[June 8, 2016] Legends about the Trojan War and the victory of the Greek Sparta armies over the Trojans were part of my upbringing and such tales fascinated me my whole life. As vividly written in the Latin poem Aeneid of Virgil and by historian Homer in the Iliad, the Trojan Horse was center stage of subterfuge that lead to the fall of Troy. Many stories I read point to military failures as some of the biggest mistakes in history. But were they?
Depending on what side you’re on; from the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo … to the defeat of the Japanese navy at the Battle of Leyte Gulf … to Hitler’s Nazi military attacking Russia during winter, much has been written about military failures; mistakes of generals and admirals throughout recorded history. No surprise to anyone and rightly so. We are lucky to have detailed written records of many.
Certainly some of the biggest mistakes in history can be linked to failures of leadership of those in crucial positions of authority. But they were not all military mistakes but disasters caused by a chain of decisions by many senior political and religious leaders. Here is my list of the biggest mistakes in history:
- Joseph Stalin’s forced famine 1932-1933 (USSR): estimated deaths approximately 7 million. This does not even count his crackdown on Ukrainians and genocide of the Kulaks.1 Total estimated deaths from Communist Russia stands somewhere around 49 million.
- The Great Famine 1958-1961 (China): estimated deaths approximately 43 million. In the “great leap forward” the resulting famine was caused by communist leaders attempting to quickly convert an agrarian society into a modern society.2
- The Atlantic Slave Trade 16th century until 19th century (Africa, Europe, and the Americas): estimated deaths 15 million. This was the result of European empires trying to establish themselves in the New World
- The Black Plague middle 14th century (most of Asia, northern Africa, medieval Europe): estimated deaths could exceed 200 million. It was interpreted, at the time, as God’s punishment, the “devils work”, and a host of supernatural phenomena that political and church leaders used for their own purposes.3
- Genocide – the Nazi Holocaust (6 million), the Cambodian Killing Fields (2.5 million), and the Armenian Genocide (1.5 million) just to name a few.4
Wars and natural disasters account for great human suffering and if totaled here would certainly exceed the carnage brought on by non-military events. These are often not preventable but poor leadership has made them much worse. For example, poor building construction techniques in areas prone to earthquakes and no government-provided standards has led to the death and injury of millions.
While bad leadership plays a significant part, it is hard to argue that it is not the major factor in the greatest mistakes in history that brought on great suffering. If we could find some good news in this, it would be that leadership worldwide has improved somewhat.
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- http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/genocide/stalin.htm
- http://listverse.com/2013/01/03/10-deadliest-world-events-in-human-history/
- http://www.history.com/topics/black-death
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocides_in_history