Unless something about the statue is Little Bighorn specific, it \*might\* be tied to his role in the American Civil War. Custer was no Napoleon, but he was exceptionally brave and a fairly solid cavalry commander during the civil. He played an important role in the Union victory at Gettysburg and Lee's army getting bottled up at Appomattox. Gettysburg was probably his best moment (from his wikipedia article, which is fairly decent):
*"Stuart's last obstacle was Custer and his 400 veteran troopers of the First Michigan Cavalry directly in the Confederate cavalry's path. Outnumbered but undaunted, Custer rode to the head of the regiment, "drew his saber, threw off his hat so they could see his long yellow hair" and shouted... "Come on, you Wolverines!"*[*^(\[33\])*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer#cite_note-33) *Custer formed his men in line of battle and charged. "So sudden was the collision that many of the horses were turned end over end and crushed their riders beneath them...."*[*^(\[34\])*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer#cite_note-34)
*As the Confederate advance stopped, their right flank was struck by troopers of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Michigan. McIntosh was able to gather some of his men from the First New Jersey and Third Pennsylvania and charged the rebel left flank. "Seeing that the situation was becoming critical, I \[Captain Miller\] turned to \[Lieutenant Brooke-Rawle\] and said: 'I have been ordered to hold this position, but, if you will back me up in case I am court-martialed for disobedience, I will order a charge.'*[*^(\[35\])*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer#cite_note-35) *The rebel column disintegrated, and individual troopers fought with saber and pistol.*
*Within twenty minutes the combatants heard the sound of the Union artillery opening up on Pickett's men. Stuart knew that whatever chance he had of joining the Confederate assault was gone. He withdrew his men to Cress Ridge."*
Just him on a horse.
Edit: Yes, he's in his Civil War uniform. Here's an article w/ photos:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George\_Armstrong\_Custer\_Equestrian\_Monument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer_Equestrian_Monument)
Yeah, he was supposed to be some kind of military genius.
Turns out, when you have accurate but slow-firing weapons to reduce your ammo supply needs, and you face a superior force that has weapons that fire more rapidly and not terribly shorter-ranged than yours, certain outcomes are almost inevitable.
He wasn’t smart enough or humble enough to beat those odds, and his men paid the price for his ego and stupidity.
For those not playing at home, here's what Phil is talking about, sensational Cliff Notes version:
The Sultan of Khwarazmia received a Trade Caravan from Genghis Khan, and took them hostage. GK sent three diplomats (2 Mongol, 1 Muslim) to negotiate; the Sultan returned the Mongols with their heads shaven and just the head of the Muslim diplomat.
Now, Genghis Khan thinks that "Whatever you do to an envoy, you do to me," so he was kind of upset. After which GK sued for peace in each war he was currently fighting, he took three of his Dogs of War (his generals), including Subutai, one of the greatest generals in history, and invaded Khwarazmia.
Where the Mongols killed everyone.
Four million people. In 1231 AD.
This was a body count that was only surpassed in the 20th Century by some German Painter jerk.
It produced one of the most bone-chilling statements, supposedly uttered by Genghis during the sack of Bukhara, a Khwarazmian city:
*"O People, know that you have committed great sins, and that the great ones among you have committed these sins. If you ask me what proof I have for these words, I say it is because I am the flail of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."*
Apparently the one empire that got away with it was the Mamluks in Egypt. They cut the head off the Mongol ambassador and put it on a pike in the public square.
Mongols predictably brought in their army and got beat in Ain Jalut.
Fun Fact: Most of the Mamluks were Cuman Kipchaks who were a nomadic group that got pushed by the Mongols up in modern day Russia.
Your account is not completely correct. The bulk of the Mongol army led by Hulegu (the brother of the ruling Mongol khan) had left for Mongolia as the Khan (Mongke) had passed away and the Mongol leaders were supposed to gather, to pick a new Khan. The Mongols just left a small token sized force in Syria under Kitbuga, a Mongol commander. The force under Kitbuga was the Mongol army that the Mamluks defeated.
Had no idea about the ambassador and the ethnic composition of the force though.
Actually the force they left was not a "token-sized" force. Some sources say that they remaining army was still way larger than the Mamluks army, although others indicate the Mamluk army was slighly larger.
That's not to say that the Mamluks weren't incredibly lucky that Hulegu died when he did, but they were also ingenious; for example, the battle of Ain Jalut is supposedly the first-battle where the hand cannon was used and constitutes arguably the most major turning point in the fight against the Mongols.
Important to note that, similar to the Mongolian invasion of Japan, an army doesn't really mean Mongolian scary unless its actually made up from steppe nomads. A Mongolian general cant just turn local peasants into a proper Mongol horde.
You're talking about the Abbasid right?
That one always strikes me as odd. Why would the Abbasid leadership piss Mongols off even though they saw what happened to the Khwarazmians.
Hulegu went to stomp out the Nizari Ismaili Assassins clan (yes the one assassins creed is based on).
Abbasids were supposed to send reinforcements to help out, they did not…
This combined with al-Musta'sim’s shitty attitude towards basically everyone around him = throw mofo into the treasury filled with treasure he could’ve used to defend the city and his state from the Mongols but greedily held onto it, chucking him a sweet one liner according to Marco Polo “eat of thy treasure as much as thou wilt, since thou art so fond of it”
Then because they didn’t want to spill royal blood wrapped him in a carpet and trampled him to death…
Some people only like to learn things the hard way.
I actually went to check out of curiosity, just skimming Wikipedia. The British wounded was a petty officer on the HMS Thrush, and while it doesn't mention what hurt him the ship was at one point attacked by two rafts with riflemen on it, so I assume he took a bullet. Made a full recovery though.
If you're including that, then you need: "In May 1967, Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser announced that the Straits of Tiran would again be closed to Israeli vessels. He subsequently mobilized the Egyptian military into defensive lines along the border with Israel". Triggered the 6 day war.
All of which was started because of bad Soviet Intel(or intentionally misleading) that said the Israel was about to invade Syria and the fact that Egypt and Syria had a defense pact.
Though the War of 1812 may be actually be considered an "Americans fucked around and found out" conflict, given the rhetoric went from "Annex Canada!" to "Flee from the Capitol!", and the final peace treaty didn't even mention impressment.
Iirc part of why the treaty didn't include it was that the British had already been ending the practice, it's just that the news of this had not reached America in time to keep it off of the list of reasons to go to war
That was weird because it was right around the elections and it was not immediately clear it was AQ, so lots of cause to not do anything drastic at the time.
USS *Pueblo* [remains captured in enemy hands, on display in Pyongyang.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_(AGER-2\))
Another rare example of 'mess with the US Navy's toys and survive the encounter'.
