20 People Who Made History’s Dumbest Mistakes

History is full of smart people accomplishing amazing things. From medical miracles to the scientific breakthroughs that have revolutionized modern life to political leaders who have strategized their way to peace and prosperity, we owe a lot to our celebrated forebears. Even the ones who kind of used their brains for atrocities still deserve some respect, as the Barbie movie taught us.

But history is also full of freaking morons. For every atom bomb, there’s a thousand dummies who can’t tell you exactly what an atom bomb is. That’s fine — we’re not totally clear on it ourselves — but when those people start taking history-changing action, we’ve got a problem. Those problems became all too clear when user UltraAirWolf asked r/AskReddit, “Who made the stupidest and most embarrassing mistake in history?”