General of the Army

General of the Army PDF Author: Ed Cray
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0815410425
Category : Generals
Languages : en
Pages : 865

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Book Description
A captivating and fanatically thorough reevaluation of Marshall's life and times.

General of the Army

General of the Army PDF Author: Ed Cray
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0815410425
Category : Generals
Languages : en
Pages : 865

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Book Description
A captivating and fanatically thorough reevaluation of Marshall's life and times.

Army Generals and Reconstruction

Army Generals and Reconstruction PDF Author: Joseph G. Dawson III
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 9780807119600
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
The U.S. Army faced extraordinary problems while policing the post–Civil War South, and the task may have been the most difficult in Louisiana, where Reconstruction lasted longer than in any other of the former Confederate states. Beginning with General Benjamin Franklin Butler, who boasted that “in six months New Orleans should be a Union city or—a home of the alligators,” the Union generals who commanded Louisiana would meet with varying degrees of success in their attempts to enforce the constantly evolving Reconstruction policies of three administrations on a people who openly despised their conquerors. Covering the period from the fall of New Orleans to Federal forces through the collapse of Stephen Packard’s Republican government in 1877, Army Generals and Reconstruction is a history and a detailed analysis of the army’s responsibilities, accomplishments, and failures in Reconstruction Louisiana. The first book to fully examine and assess the army’s direct influence on Louisiana politics during Reconstruction, Joseph G. Dawson’s study shows how the decisions and attitudes of the army commanders were crucial to both the Republican and Democratic parties and how neither side could act confidently without knowing first how the generals would respond to their actions. Dawson examines the army commanders’ efforts to ensure that blacks and Republicans could exercise their civil and political rights. He reveals the difficulties commanders often faced in protecting Republicans from Democratic violence and economic retribution—particularly during the 1870s when the conservative Democrats mounted an intensive and violent campaign to regain control of the state government. Dawson also looks at the influence of General Philip Sheridan on Louisiana Reconstruction politics. During his command in the state, Sheridan was able to protect and strengthen the Republican party, but his policies incurred the displeasure of President Andrew Johnson, who ordered him out of Louisiana to a new assignment on the Great Plains. Sheridan, however, retained his interest in Louisiana politics and his support of Radical Reconstruction, and was later twice sent into the state on special missions by President U.S. Grant. Still, despite the efforts of Sheridan and other pro-Republican officers, the Democrats worked their way back into power. Based on a close examination of archival sources—including the personal papers of the officers who commanded the occupation forces—this study by Joseph G. Dawson reveals the fully complexity of the army’s involvement in Louisiana politics throughout Reconstruction.

Washington's Revolutionary War Generals

Washington's Revolutionary War Generals PDF Author: Stephen R. Taaffe
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806165677
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 524

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Book Description
When the Revolutionary War began, Congress established a national army and appointed George Washington its commander in chief. Congress then took it upon itself to choose numerous subordinate generals to lead the army’s various departments, divisions, and brigades. How this worked out in the end is well known. Less familiar, however, is how well Congress’s choices worked out along the way. Although historians have examined many of Washington’s subordinates, Washington’s Revolutionary War Generals is the first book to look at these men in a collective, integrated manner. A thoroughgoing study of the Revolutionary War careers of the Continental Army’s generals—their experience, performance, and relationships with Washington and the Continental Congress—this book provides an overview of the politics of command, both within and outside the army, and a unique perspective on how it affected Washington’s prosecution of the war. It is impossible to understand the outcome of the War for Independence without first examining America’s military leadership, author Stephen R. Taaffe contends. His description of Washington’s generals—who they were, how they received their commissions, and how they performed—goes a long way toward explaining how these American officers, who were short on experience and military genius, prevailed over their professional British counterparts. Following these men through the war’s most important battles and campaigns as well as its biggest controversies, such as the Conway Cabal and the Newburgh Conspiracy, Taaffe weaves a narrative in the grand tradition of military history. Against this backdrop, his depiction of the complexities and particulars of character and politics of military command provides a new understanding of George Washington, the War for Independence, and the U.S. military’s earliest beginnings. A unique combination of biography and institutional history shot through with political analysis, this book is a thoughtful, deeply researched, and an eminently readable contribution to the literature of the Revolution.