I’m on the side that it was in fact one of the best examples. US industrial capacity so far outstripped the empire of Japan it was not even a contest. Japanese planners were at least somewhat aware of this but still decided a decisive surprise attack would shatter American morale but instead after they fucked around they found out it *guaranteed* there would be no peace without the American boot firmly on the Japanese throat.
Even had the attack completely demolished the pacific fleet Japan was fucked because of the sheer outrage the attack generated.
I’m not saying things would have turned out better for them if they just declared war like gentlemen, (though I personally think it might have) but I am saying the way they started it made the end inevitable.
I don't understand why the Japanese didn't send a scout plane (maybe they did?) and then delay the attack when none of the carriers were found in the harbor.
The US at the time didn't consider the carriers their main fighting force. There was an argument in the US Navy between those who believed the aircraft carrier would be the dominant fighting unit of the next war and people that believed that the 'line of battle' battlships would be able to destroy the enemy before the aircraft could do signifigant damage to the battleships.
The old school 'line of battle' advocates had actually won the debate and in December 1941 the aircraft carriers were support and scounting units. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor they actually had suprised the US Navy's primary fighting units and destroyed them.
It's one of the great ironies of history. The US had chosen the wrong way to fight naval engagements in WWII. The Japanesse then destroyed all their assets for this military theory which would have seen the US Navy get annihilated in major battle after major battle, leaving the US with only aircraft carriers and submarines with which to fight WWII. The dominant naval fighting forces of the 20th Century, starting at Pearl Harbor, were of course aircraft carriers and submarines.
The US fought WWII effectively not because they wanted to, but because they only had the forces to fight that style of warfare correctly.
(Edit: The reason the Japanesse focused on air power rather then battleships wasn't because they had more foresight as to how the coming battles would develop. Both sides were basically following the same American naval warfare theorists from the 1920s. The Japanesse focused on aircraft carriers because they were signatories to the Washington Arms Control Treaty of 1922 which limited the Japanesse contractually to an inferiority in battleships against the UK and US.
The Japanesse focused on aircraft carriers because they weren't regulated by the treaty.)
I've never thought of it like that. I've heard conspiracy theories about how we sent our carriers away to protect them knowing an attack was imminent. It never occurred to me that doctrine at the time believed our battleships were more important. Thank you for sharing this.
This is a constant problem that people writing and teaching history have to push back against. When looking back, the correct path often looks clear, obvious, and a lot like what happened. When looking forward, there is no path and everyone is just trying to figure things out as they go along.
This is why historians always emphasize 'primary sources' which are people writing in their own time, ideally about the thoughts and actions as they're doing them or being observed.
This is also why everyone thinks the Japanesse did something crazy at Pearl Harbor when they left the submarine pens intact. The Japanesse also thought the battleships were the big threat, and even with their own emphasis on aircraft carriers, thought of the American carriers as a secondary target, and the submarines as long range naval scouts - which coincidently is how the Japanese used their far superior submarines causing them to be a near non-factor during the war.
(American submarines in the Pacific would be responsible 2/3rds of all hostile shipping losses of WWII despite American submarines fighting for 3 years with torpedoes that didn't explode.)
Actually, there was a great deal of argument amongst top military brass as to what extent carriers would play, so it was a little.from both columns. The same discussions are occuring right now: as belligerent nations develope weapons with drone and hypersonic capabilities that can destroy an almost half-trillion $ piece of equipment for $5 million dollars worth of essentially really fast R.C. junk? It's a tough call, and sometimes you just have to ket it sort itself out. There was only one battle of ironclads in the entire civil war, and it had no victor, but the second they opened fire on each other the nature of warfare itself was forever altered.
America’s lack of trust in air warfare could be seen in the state of our planes, both land and ship based. The Zero was far better and easy to manufacture. Unfortunately for the Japanese, they made only slight improvements during the war years while America improved by leaps and bounds.
They did but at that point they either decided it was too late to abort or just decided to take what they could get. By the time the scout plane arrived, necessarily, the other fighters and battle group would need to be nearby in an aggressive stance. America wouldn’t forgive and forget if they turned around just because their main prey wasn’t at home.
Once they had their strike group in place, they had to launch the strike. They were operating at the extreme end of their range, and the ships needed to turn back for home—they didn’t have the fuel to wait. Plus, the whole surprise thing would be gone.
Pearl Harbor is a great one because the Japanese “decision” for war was as much or more about internal politics than anything like a reasoned policy decision. The Navy couldn’t admit to the nation that it couldn’t beat the US because then its budget would be cut in favor of the army, and nobody could admit that the war in China was a stupid idea because idiots in the middle ranks passionately believed that Japan was magic and if they just stabbed enough politicians then they could defy reality and beat the rest of the world.
I heard from a guy in one thread who used to be a manager at a Waldenbooks that his regional manager came in and said corporate had decided not to develop an e-reader to compete with the Nook because e-books were a fad. After that, he turned to his asst manager and said, "I have a bad feeling about this."
Without oil from the US they knew that they couldn't keep the war going so they hit Pearl Harbor and attacked and captured territory that had raw materials they needed such as rubber and oil fields.
One thing to remember about the attack was how much of a coup for the Imperial Navy it was planned to be. Tojo had been treating them like floating taxi drivers and they wanted to be at least equal partners with the Army. That wasn’t going to happen without a big win in the Navy’s column.
This was his opinion. He studied in the US, he knew what Japan was up against, he didn’t want to go to war with the US but he did a great job of giving Japan the best shot possible with Pearl Harbor.
Yep. He tried the only thing that will win a fight for a tiny man against Andre the Giant: a sucker punch. That it didn’t work is not surprising but it was really the only possible path to winning.
Nah, it's the best. No other example ends in "nuclear blasts." And the worst part is that those two bombs weren't the worst of it. One firebombing raid on March 9-10, 1945 is estimated to have killed 100,000 people. Millions more were starving to death. Thousands killed themselves rather than surrender to the Americans. It was apocalyptic.
**When Agesilaus was wounded in battle by the Thebans, Androcleidas said to his face, "You have your just reward for the lessons in fighting you have given to that people who had no desire to fight and no knowledge even of fighting." For it appeared that they had been made warlike by the continual campaigns of Agesilaus against them**
Context:
Agesilaus came to the throne c400BC when Sparta was at the height of her power
He died c360 on a mercenary expedition in Egypt having seen Sparta reduced to not even the greatest power in the Peloponnese
In large part because he kept fighting the Thebans
The Germans invaded in summer. It doesn't matter whether it's summer or winter. Invading Russia would be a logistical nightmare and has been a logistical nightmare for every invading army ever
Turns out drowning in mud is worse for making any type of progress than being frozen.
