Born in a humble background, he can bend and stretch, and the only five star general president in th

Mondo Military Updated on 2024-01-31

He came from a humble background and was one of the poorest people in the United States.

At the same time, he was the fastest-promoted general in the United States, from brigadier general to five-star general in less than three years.

At his peak, he commanded 3 million Allied forces.

In 1952, he defeated his opponent and was elected to the United States.

Four years later, he was easily re-elected and reached the pinnacle of his life.

The protagonist of this life counterattack story is the 34th ** of the United States, Dwight David Eisenhower.

Eisenhower was born in 1890 to a German-American family in Denison, Texas.

His parents are both college students, and his family is not bad.

But his father had no choice of friends and was a partner in business, and his partners took away his funds.

When Eisenhower was born, his father was not only bankrupt, but also in debt.

However, although the family is poor and the father has achieved nothing, the good thing is that the mother is a wise and resolute woman, who is very strict with her sons, and often encourages them not to wear down their will and dreams.

Eisenhower was the third oldest in the family, with two older brothers above and four younger brothers below.

Except for the fifth child, who died young, the other six were under the strict discipline of their mothers, and later made great achievements in their respective fields.

The Eisenhower family.

The eldest Arthur was a well-known banker, and he once had a colleague named Truman, the 33rd member of the United States.

The second eldest, Edgar, is a lawyer with outstanding professional skills, and is very wealthy in his later years.

Roy, the fourth, graduated from medical school and opened a pharmacy in his hometown in order to take care of his parents. Although his achievements are far inferior to those of his brother and brother, he is also a well-known person in the local area.

A graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in electrical engineering, Sixwell owns several radio stations in Illinois and also serves as the state's state representative.

Seventh Milton is a scholar who has served as president of the University of Pennsylvania, Hopkins University, and other well-known universities.

Milton. Compared with his brothers, Eisenhower's achievements were undoubtedly the highest. But he was also the latest to become a talent.

As a child, Eisenhower did not like to read, which gave his parents a headache.

However, he excelled in sports and was the main center of the school's rugby team.

In addition, he loved history and was interested in celebrity anecdotes, and the historical figure he admired the most was Hannibal.

After graduating from high school, Eisenhower and his second brother Edgar dropped out of school at the same time because they had no money to pay for tuition.

The principal felt pity and advised them to go to university.

But the problem is, college tuition is not a small number, and where does the money come from?

So, the two brothers made a gentleman's agreement, and for the first two years, Eisenhower worked part-time for his second brother to go to college.

Two years later, the second child worked again for his younger brother to go to further education.

For the next two years, in order to provide for his second brother's education, Eisenhower worked two jobs a day, all year round.

In 1911, Eisenhower heard that military schools did not have tuition, so he was recommended by a local senator to be admitted to West Point.

Dwight D. Eisenhower (second from left) and Bradley (second from right) were members of the West Point football team.

During his time at West Point, Eisenhower continued to have mediocre grades and was often disciplined for violating school rules for his passion for sports. This made me think of dropping out of school for a while.

Thankfully, he eventually graduated and was assigned to the 19th Infantry Division in San Antonio as a second lieutenant.

Before World War II, the presence of the U.S. ** team was very low, and the military was a career with no future.

During his years in San Antonio, Eisenhower achieved nothing.

The only achievement may be marrying the love of his life, Mary Geeniva Dude.

Mr. and Mrs. Eisenhower.

In 1917, the United States entered World War I, and Eisenhower was eager to prove himself on the battlefield.

But because he was of German descent, several applications were rejected.

However, seeing that he was so motivated, his superiors arranged for him to study at the Army Tank School.

After graduating, Eisenhower, who had been inactive for many years, finally ushered in a turning point in his life.

In 1922, he was transferred to the Panama Canal Defense Zone as a staff officer of the 20th Infantry Brigade in Panama.

In Panama, the commander of the 20 Brigade, Major General Connor, often discussed military and international issues with Eisenhower.

Under Connor's tutelage, Eisenhower's interest in military affairs increased, and his military knowledge and skills also greatly improved.

Connor thought he had a promising future and spared no effort to nurture him.

In 1923, with Connor's help, Eisenhower attended the Army Command and Staff School.

With a goal in life, Eisenhower was very attentive to his studies, and eventually graduated with honors and was sent to the Army Combat University to continue his studies.

In 1928, at the age of 38, Eisenhower completed his entire academic education.

