Historic Schemes that Backfired in Catastrophic Fashion

1. After Betraying Everybody, Alkibiades Went Down, and Took Athens With Him

Fleeing from Sparta, Alkibiades made a beeline for the Persians. He convinced them to adopt a strategy to prolong the war as long as possible, to keep Athens and Sparta too busy fighting each other to challenge Persia’s interests. Back in Athens, which was reeling from the string of catastrophes that Alkibiades had helped inflict upon his city, political turmoil led to an oligarchic coup. However, the Athenian fleet remained pro-democracy. Alkibiades stepped into the chaos and used his charisma to persuade the fleet to take him back. From 411 to 408 BC, he led the Athenian fleet in a dramatic recovery, winning a series of stunning victories that turned the war around.

Suddenly, it was Sparta that was reeling and on the verge of collapse. Alkibiades returned to Athens in 407 BC, and received a rapturous welcome. His earlier treasons were forgiven and temporarily forgotten, and he was given supreme command in conducting the war. However, the Athenians turned on him a few months later, after a minor naval defeat when he was absent from the fleet. He fled again, and having burned bridges with all sides, holed up in a fortified castle in Thrace, before fleeing even further away to Phrygia. A Spartan delegation traveled to Phrygia, and convinced its Persian governor to have Alkibiades murdered in 404 BC. That same year Athens finally collapsed beneath the load of disasters heaped upon it by Alkibiades, and surrendered.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Anderson, Jon Lee – Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life (1997)

Cornelius Nepos – Life of Alcibiades

Cracked – 6 Grand Mastermind Coups (That Fell Apart Immediately)

Encyclopedia Britannica – Al Musta’sim, Abbasid Caliph

Encyclopedia Britannica – Siege of Mafeking

Forgotten Weapons – The Worst Gun Ever

History Collection – Terrible Schemes That Governments and People Have Tried

Hopkins, Pat, and Dugmore, Heather – The Boy: Baden-Powell and the Siege of Mafeking (1999)

Lord, Walter – Incredible Victory (2012)

Morgan, David – The Mongols (1986)