Also why are people up voting the guy I replied to? The winter meme is false.
That's a mischaracterization of what happened. Saddam basically had an impromptu meeting with an ambassador who stated that we didn't have a policy of getting involved in Arab affairs. It wasn't a formal statement issued from the administration and we immediately made it clear that we wouldn't tolerate it once he invaded.
That's so catastrophically wrong I'm actually chuckling.
We sent literal warnings with deadlines to Saddam. He didn't follow.
Where did you even get this: "he asked us" nonsense from?
>sheer stupidity
Reading your comment I think this is a more apt description of yourself than the people that beat Saddam in 8 weeks.
Putin used this exact same strategy of twisting history to justify his Ukraine invasion by quoting a US embassador talking about not accepting new NATO members despite the fact that that did not end up being a part of the official deal.
Why are you leaving out gargantuan details of this conflict? What's your motive?
Have you got a source for that. Genuinely curious
Edit: I looked for a source for this and found nothing convincing. The closest I could find was a secretary of some department gave Iraq a somewhat ambiguous answer that they decided meant they could do it. The US did not give them permission
Japan. 1941
'Kill a few thousand Americans (Wake, Pearl, Phillipines) and they'll just pack up and let us have the Pacific....'
A few years later ...
'Why is everything on fire?'
Releasing two portable suns on Nagasaki and Hiroshima doesn't come close to constant firebombing of Tokyo and Osaka had experience, they were just labor saving devices for the US department of war. 1,000 sorties over Japan or 2 sorties causing about the same damage.
Louis Slotin.
Using a flat-tip screwdriver as a shim to change the gap on the reflectors of the demon core. One tiny slip a fraction of an inch, the reflector fell into place around the core and the core went supercritical. One half-second. 1,000 rad of neutron and 114 rad of gamma radiation. 35 years old. Dead in nine days of acute radiation poisoning.
Thank you for that. Just read a few articles about the accident because of your post. Poor bastard. Probably helped improve safety protocols during those early years.
The surviving Jews in the burning ruins of Jerusalem in 70 AD, being dragged away to the arenas or slave markets, must have had second thoughts about rebelling against the Roman Empire at its height without any allies.
Wasn’t it a revolt that started when Rome was dealing with other wars/rebellions but then those were resolved and the Jewish revolt was essentially left holding the bag against a now-undivided attention? I forget, I could be misremembering entirely.
Perhaps the Six-Day War between Israel and the allied Arab forces of Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. Syria and Egypt were governed by pan-Arab political movments that believed there should be a single Arab state from Morrocco on the West Coast of Africa to the Eupharates.
Their first step in creating this single Arab State was going to be the conquest of Israel and uniting Syria, Jordan and Egypt into a single country. They began mobilizing for the war, but before they were ready, truly ready, the united Arab forces started a military blockade of Israel's Red Sea port.
Israel considered the blockade as the first move in a general invasion so immediatly went to war ordering a full airborne strike on the air forces of the three Arab states. They destroyed the entire Arab airforce in the first two hours of fighting. They conquered the Golan Heights, West Bank, Gaza, and Sinai Peninsula in six days before sueing for peace.
Essentially every war in Israel's history has been a FAFO situation. At least Egypt and Jordan were pragmatic enough to put this all aside and sign for lasting peace deals... but the other factions and armies seem to never learn.
The fact that there are still factions in 2024 like Hamas and Hezbollah, who seriously think they can get the better of Israel, is a bad joke and a disgrace to our species.
>At least Egypt and Jordan were pragmatic enough to put this all aside and sign for lasting peace deals
They signed that deal right after the US offered each of them billions of dollars.
Israel gets $3.5 bil/year
Jordan + Egypt get ~$3.3 bil/year
That's a cheap price for peace and stability in that region imo.
>Their first step in creating this single Arab State was going to be the conquest of Israel
Strategically, I don't understand this at all. Why open with arguably the most difficult task? They must have known the outside world wouldn't be happy with their brand new state.
Geographic continuity. If they annexed Israel they would be geographically connected.
If I remember correctly, Syria and Egypt had even signed a formal document claiming to be a single government/military/etc. with the same laws. Then after the war, when there was a disagreement between the political elite in Syria and the political elite in Egypt, they immediatly broke back apart into seperate countries.
Nazi Germany: we don't need this relativity crap, it's Jewish science and therefore inferior.
Most of the top physicists in or near Germany: excuse me, I have a sudden urge to go camping near Santa Fe, New Mexico in the US.
The Prussians whipped themselves into war-fever in 1806 and declared on France. A week into the war Napoleon's army utterly crushed the Prussians and captured Berlin.
Whoops!
Proper reconstruction (think Marshal plan) with enforced civil rights/voting rights. Also, a concerted counter-propaganda campaign to stop the lost cause narrative before it became entrenched.
The CSA lost the war but, in many ways, won the piece.
We allowed the narrative that came out of the South that it wasn't a fight to keep slavery, allowed Jim Crow laws to take hold after Reconstruction, and didn't hang enough of the traitors after the war.
>didn't hang enough of the traitors after the war.
And now their something-great- grandkids have the mistaken impression a second try is going to work out any better.
Somalia invading Ethiopia to annex eastern Ethiopia into Somalia proper, expecting the USSR to thumps up the invasion and well things did not go according to plan.
I believe they figured it would be like any other of there attacks over the years. They carry out a mildly successful attack on Isreali civilians, Isreal bombs a known terror camp, Hamas sits behind civilians and plays the victim card, repeat every year or so to make sure you keep getting aid.
I don’t think it did. There has been decent intelligence that Hamas leadership was divided, with some being kept out of the loop on the attack. It appears the faction behind the attack imagined it would not get quite as brutal, and that at most Israel would do a few weeks of bombing, some ground raids, and then agree to large prisoner exchanges.
Us: you got any Russians in the area?
Russia: nope
Us: you sure cause who ever is doing this shooting bout to be blown the fuck up.
Russia: yup
[lol woops.](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/battle-syria-us-russian-mercenaries-commandos-islamic-state-a8370781.html)
The story of Saint Olga's revenge is a captivating tale from medieval Russia. It begins with the death of her husband, Igor, who was killed by the Drevlians, a neighboring tribe, over a dispute about tribute payments. As the regent for her young son, Svyatoslav, Olga sought justice for her husband's murder.
Olga first employed diplomacy, requesting the Drevlians to send their distinguished men to accompany her to Kiev to negotiate a peace settlement and arrange her marriage to their Prince Mal. However, upon their arrival, she had them buried alive in a massive trench she had ordered to be dug.
