20 Most Infamous Military Disasters

Top 20 Military Disasters

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the worst mistakes, miscalculations, and oversights in the history of warfare.

#20: The Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)

Great Sioux War of 1876
Led by Lieutenant Colonel George Custer, the 7th Cavalry Regiment set out to overthrow a small Native American village at Little Bighorn. Anticipating an opposition of no more than 800 men, Custer split his troops into three battalions, each attacking from a different direction to prevent the villagers from escaping. Unfortunately, this strategy backfired, as the battalions were much weaker on their own and unable to fend off the 2,000-strong alliance of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors. Consequently, Custer and many troops in his battalion were slain, while the other two groups suffered significant losses. This mishap is mainly attributed to Custer’s miscalculation of Native American tactical savvy and military efficacy.

#19: Battle of Carrhae (53 B.C.E.)

The Roman-Parthian Wars
Roman General Marcus Licinius Crassus, the wealthiest man in Rome, sought to expand his riches by invading the neighboring Parthian Empire. Crassus’ intelligence reports had misled him into thinking that the Parthian army was weak and disorganized. Hoping to take advantage, the Roman General chose to cross the desert directly into Mesopotamia to seize their wealthy cities. At Carrhae, Crassus’ path was blocked by 10,000 Parthian cavalrymen, a fraction of his army’s size. Despite having exhausted troops and no solid formations, Crassus launched an immediate attack, and was almost as swiftly defeated. Crassus agreed to peace talks soon after, but was murdered during the negotiations. Many of his soldiers were subsequently killed while about 10,000 were captured.

#18: Pancho Villa Expedition (1916-17)

Mexican Border War
During the Mexican Border War, revolutionary general Pancho Villa grew angry over the United States’ decision to support his rival Venustiano Carranza. As a result, he launched multiple attacks against Americans in Mexico. The pivotal moment was Villa’s ambush of Columbus, New Mexico, which prompted President Woodrow Wilson to order his capture. General John J. Pershing took 10,000 soldiers on this mission, but struggled to make progress, as they were deemed foreign invaders by the local populace. Villa himself evaded capture, managing to leave Pershing “outwitted and out-bluffed at every turn.” After its failure, the U.S. government tried to spin the expedition as a worthy training mission. However, Pershing described his retreat as sneaking back home with his tail tucked between his legs.

#17: Battle of the Golden Spurs (1302)

Franco-Flemish War
Flanders was a wealthy, semi-independent county of France during much of the Middle Ages. When the Crown tried to impose oppressive taxes, conflict broke out. At the town of Courtrai, a force of Flemish rebels faced off against the formidable royal French Army, who were equipped with superior armor and weapons. The rebels, in contrast, consisted of different factions of militias, armed with less sophisticated tools. The knights underestimated the unconventional weaponry of their opponents and charged right into the Flemish ranks. They were however met with pikes and long spear clubs known as goedendags, which successfully absorbed and repelled the cavalry charges. In the end, the French were routed, and the Flemish collected 500 pairs of spurs as trophies of their victory.

#16: Sack of Constantinople (1204)

Fourth Crusade
Pope Innocent III launched the Fourth Crusade in an attempt to regain Christian control of the Holy Land. His hopes were dashed on the shoals of greed and corruption. Instead of conquering Egypt and invading Jerusalem, the Venetian Crusaders turned eastward. In 1202, they laid siege to the Catholic city of Zara in Croatia, which led the Pope to excommunicate them. Nevertheless, the Venetians remained undeterred. They rampaged along the coast of Christian-controlled lands, eventually reaching the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. The Eastern Orthodox church was an ostensible ally to the Crusades, but that didn’t matter. The rich empire was captured and divided up among European nations. This betrayal sparked a centuries-long conflict between the Catholic and Orthodox churches.

#15: Battle of Antietam (1862)

American Civil War
In 1862, the United States was desperate for a win in the Civil War. When Lincoln claimed victory after Antietam, it was a PR spin at best. Union General McClellan’s Army of the Potomac had a genuine opportunity to cripple the Confederates. Unfortunately, General Robert E. Lee managed to fend off Union forces, resulting in a staggering casualty count of over 22,000. McClellan got his chance to finish Lee off before Confederate reinforcements arrived, but he hesitated. The bloodshed had demoralized the Union General, and he allowed Lee to retreat. McClellan’s decision drew the ire of his own officers, with one colonel later stating, “more errors were committed by the Union commander than in any other battle of the war.”

