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170-531: Although ABDACOM existed only for a few weeks and presided over one defeat after another, it provided some useful lessons for combined Allied commands later in the war. Efforts to organise the ABDA Command began soon after war between the Allies and Japan commenced, on 7 December 1941. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson were anxious to establish unity of command over

340-757: A Freemason , raised "at sight" by the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia. ("At sight" is the procedure by which a Grand Master confers on a candidate all three Masonic degrees – Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master – at one time.) As Chief of Staff, Marshall organized the largest military expansion in American history, inheriting an outmoded, poorly equipped army of 189,000 men and, partly drawing from his experience teaching and developing techniques of modern warfare as an instructor at

510-476: A pervasive cult of personality around Adolf Hitler to influence public opinion. The government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Genocide , mass murder , and large-scale forced labour became hallmarks of the regime; the implementation of the regime's racial policies culminated in the Holocaust . After the initial success of German invasion of

680-555: A 90-division Army using individual replacements sent via a circuitous process from training to divisions in combat. The individual replacement system devised by Marshall and implemented by McNair exacerbated problems with unit cohesion and effective transfer of combat experience to new soldiers and officers. In Europe, where there were few pauses in combat with German forces, the individual replacement system had broken down completely by late 1944. Hastily trained replacements or service personnel reassigned as infantry were often given only

850-623: A Japanese attack on the island impossible. These recommendations were dismissed by the President but could have been catastrophic if they had not been. Ten days after the attack, Short and Admiral Husband E. Kimmel , commander of the United States Pacific Fleet at Naval Station Pearl Harbor , were both relieved of their duties. The final report of the Joint Committee did not single out or fault Marshall. While

1020-697: A Second Award of the Army Distinguished Service Medal to General of the Army George Catlett Marshall, Jr. (ASN: 0-1616), United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during the period from September 1939 through November 1945. The singularly distinctive accomplishments of General Marshall reflect

1190-785: A U.S. economic and political commitment to post-war European recovery, including the Marshall Plan that bore his name. In recognition of this work, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953, the only Army general ever to receive the honor. Born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania , Marshall graduated from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in 1901. He received his commission as a second lieutenant of Infantry in February 1902 and immediately went to

1360-629: A career in the military, but unlikely to obtain an appointment to the United States Military Academy because of his average grades, he looked to the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) for a formal education. Marshall's brother Stuart, a VMI alumnus, believed George would not succeed and argued that their mother should not let George attend out of concern that he would "disgrace the family name." Determined to "wipe his brother's face," Marshall enrolled at

1530-488: A communist uprising. The Reichstag Fire Decree , imposed on 28 February 1933, rescinded most civil liberties, including rights of assembly and freedom of the press. The decree also allowed the police to detain people indefinitely without charges. The legislation was accompanied by a propaganda campaign that led to public support for the measure. Violent suppression of communists by the SA was undertaken nationwide and 4,000 members of

1700-404: A deep laceration to one of his buttocks. While being treated for his injury, Marshall refused to inform on his classmates. Impressed with his bravery, the hazers never bothered him again. During his years at VMI, Marshall always ranked first in military discipline and about midway academically. He attained the rank of first captain, the highest a cadet could achieve, and graduated 15th of 34 in

1870-471: A dinner party. They married on 15 October 1930, at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland . The wedding made headlines as General Pershing served as Marshall's best man. From June 1932 to June 1933, Marshall was the commanding officer of the 8th Infantry Regiment at Fort Screven , Georgia . From July 1933 to October 1933 he was commander of Fort Moultrie , South Carolina, and District I of

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2040-685: A few of its non-commissioned officers had been in the Army for two years or more, and nearly all of the lieutenants had been commissioned less than six months". In late 1917, General John J. Pershing , the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the AEF, inspected the 1st Division. Unimpressed by what he observed, Pershing began to berate the division commander, Major General Sibert, in front of his staff, including Marshall. Sibert took Pershing's criticism in silence, but when Pershing turned his attention to

2210-445: A few weeks' refresher training before being thrown into battle with Army divisions locked in front-line combat. The new men were often not even proficient in the use of their own weapons, and once in combat, could not receive enough practical instruction from veterans before being killed or wounded, sometimes within the first few days. Under such conditions, many soldiers suffered a crippling loss of morale, while veterans were kept at

2380-556: A letter to President William McKinley compared him favorably to other VMI graduates serving in the Army, saying Marshall was "Fully the equal of the best." He was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry in February 1902. In a matter of days he married, resigned the Danville job, and shipped out to serve with the 30th Infantry Regiment in the Philippines . Prior to World War I , Marshall received various postings in

2550-487: A marked influence on the successes achieved by the units with which he served. After the war, Marshall reverted to his permanent rank of captain. In 1919, he became an aide-de-camp to General Pershing. Between 1920 and 1924, while Pershing was Army Chief of Staff , Marshall worked on a number of projects that focused on training and teaching modern, mechanized warfare. He taught at the Army War College and

2720-580: A massive secret rearmament program , forming the Wehrmacht (armed forces). The return to economic stability boosted the regime's popularity. Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands, threatening war if they were not met. Germany seized Austria in the Anschluss of 1938, and demanded and received the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. Germany signed a non-aggression pact with

2890-536: A newspaper for the CCC region that provided a vehicle to promote CCC successes, and he initiated a variety of programs that developed participants' skills and improved their health. Marshall's inspections of the CCC camps gave him and his wife Katherine the chance to enjoy the beauty of the American Pacific Northwest and made that assignment what he called "the most instructive service I ever had, and

3060-657: A non-aggression pact with Poland. In March 1939, Hitler demanded the return of the Free City of Danzig and the Polish Corridor , a strip of land that separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany. The British announced they would come to the aid of Poland if it was attacked. Hitler, believing the British would not take action, ordered an invasion plan should be readied for September 1939. On 23 May, Hitler described to his generals his overall plan of not only seizing

3230-474: A protectorate of France under the condition that its residents would later decide by referendum which country to join, and Poland became a separate nation and was given access to the sea by the creation of the Polish Corridor , which separated Prussia from the rest of Germany, while Danzig was made a free city . Germany regained control of the Saarland through a referendum held in 1935 and annexed Austria in

3400-459: A second national anthem. Germany was still in a dire economic situation, as six million people were unemployed and the balance of trade deficit was daunting. Using deficit spending , public works projects were undertaken beginning in 1934, creating 1.7 million new jobs by the end of that year alone. Average wages began to rise. The SA leadership continued to apply pressure for greater political and military power. In response, Hitler used

3570-561: A special envoy to China in an unsuccessful effort to negotiate a coalition government between the Nationalists of Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists of Mao Zedong . As Secretary of State from 1947 to 1949, Marshall advocated rebuilding Europe, a program that became known as the Marshall Plan , and which led to his being awarded the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize . After resigning as Secretary of State, Marshall served as chairman of

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3740-713: A substantial minority of Germans, who lived mostly in the Sudetenland . Under pressure from separatist groups within the Sudeten German Party , the Czechoslovak government offered economic concessions to the region. Hitler decided not just to incorporate the Sudetenland into the Reich, but to destroy the country of Czechoslovakia entirely. The Nazis undertook a propaganda campaign to try to generate support for an invasion. Top German military leaders opposed

3910-626: A thousand people (out of a population of around 16,000) committed suicide in Demmin around 1 May 1945 as the 65th Army of 2nd Belorussian Front first broke into a distillery and then rampaged through the town, committing mass rapes, arbitrarily executing civilians, and setting fire to buildings. High numbers of suicides took place in many other locations, including Neubrandenburg (600 dead), Stolp in Pommern (1,000 dead), and Berlin, where at least 7,057 people committed suicide in 1945. Estimates of

