War Classics – On the Psychology of Military Incompetence

As Norman Dixon frequently asserts in On the Psychology of Military Incompetence (1976), war is a risky, high-stakes gamble, with fearful consequences for failure – so why dwell on the failures of a few unfortunate individuals? Well, we are still fascinated by events so catastrophic they seem to defy all human logic: the retreat from Kabul in 1842, the Battle of Spion Kop, the Siege of Kut, the fall of Singapore in 1942, and many others. What leads intelligent men to turn their backs on common sense and wise advice, and to drag their unfortunate troops stubbornly into massacre or captivity, actively rejecting every opportunity to save them? If we can’t single out stupidity, age, and othe