What was the greatest mistake in history?
Hard mode:
>Not Treaty of Versailles
Communism
Anime
The Egyptian failure to wipe out the Hebrews.
Splitting the Roman Empire.
homo-sapiens leaving africa
"Let's invade Troy"
There were two great mistakes
1. Invading Russia in the winter
2. Invading the Soviet Union in the winter
>>931747
/thread
>>931750
Honestly it was already splitting it happened in the best way possible
>hahaha let's invite the saxons to britain
>hahaha what could go wrong
So the worst, most despicable of nations was born.
Great Schism
Letting the Mongols unite.
WWI seems like was a colossal disaster and set us up for WWII.
Agriculture.
"let's be giant fucking dicks to those smelly barbarians fleeing smellier horse-dwelling barbarians. We'll invite them in, fleece them dry, then deny them food and opportunity to survive until they take up arms and then Valens decides to take all the glory in smashing them and not waiting for the other emperor to arrive"
Also T'ang trusting that half-Turk half-Sughdian An Lushan
>>931762
>starting a land war in Asia
>trusting a Sicilian when DEATH is on the line
Not dropping more bombs on Japan
>>931762
That war was like 50% of ancient Greek culture for centuries though. Without it, the West would be unrecognizable.
Spanish people relying in mercantilism.
>>931785
H E N G I S T
O
R
S
A
>Whoa do you guys see that glowing XP in the sky? No? Just me?
"I may have gone too far in places"
-Karl Marx
Treaties of Trianon & St. Germain
>Native scouts are useless, we don't need them
>Crook's army is useless, we don't need them
>Rest before battle is useless, we don't need it
>What's that Reno? You say the redskins outnumber us probably at least 6:1?
>Okay, take 3 companies and go provide a diversion. Benteen, take 3 companies and go do fuck-all whatever
>Right, men, now let's form a firing line, on an exposed hillside, covering a mile and a half of ground, with no reserve force or flank protection
>What could possibly go wrong?
> Don't be such a biggot, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the Germanic tribes living in Rome. Give em a chance, they're not *that* bad.
>>931743
Declaration of Independence.
The States could have used a few hundred years of superpower tutelage from father before taking over.
>>931923
>>931919
It's 100 BCE.
>>931927
>implying America is the worlds superpower
Ching chong bing bong suck a dick you be gone before rong.
On that note, biggest mistakes would have to be allowing America to be run by extreme capitalism
>>931963
>China is a superpower
America could roflstomp china in a matter of weeks sans the logistical times
>>931963
>its a "butthurt europoor sucks chinas dick simply because they are too petty to admit america runs shit" post
>>931975
How?
>>931975
Yeah well it won't be the first time retarded overconfident world powers realized the war won't be over by Christmas and they piss away their global authority in a useless conflict.
>>931743
Cypress the Great giving the Jews a portion of Babylon's treasure so they can rebuild Jewtown 2.0. He saved Judaism when it was ready to dissolve like the Ancient Medes.
From this act, there wouldn't be a Jesus.
>>931785
Dang u right
>>931762
>in history
>history
Not starting Barbarossa in '40
Europeans going to the americas
>>932081
More like
>starting Barbarossa when they were still at war with britain
>>931785
That's not how France was created, anon. You're thinking of the Franks and the Rhine frontier.
>>931919
>Mfw literally no one thought this
>Mfw an entire Gothic army was lynched in Constantinople
>Mfw when all barbarian troops were lynched in Italy
>Mfw
![Mommsen_p265[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/YNo0Puq.jpg "Mommsen_p265[1].jpg")
Probably Hannibal not marching on Rome
>>931988
with their military
>>931743
Giving women rights
>inb4 edgelord
>>931774
no one invaded the soviet union in the winter
>>932128
Source?
>>932437
Not him, but when Stilicho was executed by the Romans they turned their anger towards the Barbarian civilians living in Rome, killing young and women alike.
This did kinda have a rather severe moral effect for the Barbarian soldiers the Romans had, they all running away to Alaric with known consequences.