#14: Battle of Agincourt (1415)

Hundred Years’ War
During the Middle Ages, cavalry was considered to be the pinnacle of warfare, with the French developing an entire culture around the mounted knight. However, in 1415, French knights learned a hard lesson in humility at the Battle of Agincourt. Henry V of England was marching across northern France when he was caught by a huge French force. Exhausted, cold and hungry, the English soldiers were vulnerable and greatly outnumbered by their opponents. Nevertheless, Henry V led them into battle. Due to recent torrential rains, the ground had become very muddy, hindering the movement of the armored knights. They were like crabs in a trap. The English archers swiftly decimated the mud-trapped French, killing thousands in moments and emerging victorious.

#13: The Sicilian Expedition (415-413 B.C.E)

Peloponnesian War
During the Peloponnesian War, an Athenian noble named Alcibiades convinced his countrymen that Sicily was a ripe target. He believed that the famed Athenian navy could easily capture the city state of Syracuse. Before their fleet set sail, Alcibiades’ enemies implicated him in a religious scandal, resulting in a criminal trial on sacrilege charges. It only got worse from there. For two years, the Athenian navy fought a losing battle. Reinforcements briefly helped, but the involvement of Sparta rang the death knell for the expedition. By 413, the Athenians in Sicily saw the writing on the wall. They tried to escape, but the Spartans burned their fleet. They then tried to flee by foot. However, they were easily defeated, captured, and sold into slavery.

#12: Battle of the Crater (1864)

American Civil War
In 1864, the Army of the Potomac besieged Confederate forces at Petersburg, Virginia. Major General George Meade devised a clever strategy to break the Confederate defenses: he blew up a mine. The crater from the massive explosion created a huge weakness in the Confederate lines. Unfortunately, Meade couldn’t exploit this advantage. He charged his men into the crater where they quickly lost cohesion. Even his subordinates were useless; instead of leading their troops, some were caught drinking in a bunker. While the Union soldiers remained lost and confused, the Confederates quickly regained composure and launched multiple counterattacks. The Union Army suffered severe losses as a result. Ulysses S. Grant dubbed it "the saddest affair I have witnessed in this war."

#11: The Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)

Cold War
In the early hours of April 17th, 1961, over 1,400 American-sponsored paramilitary fighters launched an amphibian attack on Cuba. As an attempt to take over Fidel Castro’s communist regime, the operation was a total debacle. The U.S. government made the decision to withhold air support, which was deemed crucial during the planning of the invasion. As a result, troops on the ground were quickly overwhelmed by local militia and then soundly defeated by Castro’s army. After being captured and interrogated, the troops were sent back to the States. A costly embarrassment for the U.S., the Bay of Pigs Invasion only served to escalate tensions between the democratic superpower and the fledgling communist state.

#10: The Battle of the Alamo (1836)

Texas Revolution
A critical moment in the Texas Revolution, the Battle of the Alamo highlights the importance of never letting your guard down. Unaware of the Mexicans’ close proximity to the Alamo Mission defense post, most of its garrison left for a fiesta. And since that meant it was now significantly undermanned, Mexican troops were able to scale the walls of the mission and kill as many Texian defenders as they could find. It was a decisive victory for Mexican forces. Having learned from this mistake and emboldened by revenge, the Texians would defeat the Mexican army later that year, which ended the revolution.

#9: The Battle of Adwa (1896)

First Italo-Ethiopian War
Late to Europe’s scramble for Africa, Italy set its colonial interests on Ethiopia at the end of the 19th century. In the evening of February 29th, 1896 and into the early morning of March 1st, the Italians advanced towards the Northern town of Adwa. But with little understanding of the terrain and poor navigational tools, the troops were unintentionally split up. Totally disoriented, one Italian brigade advanced right into enemy hands. The rest of the Italian troops were out-manned and out-maneuvered, resulting in a sound defeat by the Ethiopian forces. While it was a humiliation for the Italians, the Battle of Adwa is a celebrated moment in Ethiopian history.

#8: The Vietnam War (1955-75)

In 1955, the U.S. deployed a small number of military advisers to assist anti-communist forces in Vietnam. By the late 1960s, however, the number of American troops in the region had ballooned to over 500,000. Despite their military advantage, the Americans had difficulty fighting in the tropics against the guerrilla tactics of the Viet Cong. With mass death and casualties on either side, this veritable stalemate was seen as atrocious and immoral by most of the American public. It would take several years before the end of the American military’s participation in the conflict. To date, the Vietnam War remains one of the darkest moment in U.S. history.

