Revision 70605215 of "User:A Nobody/List of incidents famously considered great blunders" on enwiki

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A '''[[blunder]]''' is a spectacularly bad or embarrassing mistake—a bad decision with a disastrous result. This is a list of what are widely considered to be major, historically significant blunders.

To be included in this list an incident must meet two criteria: (1) It must be an extremely bad or otherwise significant failure. (2) It must be a notable blunder--that is, it must be widely considered to be a disaster which was the result of bad decision making. To be objectively considered famous, it must appear in a list of blunders compiled by a respectable authority or be noted as a blunder by multiple, unbiased sources. If there is disagreement as to the nature of the blunder, or whether it is even a blunder at all, then the opinions of both sides should be summarized in the listing.

The majority of famous blunders are of a [[military]] nature. However, there are also a number of famous and significant blunders in [[business]], [[politics]], and other disciplines.

==The List==
===Military===
[[List of military disasters|Military disasters]] commonly believed to be the result of a major mistake or extremely bad decision making.

* [[1854]] — The suicidal and ill-advised [[Charge of the Light Brigade]] in the [[Battle of Balaclava]] during the [[Crimean War]]. It was based on [[Earl of Cardigan|Cardigan]]'s misunderstanding of, and failure to ask for clarification of [[Lord Raglan (1st Baron Raglan)|Lord Raglan]]'s orders. [[Alfred Lord Tennyson|Tennyson]], in his famous poem praising the valor of the cavalrymen, wrote: "'Forward the Light Brigade!'/Was there a man dismay'd?/Not tho' the soldier knew/Some one had blunder'd." Of the action, French marshal [[Pierre Bosquet]] said ''C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre'' ("It is magnificent, but it is not war.") (Saul David, 1998, p. 13-24)
* [[1876]] - The [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] (also called Custer's [[last stand]]), the subject of a number of books and several films, was a catastrophic failure for [[George Armstrong Custer]], leading to the death of Custer himself and all 210 men who were with him at the time. Many feel that this failure was a result of a series of blunders on the part of Custer, including poor communication, failure to wait for reinforcements, excessive cruelty in his treatment of the Indians, and general overconfidence. Others have argued that Custer was largely the victim of bad circumstance, and that his actions and decisions during the battle differed little from standard military strategy of the time. (Saul David, 1998, p. 236-251)
* [[1930]] to [[1940]] - The [[Maginot Line]] in [[France]]. The Maginot Line is widely considered to be a great blunder because the German armies went around it. However, the German forces did not dare attack the Maginot Line directly; Germany had to invade [[Belgium]] and the [[Netherlands]] in order to circumvent it, and in the few incidents during [[World War II]] where the line was involved it proved a highly effective defensive fortification. So it can be argued that the Maginot Line was effective for what it was, and that it was the overall defensive strategy of France that was at fault. Thus, many historians feel that [[France]]'s blunder was not in building the Maginot Line; it was in relying on the line as its only major means of defense.[http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues97/jun97/maginot.html] (GBIH)
* [[1941]] - The [[Attack on Pearl Harbor]] on [[December 7]], ([[December 8]] in [[Japan standard time]]). Although the attack apparently was successful with numerous [[US Navy]] [[capital ship]]s sunk and crippled, many military historians see the attack was a long term strategic blunder. For instance, the American [[aircraft carrier]]s, which were a priority target, were absent and the oil storage facilities, whose destruction could have crippled the Pacific Fleet's operating capacity were untouched. Worst of all, the intended psychological impact to discourage the USA backfired into enraging the American population into waging relentless war against Japan in revenge.
*[[Adolf Hitler]] declaring war on the [[USA]] immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack. In doing so, Hitler played directly into President [[Franklin Roosevelt]]'s desire to openly join the war against the [[Führer]] with full force by giving him a compelling self defense rationale to do so. This led to a grand alliance of the USA, [[United Kingdom|UK]] and  the [[USSR]] that would defeat [[Nazi Germany]].
*[[1954]] [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu]] - Prior to the battle, the [[France|French]] forces established a military base in the bowl of a valley and left the heights surrounding the base unguarded since they were considered inaccessible for any military advantage.  However, the [[Vietnam]]ese under [[Vo Nguyen Giap]] used those heights to position [[heavy artillery]] and [[anti-aircraft]] weapons to bombard the base from an unassaible position and ward off [[air support]] respectively.
* [[1999]] - The [[Kargil War]] where [[Pakistan]] tried to wrest [[Kargil]] in [[Kashmir]] from [[India]] by sending in "infiltrators" and ultimately faced world condemnation. Hailing from the Pakistani paramilitary ([[Northern Light Infantry|NLI]] & [[Special Services Group|SSG]]), it was a well planned military operative. However, politically it proved to be counter-productive since no nation believed in Pakistan's version that they were Kashmiri militants fighting against the [[Indian Army]]. To make matters worse, Pakistan while denying its links to the fighters, handed out its highest [[wikt:gallantry|gallantry]] awards to them. The result was an immediate withdrawal of Pakistan troops and the toppling of the elected government by a military coup, months later.

