Macarthur and the Philippines

            Case Study 1 : Macarthur and the Philippines.
            
             General Douglas Macarthur showed the world that you could win a war against an army that was larger than the Allied forces and its civilians were not scared of dieing for their country at all costs. Macarthur took the political approach in winning President Roosevelt's approval for his strategies as opposed to the military tactics the Chiefs of Staff wanted to implement such as island-hopping, which would allow the gradual pushing back of the enemy but would have consequent heavy casualties.
             Analysis.
             The Chiefs of Staff wanted to attack the Japanese head on by taking over each Philippine island at all costs, including heavy casualties. Luzon was the greater strategic prize because they would provide guerilla support to the Americans. On the other hand Macarthur's strategy was to isolate the islands from the Japanese so they were starved and incapacitated. This allowed him to attack and seize with minimum losses to construct airfields and cut off supply lines to Japanese troops. The bypass strategy was not expected by the Japanese and mislead their plans as they wanted the Americans to attack them head on and incapacitate their troops. Macarthur looked for peaceful ways of dealing with the Japanese so that the war could be contained among the troops and not get the civilians involved. Hirohito himself looked for a peaceful end to the war, but the Americans ultimatum to abolish the monarchy failed, as the Japanese would not destroy their history and culture. In the end the Chiefs of Staff carried out the Atomic blasts and ended the war through military means and decimated the Japanese army and people.
             Conclusion.
             Macarthur took a huge risk against the Chiefs of Staff by going against the island-hopping strategy. In my view Macarthur wanted to show the world he is a conscious leader that was protecting American lives and would bring freedom to the Philippines and to the world.