Portal:Biography/Selected biography military

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Selected biography military 1

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Joaquim José Inácio, Viscount of Inhaúma (1 August 1808 – 8 March 1869) was a naval officer, politician, and monarchist of the Empire of Brazil. Inhaúma enlisted in the armada of Brazil following the Brazilian independence in 1822. Throughout the chaos that characterized the years when Emperor Dom Pedro II was a minor, Inhaúma remained loyal to the government, suppressing rebellions that erupted during that troubled period. He saw action in the Sabinada between 1837 and 1838, followed by the Ragamuffin War from 1840 until 1844. In 1849 Inhaúma was given command of the fleet that was instrumental in subduing the Praieira revolt, the last rebellion in imperial Brazil.

During the 1850s, Inhaúma held a series of bureaucratic positions. He entered politics in 1861 as a member of the Conservative Party. He became a cabinet member and was given the position of navy minister. Although historical works have not given much coverage to Inhaúma, some historians regard him among the greatest of the Brazilian navy officers.

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Oberst Helmut Lent (13 June 1918 – 7 October 1944) was a German night-fighter ace in World War II. Lent shot down 110 aircraft, 102 of them at night. Lent claimed his first aerial victories at the outset of World War II in the invasion of Poland and over the German Bight. During the invasion of Norway he flew ground support missions before he was transferred to the newly established Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1), a night fighter wing. Lent claimed his first nocturnal aerial victory on 12 May 1941 and on 30 August 1941 was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. His steady accumulation of aerial victories resulted in regular promotions and awards. On the night of 15 June 1944, Major Lent was the first night fighter pilot to claim 100 nocturnal aerial victories, a feat which earned him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds on 31 July 1944. On 7 October 1944, Lent died from injuries sustained in a crash during a routine transit flight two days earlier.

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Myles Standish (c. 1584 – October 3, 1656) was an English military officer hired by the Pilgrims as military advisor for Plymouth Colony. One of the Mayflower passengers, and a signatory of the Mayflower Compact, Standish played a leading role in the administration and defense of Plymouth Colony from its inception. Standish served as an agent of Plymouth Colony in England, as assistant governor, and as treasurer of Plymouth Colony. He was also one of the first settlers and founders of the town of Duxbury, Massachusetts. In 1621 the Plymouth Colony militia elected him as its first commander and continued to re-elect him to that position for the remainder of his life. A defining characteristic of Standish's military leadership was his proclivity for preemptive action which resulted in at least two attacks on different groups of Native Americans; the Nemasket raid and the Wessagusset massacre. During these actions, Standish exhibited considerable courage and skill as a soldier, but also demonstrated a brutality that angered Native Americans and disturbed more moderate members of the Colony.

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Arthur William Radford (27 February 1896 – 17 August 1973) was a United States Navy admiral and naval aviator. In over 40 years of military service, Radford held a variety of posts including Vice Chief of Naval Operations, commander of the United States Pacific Fleet and later the second Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Noted as a strong-willed and aggressive leader, Radford was a central figure in the post-war debates on U.S. military policy, and was a staunch proponent of naval aviation. As commander of the Pacific Fleet, he defended the Navy's interests in an era of shrinking defense budgets, and was a central figure in the "Revolt of the Admirals," a contentious public fight over policy. As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, he continued to advocate for aggressive foreign policy and a strong nuclear deterrent in support of the "New Look" policy of President Dwight Eisenhower. Retiring from the military in 1957, Radford continued to be a military adviser to several prominent politicians until his death in 1973. The Spruance-class destroyer USS Arthur W. Radford was named in his honor.

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Isaac Shelby (December 11, 1750 – July 18, 1826) was a soldier, the first and fifth Governor of the U.S. state of Kentucky, and served in the state legislatures of Virginia and North Carolina. Shelby's military service began at the Battle of Point Pleasant, the only major battle of Lord Dunmore's War. Following the war, Shelby relocated to Kentucky on lands awarded to him for his military service and became involved in Kentucky's transition from a county of Virginia to an independent state. His heroism made him popular with the citizens of the state. The state electoral college unanimously elected him governor in 1792, where he served a four year term. Prior to the War of 1812, Kentuckians urged Shelby to run for governor again to lead them through the anticipated conflict. At the request of General William Henry Harrison, Shelby commanded troops from Kentucky at the Battle of the Thames, for which he was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal. At the conclusion of the war, he declined President James Monroe's offer to become Secretary of War.