>>931774
Napoleon and Hitler both invaded in Summer.
If anything the mistakes are invading in summer.
Letting Nicias lead the Sicilian Expedition
>tried to make out it would be so hard that they'd need loads of ships and troops when they only needed a few in order to not have to go
>the athenians take him sincerely and then send loads of ships and troops, making the expedition very high risk
>he forgot to add cavalry to his list of what would be needed, so even when they defeated the Syracusan army, they couldn't pursue them
>when the Spartans sent two ships to Syracuse, he didn't send any ships to stop them
There's loads more reasons why he fucked up the Expedition, but I can't be assed to list all of them
![1433267435559[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/cHqaw3z.jpg "1433267435559[1].jpg")
>>932416
Both America and the USSR actively supporting terrorist groups in the cold war.
>>931824
Underrated post.
>>931743
Killing Genghis' merchants.
>>931975
>implying
>>931743
R-type breeding.
>>931743
Drawing up of arbitrary borders in tribal regions by European nations.
>>931743
The armistice with Germany in World War 1 instead enduring a little while longer to secure unconditional surrender. Farage was right bro.
The enlightenment.
Napoleon giving up after Waterloo. The Prussians and British were raped and Davout had over 100,000 men with him
>>931919
Maybe it wouldn't have been that bad if they refused to give them any food and sent them to their deaths
Fuck roman apologists, blaming big bad tribes and poor romans dindu nuffin
>>931762
"Let me steal a man's wife!"
Not killing Anthony after killing Cesar. Literally fucking retarded Brutus.
Napoleon crumbling the HRE.
Pompey losing to Caesar in the civil war
seriously how did he fuck up so badly? he held all the cards
>Let's waste our vast fortunes and great armies on fighting each other for no real reason instead of consolidating our power and conquering the (known) world
T. Classical Greeks
>What could have been
It hurts ;_;
>>934300
>Who is Alexander the great
Majorian trusting Ricimer
>>934300
the greeks were pretty much always failures, and even today they show they still are
with the tiny exception of what alexander did
>>934328
>Who is Alexander the great
The bearer of Greece's downfall
>>932064
>cypress
>>932103
There wasn't that much fighting going on with the Brits in '41, was there? The Germans had lost the Battle of Britain already.
>>931785
Fuck off celtshitter
The Battle of Waterloo
The world would be better had Napoleon won
England
>>931743
Giving females the vote.
>>934673
If only Harald told his men not take off their goddamn armor.
>>931743
Leaving the trees or leaving the water.
>>932871
I'm not sure if this man's existence was a mistake, sure he made the oil industry less chaotic, but at the same time...
>>931749
Also the Babylonian, Persian, Arab, Russian, Frankish , and Germans failure to do so
>>933873
"Let me marry the most beautiful woman out there!"
Not letting the South leave glorious America.
>>934328
A cool dude, but in some ways not really a Greek. The Macedonians were seen as redneck hicks by the rest of Greece. Alexander was educated by Greek thought, but many (most?) of the things he did were the kind of stuff "proper" Greeks wouldn't be caught dead doing.
>>931747
Yeah, I have to say "/thread" here
Not wiping out Islam.
>>934354
>>934350
Great samefagging
Also
No
>Civilization of antiquity
>Alexander
>Phillip
>City States
>Philosophy
>Diadochi kingdoms
>Bearers of the Roman East
>Protectors of Orthodox Christianity
>Destroyer of Goths, Bulgars, Slavs, Turks and many more
>One of the causes for the fall of the Ottomans
>Great allies during Balkan Wars 1+2 and WW1+2
How is the treaty of Versailles a mistake?
>>935426
amen
>>935520
Germany survived.
>>935520
They set up a situation that embittered the German people and thus left them happy to make war on those who wronged them. Rather fucked up considering Germany entered the war as an ally, rather than being one of the initiators.
>>931762
"I want to bang Helen"
Oswald Mosley's detection from the Labour party
>>935640
*defection
Leaving the cave
Seriously, can anyone explain what the hell we've gained from this?