4080-896: A war fought on two fronts. The invasion conquered a huge area, including the Baltic states, Belarus , and west Ukraine . After the successful Battle of Smolensk in September 1941, Hitler ordered Army Group Centre to halt its advance to Moscow and temporarily divert its Panzer groups to aid in the encirclement of Leningrad and Kyiv . This pause provided the Red Army with an opportunity to mobilise fresh reserves. The Moscow offensive, which resumed in October 1941, ended disastrously in December . On 7 December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor , Hawaii. Four days later, Germany declared war on

4250-515: A war of conquest to obtain more territory. The Saarland , which had been placed under League of Nations supervision for 15 years at the end of World War I, voted in January 1935 to become part of Germany. In March 1935, Hitler announced the creation of an air force, and that the Reichswehr would be increased to 550,000 men. Britain agreed to Germany building a naval fleet with the signing of

4420-602: Is intended that General Wavell should have a staff in the south Pacific accessible as Foch 's High Control Staff was to the Great Staffs of the British and French armies in France [during World War I]. He would receive his orders from an appropriate joint body who will be responsible to me as the Minister of Defence and to the President of the United States who is also Commander-in-Chief of all United States forces. Following

4590-466: The Schutzstaffel (SS) and Gestapo to purge the entire SA leadership. Hitler targeted SA Stabschef (Chief of Staff) Ernst Röhm and other SA leaders who—along with a number of Hitler's political adversaries (such as Gregor Strasser and former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher )—were arrested and shot. Up to 200 people were killed from 30 June to 2 July 1934 in an event that became known as

4760-579: The Völkisch movement . The party, especially its paramilitary organisation Sturmabteilung (SA; Storm Detachment), or Brownshirts, used physical violence to advance their political position, disrupting the meetings of rival organisations and attacking their members as well as Jewish people on the streets. Such far-right armed groups were common in Bavaria , and were tolerated by the sympathetic far-right state government of Gustav Ritter von Kahr . When

4930-513: The 1st Division for service in France. Shortly after the American entry into World War I in April 1917, Marshall had roles as a planner of both training and operations. In the summer, he was assigned as assistant chief of staff for operations on the staff of the newly created 1st Division , commanded by Major General William L. Sibert , a fifty-six-year-old engineer officer. After overseeing

5100-541: The 6th Army could be supplied by air, but this turned out to be infeasible. Hitler's refusal to allow a retreat led to the deaths of 200,000 German and Romanian soldiers; of the 91,000 men who surrendered in the city on 31 January 1943, only 6,000 survivors returned to Germany after the war. Losses continued to mount after Stalingrad, leading to a sharp reduction in the popularity of the Nazi Party and deteriorating morale. Soviet forces continued to push westward after

5270-526: The 8th Infantry Regiment and Fort Screven , Georgia . Marshall commanded 5th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division and Vancouver Barracks from 1936 to 1938; he received promotion to brigadier general . During this command, Marshall was also responsible for 35 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in Oregon and Southern Washington. In July 1938, Marshall was assigned to the War Plans Division on

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5440-848: The American Battle Monuments Commission and president of the American National Red Cross . As Secretary of Defense at the start of the Korean War , Marshall worked to restore the military's confidence and morale after the end of its post-World War II demobilization and then its initial buildup for combat in Korea and operations during the Cold War . Resigning as Defense Secretary, Marshall retired to his home in Virginia . He died in 1959 and

5610-745: The Anglo-German Naval Agreement on 18 June 1935. When the Italian invasion of Ethiopia led to only mild protests by the British and French governments, on 7 March 1936 Hitler used the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance as a pretext to order the army to march 3,000 troops into the demilitarised zone in the Rhineland in violation of the Versailles Treaty. As the territory was part of Germany,

5780-634: The Anschluss of 1938. The Munich Agreement of 1938 gave Germany control of the Sudetenland, and they seized the remainder of Czechoslovakia six months later. Under threat of invasion by sea, Lithuania surrendered the Memel district in March 1939. Between 1939 and 1941, German forces invaded Poland , Denmark , Norway , France , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , Belgium , Yugoslavia , Greece , and

5950-545: The Army War College , coordinated the large-scale expansion and modernization of the U.S. Army. Under his name were produced significant works of doctrine such as Field Manual 100-5 . During his first week in office, he advised Roosevelt to issue an executive order expanding the Regular Army to 227,000 troops and the National Guard to 235,000 reservists, although the President could not immediately act because

6120-575: The Battle of Berlin (16 April – 2 May 1945), Hitler and his staff lived in the underground Führerbunker while the Red Army approached. On 30 April, when Soviet troops were within two blocks of the Reich Chancellery , Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide . On 2 May, General Helmuth Weidling unconditionally surrendered Berlin to Soviet General Vasily Chuikov . Hitler

6290-675: The Battle of Kasserine Pass and other major battles. Even as late as 1944, American soldiers undergoing stateside training in preparation for deployment against German forces in Europe were not being trained in combat procedures and tactics in use there. Originally, Marshall had planned a 265-division army with a system of unit rotation such as that practiced by the British and other Allies. By mid-1943, however, after pressure from government and business leaders to preserve manpower for industry and agriculture, he had abandoned this plan in favor of

6460-795: The British Indian Army and reassumed his previous position, as Commander-in-Chief India. Following the destruction of the ABDA strike force under Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman , at the Battle of the Java Sea , in February–March 1942, ABDA effectively ceased to exist. As the Imperial Japanese Army closed in on the remaining Allied forces in the Philippines, MacArthur was ordered to relocate to Australia. On 17 March,

6630-720: The Civilian Conservation Corps . He was promoted colonel in September 1933. During the Great Depression , Marshall became a strong supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal . Army Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur , who was a Republican and with whom Marshall had a contentious relationship, did not appreciate Marshall's views. After only a few months at Ft. Moultrie, MacArthur engineered Marshall's abrupt transfer to Chicago, where he served as senior instructor and chief of staff for

6800-738: The Communist Party of Germany were arrested. On 23 March 1933, the Enabling Act , an amendment to the Weimar Constitution , passed in the Reichstag by a vote of 444 to 94. This amendment allowed Hitler and his cabinet to pass laws—even laws that violated the constitution—without the consent of the president or the Reichstag. As the bill required a two-thirds majority to pass, the Nazis used intimidation tactics as well as

6970-446: The Danville Military Institute in Danville, Virginia . He took a competitive examination for a commission in the United States Army, which had greatly expanded to deal with the Spanish–American War and Philippine–American War . Marshall passed and used endorsements his father obtained from both of Pennsylvania's U.S. Senators to bolster his application. VMI Superintendent Scott Shipp also supported Marshall's application, and in

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7140-514: The Dutch East Indies , the Philippines and other countries had soon overwhelmed the Malay Barrier. The fall of Singapore on 15 February dislocated the ABDA command, which was dissolved a week later. Wavell resigned as supreme commander on 25 February 1942, handing control of the ABDA Area to local commanders. He also recommended the establishment of two Allied commands to replace ABDACOM: a south west Pacific command, and one based in India. In anticipation of this, Wavell had handed control of Burma to

7310-518: The German Empire (1871–1918) as the second. Severe setbacks to the German economy began after World War I ended, partly because of reparations payments required under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles . The government printed money to make the payments and to repay the country's war debt, but the resulting hyperinflation led to inflated prices, economic chaos, and food riots. When the government defaulted on their reparations payments in January 1923, French troops occupied German industrial areas along