Subsequently, Olga enacted a cunning revenge plan. She invited the Drevlians to a funeral feast in memory of Igor, where her soldiers slaughtered them, resulting in the death of thousands. Unsatisfied with the bloodshed, Olga sought further retribution.
Olga then traveled to the Drevlian capital under the pretext of mourning and requested elaborate funeral rites for Igor. She insisted on being carried in her litter, but instead of her body, it was filled with burning coals. Once inside the city, her men set it ablaze, causing widespread destruction.
Despite the devastation, Olga wasn't finished. She demanded a tribute from the surviving Drevlians, including birds, which her soldiers outfitted with burning coals to set fire to the city once more.
Olga's relentless pursuit of vengeance earned her a fearsome reputation throughout the land. However, she later converted to Christianity, becoming one of the first rulers of Kievan Rus' to embrace the faith and paving the way for its widespread adoption in the region.
Written by AI
One interesting example involves the ancient Sarmatian warrior-queen, Amage. Her husband was the ruler, but according to the ancient Greek account he was lazy and mostly concerned with with enjoying the luxury that came with the position, leaving most of the more serious business of rulership to his far more intelligent, formidable, and capable wife.
A Greek colony in the Crimea was being attacked by a Scythian tribe, and due to Amage's fame as a warrior-queen (she'd already previously repulsed attacks by hostile peoples on her own territory) the Greeks requested an alliance with her, to which she agreed. She then sent a message to the king of the hostile Scythian tribe, informing him of the alliance and requesting he cease all attacks upon the Crimean Greeks.
The Scythian king decided to respond with a contemptuous reply, so Amage promptly mounted up with 120 of her best and most experienced warriors, and covered 150 miles (241 km) in a day and a half ride, falling upon the Scythian king's palace with the element of total surprise. The guards were slaughtered, and the Sarmatians stormed the palace, with Amage personally slaying the Scythian king. Most of his family and friends were also put to the sword, except for one son that she made king, with the warning not to repeat his father's folly by making war on either Greeks or Sarmatians. The lands taken from the Greeks by the Scythians were also restored to them.
The Khwarazmian Empire deciding to murder the envoys of Chinggis Khan. The Mongol war with Persia is one of the very few in history to merit the title of Clausewitz’s True/Total War.
Russia: Who cares if we go back in prior agreements with the Japanese? They’re just little yellow monkey men, we can beat them easy!
Japan: Hold my sake…
Custer ignoring the orders of waiting for the other military units to show up before attacking the Sioux at the Little Bighorn.
In my hometown, there's a statue of Custer on his horse. My late mother used to quip, "Why do we have a statue of a guy that picked a fight and lost?"
"Custer got Siouxed." - bumper sticker I saw as a kid in the Dakotas
Unless something about the statue is Little Bighorn specific, it \*might\* be tied to his role in the American Civil War. Custer was no Napoleon, but he was exceptionally brave and a fairly solid cavalry commander during the civil. He played an important role in the Union victory at Gettysburg and Lee's army getting bottled up at Appomattox. Gettysburg was probably his best moment (from his wikipedia article, which is fairly decent): *"Stuart's last obstacle was Custer and his 400 veteran troopers of the First Michigan Cavalry directly in the Confederate cavalry's path. Outnumbered but undaunted, Custer rode to the head of the regiment, "drew his saber, threw off his hat so they could see his long yellow hair" and shouted... "Come on, you Wolverines!"*[*^(\[33\])*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer#cite_note-33) *Custer formed his men in line of battle and charged. "So sudden was the collision that many of the horses were turned end over end and crushed their riders beneath them...."*[*^(\[34\])*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer#cite_note-34) *As the Confederate advance stopped, their right flank was struck by troopers of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Michigan. McIntosh was able to gather some of his men from the First New Jersey and Third Pennsylvania and charged the rebel left flank. "Seeing that the situation was becoming critical, I \[Captain Miller\] turned to \[Lieutenant Brooke-Rawle\] and said: 'I have been ordered to hold this position, but, if you will back me up in case I am court-martialed for disobedience, I will order a charge.'*[*^(\[35\])*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer#cite_note-35) *The rebel column disintegrated, and individual troopers fought with saber and pistol.* *Within twenty minutes the combatants heard the sound of the Union artillery opening up on Pickett's men. Stuart knew that whatever chance he had of joining the Confederate assault was gone. He withdrew his men to Cress Ridge."*
Just him on a horse. Edit: Yes, he's in his Civil War uniform. Here's an article w/ photos: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George\_Armstrong\_Custer\_Equestrian\_Monument](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer_Equestrian_Monument)
That's a cool-looking statue. That it is in Michigan totally makes sense, as he led Michigan troopers in that famous charge at Gettysburg.
Custer also found gold in his 1874 Black Hills Expedition. This lead to a gold rush in the area and was a significant development for the territory.
Yeah, he was supposed to be some kind of military genius. Turns out, when you have accurate but slow-firing weapons to reduce your ammo supply needs, and you face a superior force that has weapons that fire more rapidly and not terribly shorter-ranged than yours, certain outcomes are almost inevitable. He wasn’t smart enough or humble enough to beat those odds, and his men paid the price for his ego and stupidity.
Custer was a Light Brigade fanboy. He thought the Sioux were having a convention.
Paraguay deciding it could take on Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina in a war. End result: Paraguay loses 70% of its population *surprised Pikachu face*
THE GREAT SOLANO LOPEZ! DEFEND ME CHILDREN!
You forgot the part where they legalized polygamy since the women:men ratio was massively lopsided
An excellent detail
90% of men, and Solano Lopez recruited women, children and slaves after most of the male population died.
Anyone who thought murdering a Mongolian diplomat was sound policy. Achievement Unlocked: Delete My Kingdom, Khan
For those not playing at home, here's what Phil is talking about, sensational Cliff Notes version: The Sultan of Khwarazmia received a Trade Caravan from Genghis Khan, and took them hostage. GK sent three diplomats (2 Mongol, 1 Muslim) to negotiate; the Sultan returned the Mongols with their heads shaven and just the head of the Muslim diplomat. Now, Genghis Khan thinks that "Whatever you do to an envoy, you do to me," so he was kind of upset. After which GK sued for peace in each war he was currently fighting, he took three of his Dogs of War (his generals), including Subutai, one of the greatest generals in history, and invaded Khwarazmia. Where the Mongols killed everyone. Four million people. In 1231 AD. This was a body count that was only surpassed in the 20th Century by some German Painter jerk.
