What are the Worst Mistakes in History?

(Aiden H.)

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Aidan S.

Hilsdale High School

A mistake is...

A mistake is "An error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc."(source # 2)

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Chernobyl (environmental mistake)

• an explosion and fire released a huge amount of radioactive particles into the atmosphere.
• according to my definition of a mistake then this is event was a mistake because it happened when someone pressed the emergency lockdown button which triggered the explosion (hopefully an accident).

(source # 1)

(Source # 4)

Napoleon invades Russia during the Winter. (Bad Strategy Mistake)

• Napoleon Tried to invade Russia however the russians burnt all fields and so the french forces had nothing to eat and the war effectively became the russians needing to slow down the french while the french were trying to invade. Also the french were not used to the cold area but the russians were and so had the advantage.
• According to my definition of the word mistake, this was a mistake because napoleon used bad judgment from insufficient knowledge and carelessness.

(Source # 5)

(Source # 3)

Mars Climate Orbiter

(Bonehead mistake)

• The spacecraft was lost due to a miscommunication between the team in colorado and the spacecraft due to a simple error between metric measurements and US measurements.
• According to my definition of mistake, this was a mistake because the workers at nasa used poor judgement due to carelessness.

(Source # 7)

(Source # 6)

Bibliography

Mifflin, Houghton. "Mistake." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, 1997. Web. 15 Dec. 2012. (source # 2)

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Wikipedia. "Chernobyl Disaster." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Dec. 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2012. (source # 1)

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Sullivan, Jon. "Snow Forests Trees Trails Public Domain Image Picture." Snow Forests Trees Trails Public Domain Image Picture. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2012. (sorce # 3)

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Siasoco, Ed. "Trinity 007." Fotopedia. N.p., 9 Oct. 2009. Web. 15 Dec. 2012.

(source # 4)

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"French Invasion of Russia." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Dec. 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2012. (source # 5)

Bibliography cont.

Jikatu. "Fishing on Mars? | 110403-2664-jikatu." Fotopedia. N.p., 3 Apr. 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2012. (Source # 6)

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"Mars Mission's Metric Mixup." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 30 Sept. 1999. Web. 15 Dec. 2012. (Source # 7)