7480-446: The Hague Convention , industrial firms in the Netherlands, France, and Belgium were put to work producing war materiel for Germany. The Nazis seized from the French thousands of locomotives and rolling stock, stockpiles of weapons, and raw materials such as copper, tin, oil, and nickel. Payments for occupation costs were levied upon France, Belgium, and Norway. Barriers to trade led to hoarding, black markets , and uncertainty about

7650-403: The League of Nations in October, claiming its disarmament clauses were unfair if they applied only to Germany. In a referendum held in November , 95 per cent of voters supported Germany's withdrawal. In 1934, Hitler told his military leaders that rearmament needed to be complete by 1942, as by then the German people would require more living space and resources, so Germany would have to start

7820-402: The Low Countries . They quickly conquered Luxembourg and the Netherlands and outmanoeuvred the Allies in Belgium , forcing the evacuation of many British and French troops at Dunkirk . France fell as well, surrendering to Germany on 22 June . The victory in France resulted in an upswing in Hitler's popularity and an upsurge in war fever in Germany. In violation of the provisions of

7990-420: The Nazi euthanasia program . Political courts called Sondergerichte sentenced some 12,000 members of the German resistance to death, and civil courts sentenced an additional 40,000 Germans. Mass rapes of German women also took place. As a result of their defeat in World War I and the resulting Treaty of Versailles, Germany lost Alsace-Lorraine , Northern Schleswig , and Memel . The Saarland became

8160-499: The Night of the Long Knives . On 2 August 1934, Hindenburg died. The previous day, the cabinet had enacted the " Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich ", which stated that upon Hindenburg's death the office of Reich President would be abolished and its powers merged with those of Reich Chancellor. Hitler thus became head of state as well as head of government and was formally named as Führer und Reichskanzler ("Leader and Chancellor"), although eventually Reichskanzler

8330-461: The Republic of China , where he had served in the 1920s. His new mission was to prevent a resumption of the Chinese Civil War by brokering a coalition government between America's Kuomintang allies under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Communist Party of Mao Zedong . Marshall had no leverage over the Communists but threatened to withdraw American aid essential to the Nationalists. Both sides rejected his proposals and he returned to

8500-409: The Ruhr and widespread civil unrest followed. The National Socialist German Workers' Party ( Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ), commonly known as the Nazi Party, was founded in 1920. It was the renamed successor of the German Workers' Party (DAP) formed one year earlier, and one of several far-right political parties then active. The Nazi Party platform included destruction of

8670-404: The Silver Star medal was created in 1932, Citation Stars were converted to the new award. In mid-1918, Pershing brought Marshall on to the AEF operations staff, G-3, where he worked closely with Pershing and was a key planner of American operations. He was instrumental in the planning and coordination of the Meuse–Argonne offensive , which contributed to the defeat of the German Empire on

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8840-399: The Soviet Union and invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, launching World War II in Europe . In alliance with Italy and other Axis powers , Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940 and threatened Great Britain. Racism , Nazi eugenics , anti-Slavism , and especially antisemitism were central ideological features of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be

9010-415: The United States Army War College ) class. After graduating in 1908, Marshall was assigned as an instructor at the Infantry-Cavalry School. After another tour of duty in the Philippines beginning in 1913, Marshall returned in 1916 to serve as aide-de-camp to Major General J. Franklin Bell , the commander of the Western Department and former Army Chief of Staff , at the Presidio of San Francisco . In

9180-537: The United States Congress cut $ 10 million from a $ 28 million appropriation budget for equipment to detect Imperial Japanese Armed Forces aircraft off the West Coast of the United States . Marshall met with Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. and they went to see Roosevelt; Marshall emphasized the supreme importance of getting the full amount and told Roosevelt "you have got to do something and you've got to do it today". Marshall's advocacy worked and he got "all he wanted and more". In 1941, Marshall became

9350-423: The United States Congress still favored isolationism . Marshall's efforts to expand the United States Armed Forces began to have more success after the Axis powers conquered most of Western Europe in the Battle of France . Beginning in July 1940, he was greatly assisted in this effort by newly appointed Secretary of War Henry Stimson, whom Marshall would gradually displace as the most significant leader of

9520-403: The Western Front in 1918. Marshall held the permanent rank of captain and the temporary rank of colonel and was recommended for promotion to temporary brigadier general in October 1918, but the Armistice with Germany on 11 November 1918 occurred before the recommendation was acted on. After the Armistice, Marshall served as chief of staff for the VIII Corps . For his services during

9690-414: The federal election of 1932 , the party was the largest in the Reichstag , holding 230 seats with 37.4 per cent of the popular vote. Although the Nazis won the greatest share of the popular vote in the two Reichstag general elections of 1932, they did not have a majority. Hitler refused to participate in a coalition government unless he was its leader. Under pressure from politicians, industrialists, and

9860-544: The field marshals of European Allies; Marshall had objected to being awarded the title of field marshal, as it would have given him the title of "Marshal Marshall". Throughout the remainder of World War II, Marshall coordinated Allied operations in both Europe and the Pacific. He was characterized as the organizer of Allied victory by Churchill. Time magazine named Marshall Man of the Year for 1943. Marshall resigned his post of chief of staff on 18 November 1945, but did not retire, as regulations stipulate that Generals of

10030-671: The " master race ", the purest branch of the Aryan race. Jews , Romani people , Slavs , homosexuals , liberals , socialists , communists , other political opponents, Jehovah's Witnesses , Freemasons , those who refused to work , and other "undesirables" were imprisoned, deported , or murdered. Christian churches and citizens that opposed Hitler's rule were oppressed and leaders imprisoned. Education focused on racial biology , population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed . Nazi Propaganda Ministry disseminated films, antisemitic canards , and organized mass rallies; fostering

10200-405: The 1st Army from 17 October to 19 November 1918; and as Chief of Staff of the 8th Army Corps from 20 November 1918 to 15 January 1918, during which period the 1st Division served in the Toul sector and at the Cantigny attack and the 1st Army operations in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives. By untiring, painstaking, and energetic efforts he succeeded in all these undertakings. His efforts had

10370-458: The 1st Division, which, over the winter, "completed extensive training, much of it under French tutelage". By mid-April 1918 the division, now commanded by Major General Robert Lee Bullard , was deemed to have progressed enough in its training to have its own sector of the Western Front to hold. Marshall won recognition and acclaim for his planning of the Battle of Cantigny , which took place from 28 to 31 May 1918; Marshall's success resulted in

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10540-407: The Allied bombing campaign became even more devastating. By targeting oil refineries and factories, they crippled the German war effort by late 1944. On 6 June 1944, American, British, and Canadian forces established a front in France with the D-Day landings in Normandy . On 20 July 1944 , Hitler survived an assassination attempt. He ordered brutal reprisals, resulting in 7,000 arrests and

10710-494: The Allied forces in all theatres after observing Allied defeats in the Battle of France , the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre , and the attack on Pearl Harbor . Despite objections from the British military establishment, the scheme was finalized at the Arcadia Conference in Washington. On December 27 Marshall and Admiral Ernest King proposed an ABDA Command led by Archibald Wavell to Charles Portal , Dudley Pound , and John Dill . The British were skeptical and believed

10880-418: The Allied war effort in Asia and the Pacific, based in Washington, D.C. A Far Eastern Council (later known as the Pacific War Council) was established in London on February 9, with a corresponding staff council in Washington. However, the smaller powers continued to push for a body based in the United States. In the meantime, the rapid collapse of Allied resistance to Japanese attacks in Malaya, Singapore,

