everybody makes mistakes it's part of life but for the people on this list their epically
wrong turns will not soon be forgotten it's the top eight worst decisions in history
easily the lamest most wet blanket constitutional decision of all time was ratifying prohibition in
america truly the excuse me teacher you forgot to assign us homework of all the amendments
for 13 years from 1920 to 1933 prohibition was the legal prevention of the manufacturing
sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the u.s
throughout this time citizens would fight for their right to party via bootlegging
moonshine bathtub gin and speakeasies many cities developed huge issues with gangs and turf wars
with the infamous al capone emerging as the most legendary at his peak al was reportedly
earning 60 million dollars a year off of his bootlegging and speakeasy enterprises
the decision to listen to the temperance folk was so unpopular franklin roosevelt
ran on a platform of repealing prohibition and ended up being re-elected three times
an appropriate nickname for the hindenburg disaster would be air titanic
in 1937 the hindenburg was the largest airship in the world at the time passenger planes weren't
able to make the transatlantic flight unassisted so the souped-up airship was the only way to fly
across the pond the hindenburg embarked on its 37th transatlantic flight from frankfurt
germany to lakehurst new jersey with 90 people on board disaster struck during landing when
the hydrogen-filled ship caught fire plunging 200 feet to the ground tragically killing 36 people if
you're assuming the terrible decision was letting a giant nazi zeppelin casually float its way over
to america you're half right the decision to fill the ship with hydrogen which is highly flammable
instead of helium which is not was due to export restrictions between the u.s and germany someone
probably should have flagged that policy we've all heard the phrase hope for the best prepare
for the worst unless you helped build the titanic in which case you apparently learned it was hope
for the best prepare for well if we add any more lifeboats we'll have to move the shuffleboard area
forget it it'll be fine despite meeting the lifeboat requirements of the day
the titanic's doomed maiden voyage in april 1912 will forever be a lesson in being prepared
the 20 lifeboats on board would have held a total of about 1200 passengers the titanic's
max capacity was 3 500 people ultimately 1500 people lost their lives when the ship struck an
iceberg off the coast of newfoundland and sank the approval of this ridiculously inadequate
lifeboat policy was a series of bad decisions by many people however the decision to cancel
a lifeboat drill just hours before hitting the infamous iceberg bad decision captain
the accident at the chernobyl nuclear power plant in ukraine was the result of an improperly
designed reactor that was operated by inadequately trained personnel the accumulation of many many
many small bad decisions ultimately led to a huge steam explosion in one of the reactors
which projected fission products and radioactive graphite into the atmosphere and around the campus
two scientists were killed in the explosion 28 died soon after from acute radiation syndrome
and 20 years later 6 500 cases of thyroid cancer and 15 deaths were linked to the incident
historians attribute the disaster to lack of safety standards and a culture of secrecy
the troubling outcomes of the chernobyl incident are still being explored today
the ancient greeks have taught us countless lessons through their history and mythology
and the sicilian expedition by the athenians during the peloponnesian war is likely the
source of the term if it ain't broke don't fix it athens and its allies had been at war with the
spartans for over a decade athens strategy was to avoid a land war with the legendary spartan army
and concentrate on its navy instead since the athenian fleet was far more formidable
however the tides eventually turned on athens in 421 bce sparta and athens had agreed to put
a halt to their battling for the first time in years but the athenians elected to invade the
prosperous island of sicily believing its conquest would be the final nail in sparta's coffin
however this proved to be arrogant misguided and ultimately disastrous
the invasion was poorly planned and there was infighting amongst generals
the spartans sensed that the athenian military was overextended and declared war on athens ending the
peace between them making it impossible to send reinforcements to sicily eventually the athenians
retreated from sicily having lost at least seven thousand men and their once invincible
navy was almost completely destroyed athens was totally destabilized by the sicilian expedition
and this marked the beginning of the end for the empire talk about blowing a lead
the ancient trojans fell for the oldest trick in the book though to be fair that
book was about the trojans the ancient greeks and trojans had been fighting a war with each
other for a solid decade and it was becoming clear that the walls of troy were impenetrable
but the greeks had a trick up their tunics the legendary trojan horse was built of wood
and presented at the gates of troy with a dozen greek soldiers led by odysseus hiding
inside horses were sacred to the trojans and it appeared that the greek army had fully retreated
and left the horse as a gift a trojan priest and priestess begged that the horse be thrown off
a cliff but everyone was too jazzed about having seemingly won the war and started partying instead
that night while all of troy drunkenly slept odysseus and his men slipped out of the horse
and opened the gates for the rest of the greek army who had been hiding on a nearby island
troy was sacked and the greeks won the war trojans live on today as college mascots and prophylactics
and definitely wish their ancestors had decided to listen to their elders
there was nobody more power-hungry than hitler in world war ii and his decision
to invade the soviet union creating a two-front war for germany was as gluttonous a move as one
could make hitler's advisors begged him not to mess with the behemoth to the east but when russia
invaded romania hitler viewed it as a threat to his oil supply and a challenge to his hubris
he committed three million troops over 3 000 tanks 2500 aircraft and 7 000
artillery to his russian invasion but logistical preparations were inadequate eight months later
it was clear the operation was a failure and a critically bad decision for hitler
shah allah adding muhammad of the khwarezmian empire decided to follow his gut and it led to
the dynasty being gutted by 1218 genghis khan and his mongol army had been tearing through asia for
over a decade and had already conquered three neighboring dynasties when genghis approached
the shah via a caravan of 500 men in a bid to become trading partners allah ad dean was
understandably suspicious however it wasn't the best decision to attack and loot said caravan
then refused to repay genghis or set the prisoners free and when genghis sent a second
group of three ambassadors to try to sort out the caravan situation it was definitely a bad
decision to shave the three men and behead one of them by this point the shah had poked the bear
an enraged genghis khan declared total war on the koresmians sending 100 000 soldiers the
largest army he had ever assembled to completely destroy all of the empire's royal buildings towns
farmland and people the entire empire was sacked in less than two years it was this invasion that
gave the mongols their widespread reputation of being ruthless fierce and bloodthirsty
well there you have it the worst decisions in history
the next time you find yourself at a crossroads just ask yourself
what would the people from that history channel video do then do the opposite
you