Fatal Victories [Paperback]

William Weir (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1995

The fatal victory is one where battlefield success is achieved by an unwitting sacrifice of grand strategy that later results in the loss of the war. Weir examines 14 such episodes in detail. From classical conflicts to the wars of religion and succession to the modern era with its civil wars, popular uprisings, and global conflicts, Weir shows that defeat has often been snatched from the jaws of victory.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William Weir served as an army MP and a combat correspondent during the Korean War. A newspaper reporter and public relations executive, he has written nine books, including Fifty Battles that Changed the World (2001), Soldiers in the Shadows (2002), The Encyclopedia of African American Military History (2004), and Turning Points in Military History (2005). He lives in Guilford, Connecticut. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Avon Books (P) (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038072359X
• ISBN-13: 978-0380723591
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,721,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lighter side of battles!, December 16, 1998

By 

Robert Jarvis ([e-mail]) (El Salvador) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fatal Victories (Hardcover)

This book deals with serious subjects in a newsy & unfussy manner. The author uses almost no heavy historical jargon & a minimum of dates, which makes for an entertaining & informative series of battle accounts. Weir describes the historical background & central characters with just enough detail to tickle one's interest. Some of his suppositions & links that develop the negative consequences of the "fatal victory" were not always wholly convincing. The actual accounts of the battles I thought were a little lightweight. He is however, obviously very well read & a good storyteller. I do recommend anyone interested in military history to give this a book a try, provided they can find the paperback version, as I did. I also suspect that this book will possibly provoke readers into the purchase of some of the "heavier" books mentioned in the excellent bibliography.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and highly relevant, September 3, 2007

By 

Metallurgist (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Fatal Victories: History's Most Tragic Military Triumphs and the High Cost of Victory (Paperback)

This is a very well written and entertaining book for those who like history, particularly military history. The theme of this book is that sometimes a victory can have ultimately fatal consequences for the victor. This story is told through the military history of 14 events, ranging in time from Hannibal's victory at Cannae in 216 B.C., to the Tet Offensive in Viet Nam in 1968. While different types of fatal victories are discussed, there is unfortunately no summary chapter to tie them all together. Also, some of the fatal consequences occurred long after the victory (in one case centuries), so many factors in addition to the effects of the victory played a role in the ultimately fatal outcome.

One type of fatal victory is well understood - that of the pyrrhic victory, where the losses incurred by the victor lead to an ultimate defeat. (While the victory of Pyrrhus at Asculum is mentioned, it did not merit a chapter.) Other types of fatal victories are often not considered as such and indeed some might argue that the ultimate defeat was not due to the "fatal victory" at all. For instance, Weir considered Hannibal's victory at Cannae to be fatal because, contrary to his expectation, the victory did not result in the Roman vassals flocking to him, thereby largely negating the effect of the victory. It could be argued, however, that his ultimate defeat was not the result of this victory but was rather due to the fact that he underestimated the Roman's determination to fight-on to their ultimate victory. Hannibal's mistake lay therefore not in the victory, but in attacking Rome in the first place. The victory of the Japanese at Pearl Harbor is considered in the same vein. (Again I think that the victory was not the problem, it was thinking that a single victory, no matter how great, would induce the US to sue for peace.)

Weir argues that another type of "fatal victory" occurs when the victor assumes that his victorious military approach did have to be modified to account for the development of new technology and tactics. The victory of Muslim forces at Hattin was used to illustrate this, but if this was a "fatal victory" the fatality did not occur for centuries. Many of these "fatal victories" were thus fatal not because of the victory but because of fatal assumptions regarding the capabilities and determination of the enemy.

Another class of "fatal victories" is the victory that leads to a public relations disaster. The British victory over the Irish rebels in the 1916 Dublin uprising and the American victory in the Tet Offensive in Viet Nam are both examples of this type of "fatal victory". Again, it can be argued, however, that these victories were not fatal in and of themselves, but merely highlighted failures in the approaches to handling both conflicts.

While I may quibble, as above, with some of Weir's choices for "fatal victories" or if they even satisfy any logical criteria for their actually being fatal, I nonetheless do recommend this book. The history provided is well written and entertaining, and the background given for each victory is very illuminating. The book is also very important in 2007, as the American military victory in Iraq in 2003 may be the source of another chapter in a future edition of this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining montage of military history, August 3, 2004

By 

David W. Nicholas (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fatal Victories (Paperback)

This is one of those composite books, dealing with a group of battles, campaigns, or events, with the idea here being that the author will discuss victories that led to defeat in various times in history. The examples themselves are interesting at times, but somewhat uneven, and the narrative itself is generally well-done.

There are a few shortcomings of this book. I particularly didn't think that the assassination of Franz Ferdinand qualified for as a battlefield victory, though he does a competent job of recounting the event itself. Several of the other battles contained minor errors (nothing major, though) that marred the narrative a bit.

Given all of the above, the author has a breezy writing style that's interesting to read without being too unintellectual, and he presents his case for each battle's inclusion in the collection intelligently. I would recommend this book to everyone who's interested in warfare in general, or history.