Military Blunders

Author:  Michael Coffey
Published:  1999 (previously published as Days of Infamy)
ISBN:  0-7868-6556-3
Who should Read:  Anyone interested in Military History will enjoy this book.  The short overviews of major military actions covering the time span from world war one to the invasion of Kuwait ensure there is something for every "arm-chair" historian.

MilitaryReadingList Review

Military Blunders contains a series of short chapters dealing with military decisions from the tactical, operational and strategic levels of war.  As the title indicates, the chapters are slanted towards mistakes by military commanders and/or their political leadership.  The book is a quick and interesting read covering a time span from World War One to the invasion of Kuwait.  At times, the reader may feel the author looks at everything as a "glass half empty".  Clearly with such short recaps of major events in history all of the variables that influenced these commanders decisions were not covered in-depth.  Regardless, Military Blunders provides a perspective, albeit negative, of dozens of events in military history.  Several of these topics wetted my appetite to search for more detailed histories of specific events.  Without making light of the extreme sacrifice and loss of life that these stories reveal, I recommend this book for its entertainment value.  It is not a good purchase for those who are looking for detailed information on any of the events (see below) covered in the book. 

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Major events addressed: 
- How World War One started (the assassination of the Archduke);
- Amphibious landing in the Dardanelle's and Gallipoli;
- The sinking of the passenger ship RMS Lusitania by the German U-Boat U-20;
- British Naval losses to the German Navy at Jutland (HMS Indefatigable, HMS Queen Mary, HMS Invincible);
- French mutiny in the trenches of World War One;
- The treaty of Versailles;
- Stalin and Hitler's rise to power;
- Blunders of the Luftwaffe:
- German hesitation at Dunkirk and Operation Sea lion;
- The shift in bombing to English cities (the bombing of London);
- Hitler's declaration of war on the United States;
- The sinking of the German warship Graf Spee;
- Sinking of the HMS Curacoa by the Queen Mary;
- Scattering of Atlantic convoy PQ17;
- The German Army gets trapped at Stalingrad;
- The loss of "Force Z" (HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales) off the coast of Malaya;
- The battle of Midway;
- Naval night fighting at Guadalcanal:
- Raid on Dieppe (Operation Jubilee);
- Bombing of Monte Cassino;
- The last flight of the "Lady be Good";
- Bombing of Berlin;
- Operation Cobra and friendly fire at Saint-Lo;
- Fighting for the bridge at Arnhem;
- Battle of the Bulge;
- Bomb plot to kill Hitler;
- USS Indianapolis in a sea of sharks
- Yalta and the start of the Cold War
- Korea, Dien Bien Phu, and the Tet offensive
- The Bay of Pigs
- Spanish H-Bomb crash
- Failed Gorbachev Coup
- Operation Eagle Claw (Iranian Hostage rescue attempt)
- Iraqi invasion of Kuwait

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