The articles listed here represent some of my thoughts on various well known personalities, primarily associated with the Second World War era. While some of the individuals are well known and substantially discussed, others are key figures who have gotten very little attention.
Hideki Tojo led Japan into the Second World War and was ultimately responsible for its conduct of the Pacific war until mid-1944. He remains almost completely unknown in the West. In contrast, an enormous quantity of information is available regarding Emperor Hirohito. It is as if historians had chosen to focus on King George of England and disregard Winston Churchill's role in the war.
His boyhood was characterized by a passion for rockets. In the Second World War his work became known world wide with the development of the V-2 rocket. Operation Paperclip was mounted with intent of securing samples of the world's most advanced rocket for the US. Bringing the designer along seemed like the only viable option. Von Braun was quite willing. After the war he was instrumental in putting a man on the moon.
Madame Chiang, media darling and the power behind the Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-shek, was so prominent in the Chinese war effort against Japan that General Stilwell recommended, only half jokingly, that she be appointed Minister of Defense.
At the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Nationalist Chinese led by Chiang Kai-Shek were in desperate need. Help was at hand through the Allies but it arrived with American General Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell.
Benito Mussolini, the man who made the Italian trains run on time, created his own unique brand of politics: Facism. He was heralded worldwide as a statesman of genius.
After the outbreak of World War I Roosevelt became a strong supporter of preparedness for war, a direct contrast to his country's isolationist policies. By 1940 overt defense preparations and "all aid short of war" to the European Allies were underway.
His birth name was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashivili. His party name was "Koba"-- the name of a Georgian folk-hero rather like Robin Hood. The world remembers him as Stalin -- derived from the Russian word for steel.
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill has been described as the second most influential person in the World War II, eclipsed only by Adolf Hitler. But his influence did not arise in a vacuum. His political and military career spanned nearly four decades prior to the war.
Adolf Hitler, a nondescript Austrian volunteer in the Imperial German Army in 1918, with the rank of corporal, rose to the position of Chancellor of Weimar Germany in the space of 15 years. Roughly six years later he was on Time magazine's cover as "Man of the Year" for 1938 -- a grudging acknowledgment of Hitler's importance.
Copyright © 2018 Ralph Zuljan