The WORST Military Defeats in History

Throughout history, there have been countless examples of larger, more powerful forces dominating the enemy with overwhelming force.
Sometimes, however, the tables are turned, and the smaller force wins a spectacular victory, when on paper, they should have lost. Here are a few examples of seemingly weaker militaries punching far above their weight class.

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Credit:
Show Created by Daniel Turner (B.A. (Hons) in History, University College London)
Script: Robert De Graff

Narrator: Chris Kane

[SeahawkGaming-xpbl]

Corrections:
1. Hannibal fought the Roman Republic, not the empire.
2. Hannibal's war elephants didn't had the howdah platforms on their backs. They weren't even the large Asian elephants as shown but instead the now extinct African Pygmy elephants.

[Realitycheckm]

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." -Dwight D Eisenhower

[-_J_-]

*_"SCOREBOARD, SCOREBOARD"_*

_-Undefeated Vietnamese_

[The_United_States_Of_America]

This is why forests and sheer ingenuity along with willpower are the most dangerous things on a battlefield

[Newdivide]

The French base in Dien Bien Phu was located in a valley. Although it seemed impossible for the Viet Minh to use artillery as the French knew it was very difficult to bring heavy artillery up the terrain, that didn't stop them from bringing them up

[marksmank]

You forgot about the Mongols, Vietnam is also one of the few countries that survived from a Mongol invasion in the 13th century.

[pokiiuwu]

A disputed fact in the China-Vietnam war is the use of chemical weapons by the PLA, contaminating the water of Mekong river flowing into northern Vietnam (which is called Hong river), the region being most affected is the border where most of the fighting occurred. My father was once an operator of a counter-battery radar in the war. He said there were already rumors at that time about the contaminated water source at that time but only until now, the consequences has became much more noticeable. Numerous veterans coming back from the war has suffered various health issues and cancer. Two out of seven of my father’s friends (who was all veterans from the Sino-Vietnamese war) have had cancer, one has just died yesterday and my parents went to his funeral. And for anyone who said those cancer is just natural causes, there is no such coincidence that more than half of my father’s platoon have now developed cancer.

[Interdictiondeltawing]

This took “size don’t matter” to a whole new level😭

[jseipp]

Great depiction of Cannae! One important factor in Hannibal's strategy that was overlooked here is that he placed himself at the center with his weakest forces to reassure them that they were not being sacrificed and had an important part to play in the upcoming battle. His line may not have held without that.

[bowtieguy]

The Indian commander who defended his position against overwhelming odds should be awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest military decoration.

[kryhvwm]

Thanks for providing us with this interesting video Simple History. As a history buff you have my most sincere gratitude, well done. That's a very terrifying thumbnail that also makes a clever Return of the Jedi reference with the vietcong using the skulls of his enemies as improvised drums similarly to the Ewoks who did the same with the Stormtrooper helmets.

[hgsoundwave]

As a New Zealander, i want to thank you for including the battle of Gate Pa. I remember learning about the New Zealand wars during school but i never learned of this battle. Thank you.

[anxiousbottle]

vietnam war would be a great underdog story for holywood if it wasnt for the fact that america were the villans

[dhistory]

americans: we didn't lose we just successfully evacuated

[Thebulldogschannel-]

The Kokoda track is a good one the Australian milta had ww1 weapons with low supplies fighting the Japanese and they slowed down and beat the Japanese becoming the first army to do so in the war

[yyhkodu]

China being beaten by Vietnam in 1979 is the most humiliating and lose face war.

[kwyoushyt]

LOVE the stories and your animation!!
thank you for giving us these awesome videos!

[kiwigaming]

Thanks for mentioning the Maori at Gate Pa! Great work!

[BadVoodo]

I don't think Vietnam was embarrassing, they fought well and hard. Desert storm was embarrassing, Iraq barely fought back.

[qnbkznd]

This vid really gave a whole new look on history keep making videos