When those two muslim guards took the Mongolian guys carts of money and shaved his beard, basically what started the Mongolian western invasion
>>935640
BEADY
E
A
D
Y
>>935640
what are you implying with this post
The French Revolution
>>935495
>Literally We wuz
>We wuz Alexander
>We wuz Romans
>We wuz REAL Christians
>H-hellas s-stronk
>>934295
The Roman Republic could've prevailed had Pompey won, god fucking damn it he fucked up so badly.
>>935640
Mr Churchill, I'm B.U.F
>>931747
Whoa
Vietnam War
>Let's attack Russia
>In the winter!
>>931743
Universal suffrage, bar none.
>>936455
This
>>932625
>mfw I invade Russia in the winter
>>931747
He's right.
>>935630
Helen a cute. CUTE.
democracy
anime
videogames
>>936455
how about attacking russia at all, even when nappy took their capital they all ran away anyway, the people are used like ants, and they bow down to their kaisers, only rising up 100 years after everybodys done it.
Almost as bad as the africans.
People decided to take Marxism seriously.
>>931743
Roman adoption of Christianity
>>936455
They attacked in the summer and it stalled in winter.
>>931747
>not being just wrong but double wrong
I hope you'll grow out of your "nihilist" phase soon anon ^_^
>>935464
>the things he did were the kind of stuff "proper" Greeks wouldn't be caught dead doing.
yeah, like winning
>>935520
Being too harsh economically
>>937490
How was it too harsh economically? German economy was entirely capable of paying the reparations and the allies played ball on those few occasions when the Germans showed good will. Then after the depression ruined everything, the reparations were cancelled altogether with Germany only having paid a fraction of them.
>>935520
It was ridiculously lenient, basically let Germany off with a slap on the wrist, pretty much guaranteeing another world war in 20 years time.
>>931743
Making 4chan
>>931762
>infinite wisdom
>rule all of asia
>1 hot chick
>chooses hot chick
Paris done fucked up.
>>931743
Symbol-based communication
>>932625
actually, thats not crazy. Attack in the winter while supply lines are close and there is less ground to cover, then advance for the rest of the year
>>931774
Germany beat Russia in WWI
>>931785
P E R F I D I O U S
the best, most enviable of nations
>>938313
You wish
>>932639
>be Athenian thete
>hear strategoi talking about invading sicily
>realise this is the ticket to getting my filthy thetic welfare bucks
>every other thete has the same idea, votes for more ships
Democracy was the biggest mistake of them all.
>>938322
Brest-Litovsk and Lenin
>>936623
>t. Ed "Pointing the Finger at the Eucharist Bringer" Gibbons
Jurchens not paying their protection money to the Mongols.
>>931743
Turkey and all the Arab gulf states
>>938281
there's no optimal solution, early summer is the best
>winter
can't advance fast and far enough to envelop and crush their forward forces due to snow and supply issues
>spring
MUD
>summer
you won't reach moscow before winter
>autumn
should be obvious
>>938314
When exactly did Britain invade Finland? They were at war and there was a single bombing raid, but that's it as far as I know.
>>935520
it asked more money from germany than there was at the time in the world I believe... which is a bit silly
>>931747
Only true answer
>>931774
No one invaded Russia in the winter and the Empire got btfo by Germany in wwi
>>931915
This is what cuckholding looks like
The ending to Mass Effect 3.
>>939028
Russia was winning before the Brest-Litovsk, in purely military terms. If there was a sociopolitical opening for the Russian Republic or the Bolsheviks to push for victory, they'd have won
Kicking Hitler out of art school
>>931743
Not wiping out the USSR after the Nazis were done for.
>>933076
>not the greatest thing ever next to the industrial revolution
>>939142
I struggle to think of a single good thing the enlightement brought. Pretty much all the social improvements in the last 200 years were thanks to technological advancement.
>>931743
League of Nations
>>939152
It produced the political (individualism, limitation of government powers) and economical (free trade, industrial revolution) setting that would ensure that new tech would be enjoyed by most (through lower prices due to industrialization) instead of just the ruling classes.