The Generals

The Generals PDF Author: Thomas E. Ricks
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143124099
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 578

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Book Description
A New York Times bestseller! An epic history of the decline of American military leadership—from the bestselling author of Fiasco and Churchill and Orwell. While history has been kind to the American generals of World War II—Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley—it has been less kind to the generals of the wars that followed, such as Koster, Franks, Sanchez, and Petraeus. In The Generals, Thomas E. Ricks sets out to explain why that is. In chronicling the widening gulf between performance and accountability among the top brass of the U.S. military, Ricks tells the stories of great leaders and suspect ones, generals who rose to the occasion and generals who failed themselves and their soldiers. In Ricks’s hands, this story resounds with larger meaning: about the transmission of values, about strategic thinking, and about the difference between an organization that learns and one that fails.

General William E. DePuy

General William E. DePuy PDF Author: Henry G. Gole
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813138930
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
This “excellent biography” of one of the US Army’s unsung heroes “provides a much-needed re-examination of the early post-Vietnam Army" (Bowling Green Daily News). By the 1970s, the United States Army was demoralized by the outcome of the Vietnam War and shifting attitudes at home. The institution as a whole needed to be reorganized and reinvigorated—and General William E. DePuy was the man for the job. In 1973, DePuy was appointed commander of the newly established Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). By integrating training, doctrine, combat developments, and management in the US Army, he cultivated a military force prepared to fight and win in modern war. General William E. DuPuy is the first full-length biography of this key figure in American military history. With extensive interviews with those who knew DePuy, as well as access to his personal papers, Henry G. Gole chronicles and analyzes his unique contributions to the Army and nation. Gole guides the reader from DePuy's boyhood and college days in South Dakota through the major events and achievements of his life. During World War II, DePuy served in the 357th Infantry Regiment in Europe from the Normandy invasion until 1945, when he was stationed in Czechoslovakia. DePuy was asked by George Patton to serve as his aide; he supervised clandestine operations in China; he was instrumental in establishing Special Forces in Vietnam; and he briefed President Lyndon B. Johnson in the White House. But his finest contribution was fixing a broken Army.

Marshall and His Generals

Marshall and His Generals PDF Author: Stephen R. Taaffe
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700619429
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
General George C. Marshall, chief of staff of the U.S. Army during World War II, faced the daunting task not only of overseeing two theaters of a global conflict but also of selecting the best generals to carry out American grand strategy. Marshall and His Generals is the first and only book to focus entirely on that selection process and the performances, both stellar and disappointing, that followed from it. Stephen Taaffe chronicles and critiques the background, character, achievements, and failures of the more than three dozen general officers chosen for top combat group commands—from commanders like Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur to some nearly forgotten. Taaffe explores how and why Marshall selected the Army’s commanders. Among his chief criteria were character (including “unselfish and devoted purpose”), education, (whether at West Point, Fort Leavenworth, or the Army War College), and striking a balance between experience and relative youth in a war that required both wisdom and great physical stamina. As the war unfolded, Marshall also factored into his calculations the combat leadership his generals demonstrated and the opinions of his theater commanders. Taaffe brings into sharp focus the likes of Eisenhower, MacArthur, George Patton, Omar Bradley, Walter Krueger, Robert Eichelberger, Courtney Hodges, Lucian Truscott, J. Lawton Collins, Alexander “Sandy” Patch, Troy Middleton, Matthew Ridgeway, Mark Clark, and twenty-five other generals who served in the conflict. He describes their leadership and decision-making processes and provides miniature biographies and personality sketches of these men drawn from their personal papers, official records, and reflections of fellow officers. Delving deeper than other studies, this path-breaking work produces a seamless analysis of Marshall’s selection process of operational-level commanders. Taaffe also critiques the performance of these generals during the war and reveals the extent to which their actions served as stepping stones to advancement. Ambitious in scope and filled with sharp insights, Marshall and His Generals is essential reading for anyone interested in World War II and military leadership more generally.

