Long March

Long March
Long March

By late summer of 1934, the fifth encirclement campaign, led by Chiang Kai-shek, had convincingly defeated the Chinese Communist Soviet and reduced it to a six-county area in Jiangxi (Kiangsi) Province.

On October 15 the Communist government abandoned its capital, Ruijin (Juichin), with 85,000 soldiers, 15,000 party and government officials, and 35 women (wives of the high officials). They began the Long March, which would last for one year and cover about 6,000 miles (called the 25,000 li Long March in Chinese).

The Communists were able to break out of the eastern sector of the Nationalist encirclement because it was guarded by army units under dissident generals whom Chiang did not control and whose leaders feared that the elimination of the Communists would hurt them.


The fleeing Communists were allowed to escape through a narrow corridor on the border of Guangdong (Kwangtung) and Guangxi (Kwangsi) (ruled by Nationalist generals who were opponents of Chiang) and entered Guizhou (Kueichow). Guizhou province, the domain of a corrupt warlord who grew rich from opium, was unable to prevent the Communist incursion.

In January 1935 the communists held a conference at Zungyi (Tsungyi) in Guizhou where Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) and his allies Zhou Enlai (Chou En-lai), and Zhu De (Chu Teh) emerged victorious, blaming the previous defeats on their opponents in the party.

They then decided to head for northern Sha'anxi (Shensi) Province, where a Communist base already existed. Chased out of Guizhou by Chiang's pursuing forces, the Communists headed for Yunnan, Sichuan (Szechuan), Sikang, and Gansu (Kansu) Provinces and were evicted from each in succession.

Mao and 8,000 survivors reached northern Sha'anxi in October 1935; others who arrived later boosted the total to 30,000. They established themselves in Yanan (Yenan), which would remain their headquarters until 1949.

The Long March was an epic of survival for the Chinese Communists: They survived terrible terrain and their pursuers. Although severely reduced in numbers, the leadership emerged intact. Mao became the clear leader of both the party and the military after the Zunyi Conference and would continue to dominate both until his death in 1975.

Although Chiang Kaishek could not eliminate the Communists the encirclement campaigns and the Long March also clearly strengthened both Chiang and the central government of the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang). Ending the Chinese Communist rebellion in Jiangxi consolidated government power in southeastern China.

Long march survivors
Long march survivors

Importantly, the inability of the autonomous warlords in Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Sikang, Gansu, and Sha'anxi Provinces to prevent the Communists from invading their domains led to central government troops entering these areas. After expelling the Communist invaders the government units remained and imposed many reforms and changes, which reduced the warlords to semiobedience to the national government.

This was crucial for China's survival when Japan invaded in 1937 and seized the coastal regions, enabling the Chinese government to continue resisting Japan for eight years from its new base in Sichuan and the other provinces it had gained control of as a result of the Long March.

Frederick Lugard, Baron of Abinger

Frederick Lugard, Baron of Abinger
Frederick Lugard, Baron of Abinger

Baron Lugard directed the conquest and administration of Nigeria as well as serving as a soldier elsewhere in British West Africa and as a governor in Hong Kong. His military career indicates the opportunities available to aspiring young officers who served the British Empire at its height. As an administrator, he theorized about the responsibilities of the British to themselves and to the inhabitants of the conquered territories.

Born in Madras (Chennai) in British-controlled India to an Anglican minister, Lugard went to England early in his childhood. He received a solid education as a youth before entering the British Royal Military College at Sandhurst. Upon graduating he joined the army in 1878.

He served in the Afghan War (1879–80), the British campaign in the Sudan (1884–85), and Burma (1886–87). He returned to Africa in 1888, where he was wounded in combat against Arab slave traders in Nyasaland.


In the service of the Imperial British East Africa Company, Lugard led a team of explorers in the region of the Sabaki River before heading to Uganda in 1890. After ensuring British control of the area and ending unrest, he earned the title of military administrator of Uganda.

