Days of Infamy: Military Blunders of the 20th Century [Hardcover]

Mike Wallace (Author), Michael Coffey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 25, 1999

A fascinating look behind more than fifty of the most historic military blunders of our century. Lively and engaging, in-depth and informative, this companion to an upcoming series on the History Channel goes beyond mere footage to delve into the facts of some well-remembered but little understood incidents and accidents of modern military history.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This compendium of military mishaps shows how poor decision-making often leads to catastrophe. In a series of short chapters ideal for subway rides and waiting rooms, Michael Coffey shows how even relatively small misjudgments have become historical turning points. Many of his topics are familiar, such as how the Treaty of Versailles ending the First World War laid the groundwork for an even larger conflict 20 years later. Hitler's military miscalculations--thinking the British would negotiate a peace after Dunkirk, invading Russia, declaring war on the United States--receive prominent attention. Allied leaders also committed plenty of blunders, such as the collapse of British defenses in Singapore and Malaysia, the fruitless bombing of Monte Cassino in Italy, and premature attempts to liberate Arnhem (the subject of the film A Bridge Too Far). More recent events receive coverage, too, including the Bay of Pigs, the disastrous mission in 1980 to free American prisoners in Iran, and Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Some sections are much stronger than others, and readers already familiar with certain wars probably won't learn much from their coverage. Yet Coffey calls attention to an important consideration: mistakes are endemic in war, and victory often goes not to leaders who execute brilliantly planned maneuvers but those who simply avoid error. --John J. Miller

From Publishers Weekly

From the chauffeur's wrong turn that helped start WWI to the (unexploded) nuclear bomb that the United States Air Force once dropped over Spain, this engaging set of brief cautionary essaysAa companion volume to a History Channel seriesApresents some important and some amusing errors of wartime (and Cold War-time) judgment and execution. Coffey (The Irish in America), managing editor of PW, covers about two score blunders, in chronological order. The earliest concerns that swerving chauffeur (who accidentally brought Archduke Ferdinand face-to-face with his assassin); the latest is Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. About half the others concern WWII. Lost Luftwaffe pilots in 1940, though instructed to hit only military targets, panicked and let bombs go over London: thus did the blitz unintentionally begin. Later, in the Pacific theater, British "naval commanders blundered by underestimating air power's threat to major warships," and hence lost the Malaya peninsula, Singapore and two important battleships. Coffey's set of snafus and misjudgments extends, quite deliberately, from the nearly comic to the truly awful: some killed a few people and embarrassed top brass, while others (such as the Japanese loss at Midway) arguably changed the course of world events. A few of the errors (e.g., the Battle of Stalingrad) are staples of most textbooks. Others are less familiar, and less horrific than ironic: when the Allies decided to bomb the 1500-year-old Abbey of Monte Cassino in Italy, they created precisely the shelter for German troops they intended to destroy. (The devout local German commander would not install his troops in an intact monastery, but had no qualms about occupying its ruins.) Like the best general history volumes, Coffey's book, in clean, muscular prose, expertly informs as it artfully entertains. (Aug.) FYI: The History Channel's Great Military Blunders of the Twentieth Century begins its 26-week run in August.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1st edition (August 25, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786865563
• ISBN-13: 978-0786865567
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,637,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating concept for a book. Poor execution., January 3, 2000

By 

"brucec32" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Days of Infamy: Military Blunders of the 20th Century (Hardcover)

After reading just 4 or 5 chapters, I have discovered almost one small error per page, and more than one major error per chapter. This reads exactly like a book on warfare written by a modern day magazine "journalist" with little or no real understanding of military history. It mirrors modern "journalism" in its lack of understanding of the "big picture", as well as its numerous factual errors. (Some of which any 12 y/o with an interest in WWII would catch) I found it shallow, which is fine for beginners if accurate, but it's not. (See previous reviewers' listings of errors) I'm surprised that the History Channel would put it's name on a book this poorly edited. BTW, if they need a better editor, my 8 y/o nephew is available. : )All kidding aside, there are bound to be better books out there on this topic. It's hard to accept the author's ideas if you're not sure he has the facts straight. (example: during the 1941 Japanese military buildup the author states that Britain couldn't send more planes and men to Malaysia because "war in Europe was looming". Uh, war in Europe had been raging since 1939, the battle of Britain was in 1940, and by mid 1941 the crisis of potential invasion had passed. Their men and planes were going to Africa and Greece, but war could hardly be decribed as "looming" in Europe. Perhaps Military History and Irish Poetry don't mix.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Biggest blunder on military history in the 20th Century, October 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Days of Infamy: Military Blunders of the 20th Century (Hardcover)

This book is amazing in its number of errors, shallowness of analysis, and conceptual ignorance. Even for the most significant battles of World War II, the author gets numerous facts wrong. For example, in discussing the Pacific war, he notes the Japanese had 2 carriers sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea (they lost 1 small one) and 3 at Midway (4 were sunk). He states that German blundered by not launching an amphibious invasion of England, even though the Germans lost the war in the air(most military historians would regard launching an amphibious invasion without having air supremacy against a country with naval supremacy suicide). He blames the German Air Force for the fact that German industry didn't go into a war footing until 1943. Huh? Blaming an armed service for flawed industrial policies? This is the most error filled history book I've ever seen and ranks top among the biggest blunders on military history in the 20th century. Considering the high quality of the History Channel, it's amazing that they would associate themselves with such a book of errors.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Skip this book, July 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Days of Infamy: Military Blunders of the 20th Century (Hardcover)

As other reviewers have said, it's shallow, riddled with errors, and ultimately unsatisfying. Yet it mentions a lot of incidents, some of which I'd never heard of, like the Queen Mary colliding with her escort. This book's salvation would be a good bibiography, so the interested reader could follow up -- but there is none. No notes. Nothing. For a good book of this sort, read "From the Jaws of Victory", by Charles Fair.