The inflexibility of the military mind has been responsible for innumerable blunders in battle. Among the more frequent mistakes to which this inflexibility leads is the belief that bravery can compensate for ability. Another is the tendency to underestimate an enemy. It was this, for example,that caused the British such embarrassment when fighting the Boers. But arrogance is not the only reason why senior officers make mistakes in war.
Timidity is another.
General McClellan, commander of the Union forces in the American Civil War, exhibited this condition in near-fatal measure. However, a favoured candidate for the title of the most disastrous military bungler of all time is, surely, the WW1 French General Robert Nivelle. The main lecture of the evening was given by society deputy chairman Colin Dean on gyroscopes in the history of modern warfare . A gyroscope is any device consisting of a rapidly spinning wheel set in a framework that permits it to tilt freely in any direction. The momentum of such a wheel causes it to retain its attitude even when the framework is tilted.