While in that capacity, he continued his explorations of Africa. He resigned his position in May 1892 and returned to London, where he convinced the government of Prime Minister Gladstone to remain in Uganda.

When Lugard returned to Africa in 1894, he worked for the Royal Niger Company. He pursued negotiations with various kings and chiefs so as to gain recognition of the company's power in the region and, by extension, that of the British over other European rivals.

While conducting an expedition to Lake Ngami in 1897 for the British West Charterland Company, Lugard was recalled by the British government so that he could organize a force of native Africans to defend British interests against the French in Lagos and Nigeria. His West African Frontier Force remained under Lugard's command until December 1899.

From 1900 until 1906, Lugard served as high commissioner of the protectorate of Northern Nigeria. Various local potentates, such as the sultan of Sukoto, refused to accept the provisions of treaties that they had signed. In 1903 Lugard triumphed over this opposition through a combination of diplomacy and military force.

Before he left in 1906, Lugard had secured British control over all of Nigeria, though the military still confronted uprisings. His efforts also resulted in an improvement in British commerce; newly laid rail lines carried tin, peanuts, and cotton to the coast.

Lugard favored indirect rule; by defeating indigenous rulers, he could control their peoples on behalf of the British. He accepted emirs who no longer traded slaves, acknowledged British authority, and introduced the measures that the British desired. These emirs retained their titles but took their orders from district officers; emirs could lose their positions if the

British high commissioner found them uncooperative. Thus, the British could reduce the number of colonial officers needed to supervise the territory. Lugard preserved Muslim control over education and medicine in Northern Nigeria, while Christian missionaries provided social services in the south. This resulted in an inequality between the two protectorates as conditions in the south improved.

Lugard spent the next few years in Hong Kong, where he held the position of governor until March 1912. He schemed to gain perpetual control over the rented New Territories, perhaps opening the way for permanent British control of Hong Kong, but his plans did not come to fruition. He also created the basis for the University of Hong Kong in 1911.

He returned to Nigeria as governor in 1912, when he focused on ending the existing system of two protectorates in favor of a single colony. Many intellectuals and the press in Lagos opposed the plan, but the citizenry as a whole did not react.

Lugard became governor-general of the colony of Nigeria from 1914 to 1919. As governor he attempted to prevent the importation or consumption of alcoholic beverages; he also tried to end slavery in the colony.

Lugard published numerous works in which he traced the genesis of the British Empire in Africa and rationalized its rule over Africans. In The Rise of Our East African Empire (1893) he emphasized the economic motives that compelled the British to seek new markets and to secure sources of raw materials; he justified the initial costs of conquest and anticipated the enormous financial benefits to come.

He further contended that the British had inherited the duty to expand the empire from their ancestors, who had shown considerable initiative in exploring and settling North America and Australia.

For Lugard, Britain's contributions to the welfare of Africans—the introduction of Christianity, the abolition of slavery, the spread of better medical treatments, and the improvement of education—would accompany its exploitation of Africa's natural and human resources for its own economic benefit.

Lugard's The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa (1922) presented a justification for his application of indirect rule in Nigeria, as well as continuing to elaborate a rationale for British rule in Africa. He perceived black Africans as different from white Europeans and believed that they needed training before they could control their own affairs entirely.

By coopting native elites, who spoke the local language and practiced the local customs, as administrators under a British supervisor, Lugard believed that the British could increase cooperation on the part of natives.

After his decades of service to the British Empire, the aging Lugard settled down to live in England. He died in 1945, after having been appointed a member of the Privy Council in 1920 and being raised to the peerage in 1928.

Bertha Lutz

Bertha Lutz
Bertha Lutz

A zoologist and scientist, Bertha (or "Berta," as her name is sometimes recorded) Maria Júlia Lutz was a prominent Brazilian feminist and campaigner for women's rights in Brazil, as well as an important naturalist.

Born on August 2, 1894, in São Paulo, her father was Adolfo Lutz (1855–1940), an important physician and epidemiologist, as well as a pioneer of tropical medicine. In 1881 he had moved to Brazil and settled in São Paulo, where he became a microbiologist specializing in the link between sanitation and epidemics, especially the plague, malaria, and yellow fever.

