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What are some notable blunders in history that resulted in huge loss? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Loss in terms of money or efforts. Could be recent or ancient.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

The great leap forward was such a colossal clusterfuck that you can't blame it on any one thing (although most of them would be prevented without the authoritarianism). Literally everything was wrong. Sparrows, lysenkoism, forced collectivization (basically, and perhaps ironically, farmers not owning the means of production), Mao just being evil, backyard burners, rigid chain of command that gave the chairman absolute authority but at the same prevented him from knowing what was going on, everything.