Worst military mistakes.

**ServiliusAhala** · 07-30-2008, 10:01

Anyone posted battle of Salamis? Yes trust GREEK slaves...

**Tellos Athenaios** · 07-30-2008, 11:00

Actually there is a *lot* more to that story (unless you talk about a different battle of Salamis?), but to cut it short:

A) The Persians had until then no reason not to believe Greek 'traitors'/subjects/w/ever; so far they had proven themselve to be both loyal and rather useful.
B) The Persian fleet didn't really have much of a choice; because it plainly could not winter as no Greek harbour would be quite large & protected enough to weather storms. (You know; a sizeable portion had already been lost to storms; and we're talking autumn. The real tough season had yet to start...)
C) Without the fleet close by to guard the already precarious supply lines; the army would be utterly doomed. Winters in Greece don't really make for a pleasant camping season, certainly not in some of the more 'strategical' positions (most notably mountain passes); or so I heard anyway?

**||Lz3||** · 07-30-2008, 18:26

What about Phyrros when he left a city completely under his gallic mercenaries and they revolted...

**panosha** · 07-30-2008, 21:00

Antiochus having Hannibal and not using him properly

**ServiliusAhala** · 07-31-2008, 17:08

Hadn't the persians captured the Harbour at Athens, Piraeus or something? Or did they burn that with it? But my knowledge of the subject isn't extreme...

**Tellos Athenaios** · 07-31-2008, 17:47

Piraeus by itself wouldn't have been large enough; especially not because:

1) The famed great military harbour is actually more of a past Persian War thing;
2) Even then, the harbour was designed with an active navy in mind - it would have been too small to accomodate the entire Athenian navy in her heyday, but it never was that much of a problem as only those ships which needed servicing would dock there. Plainly, that's something quite different from harbouring what is more or less the/an entire navy in force.

**Maerlen** · 08-01-2008, 01:46

My favourites would be:

1302, Flemish cities rebelled against the French.

At the following "battle of the golden spurs", the Flemish army was made of mostly Guilds and masons and militias while being outnumbered roughly 3 to 1 by the French army wich was made of mostly French Knights...

Instead of letting the infantry do their job the Knights decide to cross a shallow creek/river, to attack those "peasants", in those typical heavy armors, got bogged down and they were slaughtered. Also thanks to the special Flemish weapon a Goedendag..

Cookies to the first who can write a correct description of it :)

For the rest im know not enough about specific battle reports