Bertha Lutz was educated in São Paulo and then went to France, where she studied at the University of Paris (Sorbonne). She specialized in natural sciences, biology, and zoology and returned to Brazil to follow up on her interests in amphibians.

Her major scientific discovery was a type of frog, to which she gave her name: Paratelmatobius lutzii ("Lutz Rapids Frog"). In 1919 Bertha Lutz started work at the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, then the capital of Brazil, which made her stand out at an early age, as public service jobs were officially supposed to be taken by men.

In Paris Bertha Lutz had been hugely influenced by feminist ideas from France and Britain and had made contact with many French women suffragettes. When she returned to Brazil in 1918, she started agitating for the establishment of a feminist movement there. Only a year after her return, Lutz formed the Federacao Feminista Progresso Brasileira ("Brazilian Federation of Feminine Progress").

In 1922 she attended the Pan-American Conference on Women and gained much useful advice from Paulina Luisi and Carrie Chapman Catt. She was also elected vice president of the conference. After the conference Lutz returned to Brazil and spent much of her time working for the women's movement.

She had seen the advances made by women in Europe and the United States and wanted to get the same rights recognized in Brazil, especially the right of women to work, the abolition of child labor, equal pay for equal work for women, and the right to maternity leave.

In 1932, owing to agitation by Lutz and others, women in Brazil were enfranchised and allowed to vote in elections, an act confirmed by the Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas in amendments to the Brazilian constitution.

Lutz made two unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the parliament on behalf of the Independent Electoral League. However, the death of one of the deputies, Candido Pereira, led to a casual vacancy, which was filled by Lutz, who became a deputy in 1934.

In parliament she argued for women's rights, three months' maternity leave, and a reduction in the hours in the working day for both men and women. She also campaigned for young men to be able to get exemptions from national service.

On October 6, 1940, Adolfo Lutz died, and his daughter not only ensured that his papers were sent to the National Archives of Brazil but also that she cataloged them meticulously, a task that took her the next 30 years.

The papers are still regularly studied by many scholars from all around the world and have been hugely augmented by her own collection of papers and books, which she also donated to the archives. Lutz remained in charge of botany at the National Museum for much of the rest of her life.

Her main work in English, British Naturalists in Brazil, was published in Rio de Janeiro in 1941. In 1948 Bertha Lutz was one of the four women who signed the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the others being Minerva Bernardino from the Dominican Republic, Virginia Gildersleeves from the United States, and Wu Yi-tang from the Republic of China. In the 1930s Lutz had written a number of technical papers published in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1968 she completed three papers that were all published by the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin: "Geographic Variation in Brazilian Species of Hyla" (1968), "Taxonomy of the Neotropical Hylidae" (1968), and "New Brazilian Forms of Hyla" (1968, republished in Rio de Janeiro in 1973). She also wrote a substantial book, Brazilian Species of Hyla, written with Gualter A.

Lutz and with a foreword by W. Frank Blair, which was also published in Austin, Texas, in 1973. In 1975 Lutz represented Brazil at the first International Congress of Women at Mexico City, organized by the United Nations. Bertha Lutz died on September 16, 1976, in Rio de Janeiro. The Bertha Lutz Foundation was established in her honor; its symbol is a green butterfly.

Rosa Luxemburg

Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg

Rosa Luxemburg, the Marxist revolutionary, activist, and author, was born to Jewish parents, Eduard and Line Luxemburg, in the Polish Russian town of Zamosac on March 5, 1871. Politics was her main interest from her early days at school.

She arrived in Zurich in 1889 to study law and political economy at the university there. Luxemburg found herself among some of the leading revolutionaries of the period, including George Plekhanov (1857–1918) and Leo Jogiches (1867–1919).

Her association with the latter became lifelong, and both men helped to establish a new party, the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland, which became the Socialist Democratic Party of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL).


