Military Blunders: The How and Why of Military Failure [Paperback]

Saul David (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1998

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, such military disasters as Custer's Last Stand, Hitler's Stalingrad, the Second Crusade, the Battle of Antietam, the Somme Offensive, and the Fall of Singapore make for fascinating, appalling reading in the hands of military historian David Saul. Whether exposing incompetent officers, interfering politicians, or general ineptitude, Military Blunders provides both vivid narrative and in-depth analyses of how armed forces defeat themselves.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786705043
• ISBN-13: 978-0786705047
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,528,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Shoddy and inaccurate, September 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Military Blunders: The How and Why of Military Failure (Paperback)

Soviet troops were "Asiatics of low intelligence." Such-and-such a people were eager to "throw off the yolk [sic] of oppression." Didn't this guy at least have an editor? Generalizations, shoddy writing, error after error, this book is shallow, unresearched, and badly organized. Better history can be found at your local library. Skip it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A lighweight approach to a serious subject., December 14, 1998

By 

[e-mail] Christopher Millhouse (Frankenberg, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Military Blunders: The How and Why of Military Failure (Paperback)

This book splits the blame for various military blunders into various categories such as: - Failure of leadership; - Failure of the troops; - Planning for failure etc. It then goes on to give examples of each blunder.

The book does not explain how and it does not explain why it merely provides a synopsis of the battle from secondary and tertiary sources along with a classification of "main blunder".

Personally I do not even agree with many of the categorisations. When in the chapter discussing the poor quality of certain bodies of troops it is clear that the main cause of their failure is often in the leadership. For example Mr David blames the New Zealanders and their poor quality for the loss of Crete in 1941. Mr David himself places the blame on the leadership in the text of the chapter. There is nothing in the text to support his contention that the bulk of the forces were of poor quality except for reference to a single tank commander refusing to go forward without support. I am not sure that the commander of the vehicle was even a New Zealander. To the best of my knowledge there were no New Zealand armoured formations present so it is likely that they were British. His hammering of the leadership is probably justified but that was not the point he was trying to make.

In addition he makes bold, unsupported and racially predjudiced statements. It particular he denigrates the intelligence (mental not military)of Soviet forces opposing the Germans at Stalingrad. They might have been uneducated but this is not a reflection on their intelligence. The statement does not even add to the argument he was putting forward concerning. As a commander I would not care about the intelligence of my troops as long as they fought well. IQ is irrelevant.

There are much better books on this subject. Try "On the Psychology of Military Incompetance" by Norman Dixson. Mr David even uses it as a reference and recommends it himself. It will be in print long after this one has been remaindered.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Introductory reading, September 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Military Blunders: The How and Why of Military Failure (Paperback)

The book seems ok for those who want a basic, cursory overview of many blunders, but a well-read student of war strategy would be very disappointed. A large problem, especially in a basic text, is that the writings were not accompanied by sufficient diagrams and graphics. This is especially evident when the minutia of troop movements and geographies are discussed.