11050-461: The Army Chief of Staff. At the time of the appointment, Marshall was only 34th in seniority, outranked by 21 major generals and 11 brigadier generals, but he was fifth under an unwritten rule that the chief of staff should be able to serve a four-year term before reaching the mandatory retirement age of 64. Upon the retirement of General Malin Craig on 1 July 1939, Marshall became acting chief of staff. President Roosevelt favored Marshall because he

11220-423: The Army commander in Hawaii, important information obtained from intercepted Japanese diplomatic messages. The report also criticized Marshall's lack of knowledge of the readiness of the Hawaiian Command during November and December 1941. Marshall also advised President Roosevelt to move part of the United States Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic Ocean to assist Neutrality Patrols , and that the defenses at Oahu made

11390-434: The Army remain on active duty for life. He was succeeded as Army chief of staff by General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower. During this time, he also received a Bronze oak leaf cluster to his Army DSM for his unprecedented work from 1939 to 1945. The medal's citation reads: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress 9 July 1918, takes pleasure in presenting a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of

11560-405: The British and French governments did not feel that attempting to enforce the treaty was worth the risk of war. In the one-party election held on 29 March, the Nazis received 98.9 per cent support. In 1936, Hitler signed an Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan and a non-aggression agreement with Mussolini, who was soon referring to a "Rome-Berlin Axis". Hitler sent military supplies and assistance to

11730-420: The Class of 1901. Marshall received a diploma, not a degree. At the time of his graduation, the top five or six VMI graduates received bachelor's degrees. The rest received diplomas attesting to their status as graduates. He played offensive tackle on the football team and in 1900 he was selected for All-Southern honors. Following his graduation from VMI, Marshall served as Commandant of Students at

11900-573: The German National People's Party – their former coalition partners – which then disbanded on 29 June. The remaining major political parties followed suit. On 14 July 1933 Germany became a one-party state with the passage of the Law Against the Formation of Parties , decreeing the Nazi Party to be the sole legal party in Germany. The founding of new parties was also made illegal, and all remaining political parties which had not already been dissolved were banned. Further elections in November 1933 , 1936 , and 1938 were Nazi-controlled, with only members of

12070-411: The German state in the Nazi era are "Nazi Germany" and the "Third Reich", which Hitler and the Nazis also referred to as the "Thousand-Year Reich" ( Tausendjähriges Reich ). The latter, a translation of the Nazi propaganda term Drittes Reich , was first used in Das Dritte Reich , a 1923 book by Arthur Moeller van den Bruck . The book counted the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806) as the first Reich and

12240-544: The Illinois National Guard's 33rd Division from November 1933 to August 1936. Marshall was assigned to command the 5th Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division and Vancouver Barracks in Vancouver, Washington , from 1936 to 1938, and was promoted to brigadier general in October 1936. In addition to obtaining a long-sought and significant troop command, traditionally viewed as an indispensable step to

12410-644: The Infantry School's publications, and Harding became editor of Infantry in Battle , a book that codified the lessons of World War I. Infantry in Battle is still used as an officer's training manual in the Infantry Officer's Course and was the training manual for most of the infantry officers and leaders of World War II. Marshall's first wife died in 1927. The following year, while stationed at Fort Benning, Marshall met Katherine Tupper Brown at

12580-618: The Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan would help Europe rebuild and modernize its economy along American lines and open up new opportunities for international trade. Stalin ordered his satellites in Eastern Europe not to participate. Marshall was again named "Man of the Year" by Time in January 1948. Truman repeatedly rejected Marshall's advice on Middle Eastern policy. As Secretary of State, Marshall strongly opposed recognizing

12750-676: The Nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War , which began in July 1936. The German Condor Legion included a range of aircraft and their crews, as well as a tank contingent. The aircraft of the Legion destroyed the city of Guernica in 1937. The Nationalists were victorious in 1939 and became an informal ally of Nazi Germany. In February 1938, Hitler emphasised to Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg

12920-630: The Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800/962–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich , ended in May 1945, after only 12 years, when the Allies defeated Germany and entered the capital, Berlin , ending World War II in Europe . After Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by

13090-603: The Pacific theatre was too geographically large to be controlled by a single commander. Winston Churchill warned Marshall about the difficulties faced by Ferdinand Foch as Supreme Allied Commander while simply trying to coordinate operations across the Western Front of World War I . Marshall rebuffed this and other historical analogies from Churchill, telling him that he "was not interested in Drake and Frobisher , but I

13260-473: The Party and a small number of independents elected. All civilian organisations had their leadership replaced with Nazi sympathisers or party members, and either merged with the Nazi Party or faced dissolution. The Nazi government declared a "Day of National Labor" for May Day 1933, and invited many trade union delegates to Berlin for celebrations. The day after, SA stormtroopers demolished union offices around

13430-543: The Philippines. He served in the United States and overseas in positions of increasing rank, including platoon leader and company commander in the Philippines during the Philippine–American War . He was the top-ranked of the five Honor Graduates of his Infantry-Cavalry School Course in 1907 and graduated first in his 1908 Army Staff College class. In 1916 Marshall was assigned as aide-de-camp to J. Franklin Bell ,

13600-468: The Polish Corridor but greatly expanding German territory eastward at the expense of Poland. He expected this time they would be met by force. The Germans reaffirmed their alliance with Italy and signed non-aggression pacts with Denmark, Estonia, and Latvia whilst trade links were formalised with Romania, Norway, and Sweden. Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop arranged in negotiations with

13770-535: The President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933, the Nazi Party began to eliminate political opposition and consolidate power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator by merging the powers of the chancellery and presidency. A 1934 German referendum confirmed Hitler as sole Führer (leader). Power was centralised in Hitler's person, and his word became

13940-504: The RAF in what became known as the Battle of Britain , and by the end of October, Hitler realised that air superiority would not be achieved. He permanently postponed the invasion, a plan which the commanders of the German army had never taken entirely seriously. Several historians, including Andrew Gordon , believe the primary reason for the failure of the invasion plan was the superiority of

14110-833: The Royal Navy, not the actions of the RAF. In February 1941, the German Afrika Korps arrived in Libya to aid the Italians in the North African Campaign . On 6 April, Germany launched an invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece . All of Yugoslavia and parts of Greece were subsequently divided between Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Bulgaria. On 22 June 1941, contravening the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, about 3.8 million Axis troops attacked

14280-725: The Soviet Union a non-aggression pact, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , signed in August 1939. The treaty also contained secret protocols dividing Poland and the Baltic states into German and Soviet spheres of influence. Germany's wartime foreign policy involved the creation of allied governments controlled directly or indirectly from Berlin. They intended to obtain soldiers from allies such as Italy and Hungary and workers and food supplies from allies such as Vichy France . Hungary

14450-573: The Soviet Union attacked from the east on 17 September. Reinhard Heydrich , chief of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; Security Police) and Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service), ordered on 21 September that Polish Jews should be rounded up and concentrated into cities with good rail links. Initially the intention was to deport them further east, or possibly to Madagascar . Using lists prepared in advance , some 65,000 Polish intelligentsia, noblemen, clergy, and teachers were murdered by

14620-658: The Soviet Union in 1941, Nazi Germany attempted to implement the Generalplan Ost and Hunger Plan , as part of its war of extermination in Eastern Europe. The Soviet resurgence and entry of the US into the war meant Germany lost the initiative in 1943 and by late 1944 had been pushed back to the 1939 border. Large-scale aerial bombing of Germany escalated and the Axis powers were driven back in Eastern and Southern Europe. Germany

