100 Mistakes that Changed History
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Introduction
Chapter 1 - AMBITION
Chapter 2 - AHEAD OF HIS TIME
Chapter 3 - SHORTSIGHTED
Chapter 4 - MISPLACED TRUST
5 and 6 - AMBITION AND SUPERSTITION
Chapter 7 - COWARDICE
Chapter 8 - LACK OF PLANNING
Chapter 9 - SPLIT COMMAND
Chapter 10 - PRIDE
Chapter 11 - PERSONAL AMBITION
Chapter 12 - PLAYING TO THE ENEMY’S STRENGTHS
Chapter 13 - NO GOING BACK
Chapter 14 - GOTTA KNOW THE TERRITORY
Chapter 15 - THE HIGH COST OF THE EASIEST WAY
Chapter 16 - ... AND DENARII FOOLISH
Chapter 17 - OVERCONFIDENCE
Chapter 18 - TAKING THE EASY WAY
Chapter 19 - FIGHT YOUR OWN WARS
Chapter 20 - NOT-SO-FREE-FIRE ZONE
Chapter 21 - HIRING OUT HOME DEFENSE
Chapter 22 - BLIND OBEDIENCE
Chapter 23 - BAD PRIORITY
Chapter 24 - FOOLISH PROMISE
Chapter 25 - RUSH INTO BATTLE
Chapter 26 - SELF-INTEREST
Chapter 27 - SHORTSIGHTED
Chapter 28 - PRIDE
Chapter 29 - SUPERSTITION
Chapter 30 - STUBBORN PRIDE
Chapter 31 - FEAR OF SUCCESS
Chapter 32 - FALSE SAVINGS
Chapter 33 - SOME MISTAKES HAVE TURNED OUT WELL
Chapter 34 - OFF COURSE
Chapter 35 - BROKE THE RULES ONCE TOO OFTEN
Chapter 36 - SUPERSTITION
Chapter 37 - JUST INCREDIBLY BAD JUDGMENT
Chapter 38 - DEAD-END SCIENCE
Chapter 39 - ALL COURAGE AND NO PLAN
Chapter 40 - POOR PRIORITIES
Chapter 41 - FINANCED HIS OWN WORST NIGHTMARE
Chapter 42 - DESTROYING THE ENVIRONMENT
Chapter 43 - IMPATIENCE
Chapter 44 - TUNNEL VISION
45 and 46 - NOT LEARNING FROM HISTORY
Chapter 47 - EGO OVER SURVIVAL
Chapter 48 - PUTTING THE WRONG MAN IN THE WRONG PLACE
Chapter 49 - INVITING IN THE ANGLOS
Chapter 50 - DO NOTHING
Chapter 51 - STUBBORN
Chapter 52 - TECH FAILURE AND PANIC
Chapter 53 - GETTING CARRIED AWAY COSTS THE WAR
Chapter 54 - OVERCONFIDENCE
Chapter 55 - RACIAL BIGOTRY
Chapter 56 - AIDING THE ENEMY
Chapter 57 - EVERYONE LOSES
Chapter 58 - ONE WRONG TURN
Chapter 59 - TOO SUCCESSFUL A DEVIOUS PLAN
Chapter 60 - THINKING SHORT TERM
Chapter 61 - RIGHTEOUSNESS OVER REALITY
Chapter 62 - MEANINGLESS GESTURE
Chapter 63 - POLITICAL SCIENCE
Chapter 64 - AIDING THE ENEMY
Chapter 65 - A SLOB SAVES LIVES
Chapter 66 - DOING NOTHING
Chapter 67 - BAD BUSINESS
Chapter 68 - TASTY MISTAKE
Chapter 69 - FAILURE TO ACT
Chapter 70 - DEALING WITH THE DEVIL
Chapter 71 - HALFWAY RIGHT
Chapter 72 - STOPPING SHORT OF VICTORY
Chapter 73 - RENAISSANCE MAN
Chapter 74 - BLINDED BY REVENGE
Chapter 75 - NOT PREPARED
Chapter 76 - IGNORING A WARNING
Chapter 77 - SELF-DEFEATING VICTORY
Chapter 78 - SHORT-RANGE THINKING
Chapter 79 - NOT LEARNING FROM HISTORY
Chapter 80 - OBEYING ORDERS TO A FAULT
Chapter 81 - NO RETREAT
Chapter 82 - TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
Chapter 83 - OPINION OVER REALITY
Chapter 84 - THE HIGH PRICE OF RACISM
Chapter 85 - STUCK TO A BAD BARGAIN
Chapter 86 - MISQUOTED
Chapter 87 - EGO OVER WISDOM
Chapter 88 - DIRTY TRICK
Chapter 89 - MYTH OF THE DECISIVE BATTLE
Chapter 90 - MARKETING DISASTER
Chapter 91 - INDECISIVE LEADERSHIP
Chapter 92 - PUT UP WITH THIS MISTAKE
Chapter 93 - UNNEEDED RISK
Chapter 94 - INCOMPLETE RESEARCH
Chapter 95 - OPEN SAYS A ME
Chapter 96 - UNDERESTIMATING EVIL
Chapter 97 - STOPPING SHORT
Chapter 98 - BELIEVING THE WRONG PEOPLE
Chapter 99 - DESIGNED TO FAIL
Chapter 100 - THOSE WHO DO NOT STUDY HISTORY
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PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley trade paperback edition / October 2010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fawcett, Bill. 100 mistakes that changed history : backfires and blunders that collapsed empires, crashed economies, and altered the course of our world / Bill Fawcett.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-1-101-44367-5
1. History—Miscellanea. 2. History—Errors, inventions, etc. I. Title. II. Title: One hundred mistakes that changed history. D10.F—dc22 2010028546
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Thanks to researchers Mari Hillburn and Karen deWinter. And special thanks to Tom Colgan for actually letting me have the fun of writing this book.