===Naval===
[[Navy|Naval]] disasters commonly believed to be the result of a major mistake or extremely bad decision making.

*[[1893]] – [[HMS Victoria (1887)|HMS Victoria]] collided with [[HMS Camperdown (1885)|HMS ''Camperdown'']] near Tripoli, [[Lebanon]] during manoeuvres and quickly sank taking 358 crew with her, including the commander of the [[British Mediterranean Fleet]], Vice-Admiral Sir [[George Tryon]].  At a subsequent court-martial the collision was found to be due to Admiral Tryon's explicit order.  It has been hypothesised that he had confused turning his ships through 90 degrees with turning them through 180 degrees when he considered how much sea room was needed. The former manoeuvre was much more common and required considerably less room.

*[[1905]] [[The Battle of Tsushima]] – the [[Russian Baltic Fleet]], under Admiral [[Zinovi Petrovich Rozhdestvenski]], was intercepted by the Japanese Combined Fleet while sailing from Europe to the Russian port of [[Vladivostok]] and had two-thirds of its ships destroyed while inflicting minimal damage on the Japanese. The Japanese fleet, under Admiral [[Heihachiro Togo]], managed to "cross the T" twice on the Russian fleet, easily outmaneuvering the older, poorly maintained Russian ships, which were slowed even more by the wear-and-tear of their long journey from Europe. Only three ships made it to [[Vladivostok]], with three more ships fleeing to the American port of [[Manila]]. Russia lost nearly its entire Baltic Fleet, including all eight of its battleships, while destroying just three Japanese torpedo boats. The decisive Japanese victory also marked the decline of Russian influence in East Asia and the rise of Japanese dominance in the region.     

===Political===
Mistakes and missteps that caused a resignation or significantly contributed to the loss of an election or severe public condemnation.