If it was wartime, he would have done something.

But it was a time of peace, and there was no war to fight.

As a result, he could only work in the U.S. Army, an organization called the Combat Memorial Committee, which was mainly to write the history of the U.S. military in World War I.

It seems that this job has no future, but as the saying goes, if you lose the east, you will reap the mulberry.

At that time, the head of the Operational Memorial Committee was Pershing, a six-star general in the US Army.

Eisenhower worked under Pan Dashuai, and the two got to know each other after coming and going.

Of course, Pershing at this time, dying and old, was already out of breath. It didn't help Eisenhower's career much.

But Pershing had a good apprentice named Marshall.

It was Marshall who later promoted Eisenhower.

In 1929, with his excellent writing skills, Eisenhower was transferred to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the War Department.

He hated this new job very much, and longed to be freed from the mountains and seas of literature and become the front-line commander of thousands of troops.

But he worked at the War Department, close to the center of power, and his manuscript was really good.

Many people said yes and recommended him to the Chief of Staff of the Army.

As a result, Eisenhower was favored by MacArthur, then chief of staff of the US Army, and became his assistant.

In 1935, Marshal Mak stepped down from the post of army chief of staff and was transferred to the Philippines as a military adviser to Quezon.

MacArthur is known to be a performative personality who is very good at packaging himself and is especially good at PUA subordinates.

Under MacArthur's flickering, Eisenhower also went to the Philippines and continued to work as a senior assistant to Lao Mai.

After a few years, Eisenhower realized that he had followed MacArthur and his career was in disgrace.

So in 1939, after a big quarrel with MacArthur because of the disagreement between military and philosophical views, Eisenhower decisively returned to the United States.

I don't wait.

Logically speaking, Eisenhower offended MacArthur, the second generation of officials, and in the next work, he would inevitably be put in small shoes.

But he was lucky, and earlier, Pershing personally recommended Marshall to Roosevelt.

Roosevelt also felt that Marshall was "the material of the chief of staff."

At the beginning of 1939, Marshall was appointed Chief of Staff of the Army.

After Marshall took office, he acted vigorously and resolutely, saying that there were no idlers in the army, and those who were not able to lead troops would get out.

For a while, everyone was in danger, and the bigwigs from all sides began to look for capable people to assist themselves.

At this time, Eisenhower was already famous. Everyone thinks that he can serve a person as difficult to serve as Lao Mai for 7 years, and what interpersonal relationship is there that he can't handle?

Therefore, after returning to China, Eisenhower suddenly became a sweetheart.

From November 1940 to June 1941, in just seven months, he was promoted from chief of staff of the 3rd Division to chief of staff of the 3rd Army.

In the second half of 1941, relations between the United States and Japan intensified.

At this time, everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before the United States entered World War II.

To this end, the U.S. military held a 400,000-strong military exercise in Louisiana in August.

As the saying goes, it's a mule or a horse, and you can know when you pull it out for a walk.

No one can escape such a large-scale exercise.

Those who are indiscriminate can only expose their incompetence in front of everyone.

And for real talents, this exercise is undoubtedly the best stage to show their talents.

At the end of the exercise, more than 70 generals in the U.S. Army were dismissed, and Eisenhower was promoted to brigadier general because of his excellent organizational and coordination skills.

It is worth mentioning that during this maneuver, there was also a guy on a rampage, which caught Marshall's attention.

This man's name is George Patton.

On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and the United States officially entered World War II.

Five days later, Eisenhower was transferred to Marshall's side as chief of operations and promoted to major general.

At that time, the US government and the public, because of the Pearl Harbor incident, focused their attention on the Pacific theater and were anxious to seek revenge on Japan.

However, Roosevelt and Marshall's idea was to start Europe and then Asia, focusing on Germany and using their spare time against Japan.

Eisenhower was not aware of the White House's decision-making at this time, but he was able to put forward the same views as Roosevelt and Marshall from the perspective of the supreme commander. This earned him the admiration of the decision-makers.

Due to the tight time and heavy tasks to deal with Germany and Japan at the same time, Eisenhower was like an emotionless machine in the first half of 1942, frantically called by Marshall.

He eats and lives in the office every day, and for work, he doesn't even attend his father's funeral.

In Eisenhower's memoirs, he said that during that time, he almost had a nervous breakdown, and once he was too tired to control his emotions, and he had a big fight with Marshall.

