Is this the most embarrassing military defeat in History?
>So great was the shame, and the ill luck thought to adhere to the numbers of the Legions, that XVII, XVIII and XIX never again appear in the Roman Army's order of battle. The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest was keenly felt by Augustus, darkening his remaining years. According to the biographer Suetonius, upon hearing the news, Augustus tore his clothes, refused to cut his hair for months and, for years afterwards, was heard, upon occasion, to moan, "Quinctilius Varus, give me back my Legions!" (Quintili Vare, legiones redde!)
>>8359
It was a serious blunder, that would set them up for centuries of barbarian dickings in the future.
>>8359
There's also Crassus losing 34-40,000 men against the Persian-Parthian army under Surena who numbered made a quarter of their own troops at Carrahe.
>>8424
FUCKING this.
nobody can or will ever top this.
>>8359
No the most embarrassing defeat is the battle (country I don't like) lost.
a personal favorite of mine, the sheer levels of hubris that lead to it are hard to comprehend
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusade_of_Varna
>>8424
are australians aware of this or they are still downloading the picture
Operation Cottage was also pathetic
>The Japanese had secretly abandoned the island
>Both U.S. and Canadian forces mistook each other as the Japanese and, as a result of friendly fire, 28 Americans and 4 Canadians were killed, with wounded on either side. A stray Japanese mine caused the USS Abner Read (DD-526) to lose a large chunk of its stern. The blast killed 71 and wounded 47. 191 troops went missing during the two-day stay on the island and presumably also died from friendly fire, booby traps, or environmental causes. Four other troops had also been killed by landmines or other traps.
It's not really a defeat, just embarrassing
>>8359
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pliska
I always loved this one
>>8619
another one in that vein
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise_Tiger
>Exercise Tiger, or Operation Tiger, was the code name for one in a series of large-scale rehearsals for the D-Day invasion of Normandy, which took place on Slapton Sands or Slapton Beach in Devon. Coordination and communication problems resulted in friendly fire deaths during the exercise, and an Allied convoy positioning itself for the landing was attacked by E-boats of Germany's Kriegsmarine, resulting in the deaths of 946 American servicemen.[1][2][3] Because of the impending invasion, the incident was under the strictest secrecy at the time and was only nominally reported afterward. As a result, Exercise Tiger has been called "forgotten."
I'm a big partisan of the battle of Aljubarrota. The opposing generals were brothers as well.
ⱽᶦᵉᵗᶰᵃᵐ
>>8729
>It AIn't Me starts playing
>>8359
The Italian invasion of Greece in the 40's was one of the biggest military fuck ups in history.
Operation Compass
>Italy
Everytime
>>8722
Using italy is cheating
>>8784
kek
>>8649
>After the battle, Krum encased Nicephorus's skull in silver, and used it as a cup for wine-drinking. This is one of the best documented instances of the custom of the skull cup.
hue
>>8359
Just a reminder that 3 legions and their auxiliaries were lost out of 28. That's almost 11% of the entire Roman army in one battle.
>>8722
How come Italy always fucks everything up?
>>8722
>have 300 planes
>lose 1200
leave these pic to /int/ threads
use better sources here
>>8845
Because it's full of Italians.
>>8722
How the hell do you lose more planes then you have?
Italy is shit
>>8850
>Taking a joke seriously
>>8886
hiroshima nagasaki didn't create this board for /int/ jokes
>>8886
>lol it's a joke guize
High level of discourse right there
>>8729
demoralizing yes, embarrassing no
it was simply a kind of war the US was unprepared to fight. The north vietnamese were completely dedicated to victory at any price, and the price for them was indeed extremely high.
>>8959
>unprepared to fight
>dropping everything you got on a shithole
>still have losses
>'muriga
>>8959
>most powerful military empire in world defeated by ricefarmers who used oxen
>not embarrassing
And here comes the revisionism
>>8959
>waste billions in weapons in a hellhole
>economics call
>LOL WE WERE UNPREPARED
>>8928
>hiroshima nagasaki
>aussies still loading pic related
>>8991
>>9017
>>9026
why such a strong reaction? I don't consider it to be embarrassing that we lost, we never should have been there in the first place. That was what was embarrassing about it, that the leadership wasted so many resources on an unwinable war for reasons that were at best abstract and at worst completely ludicrous, and that even still there were people saying that the North Vietnamese were close to cracking.