General Lee's Army

General Lee's Army PDF Author: Joseph Glatthaar
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416596976
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 626

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Book Description
A history of the Confederate troops under Robert E. Lee presents portraits of soldiers from all walks of life, offers insight into how the Confederacy conducted key operations, and reveals how closely the South came to winning the war.

Five Stars

Five Stars PDF Author: James F. Muench
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826265340
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"Profiles five U. S. military generals from Missouri: Alexander William Doniphan, who served in the Mexican-American War; Sterling Price, who served in the Civil War (Confederate); Ulysses S. Grant, who also served in the Civil War (Union); John Pershing, who served in WWI; and Omar Bradley, who served in WWII"--Provided by publisher.

General Mark Clark

General Mark Clark PDF Author: Jon B. Mikolashek
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 1612001432
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 371

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Book Description
“Mikolashek . . . has given we history readers and buffs, as well as military historians, a new introduction to a key American General of World War 2.” —Jim Kane, 1 Man and His Books Although not nearly as well-known as other US Army senior commanders, Gen. Mark Clark is one of the four men—along with Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley—who historian Martin Blumenson called “the essential quartet of American leaders who achieved victory in Europe.” Eisenhower nicknamed him the American Eagle. A skilled staff officer, Clark rose quickly through the ranks, and by the time America entered the war, he was deputy commander of Allied forces in north Africa. Several weeks before Operation Torch, Clark landed by submarine in a daring mission to negotiate the cooperation of the Vichy French. He was subsequently named commander of United States Fifth Army and tasked with the invasion of Italy. Fifth Army and Mark Clark are virtually synonymous. From the September 1943 landing at Salerno, Clark and his army fought their way north against skilled German resistance, augmented by mountainous terrain. The daring January 1944 end-run at Anzio, although not immediately successful, set the stage for Fifth Army’s liberation of Rome on June 4, 1944, after ten months of hard fighting. Mikolashek, a history professor at the United States Army Command and General Staff College, sheds much needed historical light on one of America’s most important fighting generals in this “warts and all” biography. He also demonstrates the importance of the Italian Campaign, paying tribute to the valorous soldiers of U.S. Fifth Army and their Allied comrades.

The Fourth Star

The Fourth Star PDF Author: Greg Jaffe
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307409074
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
They were four exceptional soldiers, a new generation asked to save an army that had been hollowed out after Vietnam. They survived the military's brutal winnowing to reach its top echelon. They became the Army's most influential generals in the crucible of Iraq. Collectively, their lives tell the story of the Army over the last four decades and illuminate the path it must travel to protect the nation over the next century. Theirs is a story of successes and failures, of ambitions achieved and thwarted, of the responsibilities and perils of command. The careers of this elite quartet show how the most powerful military force in the world entered a major war unprepared, and how the Army, drawing on a reservoir of talent that few thought it possessed, saved itself from crushing defeat against a ruthless, low-tech foe. In The Fourth Star, you'll follow: •Gen. John Abizaid, one of the Army's most brilliant minds. Fluent in Arabic, he forged an unconventional path in the military to make himself an expert on the Middle East, but this unique background made him skeptical of the war he found himself leading. •Gen. George Casey Jr., the son of the highest-ranking general to be killed in the Vietnam War. Casey had grown up in the Army and won praise for his common touch and skill as a soldier. He was determined not to repeat the mistakes of Vietnam but would take much of the blame as Iraq collapsed around him. •Gen. Peter Chiarelli, an emotional, take-charge leader who, more than any other senior officer, felt the sting of the Army's failures in Iraq. He drove his soldiers, the chain of command, and the U.S. government to rethink the occupation plans–yet rarely achieved the results he sought. •Gen. David Petraeus, a driven soldier-scholar. Determined to reach the Army's summit almost since the day he entered West Point, he sometimes alienated peers with his ambition and competitiveness. When he finally got his chance in Iraq, he–more than anyone–changed the Army's conception of what was possible. Masterfully written and richly reported, The Fourth Star ranges far beyond today's battlefields, evoking the Army's tumultuous history since Vietnam through these four captivating lives and ultimately revealing a fascinating irony: In an institution that prizes obedience, the most effective warriors are often those who dare to question the prevailing orthodoxy and in doing so redefine the American way of war.