Rome

Two thousand years separate the Roman Marcus Licinius Crassus in his failed attempt to invade Iran from President Donald J. Trump’s faltering current military effort. Nevertheless, they share the same character flaws that led them to make disastrous decisions. Crassus’s effort resulted in the Roman Army’s worst defeat since the Battle of Cannae against Hannibal. Trump has lost fewer than a dozen soldiers as of the end of the first month in the Iranian War, but if he continues to follow Crassus’s path, the outcome could be similar.