Understanding War Book

Mistakes. None of us like to make them; all of us have suffered the consequences of some of our bigger ones. Maybe we've even found some benefit that might not have occurred had it not been for our mistakes. But what happens when militaries around the world make mistakes? That's what Michael Coffey looks at in this highly entertaining, highly readable book about military blunders of the 20th century. Some of these were memorable and new to me.

Is it possible that a world war began because a chauffeur took a wrong turn? Seems incredible and over simplified, but it's possible that an assassin's bullet would never have found Duke Ferdinand in 1914 had his driver not inadvertently taken a wrong turn while driving him to a hospital.

You'll be intrigued by some of the military mistakes that resulted in unexpected outcomes. The book looks at Hitler's obsession with defeating Russia and how that obsession contributed to his downfall. Douglas McArthur was positive the Chinese were bluffing when they warned against American troop movement past a certain point during the Korean War. They weren't bluffing. You'll painfully relive the 1980 debacle in the desert when the U.S. military lost lives and equipment while trying to rescue hostages from Iran. You'll read about Saddam Hussein's underestimation of the Arab world when he invaded Kuwait, and the Saudis welcomed American troops to airbases in their country.

The book chronicles Kennedy's disaster at the Bay of Pigs, and it focuses on a much lesser known (to me at least) 1966 air accident over Spain that forced bombers to release four nuclear bombs. The United States eventually recovered the bombs, but it lost some serious prestige in the process.

That's just a random sample of some of the military mistakes of the 20th century the author includes. The vignettes are short, so if you get fatigued reading about the mistakes of others, you can dip in and out of this.