We did a top list a while ago of what we thought were the stupidest moves of the first year
of the war, by all nations, and it went over pretty well.
Not just because a lot of people watched it, but also because a lot of people wrote in
with things they felt also had a place on that list.
It was the kind of interaction we love, and so... we’re back!
With stupid moves round two!
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to a Great War Top List of the ten stupidest moves of the
war from summer of 1915 to the end of 1916.
Remember, you are under no obligation to agree with me and I urge you to vent your disagreements
in the comments.
Okay, here we go.
Number 10, Tsar Nicholas takes over personal command of the Russian armies.
This happened at the beginning of September 1915, when he appointed himself to replace
Grand Duke Nikolai, who was shuttled off to command in the Caucasus.
Now, the new Chief of Staff, Mikhail Alekseev, was really the one in actual charge, but the
future of the Tsar, as personal leader, was now tightly bound to the success or failure
or his armies, and while there would be some great successes, the people remembered the
failures far more easily.
Number 9 is a combo.
In the spring of 1916 the Italian press and even the French press were full of stories
of an Austro-Hungarian build up of forces on the Italian front that were going to make
a new huge offensive against Italy.
Italian army Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna makes this list for being “surprised”
when that offensive happened.
Austro-Hungarian army Chief of Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf also makes this list
for going ahead with the offensive - ironically called “Punishment Expedition” - anyhow
even after it’s plans are announced all over the enemy press.
That didn’t go well for anybody.
Number 8, Germany Army Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn’s “unyielding defense”
strategy on the Western Front.
It’s true, he demanded of his men that if they gave up any ground they must immediately
counter attack and retake it, no matter the cost.
This turned out pretty much as you’d expect it to in hindsight, with thousands upon thousands
of needlessly dead German soldiers that could have retreated to better defensive positions.
Number 7, Luigi Cadorna makes the list for a second time, as the Italians delay taking
advantage of the momentum of their victory in capturing Gorizia and Mont San Michele.
They had the Austrians in disarray and completely on the run, and while the road to Vienna wasn’t
entirely open, it was at least open a crack and the Austrian heartland beckoned.
Cadorna stalled to strengthen his flanks and the Austrians had three days to get their
defenses in order.
The moment was lost.
Number 6, the Germans not rotating their troops at Verdun.
See, at that battle, the longest of the war, German losses were just topped up and the
men who survived there just stayed on and on and on.
The French, on the other hand, rotated in fresh divisions and rotated out exhausted
ones.
You can see what this meant - as the months wore on the Germans grew ever more weary and
demoralized, as many of their battalions took casualties of over 100%.
While I’m talking about Verdun, I’ll throw another German error there into the list at
number 5.
The failure to destroy or at least disrupt traffic on the sacred road.
This road was the one and only French supply route into Verdun.
All of the men, ammunition, and supplies for Verdun arrived from that road in endless 24
hour traffic.
Men stood by on the road to push any trucks that broke down off the road so the traffic
never stopped.
In the first few months of the battle, Germany had total air superiority and yet they did
not attack the road.
Doing so with even partial success would have crippled the French at Verdun.
Number 4, the failure of the British and French to coordinate at the Somme.
There seems to be a lot of the Western Front on this list so far.
This lack of coordination was disastrous.
Plans would be made and then attacks of five battalions would happen at completely different
times for random reasons and all fail.
Artillery from one unit would fail to support its neighbor because it didn’t know what
was going on.
And attacks on areas where there was clearly no breakthrough possible would not be called
off.
The lack of communication and coordination was staggering in scale.
Number 3, over in Mesopotamia, the arrival of the British at Kut-al-Amara.
Charles Townshend had led his men up the Tigris River too far for their supplies and reinforcements
to follow, completely underestimating the Ottoman opposition.
He soon found his army under siege at Kut.
As the months rolled by and relief repeatedly failed to break through, starvation finally
forced the British to surrender.
It was one of the great humiliations in British military history, and coming on the heels
of the failure at Gallipoli - on our last list - was a huge blow to British pride.
Number 2, Russian Generals Evert and Kuropatkin refuse to attack.
In the summer of 1916, Russian General Alexei Brusilov’s offensive was smashing through
the Austro-Hungarian lines like a hot knife through butter and there was a very real possibility
that Austria would be knocked out of the war.
Those two other Generals, far to the north, had 750,000 men and 75% of the Russian artillery.
All they had to do was tie down the Germans in the north to prevent them from reinforcing
the Austrians facing Brusilov.
They didn’t.
They did not attack until it was way too late and the moment of possible victory had passed.
And at number one on this second list of failures, the timing of the Romanian entry into the
war.
Had Romania entered the war in June 1916 alongside Brusilov’s offensive, Austria-Hungary would
likely have fallen, whatever the northern Russian Generals had done.
Romania, however, did not enter the war until late August, by which time Brusilov’s offensive
was spent.
All four Central Powers immediately sent forces to invade Romania, who could only count on
now-exhausted Russia for defensive help.
Russia was also forced to extend its front lines for hundreds of kilometers to the south,
which would prevent any new Russian offensives for the time being, and when Romania fell,
Romanian oil and grain would fall into the Central Powers hands at just the time when
they needed it most to be able to even continue the war.
So there you have it, our top ten list for now.
I’ll say once again that any others you think should be on this list, you should tell
us about in the comments.
Don’t forget to explain why either.
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