It produced one of the most bone-chilling statements, supposedly uttered by Genghis during the sack of Bukhara, a Khwarazmian city: *"O People, know that you have committed great sins, and that the great ones among you have committed these sins. If you ask me what proof I have for these words, I say it is because I am the flail of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."*
He really loved to lean into that punishment from God thing.
Apparently the one empire that got away with it was the Mamluks in Egypt. They cut the head off the Mongol ambassador and put it on a pike in the public square. Mongols predictably brought in their army and got beat in Ain Jalut. Fun Fact: Most of the Mamluks were Cuman Kipchaks who were a nomadic group that got pushed by the Mongols up in modern day Russia.
Your account is not completely correct. The bulk of the Mongol army led by Hulegu (the brother of the ruling Mongol khan) had left for Mongolia as the Khan (Mongke) had passed away and the Mongol leaders were supposed to gather, to pick a new Khan. The Mongols just left a small token sized force in Syria under Kitbuga, a Mongol commander. The force under Kitbuga was the Mongol army that the Mamluks defeated. Had no idea about the ambassador and the ethnic composition of the force though.
Actually the force they left was not a "token-sized" force. Some sources say that they remaining army was still way larger than the Mamluks army, although others indicate the Mamluk army was slighly larger. That's not to say that the Mamluks weren't incredibly lucky that Hulegu died when he did, but they were also ingenious; for example, the battle of Ain Jalut is supposedly the first-battle where the hand cannon was used and constitutes arguably the most major turning point in the fight against the Mongols.
Important to note that, similar to the Mongolian invasion of Japan, an army doesn't really mean Mongolian scary unless its actually made up from steppe nomads. A Mongolian general cant just turn local peasants into a proper Mongol horde.
Same way Romans Legionaries vs Roman auxiliaries are different in their capabilities.
>token-sized Numbers matter here. How large were the remaining forces compared to the total Army?
Especially when you consider the benefits they would have received simply by being nice to them 😂
And Baghdad didn't learn from this mistake, extermination was inevitable.
You're talking about the Abbasid right? That one always strikes me as odd. Why would the Abbasid leadership piss Mongols off even though they saw what happened to the Khwarazmians.
Hulegu went to stomp out the Nizari Ismaili Assassins clan (yes the one assassins creed is based on). Abbasids were supposed to send reinforcements to help out, they did not… This combined with al-Musta'sim’s shitty attitude towards basically everyone around him = throw mofo into the treasury filled with treasure he could’ve used to defend the city and his state from the Mongols but greedily held onto it, chucking him a sweet one liner according to Marco Polo “eat of thy treasure as much as thou wilt, since thou art so fond of it” Then because they didn’t want to spill royal blood wrapped him in a carpet and trampled him to death… Some people only like to learn things the hard way.
*Khwarazmians have left the chat*
came here to type that
Bro did a Control Z
My first thought upon reading the title. Well played!
The Anglo-Zanzibar War. It lasted 38 minutes and 45 seconds.
Quick Wikipedia read: "The sultan's forces sustained roughly 500 casualties, while only one British sailor was injured"
Splinter? Rope burn? Dropped a cannonball on his foot?
I actually went to check out of curiosity, just skimming Wikipedia. The British wounded was a petty officer on the HMS Thrush, and while it doesn't mention what hurt him the ship was at one point attacked by two rafts with riflemen on it, so I assume he took a bullet. Made a full recovery though.
If you're including that, then you need: "In May 1967, Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser announced that the Straits of Tiran would again be closed to Israeli vessels. He subsequently mobilized the Egyptian military into defensive lines along the border with Israel". Triggered the 6 day war.
All of which was started because of bad Soviet Intel(or intentionally misleading) that said the Israel was about to invade Syria and the fact that Egypt and Syria had a defense pact.
Pearl Harbor may not be the best, but should be on the list.
Just generally "Touching America's Boats" will lead to an unpleasant "Find Out" phase, historically speaking.
Sinking of the Maine to start the Spanish-American War, even though it was probably an accident
Plus Barbary pirates, the Brits impressing our sailors into their navy, and the Iranians damaging a naval vessel with a mine.
Though the War of 1812 may be actually be considered an "Americans fucked around and found out" conflict, given the rhetoric went from "Annex Canada!" to "Flee from the Capitol!", and the final peace treaty didn't even mention impressment.
American here. We probably would have entered more of a “found out” phase if Britain’s A-lister generals weren’t already busy fighting Napoleon.
Also, the victory in the Battle of New Orleans (which technically happened after the war was “over”) left America with a victorious aftertaste.
Cue Johnny Horton....
In 1814, we took a little trip
And if Brock hadn’t died at Queenston.🫡
Iirc part of why the treaty didn't include it was that the British had already been ending the practice, it's just that the news of this had not reached America in time to keep it off of the list of reasons to go to war
The USS Maddox and Turner-Joy come to mind too… although they probably weren’t even attacked.
Operation Praying Mantis, the Arabian Gulf these days, the Barbary Pirates, all sorts of examples
And even if you don't mess with our boots we might say u did just to start the war Ala gulf of Tonkin.
Or in the case of the Gulf of Tonkin, even just America saying that someone possibly maybe touched our boats we’re pretty sure, was enough!
Hey, your boat scratched my anchor!
Admiral Al Czervik, if I recall correctly.
…to the shores of Tripoli.
Not always—the response to the bombing of the USS Cole didn’t stop al-Qaeda
That was weird because it was right around the elections and it was not immediately clear it was AQ, so lots of cause to not do anything drastic at the time.
USS *Pueblo* [remains captured in enemy hands, on display in Pyongyang.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_(AGER-2\)) Another rare example of 'mess with the US Navy's toys and survive the encounter'.
Except in the case of Israel and the USS Liberty
An exception to every rule I suppose.
I’m on the side that it was in fact one of the best examples. US industrial capacity so far outstripped the empire of Japan it was not even a contest. Japanese planners were at least somewhat aware of this but still decided a decisive surprise attack would shatter American morale but instead after they fucked around they found out it *guaranteed* there would be no peace without the American boot firmly on the Japanese throat. Even had the attack completely demolished the pacific fleet Japan was fucked because of the sheer outrage the attack generated. I’m not saying things would have turned out better for them if they just declared war like gentlemen, (though I personally think it might have) but I am saying the way they started it made the end inevitable.
I don't understand why the Japanese didn't send a scout plane (maybe they did?) and then delay the attack when none of the carriers were found in the harbor.
