The MegaMilitary Project | Online Edition #489

Militarian - Biographies

War has proved to be man’s second most popular pastime throughout recorded history, supplying us with a vast number of historic warriors

What are some of the other characteristics of the great military leaders? What common ground can be found among people them? All-consuming ambition is usually one answer people offer. Some assume that great military leaders would ruthlessly sacrifice anyone and everything to get their goals. Certainly, that is true sometimes. Even if ambition is something these military leaders shared, then it must be stressed that some of them fought for larger and more selfless causes.

Uncompromising determination (to the extent of being reckless) is what best distinguishes many military leaders, and a lot of them have exerted their will and courage in ways that have shaped world history.

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Byng was born into a privileged life at Wrotham Park (Barnet) as the son of George Stevens Byng, Second Earl of Strafford, and was educated in Eton. He entered the militia, where he distinguished himself sufficiently to be posted into the elite Tenth Hussars in 1883.

Major General Adna Romanza Chaffee Jr.

Militarians Biographies
Chaffee was the only son of the remarkable Adna Chaffee Sr. who had joined the army as a private during the Civil War and by the end of his career would become chief of staff of the army with the rank of lieutenant general. The junior Chaffee steeped in the military and graduated from West Point in the upper hall of his 1906 class.

Lieutenant General Claire Lee Chennault

Militarians Biographies
Claire Chennault organized an ace group of volunteer American fighter pilots who risked their lives in China before the United States and Japan were at war. His Flying Tigers made military history even before the war officially started for the United States. They then struck one of the first blows against Japan after its attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

General Mark Wayne Clark

Militarians Biographies
Clark was a son of the army, born at Madison Barracks in Sackets Harbor, New York, into the family of a career army officer. As a young man, he graduated from West Point and entered the infantry as a second lieutenant in 1917 and in April of the following year was sent to France with the Fifth Infantry Division. They thrust him into the thick of World War I during the Aisne-Marne offensive.

Colonel Jacqueline Cochran

Militarians Biographies
Jacqueline Cochran, an American pilot, was best known as the wartime head of the Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) (1943-44) in which about 1000 civilian American women ferried planes from factories to port cities in non-combat roles. She also set many records and was the first woman to break the sound barrier in 1953.
Cunningham joined the Royal Navy in 1898 and saw a wide variety of service prior to World War I when he was skipper of the destroyer Scorpion during the Dardanelles campaign (February 19 to November 23 of 1915). He showed great skill and initiative in the raid on the German U-boat base at Zeebrugge on April 23, 1918.

General Moshe Dayan

Militarians Biographies
Dayan was born in the first kibbutz collective agricultural settlement established by Zionists in Palestine. As a teenager he joined the Haganah, an underground army working toward establishing a nation independent from British rule. The kibbutz was vulnerable to Arab attack and therefore the Haganah also served as a perimeter patrol.
Zhu was born into extreme poverty in Yunnan; however, his early potential was recognized by his clan, which funded a classical Confucian education for the boy. After graduation, Zhu entered the civil service system but soon turned to the military, instead of gaining admission to the Yunnan Military Academy. Upon graduation, he was commissioned in the Yunnan provincial army about 1906. In October 1911, with the outbreak of revolution, Zhu seized control of several military local units and led them in an invasion of the neighboring Szechwan province.

Charles (André Joseph Marie) de Gaulle

Militarians Biographies
The son of an intensely nationalistic family, Charles de Gaulle, was educated at the Military Academy of Saint-Cyr and joined an infantry regiment (under Col. Philippe Petain) as a second lieutenant in 1913. He impressed Petain and others with his intelligence, initiative and once World War I erupted, with his courage as well. He fought at the do-or-die defense of Verdun, was wounded in combat three times and was a P.O.W. for two years and eight months. During his captivity, he made five valiant, although unsuccessful attempts to escape.
Dönitz was born in Grünau. He joined the German navy on the 1st of April in 1910 and served on U-boats during World War I. This experience persuaded Dönitz that submarines would play an increasingly important role in naval strategy. With the conclusion of World War I, Dönitz remained in the Reichsmarine, the small navy Germany was permitted under the castigatory terms of the Versailles treaty. In fact, Dönitz operated clandestinely to build a German submarine force, even though the treaty specifically prohibited that type of vessels.
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