History Discussion: "You blew it! You had one job, and you blew it!" Moments in history

GameBawesome

GameBawesome

There are certain moments in history, where the course of history was decided by the actions of one person or one group. It can either be a general who failed at a military leader, or a monarch who failed to be a good ruler, or messenger failing at his job, or a doctor who failed to save a life, or an assassin who failed to kill the target, or soldiers killing the wrong guy, etc. Any action has consequences for the future.

What is one moment in history, where someone or some people had a chance to alter the course of history and failed so miserably, that makes you just exclaim outload "You blew it! You had one job, and you blew it!"?
 
Laqueesha

Laqueesha

In 1992, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar refusing to sign on to the new post-Soviet Afghan government following the Peshawar Accord, leading to civil war.
 
Last edited:
Slime_blob

Slime_blob

Santa Anna in the Texas campaign. He was so successful during the campaign until in San Jacinto where it became his biggest military disaster as the Texans attack while they sleep

Edit: Thanks for likes because of that, El Presidente gets out of retirement now here to protect Mexico from Foreign powers

1632302939315.png
 
Last edited:

Kerney

Guthrum: All you had to do is have a face to face visit with Alfred of Wessex while he was at home on Christmas (probably followed by pious religious ceremony) and we'd have none of this England crap.
 

Carter I'm Yog

Banned
To unnamed arts teacher in Vienna:

That teen who is not good at drawing portraits of people does a good job of painting statics like buildings and flower vases. Don't disparage him for his talents not being in "up with the times".

Or he will start a world war, so could you please do us a favor and defuse that bomb?

Seriously folks, shouldn't we stick to pre-1900 PODs ?
 

unprincipled peter

Donor
2 from War of Spanish Succession:
-Louis XIV. Everyone but the Austrians accepted Charles II will naming Philip King of the Spanish empire, undivided. XIV decided to do his best to provoke everyone into contesting that outcome.
-2 French/Bavarian leaders (especially Maxmilian II) deciding to be completely uncooperative, leading to loss at Blenheim, which ultimately reversed French fortunes.

I think there was a third involving Le Petit Dauphin, who decided his amateur military skills were superior to the Marshall he was supposed to be listening to, thus sealing French fate.
 
Osman Aga

Osman Aga

Banned
GameBawesome said:
There are certain moments in history, where the course of history was decided by the actions of one person or one group. It can either be a general who failed at a military leader, or a monarch who failed to be a good ruler, or messenger failing at his job, or a doctor who failed to save a life, or an assassin who failed to kill the target, or soldiers killing the wrong guy, etc. Any action has consequences for the future.

What is one moment in history, where someone or some people had a chance to alter the course of history and failed so miserably, that makes you just exclaim outload "You blew it! You had one job, and you blew it!"?
Click to expand...

Murad Giray not attacking the crossing Holy League forces in 1683 because he felt mistreated by Kara Mustafa during the siege.
- Ottoman Army got wacked in Vienna and Hungary within a few months
- Kara Mustafa got executed
- Murad Giray lost his throne to another Giray
- Ottomans lost Hungary, thus having a bigger threat, next to Russia by the mid 18th century
- Crimea was lost indirectly because of this
- Tons of Crimean troops died during the war

Whether he could actually stop Jan III Sobieski is debatable, But if he did enough damage:
- the Ottoman Forces in Vienna would be better prepared to face Polish King
- Ottomans raid Vienna
- Thokoly remains the Ottoman vassal over Upper Hungary
- The Habsburgs would have a harder time to start a campaign of reconquest in Hungary thus not draining Ottoman resources

I can actually say the same about Kara Mustafa. If he was a bit more respectable towards the Crimean Khan then Murad Giray wouldn't be butthurt about being disrespected and Kara Mustafa would not be remembered as the adoptive failure of the Koprulu family.
 
Last edited:

PragmaticAntithesis

In the First Punic War, Rome started out a sea war with no navy, and won by copying Carthage's ships. If the crew of the Carthaginian ship the Romans copied hadn't beached it, Carthage would have utterly trounced Rome by taking control of the water.
 

Fabius Maximus

"And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die'... The man said, 'The woman you put here with me gave me some fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and I ate it.'" (Genesis 2.16 f., 3.12)
 
TheLionOfJudah

TheLionOfJudah

The assassination of Iyasu I of Ethiopia by his own son Tekle Haymanot AFTER he had abdicated the throne and retired to a monastery in the middle of nowhere. He was like 60 years old and had no interest of ruling and his murder pretty much ruined the centralization of his predecessors.

Also Tekle Haymanot committed political suicide and was too assassinated, pretty much causing the throne of Ethiopia to turn into a game of musical chairs for over 100 years.
 
AltoRegnant

AltoRegnant

Carter I'm Yog said:
To unnamed arts teacher in Vienna:

That teen who is not good at drawing portraits of people does a good job of painting statics like buildings and flower vases. Don't disparage him for his talents not being in "up with the times".

Or he will start a world war, so could you please do us a favor and defuse that bomb?

Seriously folks, shouldn't we stick to pre-1900 PODs ?
Click to expand...
Didnt he recommend Adolf apply to the architectural school?
 

Lycaon pictus

Donor
1817: Sir Richard Croft, the royal physician, tries to get Charlotte Princess of Wales through her pregnancy via fasting and bleeding. She dies in childbirth, along with the baby.
1831: Charlotte's widower, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, is offered the kingship of the new kingdom of Belgium. He accepts.
1832: King Leopold I of Belgium remarries. He has four children, three of whom survive to adulthood.
1865: King Leopold I dies. His oldest surviving son becomes King Leopold II of Belgium.
1885: King Leopold II succeeds at his dream of becoming King-Sovereign of the "Congo Free State" and exploits it mercilessly for ivory and rubber. Under his rule, an estimated 10 million people are killed.

You suck, Dick.
 

Alternator

KingOnTheEdge said:
Can I just say the union performance in the eastern theater of the acw until 1863? Or do I need to specifically blame McCullen?
Click to expand...
McClellan was hardly the only one getting handed his ass, so yes, it's the Union in general.

For another American Civil War one, JEB Stuart ignoring orders to remain in contact with the main army during the Gettysburg Campaign left Lee blind to Union movements; had he followed orders, Lee would have had a chance to score a victory on Union soil that could (could!) have led to McClellan winning the election and a much different Reconstruction.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top