It also gave birth to America and made it great.
>Hmm...
>What can I do to...
>I've got it!
>I'll assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand!
>What could possibly go wrong?
>>939178
>limitation of government powers
That was feudalism, when the nobility, the clergy and even the bourgeoise functioned as checks and balances to the monarch.
>industrial revolution
Technology. I'm pretty sure Watt or Cartwright didn't give a flying fuck about Rousseau's ramblings.
>instead of just the ruling classes
Again, technology and material. I'm not even a Marxist or anything but materialistic determinism applies here.
>>939202
I'd advise you to at least read the Wikipedia articles before you start talking about the enlightenment and the industrial revolution like that, they both are much complex issues than what you presume when you talk about Rosseau's "ramblings". And check Feyerabend and Matt Ridley to forget about the "great men" theory of science oozing out of your credit of "Technology" to Watt and Cartwright.
>>939050
>>>/reddit/
>>939005
It asked money that Germany could muster. Which is, you know, fairly logical, since the Allies wanted the reparations paid?
Britain entering the most disastrous and destructive war of all time for all involved from the start, for a scrap of paper
All the wealth they'd been collecting for the last 100 years flowed directly from the British Empire into the United States, destroying the Empire's finances and at the same time giving a massive shot in the arm to the United States. The centre of world finance moved from London to New York.
Not only that but Britain lost an entire generation of men and more.
All for a scrap of paper.
>>931916
İs that custer ?
>>936455
stop this meme
>>939190
>he buys the ww1 was started by the assassination meme
Don't know in general,but for Serbia,probably not letting the Nazis go thru our land without us attacking them
>>931747
/thread
white people
>>940093
>>939369
We wanted to get involved to stop Germany from dominating the continent the scrap of paper was an excuse. It didn't work.
>>935426
Sherman was a good general.
>>938281
The enemy will also have the time to prepare for a counter offensive or prepare defensive preparations.
>>939295
The money was shit due to hyperinflation. There's a reason why Hitler was named man of the year by Time. The country went back on its feet.
>>931743
Marco Aurelius getting laid
>>932103
more like
>Being allied with the Italians and having to dick around in the Balkans for two months saving their asses
>>931743
The misfortune of your birth.
>>938331
kek
The entire country of Germany.
>>936478
fuck off
>>941643
Hi roastie.
>>931743
Austria-Hungary
>>941270
weimar hyperinflation ended ten years before hitler
humanity
>>941555
kek
>>936478
This
If you want to object you better have a better argument than "but that's mean!!"
>>931747
t. miyazaki
>>936127
It was doomed since the implementation of the Marian Reforms
>>931743
Not killing all germs after WW1
End of colonialism
>>935556
>>937522
Retarded answers.
>>935520
If the Allies wanted to cripple and truly punish Germany, they should have gone all the way (What they did to Austria for example). If they just wanted to end the war without really blaming anyone they should have signed a relatively easy peace treaty. Instead they went half-way, demanded Germany to pay ludicrous amounts of money but only artificially (i.e "you can't produce, even if you can) crippling German military capability thus leaving Germans pissed off with the ability to recover rather quickly.
Full balkanisation should have happened
>>931743
Arch Duke Franz's car driver taking that wrong turn, which stalled the vehicle in just the right location for Gavrilo Princip to get his shot off
Babylonian exile of the Jews
This is indisputable by the way
Martin Luther writing the 95 theses.
The 95 Theses was the catalyst of the Protestant Reformation, which caused the Thirty Years' War. Which caused the Enlightenment. Which caused the French Revolution. Which caused the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Which caused the Congress of Vienna. Which caused the First World War. Which caused the Second World War. Which caused the Cold War. Which caused most of the current problems we're having today.
Though a lot of these events brought good, such as the enlightenment, it's amazing how much suffering was caused by one guy writing a document.
>>946788
Frood is that you?
