan's Book Of Military Blunders, by Geoffrey Regan (ISBN 0-233-99977-9)
- Scottish Military Disasters, by Paul Cowan (ISBN 978 19032 38967)