*[[1963]] – [[John Profumo]], the United Kingdom Secretary of State for War, lied to [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] about his affair with [[Christine Keeler]], a showgirl who was simultaneously involved with an attaché at the Soviet Embassy. When the truth came out, he was forced to resign and the ensuing scandal contributed to the defeat of the government in the 1964 election. (Coates)
*[[1972]] – Five men working for the [[Committee to Re-elect the President]] (CRP) burgled the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the [[Watergate Hotel]] in [[Washington D.C.]] to sabotage Democratic candidate George McGovern's chances against [[Richard Nixon|President Richard Nixon]] in the [[1972 election|1972 Presidential Election]]. The burglary, and Nixon's participation in the extensive cover-up attempt, led to jail terms for several of Nixon's associates, and eventually caused Nixon to resign rather than face [[impeachment]] proceedings. The [[Watergate Scandal]] was especially bizarre, as Nixon was far ahead of McGovern in the polls at the time of the break-in, and ended up winning the election in a landslide.  
*[[1978]] – [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]] [[James Callaghan]] decided not to call an election that year despite leading in the polls, but to wait until the next year. The government was blamed for the multiple strikes of the [[Winter of discontent]], and was defeated in Parliament soon after, leading to an election in which Callaghan was defeated by [[Margaret Thatcher]].
*[[1983]] – In the [[United Kingdom general election, 1983|1983 UK General Election]] the [[UK Labour Party]] suffered its worst performance since [[1918]], this was mostly credited to their election manifesto which was later dubbed by [[Gerald Kaufman]] to be "the longest suicide note in history". It included such electorally disastrous policies such as the abolition of the [[House of Lords]] and unilateral nuclear disarmament. 
*[[1988]] – Outspoken junior British health minister [[Edwina Currie]] told [[Independent Television News]] that "most egg production in this country is infected" with [[salmonella]], a statement that greatly exaggerated the problem. Egg sales plummeted and she was forced to resign.
*[[1990]] – Despite a [[Read my lips: No new taxes|highly publicized promise]] in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1988|1988 election]] not to raise taxes, [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[George H. W. Bush]] agrees to a tax increase.
*[[1992]] – The [[Sheffield Rally]] by the [[Labour Party (UK)|UK Labour Party]], held a week before the [[United Kingdom general election, 1992|UK General Election (1992)]], was meant to top off a successful campaign for the Labour party; ahead in the polls, it was supposed to convince the electorate that Labour was ready for Government. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect. People saw it as pretentious, triumphant when the election had not yet been won, and "too American". Labour lost the 1992 election.
*[[1993]] – During the [[Canadian federal election, 1993|1993 Canadian Federal Election]], the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada]], desperate to reverse a losing campaign, commissioned an anti-Jean Chrétien [[1993 Chrétien ad|campaign TV ad]] that appeared to ridicule the [[Liberal Party of Canada]] leader, [[Jean Chrétien]] for his facial paralysis.  That offended many Canadians as a vile insult and the blunder was considered by many the final nail in a disastrous election that saw the PC's reduced to only 2 seats in Parliament, a defeat from which the party never recovered. 

*[[2003]] – During the [[2003 Ontario Provincial Election]], the [[Ontario Progressive Conservative Party]] issued a [[press release]] that called the [[Ontario Liberal Party]] leader, [[Dalton McGuinty]], an "[[Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet]]."  Although defended by some as a [[tongue in cheek]] statement, the name was condemned as a petty insult by many.  It damaged the creditbility of the Ontario PC Party while the Liberals took maximum advantage of the incident to ridicule their opponent and increase support for McGuinty.

[[Image:McCain29aug2005.jpg|thumb|150px|Senator [[John McCain]] enjoys a birthday cake with [[President of the United States|President]] [[George W. Bush]] on [[August 29]], [[2005]] while New Orleans faces [[Hurricane Katrina]]]]

*[[2004]] – After his defeat at the [[2004 Iowa Democratic caucuses]], [[Howard Dean]] made a concession speech ending with a yell characterized as the "Dean Scream". This outburst of passion was considered poor form, and particularly unpresidential. Dean, who before the Iowa Caucus had been the front-runner in the race for to become the Democrat candidate for the [[U.S. presidential election, 2004|2004 U.S. Presidential Election]], quickly lost credibility, and within a few weeks was effectively out of the race.

*[[2004]] – The ruling BJP Led NDA(National Democratic Alliance) was leading in all the polls during the General elections of 2004 in India. BJP became over-confident and launched "India Shining" campaign which tried to portray India as a well-developed economy. The campaign back fired as common man took the campaign as an insult to their miseries. NDA lost the election and Congress led UPA came into the power. Sonia Gandhi became the Icon of India. Today, all the BJP leaders consider it a major political blunder  

*[[2005]] – In the wake of [[Hurricane Katrina]], the [[FEMA]] becomes notorious for its slow and ineffective [[emergency response]], especially in [[New Orleans]]. With over 1300 deaths (and 1900 still missing as of February, 2006), FEMA's incompetence was accused of contributing to dehydration, starvation, disease, and violence that, accusers allege, may have been prevented by swifter and better-organized relief action. The director of FEMA, [[Michael Brown]], resigned following his removal from leadership by Secretary [[Michael Chertoff]]. On the Friday following the Monday storm, [[George W. Bush|President Bush]] had claimed Brown was doing "a heck of a job".