>>931747
Fpbp as always
>>946788
You can take it back further with the selling of indulgences then, or all the way back with the founding of Christianity.
>>932905
this has to be high up there. who knows where Islam would be today without the mongol invasions.
>>931747
/thread
>>931743
Fucking Barbarossa
There was a primitive steam made by a Greek engineer in the 1st century, but wasn't developed further.
Anti-Biotics
>>934387
North Africa, Scandinavia, Yugoslavia, Greece...
Might not be THE worst mistake but the Byzantine–Sasanian War was pretty bad. Most likely the worst possible time to ever fight a war.
Hey, mr Aztec emperor, these Spanish dudes are gods, and we should give them gold, right?
-fuck it. Sure.
>>938161
>mfw paris could've been a better Alexander
>chooses not to
Amazing
>>932416
"Lets march on Rome with no way to cut off it's supplies and siege the city or assault it."
Unless it was successful as a bluff Hannibal made the right decision in trying to force Roman "Allies" to defect.
Germany.
>>935672
Enjoy dying of parasites and lacking modern dentistry.
>>935672
Plato wrote some shit. That's the only gain I can think of.
>>948419
But cavemen had good teeth didn't they?
>>948413
this.
also, breaking down berlin's wall.
the world and specially europe needs those bloodthirsthy warmongers splitted up in order to keep peace and stability all over the old continent.
specially at this time, since france is on life support and like the rest of the countries elected subhuman trash with manginas to "rule" their countries so little no efforts are being used to curb the germanoid scum impetuous and predatory attacks to all european countries
>>941555
literally this. sorry but it's true
Emancipation proclamation, trouble ever since
>>935640
You're actually not wrong
>>948741
Jimbob pls
>>948759
Just stating the facts
>>931785
>hahaha let's get rid of all our religious lunatics and retards
>hahaha what could go wrong
So the worst, most despicable of nations was born.
>>931743
Germany/Germans in general
>>931848
>>936455
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8raDPASvq0
>>931743
Manifest Destiny
>tfw the USA could've been a comfy Anglo Switzerland between the Mississippi and Atlantic
The removal of otto von bismark by William II. William then went on to fuck up peace agreements and have only Austria as a reliable ally. Had to fully support Austria which dragged Germany into the third balkan war because Austria was threatened by the mobilization of Russian troops after Austria's ridiculous requests to Serbia for payback for the assassination.
>>938325
Agreed
>>939819
If it didn't cause the declaration of war from Austria-Hungary that began the alliance system triggering please tell me what did.
Emancipation proclamation. Shit has been downhill since
>>935607
Yeah not like Germany did that to France a few years back is it?
Nope, not at all..
>>931774
INTO THE MUTHERLAND THE GERMAN ARMY MARCH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF3pv6WsJrs
>>931743
Me
>>935607
>left them happy to make war on those who wronged them
and yet the Nazi ideology was preoccupied with eastward expansion, and a war with France and Britain is not something Hitler pined for, and indeed even was hopeful and even believed would not happen during his eastwards campagn in Poland
Dismantlement of colonial empires.
Destroying the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
>>932625
>>Napoleon and Hitler both invaded in Summer.
so why do we hear that they attacked in winter ?
>>953614
Because people don't understand the timeline. Winter fucked up the invasions, but the troops could only have been in Russia if they'd left in the summer.
>The French Invasion of Russia, known in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (Russian: Oтeчecтвeннaя вoйнa 1812 гoдa, Otechestvennaya Voyna 1812 Goda) and in France as the Russian Campaign (French: Campagne de Russie), began on 24 June 1812 when Napoleon's Grande Armée crossed the Neman River in an attempt to engage and defeat the Russian army.
>Murat advanced to Nemenčinė on July 1 running into elements of Doctorov's III Russian Cavalry Corps en route to Djunaszev.
>Through a series of long marches Napoleon pushed the army rapidly through Western Russia in an attempt to bring the Russian army to battle, winning a number of minor engagements and a major battle at Smolensk in August.
