What was the Stupidist War in History?

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Case

The horror, the horror
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To quote Issac Asimov, "war is the last resort of the incompetent".
In your opinion what is the war that had the most to do with incompetance, and the least to do with logic?
 
I would opinate WW1 - in particular the Western Front (the trenches). Considering the effort put in, the casualty numbers and the results, it's the most illogical war ever. A sad case of tactical incompetence at the higher levels and on both sides of the war. :rolleyes:
 
I agree with Knight-Dragon.

I would also include the Japanese attack on America in WW2. How on earth did they think that they could take on the biggest and most powerful industrial nation in the world (and a nation that would only go to war if attacked) when they lived on an island with practically no resources is beyond me! The outcome was obvious. Even if the Americans had lost Midway they would still have won, it would have just took a bit longer.
 
I believe the Chechen wars are very stupid, the fact that Russia lost :slay: one war there and for two and half years fighting another one :( is almost completely due to incompetence of Russian commanders :mad: , imo. Just look at the map and you will how stupid is that! ;)
 
Stupidest war, eh? Hmm...

I'd have to say the War of 1812.

"Well, we got our butts kicked by those Americans last time...maybe this time we'll do better! Viva Britian!"
 
Originally posted by rmsharpe
Stupidest war, eh? Hmm...

I'd have to say the War of 1812.

"Well, we got our butts kicked by those Americans last time...maybe this time we'll do better! Viva Britian!"
Click to expand...

Your impetuousness is only exceeded by your ignorance. America declared war on England, not the other way around.
 
Falklands/Malvinas war, a military dictatorship trying to find a reason to continue in power,declared war to one of the top military powers of the world hoping that they were not going to respond.
At the end of the war we were just as when it began, and the military dictatorship renounced.

The war Against Paraguay,
Paraguay wanted to invade Brasil, but they had to through argentinean territory and we didnt let them.
So they declared war to us too, Paraguay had to fight against Brasil, Argentina and Uruguay, Paraguay lost half of its territory and at the end of the most of the men in the country were dead.
It was very common in Paraguay for many years to have a man with 5,6,7 wifes because of that.


We can call it a positive consequence.:D :rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by Kublai-Khan

The war Against Paraguay,
Paraguay wanted to invade Brasil, but they had to through argentinean territory and we didnt let them.
So they declared war to us too, Paraguay had to fight against Brasil, Argentina and Uruguay, Paraguay lost half of its territory and at the end of the most of the men in the country were dead.
Click to expand...

Sounds like Civ3 to me! Where everyone gangs up on one small country! ;)
 
Originally posted by rmsharpe
Stupidest war, eh? Hmm...

I'd have to say the War of 1812.

"Well, we got our butts kicked by those Americans last time...maybe this time we'll do better! Viva Britian!"
Click to expand...

And I might add that we (Canada and Britain) did do better. Our asses were royally kicked in the final rounds of 1775-1789, but most historians - even american ones - describe the war of 1812 as a draw. And some crazy Canadians note that since the capture of Canada was a war aim of the US, you might even say that we won. (I disagree with that assessment, incidentally).

But the dumbest war by far has to be "El Guerra del Futbol," or the Soccer War, between El Salvador and Honduras after one of them lost a soccer game in an early round of the World Cup in the 1960s. I can't remember who won the game, but I do remember that El Salvador won the war.

R.III
 
The U.S policy at the time was to prevent further communist expansion into southeast asia.

The main problem was that the government we were supporting in S. Vietnam was worse than the Northern one... Criminals and thugs and the like were commonplace in the S. Vietnamese government. (Actually, they are everywhere;))

Anyway, it became more a pride thing than anything else, where the U.S. did not want to admit that there was no political situation that was deemed acceptable by the leaders at the time. So we hung around until popular opinion booted us out.


As for dumbest war, I'd have to say WWI. It all could have been prevented, but the entangling alliances that were to protect them, only pushed them into the mess...

And it caused WWII!
 
1812 was a stupid war, but more for the Americans. We declared war without being prepared and in return we have a nice story about Dolly Madison saving artwork from a soon to be burned White House.

And I might add that we (Canada and Britain) did do better. Our asses were royally kicked in the final rounds of 1775-1789
Click to expand...

R3, what do you mean by 1789? I thouhgt the war was over in 1783, with the fighting being mainly over in 1781.
 
RE: Viet-Nam

The communists themselves admitted they won the war mostly due to Amrican public opinion. The American general in charge at the time wanted to expand the war into Laos to close the Ho-Chi-Min trail,but because of mounting public pressure at home, the government denied his request. The communists knew that if that road was cut, so was their supply lifeline and they would have been finished.

lesson: you cannot fight a limited war. Fight or don't fight, but halfway is a recipe for disaster.
 
Well, I wasn't so much referring to how we fought in Viet Nam....just the fact that we were there fighting.
The fact that we were drafting 18 year old poor kids to go and fight, while the likes of dubya stayed at home and played pretend army man. Yes, yes, I know. Bubba didn't go either. Dubya's just more of a hypocrite for it.

But its a good thing we fought and won because otherwise the proverbial dominos would have all begun to go, one after the other.

Oh, yeah. We didn't win, did we.... :rolleyes:
 
Hands down, it the 1969 soccer war between El Salvador & Hondurus.
 
Originally posted by knowltok2
R3, what do you mean by 1789? I thouhgt the war was over in 1783, with the fighting being mainly over in 1781.
Click to expand...

Since my best college courses were in US colonial history, I'm a little ashamed to admit that you caught me. I've had a busy day and was writing that passage in the middle of a conversation with my boss standing in front of the monitor while I wrote it. You're right, the fighting did end in 1781, and the treaty was '83.

But that's nothing compared to a war over a ref's ruling.

R.III
 
Ah, yes.....the Soccer War.

Has to rate up there at the top. I'm sure men have come up with even dumber reasons to go to war, but this is the dumbest one I know of.

Change my vote!
 
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