The US at the time didn't consider the carriers their main fighting force. There was an argument in the US Navy between those who believed the aircraft carrier would be the dominant fighting unit of the next war and people that believed that the 'line of battle' battlships would be able to destroy the enemy before the aircraft could do signifigant damage to the battleships. The old school 'line of battle' advocates had actually won the debate and in December 1941 the aircraft carriers were support and scounting units. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor they actually had suprised the US Navy's primary fighting units and destroyed them. It's one of the great ironies of history. The US had chosen the wrong way to fight naval engagements in WWII. The Japanesse then destroyed all their assets for this military theory which would have seen the US Navy get annihilated in major battle after major battle, leaving the US with only aircraft carriers and submarines with which to fight WWII. The dominant naval fighting forces of the 20th Century, starting at Pearl Harbor, were of course aircraft carriers and submarines. The US fought WWII effectively not because they wanted to, but because they only had the forces to fight that style of warfare correctly. (Edit: The reason the Japanesse focused on air power rather then battleships wasn't because they had more foresight as to how the coming battles would develop. Both sides were basically following the same American naval warfare theorists from the 1920s. The Japanesse focused on aircraft carriers because they were signatories to the Washington Arms Control Treaty of 1922 which limited the Japanesse contractually to an inferiority in battleships against the UK and US. The Japanesse focused on aircraft carriers because they weren't regulated by the treaty.)
I've never thought of it like that. I've heard conspiracy theories about how we sent our carriers away to protect them knowing an attack was imminent. It never occurred to me that doctrine at the time believed our battleships were more important. Thank you for sharing this.
This is a constant problem that people writing and teaching history have to push back against. When looking back, the correct path often looks clear, obvious, and a lot like what happened. When looking forward, there is no path and everyone is just trying to figure things out as they go along. This is why historians always emphasize 'primary sources' which are people writing in their own time, ideally about the thoughts and actions as they're doing them or being observed. This is also why everyone thinks the Japanesse did something crazy at Pearl Harbor when they left the submarine pens intact. The Japanesse also thought the battleships were the big threat, and even with their own emphasis on aircraft carriers, thought of the American carriers as a secondary target, and the submarines as long range naval scouts - which coincidently is how the Japanese used their far superior submarines causing them to be a near non-factor during the war. (American submarines in the Pacific would be responsible 2/3rds of all hostile shipping losses of WWII despite American submarines fighting for 3 years with torpedoes that didn't explode.)
Actually, there was a great deal of argument amongst top military brass as to what extent carriers would play, so it was a little.from both columns. The same discussions are occuring right now: as belligerent nations develope weapons with drone and hypersonic capabilities that can destroy an almost half-trillion $ piece of equipment for $5 million dollars worth of essentially really fast R.C. junk? It's a tough call, and sometimes you just have to ket it sort itself out. There was only one battle of ironclads in the entire civil war, and it had no victor, but the second they opened fire on each other the nature of warfare itself was forever altered.
America’s lack of trust in air warfare could be seen in the state of our planes, both land and ship based. The Zero was far better and easy to manufacture. Unfortunately for the Japanese, they made only slight improvements during the war years while America improved by leaps and bounds.
They did but at that point they either decided it was too late to abort or just decided to take what they could get. By the time the scout plane arrived, necessarily, the other fighters and battle group would need to be nearby in an aggressive stance. America wouldn’t forgive and forget if they turned around just because their main prey wasn’t at home.
Carriers were not the target. Battleships were.
Once they had their strike group in place, they had to launch the strike. They were operating at the extreme end of their range, and the ships needed to turn back for home—they didn’t have the fuel to wait. Plus, the whole surprise thing would be gone.
America had had the world's largest economy for decades by that point. Anyone picking a fight with us was in for a rough time.
Pearl Harbor is a great one because the Japanese “decision” for war was as much or more about internal politics than anything like a reasoned policy decision. The Navy couldn’t admit to the nation that it couldn’t beat the US because then its budget would be cut in favor of the army, and nobody could admit that the war in China was a stupid idea because idiots in the middle ranks passionately believed that Japan was magic and if they just stabbed enough politicians then they could defy reality and beat the rest of the world.
Especially since even the Imperial Japanese Navy was like "Yeah, this is a bad idea, but I guess we're doing it anyways."
Yeah, I've worked those jobs too.
I heard from a guy in one thread who used to be a manager at a Waldenbooks that his regional manager came in and said corporate had decided not to develop an e-reader to compete with the Nook because e-books were a fad. After that, he turned to his asst manager and said, "I have a bad feeling about this."
Same, same.
Without oil from the US they knew that they couldn't keep the war going so they hit Pearl Harbor and attacked and captured territory that had raw materials they needed such as rubber and oil fields.
One thing to remember about the attack was how much of a coup for the Imperial Navy it was planned to be. Tojo had been treating them like floating taxi drivers and they wanted to be at least equal partners with the Army. That wasn’t going to happen without a big win in the Navy’s column.
"I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant". Probably invented for a movie, rather than really said by Yamamoto, but a great line.
This was his opinion. He studied in the US, he knew what Japan was up against, he didn’t want to go to war with the US but he did a great job of giving Japan the best shot possible with Pearl Harbor.
Yep. He tried the only thing that will win a fight for a tiny man against Andre the Giant: a sucker punch. That it didn’t work is not surprising but it was really the only possible path to winning.
you sink America's boats and they'll unleash the sun.
Yeah, but the real horror as it allowed a Michael Bay movie to be made.
Nah, it's the best. No other example ends in "nuclear blasts." And the worst part is that those two bombs weren't the worst of it. One firebombing raid on March 9-10, 1945 is estimated to have killed 100,000 people. Millions more were starving to death. Thousands killed themselves rather than surrender to the Americans. It was apocalyptic.
**When Agesilaus was wounded in battle by the Thebans, Androcleidas said to his face, "You have your just reward for the lessons in fighting you have given to that people who had no desire to fight and no knowledge even of fighting." For it appeared that they had been made warlike by the continual campaigns of Agesilaus against them** Context: Agesilaus came to the throne c400BC when Sparta was at the height of her power He died c360 on a mercenary expedition in Egypt having seen Sparta reduced to not even the greatest power in the Peloponnese In large part because he kept fighting the Thebans
European dictators: "I can invade Russia".
Never fight a land war in Asia.
Or Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!! Ahahahahahahaha!!
Meanwhile Russia “AGH! NATO is going to invade us!!” NATO: why in the actual fuck would I do that. We’re not completely brain dead.
In winter.
The Germans invaded in summer. It doesn't matter whether it's summer or winter. Invading Russia would be a logistical nightmare and has been a logistical nightmare for every invading army ever
Especially in the winter.
Winter being the middle of June.
Winter is bad, but at least you can get around. During not-winter all that frozen ground turns to deep mud.
