The annals of history are littered with horribly bad military leaders. These combat incompetents found amazing ways to ensure their army's defeat. Whether it was a lack of proper planning, miscalculation, ego, bad luck, or just plain stupidity, certain wartime strategems should never have left the drawing board. Written with wit, intelligence, and eminent readability, How to Lose a Battle pays dubious homage to these momentous and bloody blunders.

Includes index.

Battle of Arbela1 -- Exodus 11 -- Battle of Cannae 16 -- Battle of Carrhae 25 -- Teutoburg Forest 34 -- Horns of Hattin 43 -- Battle of Agincourt 48 -- Battle of Trenton 57 -- Battle of Ballynamuck 63 -- Bad Luck of Billy Bainbridge 68 -- Austerlitz 73 -- Battle of San Jacinto 82 -- Charge of the Light Brigade 91 -- Antietam 99 -- Chancellorsville 106 -- Gettysburg: The Beginning 116 -- Gettysburg: The Battle 128 -- Crater: The Mine 152 -- Crater: Failure 169 -- Battle of Isandhlwana 187 -- Battle of Majuba Hill 193 -- Gordon and the Siege of Khartoum 201 -- Philippines Theater 208 -- Samoa 214 -- Boxer Rebellion 219 -- Schlieffen Plan 226 -- Easter Rising 234 -- European Siberian Invasion 241 -- A Clash of Eagles 246 -- Pearl Harbor 257 -- Midway 268 -- Guadalcanal 278 -- Stalingrad 286 -- Kasserine Pass 294 -- Okinawa 299 -- Six-Day War 304 -- Dien Bien Phu 311.