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Classics might include the Austro-Russian plans for Austerlitz or Yamamoto's plan for Midway. These are examples of plans which misuse superior forces so that they risk suffering a decisive defeat. However, plans that overlook a fundamental problem are also of interest. For example, I have heard that there was no way that Parma's army could have reached the Spanish Armada of 1588 and thus no way to transport an army to England. Simpler failures of imagination, such as Publius Claudius Pulcher not asking what if the Carthaginians sail out of the south entrance of the Drepana habour together with his efforts on his side's morale, also have some charm. Perhaps the greatest consequences come from classics of political miscalculation such as Polk's invasion of Kentucky. Yamamoto is perhaps unique in being able to offer his Pearl Harbor plan to go with his Midway effort.

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