14790-498: The Soviet Union. In addition to Hitler's stated purpose of acquiring Lebensraum , this large-scale offensive—codenamed Operation Barbarossa —was intended to destroy the Soviet Union and seize its natural resources for subsequent aggression against the Western powers. The reaction among Germans was one of surprise and trepidation as many were concerned about how much longer the war would continue or suspected that Germany could not win

14960-564: The Truman administration's initial entreaties. As a result, the Marshall Plan program for the Netherlands' economic recovery was put on hold and the Truman administration threatened to cut all economic aid. The Netherlands finally agreed to withdraw and transferred sovereignty following the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference in 1949. Marshall resigned as Secretary of State because of ill health on 7 January 1949. He

15130-625: The U.S. Army under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman , then served as Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense under Truman. Winston Churchill lauded Marshall as the "organizer of victory" for his leadership of the Allied victory in World War II . During the subsequent year, he attempted but failed to avoid the impending continuation of the Chinese Civil War . As Secretary of State, Marshall advocated for

15300-548: The U.S. government appointed him as Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific Area , a command which included Australia and New Guinea in addition to Japanese-held areas. The rest of the geographic area of the Pacific Theater of Operations remained under the Pacific Ocean Areas command, led by Commander-in-Chief Admiral Chester Nimitz of the U.S. Navy . The inter-governmental Pacific War Council

15470-561: The U.S. military apparatus in a deviation from the United States' tradition of civilian control of the military . Though he had never actually led troops in combat, Marshall was a skilled organizer with a talent for inspiring other officers. Many of the American generals who were given top commands during the war were either picked or recommended by Marshall, including Dwight D. Eisenhower , Jacob L. Devers , George S. Patton , Terry de la Mesa Allen Sr. , Lloyd Fredendall , Lesley J. McNair , Mark Wayne Clark and Omar Bradley . Faced with

15640-574: The United States and the Philippines, including serving as an infantry platoon leader and company commander during the Philippine–American War and other guerrilla uprisings. He was schooled in modern warfare, including tours from 1906 to 1910 as both a student and an instructor. He was ranked first of five Honor Graduates of his Infantry-Cavalry School Course (now the United States Army Command and General Staff College ) in 1907 and graduated first in his 1908 Army Staff College (now

15810-612: The United States in January 1947. As Secretary of State, Marshall disagreed with the Defense and State Department views that Chiang's success was vital to American interests, insisting that U.S. troops not become involved. The war continued, and the Communists won in 1949. After Marshall's return to the U.S. in early 1947, Truman appointed him Secretary of State . As one of the most well-regarded and least politicized national leaders, he made an ideal front office personality. He became

15980-529: The United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. Colonel Marshall has performed the duties of Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, 1st Division, from 26 June 1917 to 12 July 1918. He served in the G-3 Section, General Headquarters, American Expeditionary Forces, from 13 July 1918 to 19 August 1918, in G-3 section, 1st Army, from 20 August 1918 to 16 October 1918; as Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, of

16150-482: The United States. Food was in short supply in the conquered areas of the Soviet Union and Poland, as the retreating armies had burned the crops in some areas, and much of the remainder was sent back to the Reich. In Germany, rations were cut in 1942. In his role as Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan , Hermann Göring demanded increased shipments of grain from France and fish from Norway. The 1942 harvest

16320-501: The War Department later on the morning of 7 December 1941 than he initially claimed during testimony and invented a story about a warning to affected army commanders about the imminent Pearl Harbor Attack being delayed because he had been unable to get in touch with Marshall, an allegation which "nearly destroyed" Marshall. Only weeks after Marshall's retirement, in December 1945, President Harry Truman dispatched Marshall to

16490-481: The War Department staff; he later became the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff . When Chief of Staff Malin Craig retired in 1939, Marshall assumed the role of Chief of Staff in an acting capacity before his appointment to the position, which he held until the war's end in 1945. As Chief of Staff, Marshall, working closely with Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson , organized the largest military expansion in U.S. history, and

16660-562: The Weimar Republic, rejection of the Treaty of Versailles, radical antisemitism , and anti- Bolshevism . They promised a strong central government, increased Lebensraum ("living space") for Germanic peoples, formation of a national community based on race, and racial cleansing via the active suppression of Jews , who would be stripped of their citizenship and civil rights. The Nazis proposed national and cultural renewal based upon

16830-602: The Western Allied war effort, but the British government ultimately approved. He initially scheduled Operation Overlord for 1 April 1943, but met with strong opposition from Winston Churchill, who convinced Roosevelt to commit troops to Operation Husky for the invasion of Italy . Marshall and his advisors also opposed the Allied invasion of French North Africa after it became clear that Vichy France would offer resistance, concerns over an Axis intervention through Francoist Spain and Gibraltar , and suspicions that

17000-429: The age of sixteen in December 1897. To pay for his tuition and expenses, Marshall's mother sold parcels of land she owned in Uniontown and Augusta, Kentucky . At the start of his college career, Marshall was subjected to a hazing incident in which upperclassmen positioned an unsheathed bayonet with the point up and directed him to squat over it. After twenty minutes, Marshall fainted and fell. When he awoke, he had

17170-451: The blockade, imports into Germany declined by 80 per cent. To safeguard Swedish iron ore shipments to Germany, Hitler ordered the invasion of Denmark and Norway , which began on 9 April. Denmark fell after less than a day , while most of Norway followed by the end of the month. By early June, Germany occupied all of Norway . Against the advice of many of his senior military officers, in May 1940 Hitler ordered an attack on France and

17340-520: The business community, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933. This event is known as the Machtergreifung ("seizure of power"). On the night of 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was set afire . Marinus van der Lubbe , a Dutch communist, was found guilty of starting the blaze. Hitler proclaimed that the arson marked the start of

17510-513: The churches. The Nazi regime abolished the symbols of the Weimar Republic—including the black, red, and gold tricolour flag —and adopted reworked symbolism. The previous imperial black, white, and red tricolour was restored as one of Germany's two official flags; the second was the swastika flag of the Nazi Party, which became the sole national flag in September 1935. The Party anthem " Horst-Wessel-Lied " ("Horst Wessel Song") became

17680-759: The commander of the Western Department . After the nation entered World War I in 1917, Marshall served with Bell, who commanded the Department of the East . He was assigned to the staff of the 1st Division ; he assisted with the organization's mobilization and training in the United States, as well as planning of its combat operations in France . Subsequently assigned to the staff of the American Expeditionary Forces headquarters, he

17850-551: The country; all trade unions were forced to dissolve and their leaders were arrested. The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service , passed in April, removed from their jobs all teachers, professors, judges, magistrates, and government officials who were Jewish or whose commitment to the party was suspect. This meant the only non-political institutions not under control of the Nazis were

18020-652: The criticism that he was a warrior not a pacifist. Nazi Germany Nazi Germany , officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich , was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship . The Third Reich , meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", referred to

18190-703: The declaration by the four nations on 1 January 1942, the Allied governments formally appointed Wavell. The formation of ABDACOM meant that Wavell had control of a huge, but thinly spread force, covering an area from Burma in the west, to Dutch New Guinea and the Commonwealth of the Philippines in the east. Other areas, including the British Raj and the Territory of Hawaii , remained officially under separate commands, and in practice General Douglas MacArthur

18360-467: The division chief of staff, Marshall angrily interceded to inform Pershing of logistical and administrative difficulties of which Pershing was unaware. Marshall also informed Pershing that the AEF staff had not been very helpful in dealing with the problems. Sibert and his staff were concerned that Marshall's willingness to confront Pershing had probably cost him his career. Instead, Pershing began to seek out Marshall and ask for his advice whenever he visited