>>8845
In WW2 the Italian Army had pretty poor equipment, not a lot of good leaders and awful morale. Mussolini was just about the only one excited at the prospect of war.
There were exceptions, Rommel said that the Italians he worked with were perfectly fine soldiers when well supplied and led and Amedeo Guillet did some very impressive stuff in Eritrea.
Worth mentioning
>>8959
You're 100% right. These nitwits making fun of you seem to think the goal was to create a 51st state. It wasn't. It was the same goal the U.S. military has had since WWII: Fuck up an enemy enough to thwart any potential that enemy may have of becoming a legitimate threat. Our enemy there was of course not the Vietnamese rice farmers, but instead the Soviets and Chinese. We fucked the country up enough to make it a victory. The Soviets never did anything close to the same thing to the U.S. in the Western hemisphere.
The truth is that the U.S. was a fat and happy nation fighting a small, poor and hungry nation, albeit one propped up by much more powerful countries. When the U.S. accomplished its goal, there was no need to rub it in and waste money and our own soldiers.
>>8991
You're forgetting that we held back on nuclear attacks, something that was considered and a very real possibility.
>>8359
that was basically an ambush. Romans ultimatly had their revenge years later
>>9516
>held back on nuclear attacks
If I'm pointing a gun at you and you're pointing a gun at me, and I don't pull the trigger, is it because I'm holding back?
>>9599
The problem with that revenge is that they didn't try to occupy it like they did Gaul or Hispania. It was basically just to say "Just for the record, we really can beat these barbarians."
>>9516
So all that about Vietnamization was a lie and America had no intention of supporting South Vietnam to the point where it could sufficiently defend itself.
>>8424
Fuck those imperialist scumbags taking away rightful emu clay. They deserved it.
>>9665
Yeah but honestly. Romans only conquered already developed land. Hispania, gaul, britannia all had real economies and a lot of exploited mines. Germany was just forest except at their border with the empire.
>>8359
This
>>8850
don't be a retard
That was a two or three month battle
300 could easily be
>initial strength
>maximum strength (repeatedly reinforced and decimated)
>recorded strength (vs recorded casualties)
stop using up my oxygen
>>9868
They had real economies because the Romans put work into building those economies. It's not like Gaul had enormous public works projects when the Romans conquered them.
FUcking based crusaders
>charging a navy with cavalry
>it fucking works
>>8359
It makes me sad that Germany did nothing to celebrate the 1000 year anniversary of that battle.
>>10153
This shit makes me laugh every time.
>>9202
Well, the Vietcong themselves said they had exhausted their resources in the Tet Offensive. Really the sole major failure was JFK not following through on Eisenhower's commitment to not allow the NVA to establish supply lines through Laos, and then LBJ's desperate attempt to rectify the situation.
>>10044
Seriously man, the Crusaders were fuckin badasses. The greatest warriors from all over the world coming together to form one of the strongest mounted armies in history vs. Southern European retards.
>>10041
Gauls were heavily trading with the romans and were exploiting at full forces their rich mines before the romans even considered conquering them.
Arminius and this battle was milked to death by the german nationalists back then.
![XaAVLDJ[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/fysL1M3.png "XaAVLDJ[1].png")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Salsu
>>10041
>They had real economies because the Romans put work into building those economies
It was actually pretty well-developed by the time of Caesar's invasion, as demonstrated by the enormous wealth of gold and silver that Rome seized.
IIRC the plough necessary to fully exploit the heavier soils of northern Europe was invented centuries after Rome fell, so there was little actual value in conquering the rest of "Germania"
>>10188
Not to be a /pol/ack, but Germany doesn't like to discuss their history anymore, since they were used to encourage patriotism by Nazi Germany. Now they're too ashamed of what their ancestors did a millennium ago.