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Lê Quang Vinh (c. 1923 – 13 July 1956), popularly known as Ba Cụt (referring to the finger he himself had partially severed as part of a vow to defeat the French colonial forces), was a military commander of the Hòa Hảo religious sect, which operated from the Mekong Delta and controlled various parts of southern Vietnam during the 1940s and early 1950s. Ba Cụt and his forces fought the Vietnamese National Army (VNA), the Việt Minh, and the Cao Đài religious movement from 1943 until his capture in 1956. Known for his idiosyncrasies, he was regarded as an erratic and cruel leader who fought with little ideological purpose. Ba Cụt frequently made alliances with various Vietnamese factions and the French. He invariably accepted the material support offered in return for his cooperation, and then broke the agreement—nevertheless, the French made deals with him on five occasions. In mid-1955, as Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm of the State of Vietnam began to consolidate his grip on the south, Ba Cụt was captured, sentenced to death, and publicly beheaded in Cần Thơ.

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Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, GCB GCVO KCMG PC (24 May 1854 – 11 September 1921), formerly Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, was a British naval officer and German prince related to members of the British Royal Family. He enrolled in the United Kingdom's Royal Navy at the age of fourteen, and although Queen Victoria and her son King Edward VII occasionally intervened in his career, Louis welcomed battle assignments that provided opportunities for him to acquire the skills of war and to demonstrate to his superiors that he was serious about his naval career. After a naval career lasting more than forty years, in 1912 he was appointed First Sea Lord, the professional head of the British naval service. With World War I looming, he took steps to ready the British fleet for combat, but his background as a German prince forced his retirement once the war began, when anti-German sentiment was running high. His son, Louis Mountbatten, served as First Sea Lord from 1954 to 1959, and his grandson, Prince Philip, is the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.

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Roderic Stanley (Stan) Dallas, DSO, DSC & Bar (30 July 1891 – 1 June 1918), was an Australian fighter ace of World War I. His score of aerial victories is generally regarded as the second-highest by an Australian, after Robert Little; however there is considerable dispute over Dallas's exact total. While his official score is commonly given as 39, claim-by-claim analyses list as few as 32, and other research credits him with over 50, compared to Little's official tally of 47. Like Little, Dallas flew with British units, rather than the Australian Flying Corps. Initially seeing action with No. 1 Naval Wing on the Western Front in Caudrons and Nieuport 11s, he was chosen to test one of the earliest Sopwith Triplanes. This became his favourite type, and he achieved many victories with it through 1916–17, earning the Distinguished Service Order, and the Distinguished Service Cross and Bar. As the commanding officer of No. 1 Squadron RNAS and later No. 40 Squadron, he achieved further victories before being killed in action on 1 June 1918.

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Charles Eaton, OBE, AFC (21 December 1895 – 12 November 1979) was a senior officer and aviator in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), who later served as a diplomat. Born in London, he joined the British Army upon the outbreak of World War I and saw action on the Western Front before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917. Posted as a bomber pilot to No. 206 Squadron, he was twice captured by German forces, and twice escaped. In 1925 he joined the RAAF, serving initially as an instructor at No. 1 Flying Training School. Between 1929 and 1931, he was chosen to lead three expeditions to search for lost aircraft in Central Australia, gaining national attention and earning the Air Force Cross for his "zeal and devotion to duty". Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1942, Eaton held a number of commands during World War II. After retiring from the RAAF in December 1945, he held diplomatic posts in the Dutch East Indies, including heading a United Nations commission as Consul-General during the Indonesian National Revolution.

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Joan of Arc (French: Jeanne d'Arc; c. 1412 – 30 May 1431), nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" (French: La Pucelle d'Orléans), is a folk heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. She was born to a peasant family in north-east France. Joan said she had received visions from God instructing her to support Charles VII and recover France from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission. She gained prominence when she overcame the dismissive attitude of veteran commanders and caused the lifting of the siege in only nine days. Several additional swift victories led to Charles VII's coronation at Reims. She was captured by the Burgundians, transferred to the English in exchange for money, put on trial by the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon for charges of "insubordination and heterodoxy", and was burned at the stake for heresy when she was 19 years old. Beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920, she is a patron saint of France.