18530-484: The division headquarters area, his horse stumbled, fell, and rolled over; Marshall's left foot was caught in the stirrup, and he sustained a severe sprain and bruise. A physician bound Marshall's injured ankle and foot with adhesive tape so he could avoid medical evacuation and remain with the division to oversee the attack. In 1920, Marshall was awarded the Citation Star for his heroism during this battle. When

18700-539: The division's mobilization and organization in Texas, he departed for France with the division staff in mid-1917. On the long ocean voyage, his roommate was the division's assistant chief of staff for training, Major Lesley J. McNair ; the two formed a personal and professional bond that they maintained for the rest of their careers. Marshall was the first passenger from the first boat transporting American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) soldiers to set foot in Europe, and one of

18870-563: The electorate in a plebiscite . Most Germans were relieved that the conflicts and street fighting of the Weimar era had ended. They were deluged with propaganda orchestrated by Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels , who promised peace and plenty for all in a united, Marxist-free country without the constraints of the Versailles Treaty. The Nazi Party obtained and legitimised power through its initial revolutionary activities, then through manipulation of legal mechanisms,

19040-529: The end of 1939 in an attempt to destroy Poland's identity as a nation. Soviet forces advanced into Finland in the Winter War , and German forces saw action at sea. But little other activity occurred until May, so the period became known as the " Phoney War ". From the start of the war, a British blockade on shipments to Germany affected its economy. Germany was particularly dependent on foreign supplies of oil, coal, and grain. Thanks to trade embargoes and

19210-602: The establishment of the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which stripped them of their basic rights. The Nazis would take from the Jews their wealth, their right to intermarry with non-Jews, and their right to occupy many fields of labour (such as law, medicine, or education). Eventually the Nazis declared the Jews as undesirable to remain among German citizens and society. As early as February 1933, Hitler announced that rearmament must begin, albeit clandestinely at first, as to do so

19380-473: The execution of more than 4,900 people. The failed Ardennes Offensive (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was the last major German offensive on the western front, and Soviet forces entered Germany on 27 January. Hitler's refusal to admit defeat and his insistence that the war be fought to the last man led to unnecessary death and destruction in the war's closing months. Through his Justice Minister Otto Georg Thierack , Hitler ordered that anyone who

19550-1075: The failed German offensive at the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943. By the end of 1943, the Germans had lost most of their eastern territorial gains. In Egypt, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel 's Afrika Korps were defeated by British forces under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in October 1942. The Allies landed in Sicily in July 1943 and were on the Italian peninsula by September. Meanwhile, American and British bomber fleets based in Britain began operations against Germany . Many sorties were intentionally given civilian targets in an effort to destroy German morale. The bombing of aircraft factories as well as Peenemünde Army Research Center , where V-1 and V-2 rockets were being developed and produced, were also deemed particularly important. German aircraft production could not keep pace with losses, and without air cover

19720-494: The first notable American victory of the war. As he conducted pre-attack planning, Marshall traveled alone under cover of darkness to personally view the terrain and mentally map it. Marshall ventured beyond the front lines and far into no-man's land , often under friendly artillery fire and routinely risking discovery and capture by Imperial German Army troops. On 26 May, he was injured while traveling to several subordinate units to conduct pre-attack coordination. As he departed

19890-541: The first to enter the trenches of the Western Front . After arriving in France, Marshall served with the 1st Division on the Saint-Mihiel, Picardy, and Cantigny fronts. Although the division was designated as a Regular Army formation, most of the officers and men serving within its ranks were almost completely lacking in combat experience. They were also deficient "in training, staff work, and logistical problems. More than half of its soldiers were new recruits. Only

20060-648: The focus on defeating Germany first and the establishment of international unified commands in control of all Allied forces in a given theatre. His push for unity of command, in particular through the Combined Chiefs of Staff and the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command , met with resistance from the British Armed Forces under Alan Brooke because the scheme would allow the United States to dominate

20230-638: The former place lacked sufficient accommodation. This made cooperation between air and naval forces difficult. The first notable success for forces under ABDACOM was the U.S. Navy's attack at Balikpapan , Borneo on January 24, which cost the Japanese six transport ships, but had little effect on them capturing the prized oil wells of Borneo. The governments of Australia, the Netherlands and New Zealand lobbied Winston Churchill for an Allied inter-governmental war council, with overall responsibility for

20400-462: The front until they were killed, wounded, or incapacitated by battle fatigue or illness. Incidents of soldiers going AWOL from combat duty as well as battle fatigue and self-inflicted injury rose rapidly during the last eight months of the war with Nazi Germany . As one historian concluded, "Had the Germans been given a free hand to devise a replacement system..., one that would do the Americans

20570-668: The future. Food supplies were precarious; production dropped in most of Europe. Famine was experienced in many occupied countries. Hitler's peace overtures to the new British Prime Minister Winston Churchill were rejected in July 1940. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder had advised Hitler in June that air superiority was a pre-condition for a successful invasion of Britain , so Hitler ordered a series of aerial attacks on Royal Air Force (RAF) airbases and radar stations, as well as nightly air raids on British cities, including London , Plymouth , and Coventry . The German Luftwaffe failed to defeat

20740-748: The highest credit upon himself and the United States Army. After World War II ended, the Congressional Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack received testimony on the intelligence failure. It amassed 25,000 pages of documents, 40 volumes, and included nine reports and investigations, eight of which had been previously completed. These reports included criticism of Marshall for delaying sending Lieutenant General Walter Short ,

20910-403: The highest law. The government was not a coordinated, cooperating body, but rather a collection of factions struggling to amass power. In the midst of the Great Depression , the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending. Financed by deficit spending , the regime undertook extensive public works projects, including the Autobahnen (motorways) and

21080-420: The military capacity of the Dutch East Indies had suffered as a result of the defeat of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany in 1940, and the Dutch administration was focused on defending the island of Java ; the Australian government was heavily committed to the war in North Africa and Europe, and had few readily accessible military resources; and the United States was preoccupied with the Philippines, which at

21250-415: The most harm and the least good, they could not have done a better job." Marshall's abilities to pick competent field commanders during the early part of the war was decidedly mixed. He was instrumental in advancing the careers of the highly capable generals such as Dwight D. Eisenhower , Omar Bradley , George S. Patton , Walter Krueger and Mark W. Clark . A notable exception was his recommendation of

21420-464: The most interesting." In July 1938, Marshall was assigned to the War Plans Division in Washington, D.C. , and subsequently reassigned as Deputy Chief of Staff. In that capacity, then-Brigadier General Marshall attended a White House conference at which President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a plan to expand the United States Army Air Corps by 15,000 aircraft per year in preparation for World War II. With all other attendees voicing support, Marshall

21590-512: The necessity of turning former civilians into an army of over eight million soldiers by 1942 (a fortyfold increase within three years), Marshall directed McNair as commander of Army Ground Forces to focus efforts on rapidly producing large numbers of soldiers. With the exception of airborne forces, Marshall approved McNair's concept of an abbreviated training schedule for men entering Army land forces training, particularly in regard to basic infantry skills, weapons proficiency, and combat tactics. At

21760-407: The need for Germany to secure its frontiers. Schuschnigg scheduled a plebiscite regarding Austrian independence for 13 March, but Hitler sent an ultimatum to Schuschnigg on 11 March demanding that he hand over all power to the Austrian Nazi Party or face an invasion. German troops entered Austria the next day, to be greeted with enthusiasm by the populace. The Republic of Czechoslovakia was home to