>invade the desert
>Romans underestimate the Parthians, and they know that
>Parthians ride in covered in cheap rags and dust, same with their horses
>before the charge, they fling off the rags and reveal beautiful sets of armor. Some romans even said "The horizion looked as if it were on fire" as the Parthans revealed their great armor
>Parthians make a fool of the romans with Cataphracts and horse archers
>>10265
Honestly I think it all went downhill after Diem was overthrown. There's a revisionist-leaning book that makes a pretty good argument that Diem was a necessary evil to ensure stability in South Vietnam.
Once he was overthrown South Vietnam became like those African countries that have a coup every five years
>>10451
How the fuck did these retards lose over 300,000 men? is this real life?
>>10580
>nominal
It was 10 000 (PPP)
:^)
>>10580
they dont, korean wiki warrior put the casualty list of entire campaign on that one battle
>>8713
Jezz, you portugueses are obsessed with that battle.
>>10626
>Hitler will never attend the Nuremberg trials
why live
>>10451
>When the Sui army had reached Salsu the water level was shallow, as Eulji Mundeok had already cut off the flow of water with a dam. When the Sui troops were halfway across the river, Eulji opened the dam and the onslaught of water drowned thousands of Sui soldiers.
>>8359
Probably the thrashing at the Battle of Sandy Hook.
everyone mentions the Winter War here even though the Soviets won it and got all their demands
>>10701
That's actually pretty smart.
>>10701
Wow, that's pretty sweet.
>>10701
Smart move Eulji
>>10720
Finland is a logistical nightmare
>>10720
It was a Pyrrhic victory
>>8359
British losses are about 800, Portuguese losses, are about 800. Spanish losses are 25,000.
>>10720
It is more about how they managed to win than what they did.
During the brief but decisive clash, Israel utterly routed the armies of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria in less than a week, despite being outnumbered nearly three-to-one in men, planes, and tanks. It was one of the most spectacular underdog victories in the history of warfare, stunning the world and in the process creating a series of problems that continue to bedevil Arab-Israeli relations to this day.
supporting Israel is for Patricians my friends.
>>10983
Were the Israelis better armed or had better morale?
it was this desu
>biggest empire ever
>loses to a few thousand farmers
>>11063
How do people seriously not know about the Six Day War?
The Israelis did a total surprise attack and bombed the fuck out of the arab airfields and won through air and armor superiority
>>11135
>busy trying to fight the French
>let ungrateful farmers run their own damn country
>>10921
not really, they kept the stuff they got to this day and won WWII as well
>>11063
>better intelligence(not that one)
>air supremacy
>against arabs
Hard to lose
>>8722
BR stronk
who's hueing now, huh?
>>8579
>On 2 November the men traveled to Campion, where some 50 emus were sighted.[2] As the birds were out of range of the guns, the local settlers attempted to herd the emus into an ambush, but the birds split into small groups and ran so that they were difficult to target.[6] Nevertheless, while the first fusillade from the machine guns was ineffective due to the range, a second round of gunfire was able to kill "a number" of birds. Later the same day a small flock was encountered, and "perhaps a dozen" birds were killed.[2]
>The next significant event was on 4 November. Meredith had established an ambush near a local dam, and over 1,000 emus were spotted heading towards their position. This time the gunners waited until the birds were in close proximity before opening fire. The gun jammed after only twelve birds were killed, however, and the remainder scattered before more could be killed. No more birds were sighted that day.[2]
Look mate, emus are crafty little buggers...
>>10954
They did indeed lose the first parts horribly but after they reorganized they managed to win it
>>8359
Can someone explain why this was so decisive?
It seems like a century earlier the Romans had suffered a much, much worse defeat at the hands of Germans, at a time when they were smaller too, and yet quickly recovered.
>>8589
If you are Canadian, dying is actually an improvement.
>>11250
you're an Idiot friend,The Soviet Union played a crucial role in arming the Arab states and instigating the Six-Day War.
