Military Blunders and recurring command failure

Saul David's wide-ranging collection moves from the retreat from Kabul and the Charge of the Light Brigade to Singapore, Arnhem, Stalingrad, and Goose Green. The book organizes its examples by recurring forms of failure, including commanders unfit for their posts, plans that invite trouble, ministerial interference, misplaced confidence, and forces that fail to perform. This structure lets readers compare defeats from very different periods and circumstances without treating every disaster as the same kind of mistake. The maps and broad case selection make the volume an accessible starting point for studying how command decisions interact with preparation and execution. This opening surveys the book's analytical categories before the detailed Somme example.