{"product_id":"military-blunders-book-saul-david-9781854879189","title":"Military Blunders","description":"A professional military historian analyzes the most spectacular cock-ups in  military history caused by everything from incompetent generals to interfering  politicians, hopeless planning and misplaced confidence. This graphic account  has a great deal to say about the psychology of military incompetence and the  reasons even the most well-oiled military machines inflict disaster upon  themselves. It covers more than 30 engagements, beginning in AD9 with the  massacre of Varus and his legions in the Black Forest; including nightmares of  the Victorian Age such as the Retreat from Kabul; crushing reverses of two World  Wars such as the Siege of Kut, Mussolini's invasion of Egypt and the fall of  Singapore; many fiascos such as the Second Crusade, Colenso and the Yalu River;  and continuing right up to the present with Goose Green in the Falklands and the  Bravo Two Zero SAS patrol in the Gulf War.   Contents: Unfit to command - aged, ill, inexperienced,  indecisive or plain incompetent generals; meddling ministers - fiascos caused by  politicians interfering with or overriding their generals; planning for trouble  - military operations that were doomed to fail because of flaws in the planning  stage; misplaced confidence - catastrophes brought about by a fatal  underestimation of the enemy; a failure to perform - battles and campaigns lost  because of the poor performance of the ordinary soldier.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49535854870801,"sku":"GOR001014556","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49539110338833,"sku":"GOR001201565","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1854879189.jpg?v=1750930734","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/products\/military-blunders-book-saul-david-9781854879189","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}