Initially supportive of Israel at the time of its founding, by the early 1950s the Soviets no longer regarded the Zionist state as useful for extending their influence into the Middle East. Transferring their support to Arab side, the Soviets took on the role of armorer for both Syria and Egypt, supplying them with modern tanks, aircraft and later missiles. The Egyptian and Syrian armed forces primarily used Soviet weapons during the 1967 war and employed tactics developed by the Soviets.
The Soviet Union exerted a troublesome influence on the events leading up to the war by feeding Arab suspicions about Israel. This culminated in the delivery to the Syrians and Egyptians of a false alert on May 13 that Israel had massed troops near the Israeli-Syrian border in preparation for an attack on Syria.
>>11393
Because morals, in the war against carthage, rome suffered a LOT of defeats, however, they always recovered because they had hope and were patriots, now in this time, rome was fallen in corruption and power plays.
>>8424
They're going after the cats next...
>>8619
>Japan (not present)
Every time.
>>10153
Fucking Habsburgers. They knew why they focused on strategically marrying into other royal families instead of war.
>>10535
>mesopotamia
>desert
>>10143
the war of the first coalition was such a complete clusterfuck on every level
>>8722
whoa i never realized Brazil sent troops to Europe
>>11393
because it stopped roman expansion into germania proper.
>>8722
reminder that Ethiopia BTFO Italy multiple times
>>8359
>tfw you could never got back and warn Augustus of this
I saw a doco saying that if it didn't happen almost all of history would've been different in. Was it really that influential of a defeat?
>>11069
I'm convinced that this was a false flag operation to justify a US invasion of Egypt but LBJ got cold feet and decided against going forward. Probably a good thing too since Sadat came in 3 years later and broke off relations with the Soviets anyway.
>>11244
well when you consider that their initial war goal was to install a communist puppet government I'd say the Finns got out of it ok
>>12108
It's generally seen as the battle that stopped Rome from expanding into Germania. It could be argued otherwise like in this thread, but whatever. The Anglo part of Anglo-Saxon came from Germania, so anything in British history would also be affected.
>>10983
>No mention of Israel having mountains of the latest U.S supplied equipment
>>10095
>>12108
I think so, considering how badly the Germanic tribes would fuck Rome up later on. It mostly has to do with the butterfly effect. Who knows how different it could've been?
Isandlwana was a pretty bad defeat considering that the Zulus just had fucking spears.
>>11393
It wasn't that decisive, within a few years Rome was back to subjugating Germania. In hindsight though, there is a decisive change in Roman policy and the expansion that fueled Rome ends at the Rhine.
>>12091
indeed, it was the third largest force from the americas after the US and Canada. Brazil had been neutral but direct involvement came after several sinkings of Brazilian ships by U-boats outraged the nation. Brazilian infantry had a reputation for fighting hard though casualties were often extremely high.
>>12547
20,000 zerglings vs 1300 marines desu
>>8359
No but this is
>>8649
>On 23 July the Byzantines quickly captured the defenseless capital. The city was sacked and the countryside destroyed.[12][13] Khan Krum attempted once more to negotiate for peace. According to the historian Theophanes, Krum’s proclamation stated, "Here you are, you have won. So take what you please and go with peace." Nicephorus, overconfident from his success, ignored him. He believed that Bulgaria was thoroughly conquered.
>>8359
Germany got a sweet statue out of it though.
>>15335
It's a shame they don't even bother teaching about him in history class anymore.
>>15515
I'm pretty sure they still do since Rome is always on the curriculum.
I don't think Drake was even trying anymore at this point of his life.
>>15970
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arminius
>Following World War II however, schools often shunned the topic since it had become associated with the militant nationialism of the Third Reich, and many modern Germans don't know about Arminius.
>>10580
Probably ancient sources exaggerating.
>>10983
I respect Israel because they took a tiny sliver of shitty no-resource land and turned it into the 19th highest HDI, and while being surrounded by enemies they STILL win every time.
Anyone who hates Jew's are just mad that they won the game of life so hard they became the GM's.
>>16449
I honestly don't understand why so many people hate Jews
There are so few Jews around (at least where I live) that they can't possibly be this much of an issue.
I don't even support Israel in the slightest but I don't hate Jews and I think it's stupid to hate them.