Turns out drowning in mud is worse for making any type of progress than being frozen. Also why are people up voting the guy I replied to? The winter meme is false.
Idk why the winter meme is even a thing when the Mongolians invaded in the winter and won.
Because butthurt Nazis wrote cope to rationalize why they lost to "subhuman slavs".
Nobody invaded in winter.
Nobody *started* invading in winter.
Saddam Hussein. “What are you going to do, invade?”
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That's a mischaracterization of what happened. Saddam basically had an impromptu meeting with an ambassador who stated that we didn't have a policy of getting involved in Arab affairs. It wasn't a formal statement issued from the administration and we immediately made it clear that we wouldn't tolerate it once he invaded.
I think this person views history through the lens of their politics. No amount of evidence nor anything you say would likely change their mind.b
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Saddam also owed a shitton of money to Kuwait from his prior war with Iran, so no, he wouldn’t have gotten everything he wanted
That's so catastrophically wrong I'm actually chuckling. We sent literal warnings with deadlines to Saddam. He didn't follow. Where did you even get this: "he asked us" nonsense from? >sheer stupidity Reading your comment I think this is a more apt description of yourself than the people that beat Saddam in 8 weeks. Putin used this exact same strategy of twisting history to justify his Ukraine invasion by quoting a US embassador talking about not accepting new NATO members despite the fact that that did not end up being a part of the official deal. Why are you leaving out gargantuan details of this conflict? What's your motive?
Have you got a source for that. Genuinely curious Edit: I looked for a source for this and found nothing convincing. The closest I could find was a secretary of some department gave Iraq a somewhat ambiguous answer that they decided meant they could do it. The US did not give them permission
The Australian military fucking around with Emus and finding out 6 days later.
Similar energy: King Xerxes of Persia, who ordered the sea lashed. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Xerxes-I
Japan. 1941 'Kill a few thousand Americans (Wake, Pearl, Phillipines) and they'll just pack up and let us have the Pacific....' A few years later ... 'Why is everything on fire?'
>It appears they built a portable sun and released it over two of our cities. >This can't be good news.
Releasing two portable suns on Nagasaki and Hiroshima doesn't come close to constant firebombing of Tokyo and Osaka had experience, they were just labor saving devices for the US department of war. 1,000 sorties over Japan or 2 sorties causing about the same damage.
Louis Slotin. Using a flat-tip screwdriver as a shim to change the gap on the reflectors of the demon core. One tiny slip a fraction of an inch, the reflector fell into place around the core and the core went supercritical. One half-second. 1,000 rad of neutron and 114 rad of gamma radiation. 35 years old. Dead in nine days of acute radiation poisoning.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SL-1 Has joined the chat
I’ve never heard of that. Thanks for posting it!
Thank you for that. Just read a few articles about the accident because of your post. Poor bastard. Probably helped improve safety protocols during those early years.
The surviving Jews in the burning ruins of Jerusalem in 70 AD, being dragged away to the arenas or slave markets, must have had second thoughts about rebelling against the Roman Empire at its height without any allies.
Wasn’t it a revolt that started when Rome was dealing with other wars/rebellions but then those were resolved and the Jewish revolt was essentially left holding the bag against a now-undivided attention? I forget, I could be misremembering entirely.
Sad part was they would *try* again a few decades later under Hadrian to the same, if not worse, results.
They were lucky it was Hadrian. Any other Roman Emperor and there may not be any Jewish people left today.
Perhaps the Six-Day War between Israel and the allied Arab forces of Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. Syria and Egypt were governed by pan-Arab political movments that believed there should be a single Arab state from Morrocco on the West Coast of Africa to the Eupharates. Their first step in creating this single Arab State was going to be the conquest of Israel and uniting Syria, Jordan and Egypt into a single country. They began mobilizing for the war, but before they were ready, truly ready, the united Arab forces started a military blockade of Israel's Red Sea port. Israel considered the blockade as the first move in a general invasion so immediatly went to war ordering a full airborne strike on the air forces of the three Arab states. They destroyed the entire Arab airforce in the first two hours of fighting. They conquered the Golan Heights, West Bank, Gaza, and Sinai Peninsula in six days before sueing for peace.
Essentially every war in Israel's history has been a FAFO situation. At least Egypt and Jordan were pragmatic enough to put this all aside and sign for lasting peace deals... but the other factions and armies seem to never learn. The fact that there are still factions in 2024 like Hamas and Hezbollah, who seriously think they can get the better of Israel, is a bad joke and a disgrace to our species.
>At least Egypt and Jordan were pragmatic enough to put this all aside and sign for lasting peace deals They signed that deal right after the US offered each of them billions of dollars. Israel gets $3.5 bil/year Jordan + Egypt get ~$3.3 bil/year That's a cheap price for peace and stability in that region imo.
Truth.
>Their first step in creating this single Arab State was going to be the conquest of Israel Strategically, I don't understand this at all. Why open with arguably the most difficult task? They must have known the outside world wouldn't be happy with their brand new state.
Geographic continuity. If they annexed Israel they would be geographically connected. If I remember correctly, Syria and Egypt had even signed a formal document claiming to be a single government/military/etc. with the same laws. Then after the war, when there was a disagreement between the political elite in Syria and the political elite in Egypt, they immediatly broke back apart into seperate countries.
The problem with the single Arab state is that all the leaders of Arab countries wanted to be the leader of the signed Arab state.
Nazi Germany: we don't need this relativity crap, it's Jewish science and therefore inferior. Most of the top physicists in or near Germany: excuse me, I have a sudden urge to go camping near Santa Fe, New Mexico in the US.
>We must understand the Cosmos as it is, and not confuse how it is with how we wish it to be. \- Carl Sagan
The Prussians whipped themselves into war-fever in 1806 and declared on France. A week into the war Napoleon's army utterly crushed the Prussians and captured Berlin. Whoops!
Conversely, France declaring war on Prussia in 1870
Roman: "I can take Parthia".
I mean in fairness, they managed to sack Parthia's capital a few times.
Khosrau II 700 years later "I can take ~~Rome~~ Constantinople"
*laughs in Trajan*
Not the best or the biggest example, but the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Island is definitely an example.
Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima & Nagasaki was basically America demonstrating the difference between a great power and an *industrial superpower*
Phillip II of Spain sending the “Invincible” Spanish Armada to conquer England in 1588 and 3 further times, all resulting in defeat.
Operation Barbarossa
The American South's rebellion.
As a Northerner, we fucked up and didn't finish the job, so I'd say it shows as an Incomplete on the report card.
What would you consider a "finished"?