=== Business ===
Misjudgements causing a severe loss of profit, often associated with the failure of an individual [[product (business)|product]].

* [[1958]] model year - [[Ford Motor Company]] introduces the [[Edsel]], a new car model remembered as a spectacular blunder because of its association with the Ford family.  The Edsel was named after [[Edsel Ford]], former company president and son of [[Henry Ford]].  The vehicle sported a front grill described as looking like a horse collar, and was priced higher than competing companies' models.  The Edsel was discontinued early in the [[1960]] model year.  The model failure was responsible for Ford losing nearly half of the $650 million raised by the company in its [[1956]] initial public stock offering ([[IPO]]). The Ford Edsel is such a famous failure that the name "Edsel" itself has become an appellation for something that's irredeemably flawed and thus doomed to failure. [http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/unique_cars_index_e.htm] [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Edsel]
* [[1985]] - [[Coca-Cola]] releases [[New Coke]]. The New Coke formula actually beat the old Coke in [[taste test]]s, but Coca-Cola's blunder was in failing to realize the immensity of the Coke legacy that they had built up over nearly a century. This legacy was so strong that the mere idea of changing Coke, by this time considered an American [[icon]], – even "for the better" – met with intense, passionate resistance. People felt as if Coke was turning its back on their drinking preferences, their childhood, and even their way of life. "Coke is as basic as the [[Magna Carta]], the [[Declaration of Independence]]." "Next week, they'll be chiseling Teddy Roosevelt off the side of [[Mount Rushmore]]." Coca-Cola eventually re-released the original Coke formula as "Coca-Cola Classic". [http://members.lycos.co.uk/thomassheils/newcoke.htm]
* [[1991]] - [[Gerald Ratner]] made a speech in which he rubbished one of his own company's products and, by implication, their entire range. As a result he lost his job, and the company lost market share and had to rebrand. See [[Doing a Ratner]].
* [[1992]] - [[Hoover]] ran a [[Hoover free flights promotion|promotion campaign]] in the UK, offering free flights to Europe and New York when customers spent more than £100 on Hoover products - significantly less than the cost of the flights. The company had been relying on customers being unwilling to go through the complex application process, but they severely underestimated how popular the offer would be, leading to the company denying customers their flights, and years of bad publicity. Eventually, Hoover was forced to honour many of these deals, at a cost of £48m. Parent company [[Maytag]] sold the British division to Italian electrical appliance firm Candy, and all senior staff involved in the promotion lost their jobs.
* [[2001]] Shares in Exodus, a bankrupt internet firm, jumped by 59,000% when a rogue trader accidentally bid $100 for its shares, at a time when its value was 17 cents.<ref name="Exodus">{{cite web | title=Rogue traders of our time | work=BBC News Wednesday, 6 February, 2002 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1804410.stm | accessdate=2006-05-13}}</ref>
* [[2002]] In October, the US investment bank [[Bear Stearns]] entered an order to sell $4bn (£2.6bn) worth of stocks by accident in a late trade. The exchange said the order was the result of a "clerical error" and should have been for $4m. They managed to cancel all but $622m of the order before execution.<ref name="BearStearns">{{cite web | title=US bank in $4bn clerical error | work=BBC News Thursday, 3 October, 2002 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2294525.stm | accessdate=2006-05-13}}</ref>
* [[2005]] - A trader working for [http://www.mizuho-sc.com/english/index.html Mizuho Securities Co.] part of the [[Mizuho Financial Group]] mis-types and sells 610,000 shares for 1 yen instead of the intended 1 share for 610,000 yen in the stock J-Com Co. This represented a sell order for more than forty two times the number of shares on issue. Mizuho Securities managed to buy back about 480,000 shares during which time the price rose to 700,000 yen. The eventual losses are expected to be around 100 billion yen. [http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20051209p2a00m0na008000c.html]
* [[2005]] - Sony BMG introduced XCP ([[Extended Copy Protection]]) software on music CDs in order to combat piracy. In October 2005, security researcher [[Mark Russinovich]] published an online analysis of the software and determined that it functioned as a [[rootkit]], installing itself on users' computers without notification and cloaking itself to run without detection. The software was also found to be very difficult to uninstall, caused crashes in many systems, and presented a significant security threat by allowing [[piggybacking]] by other [[malware]]. Russinovich's article led to a public uproar. Sony initially denied the software posed a threat, but later released an uninstaller. This only exasperated the problem, as it was revealed that the uninstaller used an [[ActiveX]] component that caused a larger security threat than the XCP software itself. In the wake of the Copy Protection Scandal, Sony BMG's market share fell from 28.46% to 25.61% in 2005, likely as a result of Sony having to recall and replace several million CDs in the middle of the holiday season.  It also resulted in several [[class action]] lawsuits, many of which are still in litigation, and caused significant damage to Sony's image.    

