Great Historical Blunders

[MontyCircus]

Originally Posted by afroelf

Lastly - Tony Blair and George Bush

Yup, that's the one that came to my mind. I still can't believe the rest of the world just sat idly by and let it happen. It's just sick.

[nj1]

Hannibal not marching on an unprotected Rome and sacking the place. BIG MISTAKE

[mosaix]

Napoleon's march on Moscow - 1812.

[jojajihisc]

20th century farm collectives.

[The Ace]

Originally Posted by nj1

Hannibal not marching on an unprotected Rome and sacking the place. BIG MISTAKE

You can say that again. Few enemies of Rome ever got the chance, far less created it.

I just can't figure that one out, Rome could've suffered the fate later meted out to Carthage and there may not've been a Roman Empire.

[Drachir]

Originally Posted by The Ace

You can say that again. Few enemies of Rome ever got the chance, far less created it.

I just can't figure that one out, Rome could've suffered the fate later meted out to Carthage and there may not've been a Roman Empire.

The way I understand this was that Hannibal lacked siege equipment and did not want to get locked in in a long investiture in enemy territory. Rome's walls were apparently formidable and would have taken some time to overcome. He may also have lacked the manpower. In order for a siege to be successful it is usually necessary to have superior forces outside the walls. The garrison in Rome may have been as large as Hannibal's army although lacking in experience.

[Drachir]

Originally Posted by jojajihisc

20th century farm collectives.

I assume you mean in the USSR and other communist states. They worked quite well in Israel the Kibbutzim) and Canada and the northern United States
(Hutterite colonies)

[Leo]

Abandoning space conquest and indulging in planetary intrigues.

[nj1]

Originally Posted by Drachir

The way I understand this was that Hannibal lacked siege equipment and did not want to get locked in in a long investiture in enemy territory. Rome's walls were apparently formidable and would have taken some time to overcome. He may also have lacked the manpower. In order for a siege to be successful it is usually necessary to have superior forces outside the walls. The garrison in Rome may have been as large as Hannibal's army although lacking in experience.

For some reason i always thought that Rome's walls were not that formidable. I may be wrong though

[jojajihisc]

Originally Posted by Drachir

I assume you mean in the USSR and other communist states. They worked quite well in Israel the Kibbutzim) and Canada and the northern United States
(Hutterite colonies)

Good assumption.

[Foxbat]

These blunders are not very famous but they are historical (plus they really annoy me and involve my home town).

Battle of Dunbar 1296. The Scots are on top of a hill and English at the bottom. Scots decided to come charging down the hill and are soundly thrashed.

Battle of Dunbar 1650. The Scots are on top of a hill and English at the bottom. Scots decided to come charging down the hill and are soundly thrashed.

Talk about History repeating itself

[Drachir]

I almost feel like I am picking on the Scots, but the Darien Scheme was certainly a blunder of enormous consequences so far as Scotland is concerned. It put Scotland so deeply in debt that it was a major factor in Scotland deciding to join with England as part of the UK, with the British promising to pay off the debt.

Darien scheme - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Boneman]

Archduke Ferdinand alive and well!! World War One a mistake............!

[MersSong]

The Stamp Act of 1765 and the subsequent taxes in the American Colonies.

[pyan]

Just going back to the summer of 1940 a minute, Hitler's real mistake was ordering the Luftwaffe to abandon the attacks on the British airfields, and switch to the blitz on London and the other cities.
Though he didn't realise it, he had the RAF on the ropes...if he'd continued, there probably wouldn't have been a Battle of Britain, and air superiority over Southern England would have been held by the Germans, who could have then invaded almost unopposed.

Next biggest mistake:allowing Dunkirk by backing off destroying the BEF and going for Paris instead.

It's likely that these two errors of judgement made the outcome of the war inevitable as early as September 1940.