Douglas MacArthur is a very controversial figure. Some authors like William Manchester put him as high on a pedestal with some of the greatest generals of all time like Caesar and Napoleon. Some also put him on a scale of being one of the worst generals of all time and say even Joseph Stilwell is better ( who has been called the world American general )

So what’s the truth? Well he’s a complicated character but let’s look at some of his battles and what he did right and wrong.

Let’s first look at the first battle he found himself in. Bataan and the surrounding islands. MacArthur inherited a bad situation. He had US and Filipino troops but the Japanese had the clear advantage in every way. MacArthur was NOT going to win. But he was also lied to. He was told that US forces, specifically bombers were on the way to support him and that he will be given support. In reality it became clear that they were never going to support him and were even lying to him. What about when he left his troops? Well he was ordered to as his loss and capture to the Japanese would be invaluable to the US war effort.

Let’s look at his recapture of the Philippines. He promised he would return and did return in 1944. He fought his way to Manila. There is often debate on whether or not he could have bypassed Manila and it would have saved the city but the Japanese were under orders to fight IN the city and make the Americans get into urban combat with them. So MacArthur was unable to bypass it and Manila was going to be destroyed in the battle regardless. MacArthur wanted to save the city and originally allowed NO artillery use. But soon the Japanese started destroying Manila on their own and started to burn, blow up and destroy the city even before the US were really involved. They also started murdering, raping and torturing many of the residents. MacArthur was totally oblivious to this and was more focused on making his military parade. It total 250,000 civilians died. The US troops eventually retook the city only after artillery was allowed and most of the city was destroyed.

He was pretty controversial before Korea. But I think his greatest victory and greatest defeat come from the Korean War.

In June 1950 North Korean troops crossed the border and invaded the south. The UN intended to fight ( which the USSR and NK did not expect ) and MacArthur was given command. But the North Korean forces proved to be very skilled in tank warfare and soviet doctrine and shattered ROK and US unit time and time again. It was only after the air force and enough units were put in the field when the north was stopped.

MacArthurs greatest victory in my opinion comes from Inchon. He landed behind the North Korean lines and then pushed forward. This resulted in the complete collapse of the North Korean armies. Arguably the greatest victory in his career as it was just a very decisive battle.

But his greatest defeat was just around the corner. He pushed north and retook Seoul. Then went further and further north far into North Korea. Reports were coming in of US Troops capturing what they claimed to be Chinese troops. Reports also came in that China was massing troops in Manchuria. It was debated that MacArthur wanted to head north into China but given the size of his army I don’t think that’s what he intended. But he really was going to the border and taking all of Korea. But soon some cavalry units came under direct attack by Chinese troops, he didn’t learn then either. And later on troops from his 1st marine division became surrounded and a RCT team was totally wiped out. The Chinese entered the war and started pushing south. The US forces had to retreat and evacuate. MacArthur was unable to use his intelligence to his advantage and it soon came clear he could lose all the gains he had fought for. Soon Truman, George Marshall and Omar Bradley all gave their opinion on it and MacArthur was fired.

So what can we learn about MacArthur. I think he was an average general. He made some mistakes and had some victories. He had minor wins and loses, then major wins and losses. I think he was similar as Patton and Montgomery where they hyped themselves up. He definitely did this with his sun glasses and personality. The problem though is he was not as good as Patton ( in my opinion ) and again was just an average general. The reason i gave you all these examples is because modern scholarship is split too. Some say he’s good, some bad. I think he’s somewhere in the middle.