===Science and technology===
* The [[Mars Climate Orbiter]], launched in 1998, burned up in the Martian atmosphere. A mixup between metric and imperial measurements in the controlling software caused the spacecraft to miss its intended 140–150 km altitude above Mars during orbit insertion, instead entering the Martian atmosphere at about 57 km.

===Sports===

* [[1919]] &ndash; [[Boston Red Sox]] owner [[Harry Frazee]] sold star player [[Babe Ruth]] to the [[New York Yankees]] for $100,000 and a $350,000 loan. With the Yankees, Ruth won four [[World Series]] titles and seven [[American League]] pennants, and is widely considered to be one of the best players in history. After trading Ruth (and several other players) to the Yankees, the Red Sox finished in last or near last place numerous times, and did not win an American League pennant again until 1946. A mostly fictional, but widely believed, account of the events that led Frazee to sell Ruth to the Yankees portrayed Frazee as a greedy villain. However, recently sports historians have pointed out that Frazee was facing a legal fight with the American League President, financial difficulties due to World War I, and that Ruth's behavior and demands had become a liability. Moreover, while Ruth was a good player at the time of the sale, nobody knew how great of a player he would become with the Yankees.     
* [[1986]] &ndash; During the 10th inning of Game 6 of the [[1986 World Series]] between the [[Boston Red Sox]] and the [[New York Mets]], Red Sox first baseman [[Bill Buckner]] allowed a slow grounder hit by [[Mookie Wilson]] to go between his legs, allowing [[Ray Knight]] to score the winning run for the Mets. The Mets went on to win Game 7 and the World Series. Buckner, despite a solid 21-year career, is now most remembered for his World Series gaffe, even though it is not clear that he would have beaten the speedy Wilson to the base had he fielded it cleanly, and even though the Red Sox still could have won the World Series by winning Game 7. Although Buckner's error is widely remembered, many fans blame manager [[John McNamara (baseball)|John McNamara]] for not replacing the injured Buckner with [[Dave Stapleton]], who was a better defensive player.

* [[1990]] &ndash; In the October 12th, 1990 NCAA Football match between the 12th ranked [[Colorado Buffaloes]] and the unranked [[Missouri Tigers]], the referees made a blunder that allowed Colorado to win the game, and may have affected the National Championship. Trailing by 4 points, Colorado drove to the Missouri goal line for a First Down, with 40 seconds left in the game. They then ran 2 plays, followed by a Missouri timeout. After the second play, the referees forgot to change the down marker. This mistake gave Colorado a [[Fifth Down|fifth down]], on which they scored the game-winning touchdown.

* [[1993]] &ndash; [[Dallas Cowboys]] defensive tackle [[Leon Lett]] had a solid 11-year career in the [[National Football League]], but he is most remembered for two embarrassing blunders in 1993. During [[Super Bowl XXVII]] between Dallas and the [[Buffalo Bills]], Lett recoverd a fumble and rushed down the field for what he thought was a sure touchdown. Lett began celebrating before he crossed the goal line, which enabled Buffalo receiver [[Don Bebe]] to knock the ball from Lett's hand, resulting in a [[touchback]]. The following season, during the [[Thanksgiving Day]] game between Dallas and the [[Miami Dolphins]], Dallas blocked a Miami [[field goal]] in the final seconds, which should have resulted in a Dallas victory. However, while several Dallas players celebrated their victory, Lett dove on the ball, and had it squirt from under him into the arms of a Miami player. This blunder allowed Miami another field goal attempt, which was successful, resulting in a 16-14 Miami victory. Ultimately, though the Thankgsiving blunder cost Dallas the game, neither blunder resulted in disaster. Dallas won Super Bowl XXVII 52-17, and won the following year (the year of the Thankgsiving day blunder) as well. 

