Top 10 Worst Decisions in History

History is full of examples of people making bad decisions that had disastrous consequences. Some of these decisions were made out of ignorance, greed, pride, or fear. Others were the result of miscalculations, misjudgments, or mistakes. Here are 10 of the worst decisions in history that changed the course of human events.

10. The Trojan Horse

The ancient city of Troy was besieged by the Greeks for 10 years during the Trojan War. The Trojans thought they had finally won when they saw the Greeks leaving a giant wooden horse outside their gates as a gift. They dragged the horse inside, unaware that it was filled with Greek soldiers who emerged at night and opened the gates for their comrades. The Greeks sacked and burned Troy, ending the war.

9. The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was visiting Sarajevo with his wife Sophie when they were shot and killed by a Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip. This sparked a chain of events that led to World War I, which involved more than 70 million combatants and killed more than 16 million people.

8. The Sinking of the Titanic

The Titanic was the largest and most luxurious passenger ship ever built when it set sail on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on April 10, 1912. Despite warnings of icebergs in the North Atlantic, the ship's captain Edward Smith decided to maintain a high speed and ignore safety precautions. On April 14, the ship hit an iceberg and sank in less than three hours, killing more than 1,500 people.

7. The Munich Agreement

In 1938, Nazi Germany demanded that Czechoslovakia cede the Sudetenland, a region with a large German population, to Germany. Britain and France, hoping to avoid another war, agreed to this demand in exchange for Hitler's promise not to seek any more territory. This was known as the Munich Agreement, which was hailed as a triumph of diplomacy by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. However, Hitler soon broke his promise and invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia and then Poland, triggering World War II.

6. The Attack on Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, hoping to cripple the US Pacific Fleet and prevent it from interfering with Japan's expansion in Asia. The attack killed more than 2,400 Americans and damaged or destroyed eight battleships, three cruisers, three destroyers, and 188 aircraft. However, it also galvanized the US public and brought them into World War II on the side of the Allies.

5. The Bay of Pigs Invasion

In 1961, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) organized and funded a covert operation to overthrow Fidel Castro's communist regime in Cuba. The plan involved training and arming a group of Cuban exiles who would land at the Bay of Pigs and spark a popular uprising. However, the invasion was a fiasco as the exiles met with fierce resistance from Castro's forces and received no support from the local population or the US air force. The invasion failed miserably and embarrassed President John F. Kennedy.

4. The Chernobyl Disaster

On April 26, 1986, a nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine exploded during a safety test, releasing a massive amount of radioactive material into the atmosphere. The Soviet authorities tried to cover up the accident and delayed evacuating the nearby towns and villages. The disaster caused widespread contamination and health problems in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and other parts of Europe. It is estimated that up to 200,000 people died as a result of the accident and its aftermath.

3. The Iran-Contra Affair

In the 1980s, the US was secretly selling weapons to Iran in exchange for hostages held by Iranian-backed militants in Lebanon. The proceeds from these sales were then used to fund anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua known as Contras who were fighting against the Sandinista government. This violated both US law and congressional policy. The scheme was exposed in 1986 when a plane carrying weapons to Nicaragua was shot down and captured by Sandinista forces. The scandal damaged President Ronald Reagan's reputation and led to several convictions of his administration officials.

2. The Invasion of Iraq

In 2003, the US led a coalition of countries to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime based on allegations that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and had links to al-Qaeda. However, no WMD or al-Qaeda connections were ever found in Iraq. The invasion and occupation of Iraq resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and more than 4,000 US troops. It also destabilized the region and created a power vacuum that was filled by sectarian violence and extremist groups like ISIS.

1. The COVID-19 Pandemic

In late 2019, a novel coronavirus emerged in China and quickly spread around the world, causing a global health crisis. The virus, which causes a respiratory disease called COVID-19, has infected more than 200 million people and killed more than 4 million as of August 2021. The pandemic has also disrupted the global economy, education, travel, and social life. Many countries have struggled to contain the virus and provide adequate health care and vaccines to their populations. The pandemic has exposed the weaknesses and inequalities of the international system and challenged the resilience and solidarity of humanity.