She was in Paris for a while, where she edited the party's mouthpiece, Sprawa Robotnicza (Workers' cause). She shifted to Berlin in 1898 and was associated with German socialism for the next 20 years. After getting her German citizenship, she settled in Berlin and became a member of the German Social Democratic Party. Luxemburg was the editor of the party organ Vorwarts (Forward) from 1905 onward.

Luxemburg developed many of her concepts of revolution during this period. For her, the Moscow uprising of December 1905 was due to mass action. Revolution was a long-term phenomenon. Moreover, it could happen in a comparatively underdeveloped country like Russia. She began to write profusely, emphasizing mass strikes.

The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks had different revolutionary strategies, and Luxemburg believed in the former's slogan of dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry. However, she criticized the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution broke out.

Luxemburg was imprisoned in Polish Russia in 1906 and later released. She continued with her political activities and was jailed for two months in June and July 1907. Luxemburg taught Marxism and economics at the Social Democratic Party School in Berlin between 1907 and 1914.

World War I broke out on July 28, 1914, and the Bureau of the Socialist International met in Brussels the next day. Luxemburg, as a representative of the SDKPiL, advocated for mass demonstrations against the war. But SPD members voted in favor of the Reichstag's declaration of war on August 4.

In September Luxemburg, along with her colleague Karl Liebknecht (1871–1919) and others, formed the International Group from her flat and decided to oppose the war. The group was converted to the Spartakusbund on January 1, 1916. Luxemburg was imprisoned many times during the war.

She was released on November 8, 1919, from prison and went on to establish the German Communist Party (KPD) with the help of Liebknecht and socialist groups. Luxemburg organized the Spartakusbund uprising in January 1919 in Berlin but was captured along with Liebknecht. Both were killed on January 15.

Luxemburg's contributions to socialist theory and practice were immense. She was the most vocal spokesperson of the German labor movement. Luxemburg was not an armchair revolutionary like many of the Marxists but believed in action. She ultimately became a martyr for her beliefs, which never wavered from a strong basis of humanitarianism.

Louis-Hubert Lyautey

Louis-Hubert Lyautey
Louis-Hubert Lyautey

Louis-Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey was born in Nancy, France, on November 17, 1854. He was brought up in the aristocratic and intellectual society of Nancy as well as in the simplicity of country life. When Lyautey was only 18 months old he fell from a balcony of the family house, which resulted in a spinal injury. Until the age of six he endured a long period of enforced inactivity, passing the time by reading.

In his teens he attended several schools, and at age 18 in 1873 he entered the French military academy, Saint-Cyr. In 1876 he enrolled in the military staff school and joined a cavalry regiment that was posted in Orleansville, Algeria.

For the next two years Lyautey learned about Islam, North Africa, and colonial administration; he also began studying Arabic. Lyautey was promoted to the rank of captain in 1882 and was then ordered to join the IV regiment of the Chasseurs Legers at Epinal.


When Lyautey was about 33 he published an article on military reforms that ultimately changed his career. He was considered one of those rare men who enjoyed both the sword and the pen. As a reprimand for his article, Lyautey was transferred to Indochina; however, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

He arrived in Saigon in 1894 and met with Colonel Joseph Gallieni, who became his inspiration; Gallieni also promoted him to chief of staff. While under Gallieni, Lyautey learned a core lesson in colonization, namely, not to offend local traditions nor to change customs, and to use the elite class to the benefit of the empire.

Lyautey also learned tactics involving taking, securing, administering, and developing areas that were in enemy hands or subject to enemy attack. His principles concentrated on the well-being of the indigenous population, providing them with security in everyday life and administering their affairs with understanding, respect, and generosity.

In 1897 Lyautey followed Gallieni to Madagascar, where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and had the opportunity to construct a city how he saw fit. By 1900 he was promoted to full colonel, and by 1903 he returned to Algeria as brigadier general.

After the French took several cities in Morocco in an attempt to quell resistance to their occupation in neighboring Algeria, the Treaty of Fez, establishing a French protectorate over Morocco, was signed on March 30, 1912.

