One of the stories in history I've always found fascinating, is that of the Russo-Japanese war, and in particular, the Battle of Tsushima, which occurred in 1905.

The Tsar sent the Russian fleet to attack Japan (and you'll forgive me, for skipping over A LOT here), after several large land battles. It was an aging coal powered fleet, but the Tsar felt they could beat the Japanese handily. He felt this way though he didn't know much about the Japanese fleet and their technology, though the Russian ships were coal powered and expensive to move, and they still used lanyard to fire their guns by hand (rather than fire them electrically); they also used conscripted and fairly unskilled sailors.

They ended up taking their fleet all the way around the horn of Africa to Japan. It took the the better part of a year to get there, and the already aged Russian ships were definitely not better off than when they left. They arrived, prepared to dominate the Japanese and show off the might of the Russian Navy to the world, and by extension the military prowess and might of the Tsar, Nicholas II. Russia's fleet had more ships, and they continued to steam ahead towards battle.

As they arrived at Japan, the Japanese with their smaller (but more modern) 30 ship fleet, within 24 hours sank the entire 40 ship Russian fleet, including their four battleships. They were completely routed. The Russians were forced to end the war in disgrace, and the Tsar never fully recovered his standing. The costs of losing the war resulted in famine and hardship for the people. Their leader had led them into a war they were poorly prepared for, in which their military showed itself to be weak and outdated, and as a result, in 1917 the Tsar and his family were overthrown and killed in the Russian revolution.

Doesn't some of this seem eerily familiar right now?