Afterwards, he was uneasy, thinking that he was afraid that his future would be ruined.

But Marshall and MacArthur were different.

MacArthur was born in the second generation of officials, and he loved to be in the limelight, and he always treated the children of the poor with a high-minded mentality.

And Marshall, like Eisenhower, went through hardships, and was almost beaten by MacArthur in his career that year.

Thus, Marshall's harshness of Eisenhower at work was more like a stress test.

In June 1942, after half a year of overwork by Marshall's side, Eisenhower passed the examination and was promoted to commander-in-chief of the U.S. European theater of operations, and was promoted to lieutenant general.

Soon after, he became commander of the Allied forces in the North African theater and was promoted to general.

In the fall of 1942, Eisenhower planned and carried out a landing operation codenamed "Torch" in North Africa.

This battle was the first large-scale sea-crossing and landing campaign in the history of warfare in which landing ships were used, "from ship to shore."

It was also Eisenhower's first major command of a campaign.

Due to inexperience, coupled with too much interference in the tactics of his subordinates. Eisenhower's command caused some confusion in the early days of Operation Torch.

However, he soon made adjustments, and the British and American forces landed in North Africa.

After the Allies took North Africa, they continued their march on Italy.

This time, Eisenhower learned his lesson and realized the difference between a handsome talent and a general.

He no longer intervenes too much, arranges the right people in the right positions, fully allows his subordinates to play, and only controls at the strategic level, and does a good job in personnel coordination and logistics.

During the campaign, Churchill, Montgomery, Patton and others looked down on Eisenhower at first, feeling that he had no experience in commanding operations, and they did not speak coldly to him.

However, Eisenhower was able to bend and stretch out, did not care about them, and showed outstanding military, political and diplomatic talents, and was known as a "military statesman and diplomat."

In November 1943, Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union held a meeting in Tehran and decided to open a second theater in Europe in 1944.

This kind of large-scale multinational joint operation requires a person of high moral integrity to be the commander.

Who is qualified to be this commander-in-chief?

The most suitable person at that time was Marshall.

But Roosevelt couldn't do without him, and finally, on Marshall's recommendation, Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. Montgomery was appointed deputy commander-in-chief.

As for the reason for recommending him, it's simple.

To lead the Allied forces to open up a second battlefield, it is not enough to have military talents, but also to talk about politics and know how to balance relations.

Eisenhower had a good mentality and didn't care what others said, so he was naturally the most suitable person.

As it turned out, Marshall was not mistaken, and Eisenhower successfully commanded the largest naval landing operation in human history.

Eisenhower talks with paratroopers who are about to be airborne in Normandy.

After the Normandy landings, Montgomery was promoted to British Field Marshal.

This angered Roosevelt.

Throughout World War II, Britain and the United States were inseparable.

The United States devotes more resources and troops to the role of leader.

But Britain is not reconciled, since hard power is not good, it will speculate and play tricks and disgust the United States.

Beginning in 1941, at every high-level meeting between Britain and the United States, the British Chiefs of Staff had a higher rank than the United States.

For example, at a joint meeting of chiefs of staff in February 1942, the British delegates were all five-star, and the United States was four-star.

After a long time, Roosevelt felt that something was wrong, so he wanted to be a five-star general and be on an equal footing with Britain.

But for various reasons, the idea has not been implemented for a long time.

After Montgomery was promoted to marshal, the United States was embarrassed.

He is a second-in-command, and his military rank is one level higher than that of Eisenhower, the number one

Indignant, Roosevelt slapped his thigh and immediately sealed the five-star!

So in December of that year, Admiral Leahy, Admiral Marshall, Admiral Joseph King, Admiral MacArthur, Admiral Nimitz, Admiral Eisenhower, and Admiral Arnold were collectively promoted to five-star generals.

In this way, in less than three years, Eisenhower was promoted from brigadier general to five-star general.

At the beginning of 1945, the European theater of World War II entered the final stage, and the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union formed a flank attack on Berlin, and the countdown to the fall of Nazi Germany began.

But on the question of whether to attack Berlin, Churchill and Eisenhower clashed.

Churchill believed that whoever conquered Berlin first would have the greatest advantage in the division of interests after the war.

Therefore, Churchill advocated that Berlin should be captured by the Anglo-American forces.

But Eisenhower did not see it that way, and he opposed the attack on Berlin, ceding this honor to the Soviets.