Lyautey was then appointed the first resident general of Morocco. One of Lyautey's greatest qualities was his ability to adapt to new situations, and he did not adopt a specific or rigid formula in his administration of Morocco.

He had qualities that appealed to Moroccans, Berbers, and Arabs alike, as he was a man of decision, integrity, and justice. In contrast to many of his peers, Lyautey did not believe it was the mission of Europeans to force their civilization and religion on the peoples of colonized countries.

He believed it was important that the French understand Islam and the values of the Muslim world. He also believed that a mass migration of European colonists into Morocco would cause problems (as it had in Algeria) but did not object if the colons were willing to contribute to the country.

As resident general, Lyautey maintained local customs and architecture and established so-called flying columns of soldiers to move quickly from one location to another in order to put down any local rebellions. The establishment of local health clinics in remote areas helped to encourage Moroccan support of the French administration.

Lyautey also modernized and enlarged ports, especially in Casablanca, and supported economic development projects in mining and trade. With the outbreak of World War I, he managed to control Morocco with very few troops.

In 1916, in the midst of World War I, Lyautey was offered the post of minister of war. After some reluctance he accepted the post but soon clashed with other high-ranking military officers. He opposed Commander in Chief Robert Nivelle's plan for a new offensive against the Germans, but the plan was implemented over Lyautey's objections.

Just as Lyautey had foreseen, the offensive failed and resulted in massive numbers of French casualties. Furious, Lyautey tendered his resignation and was asked to return to Morocco to resume his old post as resident general, which he happily accepted. After the war in 1921, Lyautey was promoted to the nation's highest military rank of marshal. He was 66 years old.

Lyautey was plagued by liver attacks that affected him for years that would force him to stay in bed for several weeks and for which he had to endure several operations. During the 1920s, plagued with ill health, Lyautey attempted to resign from the residency, but he was constantly persuaded to remain in Morocco.

During the early 1920s the successes of the Rif rebellion under Abd el Krim against the Spanish enclaves in the north of Morocco threatened French rule in the rest of the nation. By 1925 Lyautey was reluctantly engulfed in military operations against Abd el Krim and his army. In the midst of the struggle, Lyautey was removed from the military command of Morocco, and Marshal Philippe Petain, with whom he had previously clashed, replaced him.

On September 24, 1925, the colonial veteran, now 70 years old, asked to be relieved of the supreme command in Morocco. His resignation was accepted, and n October Lyautey left Morocco for France. As he left Rabat, a large crowd gathered to see him off.

To the surprise of many, it was the British, not the French, who honored Lyautey with a naval escort of two destroyers through the Strait of Gibraltar. Lyautey spent most of his remaining years at Thorey, in his beloved Lorraine, preparing a few volumes of letters for publication.

Some of the developments in Morocco that Lyautey can be credited with are construction of roads, cities, hospitals, schools, dispensaries, and railways. Hubert Lyautey died in 1934, and his ashes were conveyed by a French naval squadron, accompanied by 14 ships of the British Second Battle Cruiser Squadron, to his mausoleum in Rabat, Morocco.

Lytton Commission and Report

Lytton Commission
Lytton Commission

On the night of September 18, 1931, the Japanese Kwantung Army stationed in Manchuria, China's northeastern provinces, staged a minor bomb explosion on the tracks of the South Manchurian Railway outside Mukden, the administrative capital of Manchuria.

Claiming that it was Chinese sabotage, the Japanese military swung into action, simultaneously attacking over a dozen Chinese cities in the region. Japanese units from its colony Korea invaded to broaden the attack. This was known as the Manchurian incident, or Mukden incident.

The Chinese army was no match for superior Japanese forces. Therefore, China decided not to resist militarily and appealed to the League of Nations for support. It also appealed to the United States as signatory of the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 and the Washington Treaty of 1922. International support for China was expectedly lukewarm.