21930-472: The newly formed state of Israel . Marshall felt that if the state of Israel was declared, a war would break out in the Middle East (which it did when the 1948 Arab–Israeli War began one day after Israel declared independence ). Marshall saw recognizing the Jewish state as a political move to gain American Jewish support in the upcoming election, in which Truman was expected to lose to Thomas E. Dewey . He told President Truman in May 1948, "If you [recognize

22100-486: The operation was intended to defend European colonial territory with little strategic value to the war. When rumors circulated that Marshall would become the Supreme Commander of Operation Overlord, many critics viewed the potential transfer as a demotion, since he would leave his position as Chief of Staff of the Army and lose his seat on the Combined Chiefs of Staff . While Marshall enjoyed considerable success in working with Congress and Roosevelt, he refused to lobby for

22270-456: The pinnacle of the US Army, Marshall was also responsible for 35 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in Oregon and southern Washington. As post commander Marshall made a concerted effort to cultivate relations with the city of Portland and to enhance the image of the US Army in the region. With the CCC, he initiated a series of measures to improve the morale of the participants and to make the experience beneficial in their later life. He started

22440-431: The plan, as Germany was not yet ready for war. The crisis led to war preparations by Britain, Czechoslovakia, and France (Czechoslovakia's ally). Attempting to avoid war, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain arranged a series of meetings, the result of which was the Munich Agreement , signed on 29 September 1938. The Czechoslovak government was forced to accept the Sudetenland's annexation into Germany. Chamberlain

22610-441: The position. Roosevelt selected Eisenhower, in large part because he did not want to do without Marshall in the Chief of Staff position. He told Marshall, "I didn't feel I could sleep at ease if you were out of Washington." On 16 December 1944, Marshall became the first American general to be promoted to the newly created rank of General of the Army , a five-star rank that placed senior American commanders on an equal footing with

22780-407: The provisions of the Reichstag Fire Decree to keep several Social Democratic deputies from attending, and the Communists had already been banned. The Enabling Act would subsequently serve as the legal foundation for the dictatorship the Nazis established. On 10 May, the government seized the assets of the Social Democrats, and they were banned on 22 June. On 21 June, the SA raided the offices of

22950-471: The report was critical of the overall situation, the committee noted that subordinates had failed to pass on important information to their superiors, including to Marshall. A secret review of the Army's role, which resulted in the Clausen Report , was authorized by Secretary Henry Stimson . The report was critical of Short and also of Colonel Rufus S. Bratton of the Military Intelligence Division (G-2), who investigator Henry Clausen concluded arrived at

23120-467: The spokesman for the State Department's ambitious plans to rebuild Europe. He did not design the plans and paid little attention to details or negotiations. Nor did he keep current on details of foreign affairs. As one biographer notes, he had never been a workaholic. He turned over major responsibilities to his deputies, especially Under-Secretary Robert A. Lovett , and refused to be troubled by minutiae. By 1948, with frailties building up, his participation

23290-411: The state of Israel] and if I were to vote in the election, I would vote against you." However, Marshall refused to vote in any election as a matter of principle. During his tenure as Secretary of State, Marshall also urged Truman to immediately call for The Netherlands to stop their invasion of Indonesia , a former Dutch colony which had declared independence in 1945. The Netherlands ignored

23460-460: The stock market in the United States crashed in 1929 , the effect in Germany was dire. Millions were thrown out of work and several major banks collapsed. Hitler and the Nazis prepared to take advantage of the emergency to gain support for their party. They promised to strengthen the economy and provide jobs. Many voters decided the Nazi Party was capable of restoring order, quelling civil unrest, and improving Germany's international reputation. After

23630-405: The summer and fall of 1916, Marshall was responsible for organizing several Western Department Citizens' Military Training Camps . After the American entry into World War I in April 1917, Marshall relocated with Bell to Governors Island , New York, when Bell was reassigned as commander of the Department of the East . Shortly afterwards, Marshall was assigned to help oversee the mobilization of

23800-512: The swaggering Lloyd Fredendall to Eisenhower for a major command in the American invasion of North Africa during Operation Torch. Marshall was especially fond of Fredendall, describing him as "one of the best" and remarking in a staff meeting when his name was mentioned, "I like that man; you can see determination all over his face." Eisenhower duly picked him to command the 39,000-man Central Task Force (the largest of three) in Operation Torch. Both men would come to regret that decision, as Fredendall

23970-403: The time was a U.S. Commonwealth territory . Wavell arrived in Singapore , where the British Far East Command was based, on 7 January 1942. ABDACOM absorbed this British command in its entirety. On 18 January, Wavell moved his headquarters to Lembang near Bandoeng on Java . On 1 February the air force portion of ABDA moved its headquarters from Lembang to Bandoeng when it became clear that

24140-518: The time, most U.S. commanders at lower levels had little or no combat experience of any kind. Without the input of experienced British or Allied combat officers on the nature of modern warfare and enemy tactics, many resorted to formulaic training methods emphasizing static defense and orderly large-scale advances by motorized convoys over improved roads. In consequence, Army forces deploying to Africa in Operation Torch suffered serious initial reverses when they encountered German armored units in Africa in

24310-529: The total German war dead range from 5.5 to 6.9 million persons. A study by German historian Rüdiger Overmans puts the number of German military dead and missing at 5.3 million, including 900,000 men conscripted from outside of Germany's 1937 borders. Richard Overy estimated in 2014 that about 353,000 civilians were killed in Allied air raids. Other civilian deaths include 300,000 Germans (including Jews) who were victims of Nazi political, racial, and religious persecution and 200,000 who were murdered in

24480-421: The use of police powers, and by taking control of the state and federal institutions. The first major Nazi concentration camp , initially for political prisoners, was opened at Dachau in 1933. Hundreds of camps of varying size and function were created by the end of the war. Beginning in April 1933, scores of measures defining the status of Jews and their rights were instituted. These measures culminated in

24650-431: The war drew to a close. Suicide rates in Germany increased, particularly in areas where the Red Army was advancing. Among soldiers and party personnel, suicide was often deemed an honourable and heroic alternative to surrender. First-hand accounts and propaganda about the uncivilised behaviour of the advancing Soviet troops caused panic among civilians on the Eastern Front, especially women, who feared being raped. More than

24820-415: The war he was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal , the citation for which reads: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, 9 July 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Colonel (Infantry) George Catlett Marshall, Jr. (ASN: 0-1616), United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of

24990-512: Was a key planner in the War Department . He then served as executive officer of the 15th Infantry Regiment in the Republic of China , where he remained for three years and learned to speak basic Mandarin. In 1927, as a lieutenant colonel , he was appointed assistant commandant of the Infantry School at Fort Benning , where he initiated major changes to modernize command and staff processes, which proved to be of major benefit during World War II . Marshall placed Edwin F. Harding in charge of

25160-546: Was a key planner of American operations, including the Meuse-Argonne Offensive . After the war, Marshall became an aide-de-camp to Army Chief of Staff John J. Pershing . Marshall later served on the Army staff, was the executive officer of the 15th Infantry Regiment in China and was an instructor at the Army War College . In 1927, he became assistant commandant of the Army's Infantry School , where he modernized command and staff processes, which proved to be of major benefit during World War II . In 1932 and 1933, he commanded

25330-446: Was a nearly hopeless task, given the Japanese supremacy in naval forces in the western Pacific. The task was further complicated by the addition of Burma to the command; the difficulties of coordinating action between forces of four nationalities that used different equipment and had not trained together; and the different priorities of the national governments. British leaders were primarily interested in retaining control of Singapore ;

