Hello TH, To my recollection no use of airpower in history has destroyed any army as an effective fighting force. Even after the destruction wrought on the by repeated attacks from high tech allied air during the First Gulf War the Iraqi Army remained an effective fighting force. The massive bombing by heavy allied air craft during the opening of Operation Cobra stunned the front line troops, disrupted communications, and the chain of command, but the advance ground forces still encountered stiff resistance within a matter of hours. Air power has yet to prove that it can destroy enemy armies on the ground, or even damage them sufficiently to render them ineffective. Duckbill
I'M PROPOSING THE FOLLOWING: 1.) CARRHAE - 53 B.C. Crassus led a 40,000-man Roman Infantry Army into the wide open deserts of Mesopotamia, where they (and Crassus) were annihilated by about 10,000 Parthian horse archers. 2.) Dien Bien Phu - 1954. The French fought bravely and tenaciously but from the beginning they were out-manned, out-maneuvered, out-gunned and finally out-fought by the Viet Minh forces of the future U.S. nemesis General Giap!
Good choices! Carrhae led indirectly to the fall of the Roman Republic and civil war, and the stirrings of an imperial "monarchy", if you like. And what's left to be said about Dien Bien Phu? Welcome to the forums btw!
Italian colonial army soundly thrashed by Ethiopians at Adowa was very humiliating. So much so that Italy waited 40 years before taking revenge and conquering the country prior to WW2.
That time when Dutch marines stormed Britian and sunk several British battleships during the 1600 was it in themes?
You mean the Battle of the Medway, mark? http://www.ww2f.com/military-history/29813-raid-medway.html#post363939
Vladd- Wasn't that the one where they killed several thousand of their own men in mistake for the enemy?
Vladd- What a great story! It's got everything- emperor of a dying empire trying to relive his ancestor's glory days, military incompetence, bolshy soldiers, it's brilliant! "1788 The Battle of Karansebes The Austrian Emperor, Joseph II, decided that his mission in life was to rid the world of barbarians. He started by attacking the Turks in Transylvania. After camping in some marshland, 172,000 of his troops caught malaria, of which 33,000 died. When he heard that the Turkish Grand Vizier was on his way, Joseph took half his army to meet him near the town of Karansebes. On the way, some infantrymen bought some local brew from some peasants, whereupon their officers reprimanded them. The men took offence, and, in order to frighten the officers away, started shouting out that the Turks were upon them. The officers fell for it, and raised the false alarm too. Panic spread throughout the army and a stampede ensued. Austrians started fighting Austrians and many men were also drowned in the river or crushed. By daybreak, it became apparent that the Austrians had killed 10,000 of their own number. The Turks had still not even arrived." Some Great Military Blunders
Naval battle of Savo Island, off of Guadalcanal. Aug 8th and 9th 1942 The USN gets utterly destroyed by the IJN. In my opinion, a more humiliating defeat than Pearl Harbor. Allied losses: 4 heavy cruisers sunk, 1 heavy cruiser heavily damaged, 2 destroyers damaged, 1,077 killed IJN losses: 3 cruisers lightly damaged, 58 killed
While not sure if trully humiliating, the Soviet Union's campaign in Afghanistan was pretty crappy. Now that i think about, so was the GB's.
This was a small battle with not many combatants. Shouldn't even count compared to far bigger battles.
How so? And for whom? Both sides gained something - the US regained the lost cities at terrible cost to the NLF and North Vietnamese NLF and North Vietnam got a psychological boost when US leaders admitted they needed many more troops, and that the South Vietnamese troops were not up to the task.
It's defeat for both look at it this way yea sure we won hue, and kahsan and others the NVA suffer heavy losses they won't reacover anytime soon.The Vietcong is effectivly destroyed(or usless?) BUT the NVA got the advantage politicaly and Johnsons faliure to controlled the media had negitve effects on the folks at home. So start the protesters we won on the frontlines but failed at all else. I watched thoses videos thoses guys were lying they said bodies strewn in the embassy?
The Russo-Japanese War for the Russians. The fact that the IJN throughly crushed the Imperial Russian Navy and the Japanese Army beat them on land had to be deeply humliating to the Russians. Especially when you consider the views on race at the time. "Yellow men" beating "white men?" It was almost inconceivable and sent shock waves all over the world.
Good point. The defeat was also one of the catalysts for the 1905 revolution in Russia- 1905 Russian Revolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Battle of Adwa, 1-2 March 1896 An Ethiopian army under Emperor Menelik II crushed an invading Italian army, throwing them out of the area altogether and forcing them to recognise Ethiopian independence.