Later, the Soviet red flag was planted on the roof of the Reichstag and became a symbol of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany.

For this, Churchill flew into a rage and angrily scolded Eisenhower for not understanding politics.

Did Eisenhower really not understand politics?

Of course not. First, at the Yalta Conference, Berlin had already been assigned to the USSR. Even if the British Allies worked hard to capture Berlin, it had to be returned to the Soviet Union after the war.

Second, the Soviet army was only 60 kilometers away from Berlin at that time, and the British and American troops were still far from Berlin.

Under these circumstances, if the British and American forces rushed to attack Berlin, not only would they not be able to capture the Soviet army, but they would be very passive politically.

Third, the German army in Berlin had about 800,000 troops, 10,000 artillery pieces and mortars, 1,500 tanks, and 3,300 aircraft.

If the British and American forces attacked, the most optimistic estimate is that it would cost 100,000 men to take Berlin.

The war was nearing its end, and there was no need to sacrifice the lives of so many subordinates.

The Soviet Union was different, after a Great Patriotic War, the Soviet Union lost almost 30 million people.

No matter how much it loses, the Soviet Union must also set foot on Berlin.

In addition, although the European theater of war has come to an end, Asia is still in the midst of a fierce war.

Japan frantically clamored that "100 million people will have a total of broken jade," and the United States needed to accommodate the Soviet Union at this time in exchange for the Soviet army fighting against Japan.

So in essence, there is no difference between Churchill and Eisenhower.

They all stand in their own perspective and safeguard their own interests.

In some ways, Eisenhower was more of a politician than Churchill.

Because politics is an art of compromise.

At the end of 1945, Esenhower succeeded Marshall as Army Chief of Staff.

Three years later, he resigned, ending his nearly 40-year career as a horseman. Hired as president of Columbia University.

Columbia University School of Medicine.

Eisenhower spent half of his life in the army, only attended military school, and his academic performance was not very good.

Therefore, some ** ridiculed him as a "headmaster with no ink on his chest".

But he didn't care, relying on his social influence and concentrating on raising funds for the school.

Because of his love of sports, he often goes to the school gymnasium to watch ball games, and sometimes he plays twice.

The students liked the new headmaster, saying that the headmaster in the past was sanctimonious, unlike Ike, who could get along with the students.

After two years of settling life in college, Eisenhower was appointed commander-in-chief of NATO by Truman.

Because of his prestige and popularity, both parties in the United States came to woo him when the first year came.

After all, the aftermath of World War II is still there, and the common people worship war heroes.

And the plight of the U.S. military on the Korean battlefield also made the people very dissatisfied with Truman**, and they desperately hoped that a strong man could stand up and lead everyone out of the quagmire.

In this case, Eisenhower ran as the Republican candidate** and won easily, becoming the 34th president of the United States**.

Interestingly, Mai Dashuai also participated in this year's **.

It's a pity that in the Republican primary, he was ruthlessly crushed by Eisenhower.

Red supports Eisenhower, and blue supports Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson.

During his tenure as **, Eisenhower continued his style of commanding the army.

Letting the right people, in the right places, do the right things, basically fulfilled his campaign promise to the people.

However, in foreign relations, Eisenhower's reputation was not good.

It is precisely because of him that the Taiwan Strait has repeatedly set off vicious waves and caused serious crises.

In addition, he continued Truman's Cold War policy, allowing the already over-inflated US-tech complex to grow into an interest group capable of kidnapping the entire United States.

Eisenhower later became aware of this problem, and when he handed over to Kennedy, he specifically told him to be wary of the military-industrial complex.

However, it was useless, Kennedy later "opened his brain", and the military-industrial complex was mostly the promoter.

In January 1961, at the age of 71, Eisenhower officially retired and moved to the farm with his wife.

Eight years later, he died of a heart attack at the age of 78.

Looking back at Eisenhower's life, it is legendary.

He came from a poor background, and in order to save tuition, he entered West Point.

He has been in the army for more than 40 years, and the first 30 years have been soy sauce.

After 10 years, it suddenly broke out and stood at the pinnacle of the American world.

After retiring from the army, he easily won the top of the United States.

His story tells us that it is not a shame to come from a humble background, and to be able to bend and stretch out for a husband.

No one's life is smooth sailing.

Without the biting cold wind, how can there be the tenacity of pines and cypresses.

When it comes to blows, the final decision is in your own hands.

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