But the real dedication has to be to the millions of men, women, children, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and even animals that paid such a high price for the mistakes of others from the beginnings of recorded history. And maybe an apology to those
who will come after for the mistakes being made now that they someday will have to pay for.
INTRODUCTION
History-Making Mistakes
Or perhaps more accurately “Mistakes Making History.” Look around. Do you think the world got this way on purpose? The best-laid plans of mice and men often do go awry, and this book is about the awry part of that phrase. Much of history happened not because of careful planning by great leaders but because of mistakes made by them and others. In this book we take a look at one hundred decisions, actions, and just plain accidents that changed the course of history. To qualify as a mistake, the error has to be something that the person making it knew better or should have known better than to make. Being outwitted is not a mistake; doing something so stupid that any reasonable person would know it would cost you the battle, your kingdom, or your life is a mistake.
Life was not always the same as it is today. We view the past through the lens of today, as modern people looking at it from today’s perspective. In ancient Rome, communications between cities could take days, not seconds, and the worldview of a Saxon noble or a Crusader is a far cry from yours or even anything you have seen in the movies. Honor and faith to them were as important as wealth or status is today. Context is important. By necessity, the entries in this book are short. That limits, perhaps mercifully, detailed explanations of the time and attitudes in which the mistake took place. The story of each mistake begins by setting it in context. Because these mistakes were world-changing events, many have books or whole libraries’ worth of books written about them. Do seek out books to read further if something really interests you. History becomes more fascinating the deeper you delve into it.
In this age when every sniffle and stutter is recorded and rebroadcast hundreds of times, it is easy to see that no one is perfect, and we are constantly reminded that to err is human. People make mistakes—some of them whoppers—and the great leaders of history managed to be mistaken just as often as are the much-scrutinized politicians of today. Some of those mistakes changed the course of history for the entire world or at least for a continent.
There may be a philosophical message hidden among this survey of the stumbles and missteps on the march of history. Feel free to seek it out. But for the most part, whether in a war or in the bedroom, the great mistakes of the past are fun to read about, and that is the point of this book. It can even be a little reassuring that so many have blundered so often in the past and yet we all survive and even thrive. Looking at the devious route the world took to get here also provides insight into the illogical, often confusing, but always fascinating time we live in now.
1
AMBITION
The Mistake That
Made the West
499 BCE
It can be argued that this mistake set into movement the events that created and preserved Western culture as we know it today. This is why it is included here a bit out of chronological order. The world as we know it today all began with a very bad judgment made by the tyrant of the Ionian city-state of Miletus. His name was Aristagoras, and his mistakes began a chain of events that are still being played out today. The city of Miletus was located on the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea, in an area known as Ionia. That entire coast was controlled by Persia, and the tyrant and his city owed both allegiance and taxes to Darius I.
To understand Aristagoras’ mistake you need to take a look at the world as it was in 499 BCE, more than 2,500 years ago. The fastest means of communications was a message sent by horseback, and it took weeks for communications from Darius I to reach a distant city such as Miletus. It also took months for Darius to raise an army from the heart of the Persian empire and march it to a distant satrapy, a Persian province, such as those on the Aegean coast. Miletus was in the boonies, the far end of the empire. What this meant in practical terms was that the tyrants, men in absolute control of an area or city for Darius I, operated on their own as kings, called satraps.
There was also a lot of competition among the Persian satraps. Everyone wanted to look good so that they could be promoted to more prestigious and comfortable positions in the capital of Babylon. The problem for this particular satrap was that Greek Aegean cities like Miletus were neither important nor prestigious. Men such as Aristagoras needed to do more than just be competent to get noticed; they needed to do something spectacular that attracted the attention and approval of a distant emperor. Only then were they given more control of a richer and more important satrapy or even a coveted position in the Babylonian court.
