George Marshall: biography and interesting facts

George Catlett Marshall Jr. - What comes to mind when you hear this name? Who is presented to you: a ruthless military man who attacked defenseless people with atomic bombardment, or the benevolent benefactor of Europe who received the Nobel Prize for his project?

It is noteworthy that Marshall's life and activities are full of mysteries and contradictions. Let's get to know him more closely and find out who he is, how he lived and what made him famous.

Childhood

Future General George Marshall was born in the distant 1880, in the small American town of Uniontown, located in the state of Pennsylvania.

The family lived on a broad foot, in prosperity and honor. Father sold coal and wood, mother raised three children.

Little George Catlett Marshall does notdiffered from his peers. He was a bit too fat and lazy, he treated superficially for his studies. At the same time stood out a serious thoughtful character, was a little secretive and a little arrogant.

Youth

Parents prepared their son for their successors, they wanted to see him as a calculating successful businessman. However, the young man did not want to go into the traders and chose a different kind of activity - the military profession.

Of course, my father was against it. But was it possible to stop this restrained, purposeful boy, secretly dreaming of conquering the whole world ?!

At the age of seventeen, George Marshall enrolled in the military institute of Virginia, where he drew attention with his rare restraint and poise.

Four years of training passed quickly and unnoticed, and now the biography of George Marshall begins to dazzle with the first military victories.

Start of activity

In the rank of junior lieutenant young enthusiasticThe military falls on the distribution to the infantry and leaves for the Philippines. After a year and a half of selfless service, he decides to raise his military qualification and receives the rank of captain.

At the age of thirty-seven, George Marshall goesto the front. The First World War was in full swing, the allies then won brilliant victories, then experienced terrible defeats. Europe is mired in blood, fear and murder.

Cold-blooded and unflappable, Marshall served withstaff officer, a communications officer, carefully performing their immediate duties and sincerely wondering how poorly prepared his countrymen are and how strange and inconsistent the allied forces operate.

He knew that it was impossible, he knew that he would have done differently. But nothing could be done to change something.

Stand out against the background of the commanders of an ambitiousthe captain did not succeed, but then a chance occurred - the senior officer was ill, who was in charge of an important military operation. Marshall defiantly and boldly took command of himself.

He quickly developed a battle plan, cleverly using all the necessary resources: human forces, maps and other documents.

Operation under the leadership of Mashall was successful. The content management appropriated to the brave and wise captain the rank of colonel.

After that there were other bright, brilliantly planned battles, for which George Cattletta was promised to give the general, but the war was already ending, and this promise vanished into obscurity.

After the war, he was even lowered in rank (which corresponded to the order of peacetime), but this did not cool the official ardor of an experienced military man.

After the war

Since 1919, George Marshall has receivedHonorary appointment under General Pershing, then served for three years in China, and further engaged in teaching activities at the infantry school of the State of Georgia. Such a diverse service brought valiant military benefits: he gained influential patrons, learned the Chinese language, perfectly established himself among colleagues who respected him as an honest and professional person.

It is noteworthy that Marshall was one of the few,who warned the leadership of the United States that the US army was not ready for war. He advocated the strengthening of troops and equipping with new equipment.

It is interesting that military activities did not interfereGeorge Catlett is actively engaged in public affairs. For example, in the mid-1930s, he was developing a large-scale program for the employment of young people (within the framework of Roosevelt's policy).

The Second World War

The events of 1939-1945 became an important milestone in the biography of George Marshall.

A year before the outbreak of hostilities, he moved toWashington, where he was appointed to the position of Assistant Chief of Military Planning (at the General Staff). Immediately after the declaration of war, a sensible leader was given the rank of general and entrusted with the management of the army's general staff.

While at his responsible post,the newly-minted general advocated selective military service and the creation of a national guard, managed to reorganize the military ministry and regularly engaged in strengthening the armed forces. With sufficient information, he repeatedly warned the government about the danger of attacking Japan.

While planning many military operations that endedsuccessfully for the US military, Marshall again attracted the attention of the president. He becomes Roosevelt's adviser on the conduct of hostilities, accompanies the head of state during various congresses and conferences, and supervises the work on creating an atomic bomb.

What heights did George Catlett achieve in hisactivities? A second front was opened, supplies of arms and foodstuffs were supplied to the Soviet Union, the war with Italy was over, and troops were sacked in Normandy for the occupation of fascist Germany.

Often the Chief of Staff was demanded that he stay in the shadows and not claim his authorship of certain military operations.

A dark spot on the military biography

Is the general responsible for the use of atomicweapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki? According to some sources, Marshall personally advised the president to apply radical measures. However, there is also other information according to which George Catlett believed that there was no need for an atomic bombing and regretted that during the operation many civilians were killed.

In the future, commenting on this incident,the American general declared that atomic weapons had to be used to end the war, but at the same time he admitted that the price of victory was too high.

Be that as it may, after the surrender of the Japanese, Marshall completed his military career and moved to the diplomatic service.

The post-war period

The first task of the fearless general was to fix the situation in China, protecting the country from the civil war. However, the good mission failed, and George Catlett returned to his homeland.

Then President Truman offered him a placeSecretary of State, which entailed a serious responsibility. The new task of the aging Marshall was to improve foreign policy, that is, the restoration of international relations.

The enterprising American has reacted to his duties, as always, thoroughly and assiduously.

Marshall Plan

In those years, Europe was in ruins. Destroyed production buildings, starving people, a collapsed economy and horrendous inflation. All this against the background of terrible bloody memories depressed and crushed the civilian population.

And the wise and prudent George Catlett offers his program to solve the international situation.

What was George Marshall's plan? For four years, America gratuitously handed over to the authorities of the sixteen states with which the treaty was signed, twelve billion dollars, which needed to be used only for the restoration of enterprises (or the formation of new ones), as well as for creating jobs.

Countries that received assistance under the programMarshall: England, France, West Germany, Holland, Austria, Belgium and others. Later on, Japan and other East Asian states were included in this list.

The USSR and Finland refused to help.

One of the conditions of the "Marshall Plan" was the requirement to remove Communist parties from governments.

States that were assisted in accordance with this program, in twenty years could take a worthy place among the world's leading countries.

It is not surprising that for the creation of his PlanMarshall received the Nobel Prize. In addition to the Nobel Prize, George Marshall was awarded other honorary titles, awarded many orders and medals. His name is educational institutions and prospectuses.

George Marshall: Filmography

The image of the glorious Marshall is reflected inStephen Spielberg's military drama "Saving Private Ryan", where the American general appears in front of the audience the way his colleagues knew him: fearless, honest, judicious and virtuous.

George Catlett Marshall died at the age of seventy-eight.