Now MUSLIMS, there's a religious group I can understand disliking
>>16711
Read my post
I said I don't support Israel, I agree with you and think the Israelis are massive dickheads and that there should be a two-state solution
But it's not fair to blame Jews for the actions of the dumbass Israelis
>>12480
>ignoring that the arabs where supplied by the USSR
>m-muh kikes control the US guis!
>>17022
Please stop perpetuating shitposting. Just leave it the fuck alone and post good content and this board can be at peace.
>>16776
It's the case with all extremists. Not all liberals are skeletons, not all conservatives are /pol/, not all Muslims are terrorists. The hardliners are not the same as the moderates, and the moderates definitely are not to blame for the problems in the region.
Also, we should probably get back on topic before mods ban us.
>>11135
Americans giving out false information as always
That one battle where Italy somehow loses(not the dying type of loses) 300000 men in ww1.
>>12547
>>11895
how is that embarrassing?
>>11969
They literally had to try like 5 times before they got it right. And then Napoleon fucking escaped and they had to do it again.
>>18253
Using Italy as an example is cheating
>>8359
St. Clair's defeat was pretty rough for the early US. It wiped out a sizable chunk of the frontier military at the time and led to the US signing treaties a lot more often rather than risking direct warfare with the natives.
>>10188
a) I suspect you mean the 2000 year anniversary.
b) Some shit did happen, it just wasn't a big deal, because it happened 2000 fucking years ago, our nation didn't even remotely exist then, and part of whats now it was part of Rome.
i know it's just a meme but the great emu war of 1932
Just post China v anyone ever.
>>18253
Did they have unlimited soldiers to sentence to death in the Slovenian mountains or what
>>16231
How many more have to die until the Germans are free to do their own interest?
The Jews tried to subjugate the Germans.
The Romans tried to subjugate the Germans.
The Polish tried to subjugate the Germans.
The Russians tried to subjugate the Germans.
The Allies tried to subjugate the Germans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnBJtIssgYs
There can only be mountains of blood, this time of all the leaders and media.
>>10044
Damn, I'm impressed
>>16231
Those pesky Germans stinting on the their greatest victory.
>Piss drunk and undisciplined Germans vs. Roman heavy infantry and auxiliaries
>totally route and devastate the Roman legions and steals three of their eagles.
Too bad that Germanicus decided that Germans deserved to be put down into the ground and brutally put them to the sword.
>>18833
germans break everything they touch
first they become part of rome and drag that down
then they become catholic, and go nailing things to church doors
then they become fascist, and ruin the ideology for everyone ever
it's a never-ending parade of horror. How long until those madmen are stopped for good?
Based Yi Sun-sin.
>>9912
The 300 Thebans were the Sacred Band specifically, known for their effectiveness. So at least the loss was to an elite unit of soldiers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Band_of_Thebes
>>8825
>so thirsty
You know who else is thirsty? YO MOMMA!
>>19146
Yi is a fucking amazing guy.
>>10451
>>10701
>>10729
>>10799
>>10862
That's actually the traditional narrative that even Korean historians don't support anymore, considering the difficulties in constructing a dam that big and releasing it at just the right time to drown the bulk of the army.
A lot of the historical records don't mention any flooding tactic at all and the more accepted theory nowadays was that it was a more typical attack during a vulnerable river crossing when half had crossed (like the way Chinese military treatises often advised), which led to soldiers drowning during the general rout.
The 300,000 casualties figure is more likely a combination of actual casualties and deserters over the entire campaign, which was marred more by logistical difficulties than anything, than the number of deaths in a single battle.
Same thing applies for this battle between the Koreans and the Khitans, which sounds suspiciously similar to the traditional account of the Battle of Salsu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kuju
What seems to have happened was that one engagement during the Goryeo-Khitan wars which did use some sort of flooding tactic by breaking some dam or dikes, was retroactively was also applied to the narrative of the Battles of Salsu and Kuju.
Let's not forget the cod wars.
>>9017
Militarily, we were winning. It was domestic political pressure and Johnson's mismanagement of PR that forced the withdraw.
