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Military incompetence refers to failures of members of the military.

Often, some of the following factors can contribute to these failures:

  • A conservative and traditional attitude, often marked by the misuse or rejection of newer technology and the inability to learn from experience.
  • Rejection of information which challenges preconceptions.
  • Overestimating the abilities of one's own side and underestimating those of the enemy.
  • Indecisiveness and the inability to consider swift action, marked by a failure to exploit battlefield gains.
  • Over-persistence.
  • Frontal assaults and brute force over surprise, deception and/or tactical skill.
  • In defeat, the search for scapegoats and the suppression of information.
  • A belief in fate or luck rather than a rational assessment.

Further reading

  • N.F.Dixon - On the Psychology of Military Incompetence
  • Saul David - Military Blunders (1997)

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Military incompetence".

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