Great Military Disasters

Author: Julian Spilsbury
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 178429215X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Book Description
Great Military Disasters tells the dramatic stories behind the world's most calamitous conflicts. From the French army's failure to understand the impact of new technology at Crécy to Hitler's blatant overconfidence at Stalingrad, military historian Julian Spilsbury provides thrilling accounts of each disaster, covering exactly what went wrong, how and why. Of course, a disastrous outcome for one side meant victory for another, so as well as exploring the reasons the conflict ended in disaster, Great Military Disasters also reveals the key to victory. Eyewitness quotations add another dimension to this intriguing study of human incompetence of the gravest kind.

Arrogant Armies

Author: James Moorhead Perry
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Book Description

The 100 Worst Military Disasters in History

Author: John T. Kuehn
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 112

Book Description
The 100 Worst Military Disasters in History is a fascinating collection that educators, students, and historians will all find useful in helping them understand the causes and consequences of the most infamous military failures in history. The dynamics of military disaster are equally, if not more, important as understanding how to achieve success on the battlefield. This comprehensive book covers the complete gamut of human history as it tells the compelling stories of the worst military debacles of all time. It covers battles, campaigns, and wars, starting with the ancient Persians and Greeks and finishing with the U.S. conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not limited to land warfare, however, the book also includes a number of the most disastrous naval engagements and campaigns in world history. The 100 Worst Military Disasters in History opens with a detailed introduction illuminating the role military strategy and politics played in some of the worst battlefield failures throughout history. The entries are augmented with several engaging sidebars related to various military disasters. This eclectic collection includes coverage of many lesser known military disasters such as the Taiping Rebellion, during which 20 times more Chinese died than the number of people killed in the American Civil War.

Military Misfortunes

Author: Eliot A. Cohen
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439135487
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Book Description
Why do competent armies fail? Eliot Cohen and John Gooch explore answers to this question throughout this extensive analysis of unsuccessful military operations. Since it was first published in 1990, Military Misfortunes has become the classic analysis of the unexpected catastrophes that befall competent militaries. Now with a new Afterword discussing America's missteps in Iraq, Somalia, and the War on Terror, Eliot A. Cohen and John Gooch's gripping battlefield narratives and groundbreaking explanations of the hidden factors that undermine armies are brought thoroughly up to date. As recent events prove, Military Misfortunes will be required reading for as long as armies go to war.

On the Psychology of Military Incompetence

Author: Norman F Dixon
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465097812
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 529

Book Description
A classic study of military leadership uncovering why generals fail The Crimea, the Boer War, the Somme, Tobruk, Pearl Harbor, the Bay of Pigs: these are just some of the milestones in a century of military incompetence, of costly mishaps and tragic blunders. Are these simple accidents—as the "bloody fool" theory has it—or are they inevitable? The psychologist Norman F. Dixon argues that there is a pattern to inept generalship, and he locates this pattern within the very act of creating armies in the first place, which in his view produces a levelling down of human capability that encourages the mediocre and limits the gifted. In this light, successful generals achieve what they do despite the stultifying features of the organization to which they belong. On the Psychology of Military Incompetence is at once an original exploration of the battles that have defined the last two centuries of human civilization and an essential guide for the next generation of military leaders.

Military Blunders

Author: Saul David
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1780338619
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Book Description
Retelling the most spectacular cock-ups in military history, this graphic account has a great deal to say about the psychology of military incompetence and the reasons even the most well-oiled military machines inflict disaster upon themselves. Beginning in AD9 with the massacre of Varus and his legions in the Black Forest all the way up to present day conflict in Afghanistan it analyses why things go wrong on the battlefield and who is to blame.

Great Military Disasters

Author: Michael E. Haskew
Publisher: Parragon Pubishing India
ISBN: 9781407555638
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Book Description
Provides detailed coverage and tactical maps of various historic battles from Cannae to Mogadishu.

Rome's Greatest Defeat

Author: Adrian Murdoch
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752494554
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 189

Book Description
In AD 9 half of Rome's Western army was ambushed in a German forest and annihilated. Three legions, three cavalry units and six auxiliary regiments - some 25,000 men - were wiped out. It dealt a body blow to the empire's imperial pretensions and was Rome's greatest defeat. No other battle stopped the Roman empire dead in its tracks. Although one of the most significant and dramatic battles in European history, this is also one which has been largely overlooked. Drawing on primary sources and a vast wealth of new archaeological evidence, Adrian Murdoch brings to life the battle itself, the historical background and the effects of the Roman defeat as well as exploring the personalities of those who took part.

Military Aviation Disasters

Author: David Gero
Publisher: Haynes Publishing
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Book Description
Every year, a number of military aircraft ranging from single-seat fighters to fully laden cargo planes are lost in accidents. Because these disasters often occur in remote corners of the world and rarely involve members of the general public, they seldom attract the sort of media attention given to those disasters which involve civil aircraft.

Scottish Military Disasters

Author: Paul Cowan
Publisher: Neil Wilson Publishing Ltd
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 220

Book Description
A compilation of Scotland's failures on the battlefields of the world from Mons Graupius to Korea.