Most irrational and counter intuitive decisions ever made

Italy had just gained Libya, they wouldn't want more useless desert. Territory in Europe was more valuable and there was still massive antipathy against Austria. The Italian minority in Austria was also bigger than the one in France.

1. Libya wasn't all useless - even without knowing about the oil, many thousand Italians settled there.

2. But what about Savoy, Nice and Corsica?

3. It was? Source? It seems to me it was a gradual thing (whether the population there is Italian or French).
 
1. Libya wasn't all useless - even without knowing about the oil, many thousand Italians settled there.

Comparatively analyzed, aside from oil, natural gas and the thin strip of arable coastline, about the only product extraction from the country is a) salt, b) glass, c) glass. The rest of the country is just about economically useless.

2. But what about Savoy, Nice and Corsica?

Rich lands with industrious populations.

About Italians in Austria.

3. It was? Source? It seems to me it was a gradual thing (whether the population there is Italian or French).

Good point. Unless one adds Trieste and environs, that sounds like una tesi molto dubbia
 
"President Truman won't allow me to spread the war to China?! Damn coward! I'll ask Congress and the US people for that, and to grant me the permission to use nukes, too!" - General Douglas MacArthur

Seriously, what did he expect Truman's response would be?

Going to have to second spreading the War on Terror to Iraq without finishing it up in Afghanistan first.

Another from WW1: Taking a month between the initial naval bombardment of the Dardenelles Strait and making the landings, among other mistakes.

One from the 18th century - Charles XII trying to invade Moscow and bring Peter the Great to submission the way he did Frederick Augustus of Poland and the king of Denmark-Norway. He did so by lying to his officers when they had laid a plan to attack and retake St. Petersburg. Instead of a quick victory, he ended up taking his men through a death march that cost him the best of Sweden's Carolean army.

Yes, the man was known to win extraordinary risks and win big tactical and strategic gambles, but the invasion of Moscow was big even for him.
 
Richard Nixon NOT destroying the tapes
How about Nixon telling the Plumbers they're nuts in the first place? Breaking into DNC HQ & bugging it? Breaking into the office of some guy's psychiatrist? If you made that up, nobody would believe you.
 
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