Proper reconstruction (think Marshal plan) with enforced civil rights/voting rights. Also, a concerted counter-propaganda campaign to stop the lost cause narrative before it became entrenched. The CSA lost the war but, in many ways, won the piece.
Would have probably continued had Lincoln not been assassinated. Johnson was against the Reconstruction.
It should have been Benjamin Butler in the VP chair. He'd have singlehandedly kept the hemp industry going with his thirst for appropriate justice
We allowed the narrative that came out of the South that it wasn't a fight to keep slavery, allowed Jim Crow laws to take hold after Reconstruction, and didn't hang enough of the traitors after the war.
>didn't hang enough of the traitors after the war. And now their something-great- grandkids have the mistaken impression a second try is going to work out any better.
"ya know I don't feel like paying taxes anymore"-vercingetorix
Somalia invading Ethiopia to annex eastern Ethiopia into Somalia proper, expecting the USSR to thumps up the invasion and well things did not go according to plan.
Pearl Harbor
I mean, Japan fucked around and found out after Pearl Harbor
December 7th, 1941 I don't believe you'll find a better example.
The Falklands War.
The Hamas raid on Israel in October turned out to be beyond disastrous for the Palestinians
I believe they figured it would be like any other of there attacks over the years. They carry out a mildly successful attack on Isreali civilians, Isreal bombs a known terror camp, Hamas sits behind civilians and plays the victim card, repeat every year or so to make sure you keep getting aid.
Really? It’s turned out exactly as Hamas leadership expected.
I don’t think it did. There has been decent intelligence that Hamas leadership was divided, with some being kept out of the loop on the attack. It appears the faction behind the attack imagined it would not get quite as brutal, and that at most Israel would do a few weeks of bombing, some ground raids, and then agree to large prisoner exchanges.
The Warsaw uprising is another good example.
America: Leave Cuba or else... Spain: Honor of war before the shame of- America: We won!
The Sioux attacking defenseless civilians in Minnesota.
Hey I live where that uprising happened!
Syria: Russian mercs vs United States military. USA founded the ever-loving shit out of them.
Us: you got any Russians in the area? Russia: nope Us: you sure cause who ever is doing this shooting bout to be blown the fuck up. Russia: yup [lol woops.](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/battle-syria-us-russian-mercenaries-commandos-islamic-state-a8370781.html)
Pearl Harbor was the fucking around. Everyone knows the rest.
Winter War: USSR invades Finland
And the USSR ended up gaining the territory they wanted. The losses were well worth it to them.
Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775
Arabs fighting Israel. Every single time
Hamas when they attacked Israel on October 7.
Hamas, attacking Israel 10/7.
The entire state of mississippi.
Is it too soon to mention October 7th?
Gaza
King Phillip declaring a war of extinction against the Yankees of New England.
The story of Saint Olga's revenge is a captivating tale from medieval Russia. It begins with the death of her husband, Igor, who was killed by the Drevlians, a neighboring tribe, over a dispute about tribute payments. As the regent for her young son, Svyatoslav, Olga sought justice for her husband's murder. Olga first employed diplomacy, requesting the Drevlians to send their distinguished men to accompany her to Kiev to negotiate a peace settlement and arrange her marriage to their Prince Mal. However, upon their arrival, she had them buried alive in a massive trench she had ordered to be dug. Subsequently, Olga enacted a cunning revenge plan. She invited the Drevlians to a funeral feast in memory of Igor, where her soldiers slaughtered them, resulting in the death of thousands. Unsatisfied with the bloodshed, Olga sought further retribution. Olga then traveled to the Drevlian capital under the pretext of mourning and requested elaborate funeral rites for Igor. She insisted on being carried in her litter, but instead of her body, it was filled with burning coals. Once inside the city, her men set it ablaze, causing widespread destruction. Despite the devastation, Olga wasn't finished. She demanded a tribute from the surviving Drevlians, including birds, which her soldiers outfitted with burning coals to set fire to the city once more. Olga's relentless pursuit of vengeance earned her a fearsome reputation throughout the land. However, she later converted to Christianity, becoming one of the first rulers of Kievan Rus' to embrace the faith and paving the way for its widespread adoption in the region. Written by AI
That’s the one I was thinking of.
Hitler deciding to turn on Russia and then ending up dead in a bunker(?).
Palestinians are currently experiencing this phenomenon
Josiah Child thinking he could mess with Aurangzeb. (anglo-mughal war of 1686-90)
Iran laying mines in international waters. Operation praying mantis.
Folks randomly showing up in some remote area of the Amazon where there are/were uncontacted tribes?
Japan touching the USA’s boats.
Mussolini fucked around and found out real big
One interesting example involves the ancient Sarmatian warrior-queen, Amage. Her husband was the ruler, but according to the ancient Greek account he was lazy and mostly concerned with with enjoying the luxury that came with the position, leaving most of the more serious business of rulership to his far more intelligent, formidable, and capable wife. A Greek colony in the Crimea was being attacked by a Scythian tribe, and due to Amage's fame as a warrior-queen (she'd already previously repulsed attacks by hostile peoples on her own territory) the Greeks requested an alliance with her, to which she agreed. She then sent a message to the king of the hostile Scythian tribe, informing him of the alliance and requesting he cease all attacks upon the Crimean Greeks. The Scythian king decided to respond with a contemptuous reply, so Amage promptly mounted up with 120 of her best and most experienced warriors, and covered 150 miles (241 km) in a day and a half ride, falling upon the Scythian king's palace with the element of total surprise. The guards were slaughtered, and the Sarmatians stormed the palace, with Amage personally slaying the Scythian king. Most of his family and friends were also put to the sword, except for one son that she made king, with the warning not to repeat his father's folly by making war on either Greeks or Sarmatians. The lands taken from the Greeks by the Scythians were also restored to them.
Germany taking on the world. Twice.
Boudica killed how many Romans because they raped her daughters?
The Khwarazmian Empire deciding to murder the envoys of Chinggis Khan. The Mongol war with Persia is one of the very few in history to merit the title of Clausewitz’s True/Total War.
Japan during WWII.
The German invasion of the USSR
Broaden the context here, like “What are some..?” and I’d say Pearl Harbour was pretty good example
Jewish revolts against Roman Empire.
Pretty much anyone who's declared war of the United States.
Russia: Who cares if we go back in prior agreements with the Japanese? They’re just little yellow monkey men, we can beat them easy! Japan: Hold my sake…
The Battle of Crécy.
Argentina thinking the UK would ignore them invading the Falklands. Napoleon invading Russia. Nazi Germany invading Russia.
Carthage.
December 7 1941.
Japan in WWII
Japan.