What are some notable blunders in history that resulted in huge loss?

3 years ago by Bady to c/asklemmy

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

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ActualShark 174 points 3 years ago

China's Four Pests campaign is a great example. As the campaign says, China had a bit of a pest problem. One of these particular pests was the sparrow. The government decided it would be a great idea to launch an "exterminate sparrows" campaign. The only problem was sparrows ate other pests such as bedbugs and locusts.

In short, they sucessfully curbed the "sparrow problem" and replaced it with a "locusts and bedbugs problem". This ultimately upset the ecological balance and further lowered the rice yields. It was a complete disaster

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bady 29 points 3 years ago path: 0 2047259 2051149, hotness: undefined, score: 29, children: 2
ActualShark 15 points 3 years ago

I like to call it "The Great Stumble Backwards"

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socsa 7 points 3 years ago

Followed closely by the cannibal revolution

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