>>20131
The problems went deeper than that. America's army is meant to take on organized armies of other nations, not occupy territory and conquer hearts and minds. We learned some lessons and applied them in Afghanistan, but it still isn't enough.
>>9912
>>8746
>It AIn't Me
SHIT
MEME
No one mentioned Karansebes?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karánsebes
>>20131
No war is ever just the military side of things, though. I feel that that's a lesson America has forgotten since World War Two. You can own the nicest, heaviest, shiniest hammer in the world and you'll still struggle to use it to change a lightbulb.
>>8359
List of objective worst people in history, no particular order.
>Hannibal Barca
>Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
>Arminius
>>8359
Obama letting Isis overrun Northern Iraq desu
>>22794
What have you against the Father of Tactics?1
>>18253
fucking Svetozar Boroević must have laughed every damn day of his life
>>19921
more like COLD WARS
>>8845
Poor commanders at the top level, though as proven in battles the lower you go the better the quality of command and troop quality as evidenced by the high praises given by the Germans to some Italian divisions, equipment being top-quality but to difficult to mass-produce
>>8359
>>10044
Why are Crusaders so badass?
Hell, they got led by a 16 year old in the Battle of Montgisard and they still won.
I guess it really is true that if people unite under one will, they become stronger than the sum of their parts.
>>8359
NO
not by a long shot.
>>24156
I'll never understand this battle
>>9912
Fucking kek that image
>>25112
Korean sources exagerrating battle losses.
Also exagerrations by the Chinese themselves, since the following years saw the Li Yuan's revolt and the establishment of the T'ang Dynasty. The T'ang wanted to paint the dynasty it replaced (the Sui) as a massive fuckup.
[spoiler]The Sui Dynasty was a massive fuck up really[/spoiler]
>>11919
>mfw they changed it from One soup kettle (and presumably the soup in it) to this shit
It's the little things
>>12547
>outnumbered 20 to 1
>caught in an ambush and surrounded
>forced to fight fast running Africans with spears while you have to reload after every shot
>still get a 1:1 kill ratio
pretty impressive.
>>12106
Do you know why Ethiopia was the last remaining african country not colonized? Because they were actually somewhat strong. Nobody bothered to invest so much to take it but when Italy wanted to colonize it they aided Ethiopia.
>>9605
>Vietnam had nuclear wepons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tendra
Based Mussolini sending 150,000 men into a desert without bothering to supply them.
>>28782
Yes, it was a bit embarrassing how motivated free citizens couldn't successfully defend against a bunch of terrified peasants even with a home field advantage.
>>8359
This ranks pretty high up on the Embarrassment scale. In fact the whole fucking Battle of the Alps does.
>>8359
Thumbnail looks like a gorrilla making the :P face
>>28833
Thanks to Mussolini Peter II got a few hundred feral Slovenes to play army with.
>>12480
The United States had an arms embargo against Israel during and before the 6 day war.
>>16711
>thinking there ever was a Palestine
This my friends is where /pol/ and tumblr meet.
>>11063
I dunno about better armed but the Israelis knew they were dead if they lost and the Arabs were just fighting for the whims of their dictators.
>>19921
I'm imagining a future video game. COD: Cod Warfare
>>11323
>throw men at them until they run out of ammo
>>28705
The Old Book of Tang say:
>Yin Ziqi had besieged the city for a long time. The food in the city had run out. The dwellers traded their children to eat and cooked bodies of the dead. Fears were spread and worse situations were expected. At this time, Zhang Xun took his concubine out and killed her in front of his soldiers in order to feed them. He said, "You have been working hard at protecting this city for the country wholeheartedly. Your loyalty is uncompromised despite the long-lasting hunger. Since I can't cut out my own flesh to feed you, how can I keep this woman and just ignore the dangerous situation?" All the soldiers cried, and they did not want to eat. Zhang Xun ordered them to eat the flesh. Afterwards, they caught the women in the city. After the women were run out, they turned to old and young males. 20,000 to 30,000 people were eaten. People always remained loyal.
>the city state of italy
