Final Exam Question 1
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War can have a various style of leadership. Some can be considered as harsh but fair and other
can be considered as non-essential on the battlefield. Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler can be
seen as strategic tacticians who made every precaution ready before committing their troops int
battle. Of course, the autocratic form of leadership by Adolf Hitler who made most of the
decision by himself and gave very little ability to his counterparts to give him any form of
advice. On the other hand of this was Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was a very Democratic leader.
This was due this ability to look towards his war counsel and ask for ideas before giving any
decision to a major military operation. Not only was Adolf Hitler considered to be the only
aristocratic leader when it came to the was though. Mussolini, who was technically aided Adolf
Hitler, was also considered aristocratic in the sense that he took very little input when it came to
his war counsel and made most of the decision on his own. I will be breaking down these
leadership keys into three aspects:
1.)
Strategic Decision Making: A Key leader when it came to the decision making can be
seen as General Dwight D. Eisenhower. This man not only made critical decisions when it
came to making impact on the war, but he made decision that did not even Katter when
it came to the weather. On page 423 of,” A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World
War by Williamson Murray and Allan R. Milett.” They state,” If D-Day at Omaha was bad
for the Americans, it was worse for the Germans. To begin with, they were misled by
their weather reports and entirely missed the possibility that the weather might break.
As a result, Rommel had driven back to Germany to give his wife a birthday present.”.
This plan of strategy utilizing the weather not only weakened the capabilities of the
Germans, but also can be seen as giving the United States the upper hand due to a more
effective leader in combat.
2.)
Motivating and inspiring troops: This motivation does not come from simple speeches.
Most people think that the person on the pdium is the man who gets the most respect.
This comes from the man who give orders that will look to save lives in the aspect of
battle and increase the lethality of a fighting force. The man who would give the Country
a more reason to want to fight knowing that they had the upper hand. Erwin Rommel
motivated the command of Army group B during ther defense of the Bay of Biscay. On
page 412 of,” A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World War by Williamson Murray
and Allan R. Milett.” They state,”
Nevertheless, Rommel brought his ceaseless energy to
the challenge of meeting the Allied threat. He oversaw a massive construction program that
sowed millions of mines, built thousands of bunkers and field fortifications, placed tens of
thousands of poles (“Rommel asparagus”) in fields to interfere with glider landings, and
installed huge numbers of anti-boat obstacles along the beaches. So successful was the
beach-obstacles program that the Allies were forced to land at low rather than high tide, so
that they could spot and avoid this peril.
This not only shows just his passion of leadership
when it comes to ensuring the safety of himself, it shows the caring of the safety of his
troops in combat. The safety of his troops is what ensures the well-being of subordinates
and ensures that the troops are inspired to work for him. With the fortification making
we can see that the troops looked towards it as an extra barrier towards them and the
enemy that would save them towards the enemy being able to pursue them.
3.)
Maintaining Morale: To have morale with the troops you do not have to have the most
combat service in the ranks. They are looking for a person who is strategically sound and
has been at the same level the troops are. General Douglas MacArthur was the man for
this morale. Not only was he known for walking the line to see his man in the Pacific, but
he was also known for his strong strategic plans that would carry weight behind it. On
page 206 of,” A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World War by Williamson Murray
and Allan R. Milett.” They state,”
Early in the New Guinea campaign, MacArthur revealed
some unique leadership characteristics. MacArthur’s staff, dominated by the so-called
Corregidor Gang, tried to convince themselves and others that MacArthur was a military
genius. Some people believed it, but many did not. MacArthur’s paranoia, lust for personal
publicity, political ambition, structured and comfortable life-style, and hypochondria were well
known in the army. One of his intimates said that MacArthur hated funerals and hospitals and
avoided them at all cost.
“This just goes to show you that the leadership of MacArthur
was not just about winning the war but was also about the ensuring well-being of
subordinates.
Leadership grows in many forms. Whether it be from being on a battle map and strategically
mak0ing decisions, giving inspiration to troops, or being on the front lines with your men to
show the that you care about them. All these key aspects show leadership during the war. With
leaders like spoken above we can see just how they were not only able to inspire the troops
below them, but also capable to shape the war in their favor.
Bibliography:
Connelly, Owen.
On War and Leadership: The Words of Combat Commanders from Frederick
the Great to Norman Schwarzkopf
. Princeton University Press, 2002.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7rsbp.
Leavitt, William M. “General Douglas MacArthur: Supreme Public Administrator of Post—
World War II Japan.”
Public Administration Review
75, no. 2 (2015): 315–24.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/24757426.
Murray, Williamson, and Allan R. Millett.
A War to Be Won : Fighting the Second World War
, Harvard
University Press, 2000.
ProQuest Ebook Central
,
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/apus/detail.action?docID=3300332.
Created from apus on 2023-11-23 01:38:06.
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