However, the league assembly passed two resolutions, on September 30 and October 24, enjoining Japan to withdraw its forces, which the Japanese government promised to honor, but they had no effect on its military. On December 10 the league decided to dispatch a commission of investigation under British diplomat Lord Lytton, which spent six weeks in Manchuria plus some time in Japan and China.

Japan conquered Manchuria in five months, then established a puppet state called Manchukuo (state of the Manchus) on March 9, 1932. Next Colonel Doihara Kenji, intelligence chief of the Kwantung Army, enticed the last Qing (Ch'ing) emperor, Pu-i (P'u-yi), to Manchuria, installing him as chief executive (later as "emperor") in a regime totally controlled by the Japanese.

The Lytton Report, submitted to the league on October 1, 1932, refuted Japan's claim that Manchukuo had local support, condemned Japan for aggression, and recommended the restoration of Manchuria to Chinese sovereignty.

It also recommended the maintenance of the Open Door policy in Manchuria and special consideration for Japanese and Soviet commercial interests in the region. China signaled total acceptance of the report's recommendations, as did the league assembly on February 14, 1933, with one dissenting vote—Japan's. On March 27 Japan announced its resignation from the league.

The failure of the League of Nations to halt Japanese aggression against China in the Manchurian incident signaled its impotence and doomed the international organization. The United States had on January 7, 1932, announced its Non-Recognition Doctrine (or Stimson Doctrine after Secretary of State Henry Stimson), stating that it would not recognize any situation created as a result of war in violation of the Kellogg-Briand Pact. Japanese militarists, encouraged by their success, would ignore both the league and the United States to pursue aggression.

Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur

General Douglas MacArthur was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on January 26, 1880, the son of Arthur MacArthur, a Civil War hero and military officer, and Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur. His early years were spent in military postings throughout the western part of the United States, but he eventually settled in Washington, D.C., following his father's move to the War Department. There he built a strong relationship with his grandfather, Arthur MacArthur, an influential judge who had access to important Washington contacts.

MacArthur's education was fairly transient and lackluster until his father enrolled him in the West Texas Military Academy, where he started to reveal talents that would take him to the U. S. Military Academy at West Point in 1898.

At West Point he established a considerable reputation, emerging as first in his class in 1903. After graduation his first service was in the Philippines, where he established a lifelong love for the country.


Following the death of his father in 1912, he took up a valuable posting in the War Department, where he came to the attention of Army Chief of Staff General Leonard Wood. In 1915 MacArthur was promoted to major, and within the year he became the army's first public relations officer, a post that helped him sell preparations for war to the U.S. public in the form of the Selective Service Act of 1917.

World War I established MacArthur's reputation as a striking leader of dash and courage. He was appointed brigadier general in August 1918 and became the youngest divisional commander in France, leading the 42nd Division. He was awarded 13 decorations and was cited for bravery seven times.

Following military demobilization, MacArthur maintained his rank and became the youngest superintendent in the history of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He modernized the curriculum and doubled the size of the academy. In 1922 he married Henrietta Louise Cromwell Brooks, a marriage that led to divorce in 1929.

In the interwar years from 1922 until 1930, MacArthur served two tours in the Philippines, where he built a strong friendship with Philippine leader Manuel Quezon and commanded the army's Philippine department from 1928 until 1930. He became chief of staff of the U.S. Army in 1930, when the Great Depression was in full swing.

Army strength was severely affected by cutbacks, and political protests drew MacArthur, along with George Patton and Dwight D. Eisenhower, to the unsavory task of suppressing the Bonus Army of 1932. This campaign by World War I veterans was met by tanks and cavalry, and the action was in some quarters deemed an excessive use of force.

In 1935 MacArthur returned to the Philippines at the request of President Quezon to head the U.S. military mission and help prepare the Philippines for full independence in 1946. It was at this time that he also met and married Jean Marie Faircloth, who would make MacArthur a father at age 58. After retirement from the army in 1937, MacArthur remained in the Philippines as a military adviser.