>On 7 September, the French caught up with the Russian army which had dug itself in on hillsides before a small town called Borodino, seventy miles west of Moscow.
>He began the long retreat by the middle of October 1812.
>When the remnants of Napoleon's army crossed the Berezina River in November, only 27,000 effective soldiers remained; the Grand Armée had lost some 380,000 men dead and 100,000 captured.
>The campaign effectively ended on 14 December 1812, not quite six months from its outset, with the last French troops leaving Russian soil.
>>953614
>Operation Barbarossa (German: Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II, which began on 22 June 1941.
>Stalin did not address the nation about the German invasion until 3 July, when he also called for a "Patriotic War ... of the entire Soviet people".
>By August, as the serviceability and the quantity of the Luftwaffe's inventory steadily reduced due to combat, while demand for air support only increased as the VVS stubbornly resurged, the Luftwaffe found itself struggling to maintain local air superiority in the front lines.
>On September 7, the German 20th Motorized Division seized Shlisselburg, cutting off all land routes to Leningrad.
>Operation Typhoon, the drive to Moscow, began on 2 October.
>On 15 November, with the ground hardening due to the cold weather, the Germans once again began the attack on Moscow.
>The Soviet counteroffensives in December 1941 caused heavy casualties on both sides, but ultimately eliminated the German threat to Moscow.
The destruction of the U.S.S.R
Alternatively, capitalism.
>>931848
>Princess Bride references out of nowhere
You have fixed my day. Thanks Anon.
>>953614
Because the wars took too long and it became Winter and they were not prepared
>>950960
>Had to fully support Austria which dragged Germany into the third balkan war
Nope.
Germany had been searching for an excuse to go to war with Britain and France ever since the Congress of Berlin. If Austria hadn't caused the start of the war then Germany would have eventually started it themself.
>>953671
>unironic marxist
wew. why is this board full of leftists? ive never met a leftist history professor and i knew quite a lot at georgetown.
>>953973
>ive never met a leftist history professor
I don't believe you
>>953994
i had six history professors at georgetown and none of them were sjws or marxists. they were probably 5/6 democrats but they were definitely not marxists.
>>953998
4chan is full of autist extremists and /his/ is a pretty shit board as far as smaller, slower board go tbqh
>>953998
So to you all leftists are sjws and marxists?
>>954012
why are the lefties dominant here? everyone irl i met who is a history buff outside of academia leans right. People who are knowledgeable in history tend to be less ideologically extreme but not in a wishy-washy way more of a "both sides are proven shit but the marxists a bit moreso" way and have no illusions about realpolitik. And like I said even in academia, at a fairly liberal but establishment school like Georgetown there were no hardcore ideologues teaching history.
>>954024
Yes thats what i define as leftism. I dont call the moderate left leftists. I call them liberals. saying capitalism in conjunction with loving the ussr makes you a leftwing extremist in most settings.
>>954039
capitalism is a mistake*
>>953614
Because people are idiots and don't bother to check facts.
>>954031
>everyone irl i met who is a history buff outside of academia leans right.
Where I live it's completely the opposite. But then again you live in the the US where cold war propaganda has brainwashed the entire baby boomer generation against anything Socialist.
>>946921
>You can take it back further with the selling of indulgences then,
I see imaginary events have as much impact as ones that actually happened then
>>954047
theyre not wrong, you know
>>954047
Reminder that Europe is a shithole and their socialist policies don't help them in any meaningful way
Reminder that this is a fact and not an opinion
The biggest mistake in the 20th to 21st century would have to be American's blind faith in self-determination and their own "exceptionalism". If the west listened to Churchill in 1945 on how to deal with Russia and communism in general their would have been no Cold war, Korean war or Vietnam war
>>931743
Wrong translation of Japanese politician phrase after which Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombarded with nuclear bombs.
>>954070
That sounds like a good thing
Weebs fuck off
>>931747
>weeb scored higher on the history test than me
Stay mad, normie.
>>954062
>le public ownership
Enjoy paying for Jamal's rehab that he's just gonna relapse from two hours after he walks out.
