Foolish

[Basiliscus]

The Scot in me demands that I vote for Edward II. The man was a total pillock.

Indeed. The man was a fool. Only English arrogance would try and field heavy cavalry in marshland against a lighter armoured and better equipped Scots (for the terrain). I'm glad Edward I was dead by 1314, as I believe he could have defeated us.


Also Francisco Solano López, the man who annihilated nearly 60% of the population of Paraguay in a futile attempt to shift the regional balance of power in Latin America. This left around 28000 males in a total population of 221000. Not bad for those who survived, you might argue.

[Csargo]

I think that Hitler was the most foolish commander ever

[DisruptorX]

I think that Hitler was the most foolish commander ever

Err....have you read how he took France and Belgium?

[discovery1]

Err....have you read how he took France and Belgium?

Wasn't that idea von Mainstein's, but Hitler claimed it as his own?

[DisruptorX]

Wasn't that idea von Mainstein's, but Hitler claimed it as his own?

It wouldn't suprise me, actually, he wasn't so much a strategic genious as he was a diplomatic one. He took Czechoslovakia and Austria without bloodshed. That is truly impressive.

[Craterus]

IIRC, Czechoslovakia was taken because other world leaders were so foolish. Hitler kept saying "I just want one more piece of land, and I won't invade." "And another bit, this time, I promise I won't invade." He held armies on the borders and if they didn't give him the land he wanted, he would invade.

He got Austria by telling the Austrian Nazis to stir up trouble, he then sent in an army to be a "peacekeeper". His army just stayed there. And none fo the leaders seemed to care.

[Franconicus]

IIRC, Czechoslovakia was taken because other world leaders were so foolish. Hitler kept saying "I just want one more piece of land, and I won't invade." "And another bit, this time, I promise I won't invade." He held armies on the borders and if they didn't give him the land he wanted, he would invade.

He got Austria by telling the Austrian Nazis to stir up trouble, he then sent in an army to be a "peacekeeper". His army just stayed there. And none fo the leaders seemed to care.

Ave Craterus,
I think it is not as simple as that.
Austria: You know that Austria was part of Germany until Napoleon. In fact the German Kaiser was also the leader of Austria/Hungary. In 1871 the Prussians did not want to have Austria as a part of the new Germany, because they wanted to dominate it. And Austria was busy with his non German regions, that would not fit into the new Germany. However, after WW1 there was no good reason why Austria should not be part of Germany. O.k., France and Italy did not want that! But most people in Austria liked the idea to become part of Germany. The Austrian government was fascistic anyway. So the 'Anschluss' was not so evil.

Concerning the CSR. You know that there was a part of the CSR were mostly Germans lived. Hitler used that. The more he raised pressure on CSR, the more did they mistreat the German population. And Hitler also formed a kind of partisan army in that area looking for trouble. He was very good in creating a problem so the Western nations saw that there had to be a solution. It was very bad that CSR was not invited to the negotiations. By the way, Hitler was very upset about the Munich treaty. He wanted war!
I can understand Chamberlain. Britain was not ready for war. So he tried to give peace a last chance and ordered the new Spitfires. You know the rest of the story. The Spits saved England from the Blitz.