Yet when negotiations with the Japanese broke down in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt recalled MacArthur to service with the rank of major general, and he was charged with the task of mobilizing the Philippine defenses. He built up his forces in Luzon and Mindanao and was confident in his ability to resist a Japanese attack, a fact that he reported to General George Marshall in Washington.

Immediately following Pearl Harbor, the Japanese launched widespread attacks on the Philippines, where they quickly overcame MacArthur's defenses and destroyed his air force, much of it caught on the ground.

Although previously encouraged to do so, MacArthur failed to attack the Japanese air bases in Taiwan; the Japanese invasion met little effective resistance. Luzon fell, as did Manila, and MacArthur retreated to the Bataan Peninsula and the fortress at Corregidor.

In late February 1942 he was ordered to withdraw to Australia, leaving his surrounded army of 11,000 men under the command of General Jonathan Wainwright to face the Japanese. Their surrender would lead to the infamous Bataan Death March, which incensed all Americans and increased their desire for revenge.

MacArthur's daring escape with his wife, son, and a small group of advisers was initially by patrol boat before connecting with an aircraft that got him to Australia's Northern Territory by March 17. It was at Terowie, South Australia, that he made his now famous "I Shall Return" speech.

MacArthur now became supreme commander of the Allied forces in the southwest Pacific area, working with Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific fleet, and Admiral Ernest King, commander in chief of the U.S. Navy. From offices in Brisbane, Australia, MacArthur developed an island-hopping strategy to counter the Japanese and stop their advance across the Pacific.

MacArthur with marine amphibious landings
MacArthur with marine amphibious landings

By 1943, because of MacArthur's expert use of navy support and army and marine amphibious landings, as well as the benefits of major victories at Midway and at Guadalcanal, the tide turned. Importantly, New Guinea fell to the Allies in 1944, allowing MacArthur to plan the retaking of the Philippines.

The destruction of the Japanese navy at Leyte was the largest naval battle in history and made the successful landings possible while ending all hope that the Japanese could counter. U.S. troops advanced across the Philippines and moved on to attack Luzon in January 1945. Manila was taken after brutal resistance by Japanese troops under the command of General Yamashita on March 4, 1945.

From headquarters now established in Manila, MacArthur planned the final attacks upon Japan, including a 1,300-ship invasion of Okinawa, which was but 350 miles from mainland Japan, on April 1, 1945. The struggle for Okinawa was extremely costly, resulting in 12,520 U.S. and 110,000 Japanese killed and the introduction of major kamikaze suicide raids on U.S. shipping.


The heavy cost extracted from this invasion made an invasion of the Japanese main islands a daunting prospect. The atomic bomb strategy was introduced to quicken the end of the war and deliver Japan's unconditional surrender.

On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, which did not produce the desired capitulation. On August 9 a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The Japanese accepted terms on August 10. Their surrender ended World War II in the Pacific.

MacArthur received the formal surrender onboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945, and President Harry S. Truman appointed him head of the Allied occupation of Japan. Japan was a defeated and devastated country, and MacArthur worked to salvage and reconstruct the country, including the creation of a democratic constitution that would ensure a peaceful Japan.

MacArthur turned over authority in 1949 to a new Japanese government, which preserved the emperor but in a symbolic role. MacArthur remained in Japan until relieved by President Truman in April 1951.

The North Korean attack on South Korea in 1950 changed the course of Korean history, as it did MacArthur's own. MacArthur assumed command of a United Nations–sanctioned coalition of Allies authorized to drive out the North Koreans.

He saved a desperate situation by organizing a brilliant rearguard amphibious landing at Inchon, which outflanked and destroyed much of the North Korean army, whose remnants hastily retreated back across the 38th parallel and then toward the Chinese border.

The Chinese warned that they would become involved if their border was threatened. From his position of strength, MacArthur was dismissive of the Chinese threat until on October 25, 1950, the Chinese crossed the Yalu River and drove the Allies back.

MacArthur wanted to now attack the Chinese with overwhelming force, including nuclear weapons, but President Truman feared this would involve the Soviet Union and create the framework for a new world war. MacArthur's relations with Truman broke down. By March 1951 the prewar boundary position along the 38th parallel was established.