Off the coast of Ionia, in the Aegean Sea, is the island of Naxos. This island had on it a city-state in what we would call today the sphere of influence of Persia. Darius had appointed a tyrant to rule in his name and collect taxes. Yes, even at the dawn of civilization it was all about taxes. But being farther from the center of the Persian empire than even Miletus, the men of Naxos felt that they could throw out the tyrant Darius has assigned, and the island was too far from the capital for him to react. So Naxos declared its independence and executed the satrap. Being separate and independent lowered their taxes and gave the city’s merchants more freedom to trade where they wanted. Those economic considerations were the more likely source of inspiration for the revolt rather than any philosophical need for freedom or democracy as we think of them today. At the time, the rights of men or the right to rule were vague concepts at best, but self-interest was just as strong a motivator then as now.
Aristagoras saw this nearby revolt as an opportunity. If he could recover Naxos for Persia, that might earn him some real credit with Darius. At a minimum, he could add the island to his satrapy, increasing his own importance and tax revenue. But the tyrant of Miletus had a problem. He could raise an army, but Naxos was an island, and he had no ships with which to transport his men to Naxos. To solve this problem, he cut a deal for the loan of the fleet controlled by the satrap of the larger and richer Lydia. This deal had a double advantage. That satrap, Artaphernes, happened to also be Darius I’s brother. His involvement guaranteed that news of Aristagoras’ victory would make it to court. Then the tyrant hired one of the top admirals of the day, Megabates. He was an experienced and proven commander for the expedition. It was a good move right up until Aristagoras publicly insulted the seaman. In revenge, Megabates warned the citizens of Naxos that the invasion was coming. The island armed and prepared its defenses and put away food supplies, so that by the time Aristogoras’ ships arrived, the islanders were more than ready to deal with the invading soldiers. After four months of frustration and defeat, Aristagoras and his army were forced to retreat back to Miletus.
This created a very serious problem for Aristagoras. In exchange for the use of his fleet, the tyrant of Miletus had promised the brother of the emperor a large portion of spoils from Naxos. He had also agreed that after he conquered Naxos, he would use the same army to assist in the conquest of the city of Euboea and the area around it for the Lydian satrapy. But having failed to conquer Naxos and with his army crippled, Miletus was in no position to conquer anyone else, and he had no loot to divide. This put Aristagoras in a very difficult situation. He had made these promises to Darius’ brother, not just another local leader. The probable result of his military failure on Naxos was going to be, at the very least, exile and most likely execution—in a very unpleasant manner.
Aristagoras must have been a tremendously persuasive speaker. Knowing he was going to suffer at the hands of the Persian empire, he convinced the people of Miletus to revolt against Persia. Cultural differences and distance may have helped. The people of Miletus were culturally Greek and had more ties to and trade with the cities of Greece than to distant Babylon. Then the soon-to-be-former tyrant of Miletus was able to convince a few of the other former Greek colonies ruled by Persia, also on the eastern Aegean coast, to join in and follow his leadership. His success in persuasion was even more impressive considering that the whole situation followed from Aristagoras’ being unable to crush an ident
ical revolt by the Greek-speaking people of Naxos.
As the new leader of the Greek revolt, Aristagoras then looked for allies. He offered gold and trade rights in order to entice assistance from cities on the Greek mainland. Sparta turned him down, but Athens and Ephesus decided to support the revolt. There had to be some element of pride or financial benefit for this, considering that the Persian empire was unrivaled in power and size at that time. It is the equivalent today of Italy offering military support to the residents of Bangor, Maine, in a revolt against the United States. A tremendous mismatch at best. Still, two of the leading cities of Greece sent ships and soldiers to Ionia.
Even though he wanted to assist his brother, there was nothing Darius I could do quickly. It took time to gather an army and even more time to march it halfway across his empire. A joint Ionian, Athenian, and Ephesian army marched on Sardis, the capital of Lydia, ruled by Artaphernes, the emperor’s brother whom Aristagoras had stiffed after his failure. The Greeks and rebels managed to surprise the city and were inside before an effective defense could be offered. Artaphernes and his soldiers retreated into the Citadel, a castlelike area in the center of the city, and held out. The Greek and Ionian army then pillaged the rest of the city. The Greeks set Sardis on fire, and the brother of the Persian emperor could do nothing but watch as his capital burned around him.
Not long after Sardis lay in ashes, Darius I’s army arrived to assist his brother. It managed to catch the retreating Greek army and quickly defeated it. They killed or enslaved most of the rebels, including Aristagoras. Only the Athenians were able to escape this fate by hurriedly boarding their boats and sailing back to Athens.
The Persian emperor and his family never forgot what the Athenians did. Up until then, the Greek cities had been considered too poor and too remote to be worth conquering. The burning of Sardis had dramatically demonstrated that the Greeks should be considered a threat to the Persian empire, and the Persian empire could not and did not tolerate threats.