In keeping with the over/underrated threads and the best/worst threads...
What are the worst mistakes by otherwise competent generals?
Napoleon--Russian campaign. 'Nuf said. He made other mistakes but those were political ones.
JEB Stuart--Not being at Gettysburg. Had he been available to scout the Union flanks on day 2, Lee would have OKed Hood's divisional strike east of Little Round Top, and Pickett could have charged along Cemetery Ridge, rather than up it.
For that matter,
Robert E. Lee--Pickett's Charge. 15,000 men over a mile with no diversionary attack. What did he think he was going to accomplish?
Harold King of England--Hastings, 1066. While every day William remained in England was a stain on Harold's honor, it was also another few dozen Thegns in his army and another day William had to feed himself off of the coastal region (or rely on unreliable shipping from Normandy). If Hastings had been fought a week or two later, Harold would have been stronger and William's march inland would have been a desperate lunge rather than a calculated maneuver.
What are the worst mistakes by otherwise competent generals?
Napoleon--Russian campaign. 'Nuf said. He made other mistakes but those were political ones.
JEB Stuart--Not being at Gettysburg. Had he been available to scout the Union flanks on day 2, Lee would have OKed Hood's divisional strike east of Little Round Top, and Pickett could have charged along Cemetery Ridge, rather than up it.
For that matter,
Robert E. Lee--Pickett's Charge. 15,000 men over a mile with no diversionary attack. What did he think he was going to accomplish?
Harold King of England--Hastings, 1066. While every day William remained in England was a stain on Harold's honor, it was also another few dozen Thegns in his army and another day William had to feed himself off of the coastal region (or rely on unreliable shipping from Normandy). If Hastings had been fought a week or two later, Harold would have been stronger and William's march inland would have been a desperate lunge rather than a calculated maneuver.