This development encouraged Truman to ask for a cease-fire and negotiations to end the conflict. While Truman tried to secure such talks, MacArthur continued to threaten the Chinese and undercut Truman's position as commander in chief. The president responded on April 11, 1951, by relieving McArthur of his command.

Truman's decision, because of MacArthur's extreme popularity and influence, was not well received by many Americans, particularly those desiring a stronger cold war response to aggressive communist expansion.

Upon his return to the United States, his first time on the mainland in 11 years, MacArthur was invited to address Congress. It was here that he gave a powerful performance, where he emotionally and famously ended his speech with the declaration, "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away."

MacArthur's considerable popular acclaim led to the belief that he would be a 1952 Republican challenger for the presidency, or at least be the vice presidential candidate on a Robert Taft ticket.

His political views and a Senate investigation of his dismissal helped cool some of this enthusiasm. The successful emergence of General Dwight David Eisenhower as the Republican presidential candidate ended MacArthur's involvement in national politics.

After leaving the army, MacArthur lived in New York and became chairman of the board at the Remington Rand Corporation. He did offer military advice to presidents, if requested, and did so for John F. Kennedy, when his advice was critical of the Pentagon policies of the day. He also managed a return visit in 1961 to the Philippines, where he received further accolades, including the naming of the Pan-Philippine Highway as MacArthur Highway in his honor.

General Douglas MacArthur was one of the most highly decorated soldiers in U.S. history, holding numerous citations as well as the highest award, the Medal of Honor. He died at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington on April 5, 1964.

Herbert Macaulay

Herbert Macaulay
Herbert Macaulay
Herbert Macaulay was a Nigerian political leader, civil engineer, journalist, and musician. He was among the first Nigerians to oppose British rule in the African nation.

Macaulay's grandfather, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, was the first African bishop in Nigeria. Macaulay's father, Thomas Babington Macaulay, was also a minister and an educator. Herbert was born and educated in Lagos, one of the 12 states in present-day Nigeria. In 1881 he became a clerk for the public works department in Lagos. His abilities soon won him the respect of the government, and he was offered a scholarship to study civil engineering in England.

Returning from England three years later, Macaulay was named surveyor of the Crown lands for the colony of Lagos. Soon, however, he became embittered by the racial inequities he saw in civil service. In 1898 Macaulay resigned his post and began his own surveying company.

Macaulay's dissatisfaction with colonial rule in Africa led him to express himself, contributing a number of articles to the Lagos Daily Times. Lagos and the entire Nigerian region were under the Lugard system called indirect rule.


Britain established its power using extant administrative systems rather than imposing entirely new governmental institutions. Although the governments and officials were often Africans, they had no real power.

British governors and primarily white legislatures made all the decisions. As a result, the leaders lost standing among their people, the people distrusted the British even more, and protests were common.

In an effort to compromise, the British marginally increased African representation. This action was partly the result of Macaulay's 1921 trip to London as a representative of the king of Lagos. Macaulay used the opportunity to denounce British rule for usurping the power of the king, or eleko, who Macaulay asserted was recognized by all Nigerians as their rightful ruler.

In 1922 Lagos and Calabar were able to send African representatives to the legislature, but they remained in the minority. Macaulay then established the first Nigerian political party, which was able to win three seats in the legislative council in 1923.

The Nigerian National Democratic Party sought self-government for Lagos and all Nigeria, universal primary education, the building of schools, and more representation of Africans in government and civil service positions.

Macaulay continued to work for these causes and in 1944 was instrumental in the formation of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). Macaulay was elected president of the NCNC. The council brought together more than 40 different factions that represented many geographical, cultural, age, and ethnic groups.

Although he is often called the father of Nigerian nationalism, Herbert Macaulay did not see Nigerian independence. He became ill in 1945 while on a speaking tour promoting the NCNC agenda. He returned to Lagos, where he died the same year. Nigeria was granted independence from Britain on October 1, 1960.