25500-437: Was a powerful ally, the relationship was distant, with little co-ordination or co-operation. For example, Germany refused to share their formula for synthetic oil from coal until late in the war. Germany invaded Poland and captured the Free City of Danzig on 1 September 1939, beginning World War II in Europe. Honouring their treaty obligations, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. Poland fell quickly, as

25670-464: Was also a distant cousin of Richard J. Marshall . Marshall's father was active in the coal and coke business. Later, when asked about his political allegiances, Marshall often joked that his father had been a Democrat and his mother a Republican , whereas he was an Episcopalian . Marshall was educated at Miss Alcinda Thompson's private school in Uniontown and spent a year at Uniontown's Central School. Having decided early in life that he desired

25840-420: Was buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery . George Catlett Marshall Jr. was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania , the youngest of three children born to George Catlett Marshall and Laura Emily (née Bradford) Marshall. Both sides of his family were long from Kentucky , but cherished their Virginia roots. He was also a first cousin, three times removed, of former Chief Justice John Marshall . He

26010-445: Was conquered by the Soviet Union from the east and the other Allies from the west, and capitulated on 8 May 1945. Hitler's refusal to admit defeat led to massive destruction of German infrastructure and additional war-related deaths in the closing months of the war. The Allies initiated a policy of denazification and put many of the surviving Nazi leadership on trial for war crimes at the Nuremberg trials . Common English terms for

26180-417: Was dropped. Germany was now a totalitarian state with Hitler at its head. As head of state, Hitler became Supreme Commander of the armed forces. The new law provided an altered loyalty oath for servicemen so that they affirmed loyalty to Hitler personally rather than the office of supreme commander or the state. On 19 August, the merger of the presidency with the chancellorship was approved by 90 per cent of

26350-483: Was established in Washington on 1 April, but remained largely ineffectual due to the overwhelming predominance of U.S. forces in the Pacific theater throughout the war. Perhaps the most notable success for ABDA forces was the guerilla campaign in Timor , waged by Australian and Dutch infantry for almost 12 months after Japanese landings there on February 19. General Sir Archibald Wavell , British Army (BA) – Supreme Commander Land forces (ABDARM) ( MacArthur

26520-479: Was further curtailed. Marshall said, "The fact of the matter is that Lovett bears the principal burden as I get away whenever possible." On 5 June 1947, in a speech at Harvard University , he outlined the American proposal. The European Recovery Program, as it was formally known, became known as the Marshall Plan . Clark Clifford had suggested to Truman that the plan be called the Truman Plan, but Truman immediately dismissed that idea and insisted that it be called

26690-462: Was good, and food supplies remained adequate in Western Europe. Germany and Europe as a whole were almost totally dependent on foreign oil imports. In an attempt to resolve the shortage, in June 1942 Germany launched Fall Blau ("Case Blue"), an offensive against the Caucasian oilfields. The Red Army launched a counter-offensive on 19 November and encircled the Axis forces, who were trapped in Stalingrad on 23 November. Göring assured Hitler that

26860-473: Was greeted with cheers when he landed in London, saying the agreement brought "peace for our time". Austrian and Czech foreign exchange reserves were seized by the Nazis, as were stockpiles of raw materials such as metals and completed goods such as weaponry and aircraft, which were shipped to Germany. The Reichswerke Hermann Göring industrial conglomerate took control of steel and coal production facilities in both countries. In January 1934, Germany signed

27030-428: Was in complete control of Allied forces in the Philippines. At Wavell's insistence, North West Australia (see map) was added to the ABDA area. The rest of Australia was under Australian control, as were its territories of Papua and New Guinea . ABDA was charged with holding the Malay Barrier for as long as possible in order to retain Allied control of the Indian Ocean and the western sea approaches to Australia. This

27200-415: Was in violation of the Versailles Treaty. On 17 May 1933, Hitler gave a speech before the Reichstag outlining his desire for world peace and accepted an offer from American President Franklin D. Roosevelt for military disarmament, provided the other nations of Europe did the same. When the other European powers failed to accept this offer, Hitler pulled Germany out of the World Disarmament Conference and

27370-409: Was interested in having a united front against Japan." Churchill reluctantly telephoned his War Cabinet in London advising them to accept the arrangement despite their concerns. On December 29, Winston Churchill said that it had been agreed Wavell would be supreme commander in order to assuage British concerns. Wavell then held the position of British Commander-in-Chief, India . Churchill added: It

27540-430: Was more supportive of New Deal liberalism than the conservative Douglas MacArthur , and because of the recommendations of Pershing, Craig, Louis A. Johnson , and most importantly Roosevelt's close advisor Harry Hopkins . Marshall was sworn in as chief of staff on 1 September 1939, just hours after the Wehrmacht launched its invasion of Poland . He held this post until retiring in November 1945. On 11 May 1940,

27710-432: Was not prepared to fight should be court-martialed, and thousands of people were executed. In many areas, people surrendered to the approaching Allies in spite of exhortations of local leaders to continue to fight. Hitler ordered the destruction of transport, bridges, industries, and other infrastructure—a scorched earth decree—but Armaments Minister Albert Speer prevented this order from being fully carried out. During

27880-477: Was promoted to five-star rank as General of the Army . Marshall coordinated Allied operations in Europe and the Pacific until the end of the war. In addition to accolades from Winston Churchill and other Allied leaders, Time magazine named Marshall its Man of the Year for 1943 and 1947. Marshall retired from active service in 1945, but remained on active duty, as required for holders of five-star rank. From 15 December 1945 to January 1947, Marshall served as

28050-407: Was severely exhausted throughout his tenure in the position. Dean Acheson in late 1947 said he was underperforming like "a four-engine bomber going only on one engine." Truman named him to the largely honorific positions of chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission and president of the American National Red Cross . He received the 1953 Nobel Peace Prize for his post-war work, despite

28220-489: Was succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as Reich President and Goebbels as Reich Chancellor. Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide the next day after murdering their six children . Between 4 and 8 May 1945, most of the remaining German armed forces unconditionally surrendered. The German Instrument of Surrender was signed 8 May, marking the end of the Nazi regime and the end of World War II in Europe . Popular support for Hitler almost completely disappeared as

28390-438: Was technically subordinate to Wavell, but in reality, many of the chains of command shown here operated independently of ABDACOM and/or existed only on paper. ) Air forces (ABDAIR) Naval forces (ABDAFLOAT) George C. Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. GCB (31 December 1880 – 16 October 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of

28560-502: Was the fourth nation to join the Axis, signing the Tripartite Pact on 27 September 1940. Bulgaria signed the pact on 17 November. German efforts to secure oil included negotiating a supply from their new ally, Romania , who signed the Pact on 23 November, alongside the Slovak Republic. By late 1942, there were 24 divisions from Romania on the Eastern Front, 10 from Italy, and 10 from Hungary. Germany assumed full control in France in 1942, Italy in 1943, and Hungary in 1944. Although Japan

28730-425: Was the leader of U.S. Army forces at the disastrous Battle of Kasserine Pass . During World War II, Marshall was instrumental in preparing the U.S. Army and Army Air Forces for the invasion of Continental Europe . Marshall wrote the document that would become the central strategy for all Allied operations in Europe. During the Arcadia Conference , he convinced the United Kingdom to accept this strategy, including

28900-504: Was the only one to disagree, pointing out the lack of consideration for logistical support or training. Marshall also spoke in favor of a large ground army although Roosevelt had said a large air force would be a greater deterrent to enemies, pointing out that the United States Army did not yet have a single division at full operational strength. Despite others' belief then that Marshall had ended his career, his willingness to express disagreement resulted in Roosevelt nominating Marshall to be

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