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General of the Army Douglas MacArthur (26 January 1880 – 5 April 1964) was an American general and Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He also served as field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was one of only five men ever to rise to the rank of General of the Army in the U.S. Army, and the only man ever to become a field marshal in the Philippine Army. In the fighting on the Western Front during World War I, he rose to the rank of brigadier general, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross twice and the Silver Star seven times. During World War II, MacArthur became Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area. For his defense of the Philippines, MacArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor. He officially accepted Japan's surrender on 2 September 1945, and oversaw the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951. He led the United Nations Command in the Korean War until he was removed from command by President Harry S. Truman on 11 April 1951.

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Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg (26 June 1760 – 25 March 1799) was an Austrian military commander. He entered the Habsburg military in 1777, at the age of seventeen years, and was a member of the field army in the short War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–79). His career progressed steadily during the Habsburg War with the Ottoman Empire. In particular he distinguished himself at Šabac in 1790, when he led his troops in storming the fortress on the Sava River. During the French Revolutionary Wars, he fought with distinction again for the First Coalition, particularly at Ketsch and Frœschwiller, and later at the Battle of Emmendingen. He fought in successful engagements at Kehl, Bellheim, and Speyer. By the end of the War of the First Coalition, at the age of 35, he had achieved the rank of Field Marshal. During the War of the Second Coalition, he fought in the first two battles of the German campaign, at Ostrach and at the Battle of Stockach. At the latter, while leading a regiment of grenadiers, he was hit by French case shot and knocked off his horse. He died shortly afterward.

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Manuel Marques de Sousa, Count of Porto Alegre (13 June 1804 – 18 July 1875) was an army officer and politician of the Empire of Brazil. Porto Alegre joined the army at a young age, and first saw combat in the conquest of the Banda Oriental, which was annexed and became the province of Cisplatina in 1821. Over the next decade he fought in the struggle for Brazilian independence and then in the Cisplatine War, which saw Cisplatina split from Brazil to become the state of Uruguay. He played a key role in the Ragamuffin War, saving the provincial capital. In 1852, he led a Brazilian division during the Platine War, and for his service he was awarded a noble title, eventually becoming a count. In the postwar years, Porto Alegre turned his attention to politics, retiring from his military career as a lieutenant general, the second-highest rank in the Imperial army. He entered the lower house of the Brazilian parliament and was briefly Minister of War. When the Paraguayan War erupted in 1864, he returned to active duty and became one of the main Brazilian commanders during the conflict.

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Johann von Klenau (13 April 1758 – 6 October 1819) was a field marshal in the Habsburg army. Klenau joined the Habsburg military as a teenager. In the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars, Klenau distinguished himself at the Wissembourg lines, and led a battle-winning charge at Handschuhsheim in 1795. As commander of the Coalition's left flank in the Adige campaign in 1799, he was instrumental in isolating the French-held fortresses on the Po River by organizing and supporting a peasant uprising in the countryside. Afterward, Klenau became the youngest lieutenant field marshal not of the House of Habsburg in the history of the Habsburg military. As a corps commander, Klenau led key elements of the Austrian army the battles of Aspern-Esslingen, Wagram, Dresden and at the Battle of Nations at Leipzig. In the 1814–15 campaign, he commanded the Corps Klenau of the Austrian Army of Italy. After the war in 1815, Klenau was appointed commanding general in Moravia and Silesia, a position he held until his death in 1819.

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General Oerip Soemohardjo (22 February 1893 – 17 November 1948) was an Indonesian general and the first chief of staff of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. Born in Purworejo, Dutch East Indies, he left school to undertake military training in Meester Cornelis after the death of his mother. After graduating in 1914, he became a lieutenant in the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army, the army of the Dutch colonial government. During almost 25 years of service he was stationed on three different islands and promoted several times, eventually becoming the highest-ranking native officer in the country. Oerip resigned from his position in about 1938, but was recalled to duty after Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, Oerip was detained in a prisoner-of-war camp. Following the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, Oerip was declared the chief of staff and interim leader of the newly formed army, but after two deadlocked votes the position of commander-in-chief went to Sudirman. Oerip remained as chief of staff under Sudirman until 1948.

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