24 Historians Give the Verdict on the Worst Mistakes in History

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Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Feb 15, 2024 6:00 PM EST

The great thing about the entirety of human history is that it is basically one big guide of what not to do if we want to see progress and peace. For being supposedly the most intelligent species on this planet, we're not very bright. For every great thing that has happened since people existed, there are numerous different tragedies and failures that exist to humble it. Nobody said existing was easy.

It's true that hindsight is a gift, and the one, totally unproportionate benefit of horrible things happening is that we can (theoretically) learn a lesson from them. This seems to be the motivations behind an AskReddit thread in which Redditors gave examples of some of the most impactful wrong turns that have been made throughout history. If you're ever feeling down about your lot in life, just remember that you have probably never messed up as badly as this.

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  • 01
    r/AskReddit u/glitterbombdotcom • 18h What's the single-worst decision that's ever been made in the course of human history?
    via glitterbombdotcom
  • 02
    chopstunk 13h I forgot his name and most of the story but, the guy who threw the doctor who suggested washing their hands before surgery in a psych ward probably set back the medical world a couple decades!
    via chopstunk
  • 03
    mralex 11h Haven't seen it, so here goes. The sugar industry convincing American that the real dietary villain was fat, not sugar.
    via mralex
  • 04
    This-Perspective-865 16h The decision to use leaded gasoline
    via This-Perspective-865
  • 05
    hommesweethomme 15h Infinite Scroll
    via hommesweethomme
  • 06
    justthistwicenomore 13h In the 13th century, the head of the Kwarzim empire learned from an envoy that a peaceful trade delegation from a neighboring empire had been killed and robbed by a local governor. The envoy asked that justice be done. The leader of Kwarzim decided that this foreign ambassador didn't need to be listened to, and so killed him and sent his head in a basket back to the leader of the neighboring empire. That leader was Ghengis Khan. Because of that decision to breach this mos
    via justthistwicenomore
  • 07
    wc6g10 11h Not pursuing any criminal charges against the perpetrators of the 2008 banking crisis. Not only did they get away with it, they even gave themselves bonuses after it happened. Meanwhile the effects of the crisis have shaped the political landscape of the last 15 years- Brexit, Trump etc etc. I have absolutely no doubt that they will continue to complete impunity. us again with
    via wc6g10
  • 08
    martinsonsean1 12h The decision by Stalin to install Trofim Lysenko as a leading agricultural scientist in the soviet union. His "theories" about farming ruined soviet production for decades, while they assured leadership that production was so high they needed to increase the government's share in order to ensure there wasn't spoilage. His techniques were also taken and used by the early CCCP, leading to yet more famine and devastation. Overall, Lysenko and his theories could be held responsibl
    via martinsonsean1
  • 09
    Peimatt2112 16h Invading Russia in the winter, or expecting the invasion to be over by winter.
    via Peimatt2112
  • 10
    OpportunityGold4597 16h To start a land war in Asia
    via OpportunityGold4597
  • 11
    COD ii_akinae_ii 13h exxon mobil deciding to completely ignore their internally conducted research in the 1970s that near perfectly predicted the climate crisis. because money. edit. i should update/clarify because it's not entirely correct that they "did nothing": they took this information and funded massive anti-scientific disinformation campaigns to misdirect the global public on climate change. thank you to the users who pointed out this missing detail.
    via ii_akinae_ii
  • 12
    iheartkatamari 17h Leaving that cave all those years ago. That was a nice place, been down hill ever since.
    via iheartkatamari
  • 13
    deathbrusher 15h Not buying a painting from Hitler has to be up there.
    via deathbrusher
  • 14
    Signal_Tomorrow_2138 15h Can't decide between two. If Czar Nicholas had sided with the peasants of the Dumas instead of the nobles, there may not have been a Russian Revolution and therefore no Stalin and possibly no Cold War. If the German Reichstag decided to reject Hitler because they wouldn't be able to keep him under control, there wouldn't have been WW2.
    via Signal_Tomorrow_2138
  • 15
    Mordax Tenebrae 16h The Universe being created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad decision.
    via MordaxTenebrae
  • 16
    Far-Significance2481 12h Allowing lobbyists from property developers, pharmaceutical companies, legal arms dealers and a raft of other unethical companies influence government and individual politicians with money.
    via Far_Significance2481
  • 17
    Ry-Zilla86 12h Salem witch trials or belief of witchcraft in the first place. Teenage girls drowned or burned to death over complete ignorance. Story time, so when plague or sickness used to break out, everyone seemed to be getting sick or dying except young women. What happened was that disease was being spread by infected rats. Most young women stayed home to clean the house, and a lot of them had cats as pets that would kill these rats and in so protect these women from being infected. That's
    via Ry-Zilla86
  • 18
    PopTough6317 12h I believe it was Pope Innocent the III who started a purge of cat populations in Europe, then the black. death started up in Europe soon after partly due to exploding rodent populations.
    via PopTough6317
  • 19
    SwoleBodybuilder Vamp 14h The Scramble for Africa and allowing King Leopold II to gain the Congo.
    via SwoleBodybuilderVamp
  • 20
    tingbudongma 14h The Great Leap Forward. Mao's economic and social policies in 1960s China led to the largest famine in human history, leading to the death of ~30 million people. If you look at a graph of annual world population growth rate from 1900s until today, there is a large dip at 1960 due to this.
    via tingbudongma
  • 21
    No_Caterpillar_3322 14h Julius cesar not using body guards
    via No_Catepillar_3322
  • 22
    Euphorikauora 14h the war on drugs has probably destroyed more lives than is even conceivable, it's international and potentially more costly than the world wars
    via Euphorikauora
  • 23
    Sir_Tard_Of_Re 16h Killing harambe
    via Sir_Tard_Of_Re
  • 24
    CognitiveDelulu 13h Slavery, every time it's happened. And the fact that it's still happening. Traumatizes and sets back generations of people and the potential impact they could have had on the world.
    via CognitiveDelulu

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tragedy history askreddit reddit thread Reddit mistake Historical
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