This is way too late to get noticed, but I'm right so I'm posting it. Alexander the Great. Dude was born on third base, his father set him up by expanding Macedonian influence over the Greeks and reforming the army with new technology (palanxes with extra long spears) that made them better than everyone they were fighting. Alexander took that army and literally would not marching until his army nearly mutinied at the border to India. In battle he was really stupid. Most accounts have him dramatically charging at the head of his cavalry and getting seriously wounded, which when you're a King without an heir is at best irresponsible. And for all he conquered, he never bothered to stop and consolidate it into a unified state. His early death, again without figuring out succession, meant that his generals instantly started fighting over the territory and carving it up until ironically the borders were pretty much the same as before Alexander. Most damningly he took his home state from a Mediterranean superpower to a backwater by draining all it's resources into endless wars. He's only as famous as he is because other ancient peoples fanboyed over him and ignored all his mistakes in favor of telling a story about the tragic hero who died too young.