Her majesty's greatest humiliations!

Just see it!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• england
• defeats
• shame

[11nytram11]

I was surprised that you did no make any mention of Isandlwana. That is a true humiliation of the British Military. A modern army with cannons and rifles defeated by an army of spear and shied wielding Zule warriors. That is far more worthy of a list of British military humiliations than half of what you've mentioned.

[11nytram11]

Battle of Chesapeake could have been much better handled by the British. The Royal Navy was still facing a superior number foe - the French having 24 the British having 19 - but it was Grave's poor command decision which led to the failure.

Defeat in the Battle of Chesapeake could be considered humiliating but the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown cannot.

[11nytram11]

Saratoga - to take a line from another, more famous battle - was a close run thing. The British came very close to winning it. If not for Benedict Arnold's late attack the battle would have been, at the very least, a draw. The British lost 7,200 in the first battle and 6,600 in the second while the Americans lost 9,000 in the first battle and over 12,000 in the second battle. This Battle was far from a humiliation for anyone.

[11nytram11]

Bunker Hill was not a humilation for the British military. It was a victory - a pyrrhic one in which the British lost more than they gained but it was still a victory. The British soldier bravely marched forwards against an enemy that held the high ground and were entrenched. It stands as a testament to poor British Generalship but bravery of the British soldier.

[11nytram11]

Fort Carillion was a failure and humiliation because of the British Commander Abercombie allowing the battle to be fought piecemeal with frontal assaults - that tactic never works against a fortified position. It was like Ambrose Burnside at Fredericksburg. Madness. The failure is entirely on Ambercombie's shoulders but despite the cohesion the British Army was not broken, it lost about 13% of its manpower and could still have been an effective force under a different commander.

[11nytram11]

Mononaghela was a failure due to Braddock and the British being unprepared for war on the North American Continent and, in particular, the style of warfare employed by the Indians. in open battle the British proved superior but as the Indian's resorted to ambushes in trees the British could not counter it. Add to that the inexperianced draftees which made up the bulk of Braddock's army and that was a recipe for disaster.

[11nytram11]

The British loses suffered at Saint Cast were not unusual for any amphibious operation. It was failure of planning and training but in execution it was pretty much your every day amphibious landing of the time. The French were very strong on the coast and they reacted very well to the operation. All in all it was a waste of British time, money and lives and was a major humiliation but it was nothing unsual for its kind of operation. Once more you seem to ignore the event that led to the loses.

[11nytram11]

Cartegena de Indias was indeed a humilation for the British. A lot of it was down to illness. Disease swept through the British ranks accounting for the vast majority of deaths suffered. Once again a failure of the commanders to work together contributed to the failure as well. However you do convienantly decide to ignore the fact that the Spanish lost all their ships, lost 5 forts, 395 cannons and around half their manpower as well so it was far from a one sided event.

[11nytram11]

At Lagos Tourville had 70 Ships of the Line - the most powerful ships available to any fleet - while the Anglo-Dutch fleet had a mere 13 between them. This was no battle, it was slaughter. The superiority of the French fleet in firepower was supreme and uncontestable. Yet still Tourville failed to prevent the Anglo-Dutch fleet getting past him and getting their merchants to Spain. 110 merchant men escaped the French Fleet and the majority of the Anglo-Dutch Ships of the Line escaped.

[11nytram11]

The French by 1690 had supassed the Dutch as the most powerful Naval force in the known world and at the battle of Beachy Head outnumbered the combined Anglo-Dutch fleet by 19 ships. This gave the French a clear advantage in number and firepower. Additionally the Anglo-Dutch Commanders failed to work together and the was English commander dispositioned the combined fleet was poor.