The Research Of Douglas. Macarthur's Military Thought

The two unprecedentedly brutal world wars in 20th century not only lay solid stepping stones to the world power for the United States, but also bring the U.S. a large crop of world-renowned generals and military strategists, of which General Douglas MacArthur is most eye-catching. Because of his distinctive personality, General MacArthur received lots of contention during his legendary life. Brought up in a family with military history, he set several records in the history of U.S. Army: the youngest general and the Army Chief of Staff, the youngest commandant in history of West Point, the only general in the U.S. history who participated in World War I, World War II and Korean War. Moreover, General MacArthur received more applause and criticism than any of his contemporaries.During the 52 years'service in the U.S. Army, General MacArthur not only did illustrious feats, but also formed a whole set of theory on military construction, military education and operational control from the longtime army life and war experience. General MacArthur's military thinking mirrored both the major change that the U.S. military thinking was coming through, from traditional theory to modern warfare theory, and the basic developmental direction of the military thinking driven by the second Industrial Revolution, with the invention and application of the electric power and the internal combustion engine as the indicator.This thesis is to take a comprehensive and systematic study on General MacArthur's military thinking, to explore its theoretical sources and historical context, and to analyze its influence on the development of postwar U.S. military thinking with an objective evaluation of General MacArthur's role in the world and US military history. Moreover, analysis on General MacArthur's outstanding contribution to U.S. military strategy, military command, military education and military construction will provide theory evidence in the study of construction and development of the U.S. Army during that time as well as in the subsequent period.The first part of the thesis makes a brief introduction to General MacArthur's life, and summarizes the contributing factors to his military thinking. With a pithy account of General MacArthur's life and his performance in the U.S. and the world warfare history, readers shall have a preliminary recognition of him. The analysis on subjective and objective factors of the formation of MacArthur's military thinking in mechanized-war era, from the perspective of technological progress, army service and operational experiences and academic harvest, shall reveal the fact that General MacArthur's military thinking is both the response to the historical context, and the result of his personality and long-time rational thinking.The second part of the thesis focuses on the main components of General MacArthur's military thinking, with practical operational cases as evidences to prove its contribution to the rise of the U.S. military power. On the whole, General MacArthur's military thinking comprise four main aspects: first, his strategic outlook of Asia in the global context; second, his strategic idea of modern military education, national defense and army building geared to mechanized-wars; third, his strategic idea of amphibious landing in operations, well represented by"leapfrog tactic"; fourth, his strategic idea of three-dimensional combat modes and unified command in modern warfare.The third part of the thesis focuses on the influence of General MacArthur's military thinking on the U.S. military development in the postwar time, mainly manifested in the diversification and development of combat modes, innovation in operational command structure and command system, and modernization of national defense and armed forces. This part also points out the significance of General MacArthur's military thinking in the U.S. military history.The last part of the thesis provides a brief overview of the historical limitations of General MacArthur's military thought, recognizing its historical significance while revealing its deficiencies and its end of serving the capitalist class in U.S.