I would have to say the Boer war, the British Empire at its height was humbled by Afrikaaner farmers and resorted to some desperate mesures e.g. concentration camps.

Bloody Sunday. Not so much for what the paras did, i have an open mind as to the rights and wrongs of that, but because it was the best recruitment advert that the IRA ever had. It turned them from a bunch of petty thugs to the best terrorist group in the world for 30 years.

i think the attack on pearl harbor was one of the worst times in americas military history. almost all of the pacific fleet was lost. it also led to the most destructive decisions ever in nuking hiroshima and nagasaki.

australia: shameful waste of men in gallipoli

israel: politicians screwing things up in yom kippur war

Hmm well after much thought I will go with Monte Casino, repeated attacks on a well defended target with little if any strategic goal. It was a battle that showed Freybergs weaknesses as a commander something that I think should have become apparent after the Crete debarcle.

Essentially Galipoli while a defeat gave us a national identity, Crete wasnt pretty but in the scheme of things wasnt unexpected but all Casino gave us was a war grave.

ooo the Bay of Pigs and the Iran Contra werent highlights in American history either.

For the Greeks as a battle it must be the siege of Konstantinople (Istanbul as later named by the Turks) by the Turks, in 1453. This was a landmark battle as it carved the gravestone of the Byzantine empire and ensued about 400 years of turkish occupation on the greek soil.

As a war, it was the Greek invasion in Asia Minor (todays Turkey). This move done after the successful (for the Greeks) Balkan wars and was realized on arrogance (The plan even had a name: Megali Idea---> big idea) and the ill-conception that the western powers would support Greece all along. Arrogance is always paid for and Kemal Ataturk threw us (rightfully) back into the Aegean. An exchange of populations followed, which put a major social and economical strain on Greece (apart from the misery it caused to millions of refugees) The consequences of that war are still felt today, about 80 years later...

I really hope this historical enmity with the Turks someday ends but given the outrageous political demands and the constant violations of greek airspace by Turkish fighters, this day is still long to come...

For U.S. I would say the Vietnam WAr

Vietnam War, then the War of 1812.

I think that the worst moment of Finland military history was civil war in 1918. Even with communists and worker-class defeated it made terrible rift between workers (red side of war) and nationalists-capitalists (white side of war). That rift however healed in time and when second very dark moment came our nation stood united against Soviet Unions numerous forces. Maybe many old people thinks that worst day of their life was either March 13 in year 1940 when Finland had to sign shaming treaty with Stalin, even we remained independence and non-aligned. Old people also sometimes how desperate they felt when another treaty were signed in September 4 1944 (confirmed in Paris 1947) when very harsh terms had to be signed. Still, after all everyone in here is happy that we survived without annexation by Soviets.