#7: Battle Of Karánsebes (1788)

Austro-Turkish War
In Karánsebes, Romania, Austrian hussar scouts were on a night mission to find the Turkish position when they encountered local townsfolk who sold them Schnapps. Soon after, members of the Austrian infantry showed up, demanding to join the party. The hussars refused and it didn’t take long for fists and bullets to begin flying. Amid the chaos, someone shouted “Turks!” triggering a panicked retreat to camp. The army had troops from different nations, all speaking different languages. German-speaking officers tried to quell the panic with orders to “Halt!” However, non-German soldiers misunderstood this as Turkish, which worsened the situation. The army essentially destroyed itself, paving the way for the actual Turkish forces to easily capture the town when they arrived two days later.

#6: The Gallipoli Campaign (1915-16)

World War I
In April 1915, Allied forces sprang a naval attack and an amphibian invasion on the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire as part of the First World War. The objective was to defeat the empire by taking control of the Ottoman straits and opening up the capital of Constantinople to attacks. However, this initiative failed, resulting in a drawn-out, eight-month battle that once again ended in Allied defeat. A myriad of reasons have been given to explain this catastrophe, but most experts agree that the Allies were simply underprepared, ill-equipped and inexperienced; a combination of mistakes that would cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

#5: The Battle of Isandlwana (1879)

Anglo-Zulu War
Towards the end of the 19th century, the British Empire had set its sights on South Africa. In December 1878, they issued an impossible 30-day ultimatum to the King of Zululand. As expected, the ultimatum was not met and the British invaded Zululand in January 1879, expecting to easily defeat the local forces with their sophisticated army. They were wrong. The Brits split their troops into three invading columns, in a bid to encircle the Zulu army. However, this strategy backfired, as it left some forces vulnerable and unprotected. Seizing the opportunity, the Zulus launched a formidable counterattack with about 20,000 warriors. They easily overpowered the Brits, claiming the lives of over 1,300 soldiers.

#4: The French Invasion of Russia (1812)

Napoleonic Wars
It was on June 24th, 1812 that Napoleon began his attempt to invade Russia with a coalition force of more than half a million troops. But after pushing his Grande Armée to Moscow, he found the city abandoned and burnt. The Russian opposition would neither fight nor surrender, forcing Napoleon to retreat. At this point, it was November and Russia’s brutal winter decimated the ill-prepared troops and reduced the French army to one-sixth its original size. Falling victim to Mother Nature, the Patriotic War of 1812 marked the beginning of the end for Napoleon’s Grand Empire.

#3: The Iraq War (2003-11)

Following the September 11 attacks, the George W. Bush administration initiated a nearly two-decade-long war on terror that cut across several countries. One of these was Iraq. Under the auspices that the Middle Eastern nation was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction, a U.S. coalition force began occupying Iraq in March 2003. Despite the fact that they never found WMDs, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was ousted and a so-called democratic government was established. But growing insurgency against the American occupation later marred these initial victories. With increasing casualties and deaths, the U.S. finally exited the conflict in 2011. While the human cost of the war is evident, the tangible gains America made from it remains uncertain.

#2: Battle of Red Cliffs (208 CE)

Wars at the End of the Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty ruled over much of modern day China for four centuries. It saw great prosperity despite the civil war. Cao Cao, a northern warlord, believed that a decisive battle could unite the nation under Han rule. At the Battle of Red Cliffs, he turned what should have been an easy victory into a bloodbath. Despite vastly outnumbering the combined forces of three southern warlords, Cao Cao made one critical error. He put his infantry and cavalry onto boats in an attempt to outmaneuver his enemy, but they were overwhelmed by seasickness. His opponents exploited this vulnerability and sent a handful of fire ships crashing into the fleet, reducing it to ash. Instead of unifying China, Cao’s defeat ultimately ended the Han Dynasty altogether.

#1: Operation Barbarossa (1941)

World War II
Adolf Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II bore an uncanny resemblance to Napoleon’s fateful blunder. Already waging a two-front war, his plans to invade the state were delayed by two months. Though German forces initially crushed resistance from the USSR, they were deep within opposition territory by November. Like the French before them, they were also ill prepared for the country’s brutal winter. Hitler’s loss in Soviet territory marked the beginning of his ultimate defeat and one of the deadliest military operations ever. It also showed the importance of knowing your history.

Did we commit a classic blunder and leave an important military mishap off our list? Let us know in the comments below!