* [[1993]] &ndash; On April 5, 1993, the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|University of North Carolina]] played the [[University of Michigan]] for the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship. With 19 seconds left and Michigan trailing by 2, Michigan forward [[Chris Webber]] rebounded a missed North Carolina free throw and dribbled to mid-court, where he called a timeout. Unfortunately, Michigan had no timeouts left, which resulted in a [[technical foul]]. North Carolina subsequently hit both free throws (and two more after a foul), and won 77-71. Webber had an otherwise stellar game, with 23 points and 11 rebounds, but that performance was overshadowed by his 4th quarter blunder.   

* [[1993]] &ndash; On May 23, 1993, [[Texas Rangers (baseball)|Texas Rangers]] slugger [[José Canseco]] convinced manager [[Kevin Kennedy]] to allow him to pitch the eighth inning of a blow out to the [[Red Sox]]. Canseco blew out his elbow and had to have [[Tommy John surgery]], costing him the second half of the season. Because of the injury, Canseco could no longer play regularly in the outfield, and became primarily a [[designated hitter]]. In the following 8 years, Canseco played well offensively, but also bounced around between several different teams, was plagued by numerous injuries, and went from being one of the game's premier athletes to being known as one-dimensional and injury-prone.    

{{listdev}}

==See also==
*[[Failure]]

==Notes==
<references />

==References==
*Coates, Tim. ''John Profumo and Christine Keeler'' (London: Tim Coates, 1999) ISBN 0117024023
*Darling, Roger. ''A Sad and Terrible Blunder: Generals Terry and Custer at the Little Big Horn: New Discoveries'' (Vienna, VA: Potomac-Western Press, 1990) ISBN 0962148814.
*David, Saul. ''Military Blunders: The How and Why of Military Failure'', (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1998) ISBN 0786705043
*Heffernan, Richard and Marqusee, Mike. ''Defeat from the Jaws of Victory'' (London: Verso, 1992) ISBN 0860913511
*Wikipedia articles listing further sources:
**[[Battle of the Little Bighorn]]
**[[John Profumo]]
**[[Maginot Line]]
**[[UK general election, 1983]]
*''[[Great Blunders in History (television)|Great Blunders in History]]'' television series first broadcast on the [[History Channel]] in 2001.

==Further reading==
*''Wrong! The Biggest Mistakes Ever Made by People Who Should Have Known Better'', Jane O'Boyle, published by Plume Books (1999), ISBN 0452281121.
*''Wrong Again!: More of the Biggest Mistakes and Miscalculations Ever Made by People Who Should Have Known Better'', Jane O'Boyle, published by Plume Books (2000), ISBN 0452282012.
*''America's Stupidest Business Decisions: 101 Blunders, Flops, and Screwups'', Bill Adler and Julie Houghton, published by Quill (1997), ISBN 0688151523.
*''Great Military Blunders'', Geoffrey Regan, published by Motorbooks International (2000), ISBN 0752218441.
*''Scientific Blunders: A Brief History of How Wrong Scientists Can Sometimes Be'', R. M. Youngson and Robert Youngson, published by Carroll & Graf (1998), ISBN 0786705949.
*''The Greatest Blunders of World War II'', Horace Edward Henderson, published by iUniverse (2001), ISBN 0595162673.
*''The 100 Greatest Sports Blunders of All Time'', Eldon L. Ham, published by Masters Press (1997), ISBN 1570281599.
*''[[The Book of Heroic Failures]]'', Stephen Pile.

==External links==
* [http://paintedover.com/albums.php?action=view&albumid=507&s=uAQre1 Batman #66] - A classic [[Batman]] story involving the great blunders of all time.
* [http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/military_blunders/index.html Five famous military blunders] - From the [[History Channel]].

[[Category:Man-made disasters]]