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156-531: The film's plot concerns General George S. Patton 's fatal automobile crash and suggests that the crash was not an accident but the result of a conspiracy. In Europe, days after V-E Day , General Patton ordered the hoarded Nazi gold to be sent to the Reichsbank in Frankfurt . But, before the gold shipment could arrive, a daring robbery was executed and 59 U.S. Army military policemen were killed with poison gas in

312-610: A commission as a second lieutenant in the Cavalry branch of the United States Army . At age 24, Patton married Beatrice Banning Ayer, the daughter of Boston industrialist Frederick Ayer , on May 26, 1910, in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts . They had three children, Beatrice Smith (born March 1911), Ruth Ellen (born February 1915), and George Patton IV (born December 1923). Patton's wife Beatrice died on September 30, 1953, from

468-767: A German rebuilding effort set forth by western European countries in 1948, the US, Britain and France spearheaded the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany from the three Western zones of occupation in April 1949. The Soviet Union proclaimed its zone of occupation in Germany the German Democratic Republic that October. Media in the Eastern Bloc was an organ of the state , completely reliant on and subservient to

624-543: A child, Patton had difficulty learning to read and write, but eventually overcame this and was known in his adult life to be an avid reader. He was tutored from home until the age of eleven, when he was enrolled in Stephen Cutter Clark ' s Classical School for Boys, a private school in Pasadena, for six years. Patton was described as an intelligent boy and was widely read in classical military history , particularly

780-513: A commander were at times overshadowed by his controversial public statements. His philosophy of leading from the front, and his ability to inspire troops with attention-getting, vulgarity-laden speeches, such as his famous address to the Third Army , was received favorably by his troops, but much less so by a sharply divided Allied high command. His sending the doomed Task Force Baum to liberate his son-in-law, Lieutenant Colonel John K. Waters , from

936-548: A fencing instructor. He was the first Army officer to be designated "Master of the Sword", a title denoting the school's top instructor in swordsmanship. Arriving in September 1913, he taught fencing to other cavalry officers, many of whom were senior to him in rank. Patton graduated from this school in June 1915. He was originally intended to return to the 15th Cavalry, which was bound for

1092-400: A fictional protagonist tries to stop the assassination of Patton in a staged car accident. For more than thirty years, the death of Patton had been regarded as an unfortunate accident; however, it was noted at the time that the release of this 1978 film had created fresh speculation and dubious interest into the general's death. MGM was accused of hyping the conspiracy theory in order to market

1248-522: A film full of dubiety, that Gen. George S. Patton was assassinated in Germany in 1945 by a motley crew of United States Army officers in an attempt to hide their theft of $ 250 million in Nazi gold. History says that General Patton died in Germany in 1945 following an automobile accident, but Frederick Nolan, who wrote The Algonquin Project , this film's source material, has connected various unsolved mysteries to make

1404-474: A foraging expedition, killing Julio Cárdenas and two of his guards. It was not clear if Patton personally killed any of the men, but he was known to have wounded all three. The incident garnered Patton both Pershing's good favor and widespread media attention as a "bandit killer". Shortly after, he was promoted to first lieutenant while a part of the 10th Cavalry on May 23, 1916. Patton remained in Mexico until

1560-635: A general term, in his essay "You and the Atomic Bomb", published 19 October 1945 in the British newspaper Tribune . Contemplating a world living in the shadow of the threat of nuclear warfare , Orwell looked at James Burnham 's predictions of a polarized world, writing: Looking at the world as a whole, the drift for many decades has been not towards anarchy but towards the reimposition of slavery... James Burnham's theory has been much discussed, but few people have yet considered its ideological implications—that is,

1716-545: A high-pitched voice and worried that this would make it impossible for him to inspire his troops. For his skill in running and fencing, Patton was selected as the Army's entry for the first modern pentathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm , Sweden. Patton was the only American among the 42 pentathletes, who were all officers. Patton placed twenty-first on the pistol range, seventh in swimming , fourth in fencing , sixth in

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1872-504: A later bullet passed through them, but the judges decided that one of his bullets missed the target completely. Modern competitions at this level frequently now employ a moving backdrop specifically to track multiple shots through the same hole. If his assertion was correct, Patton would likely have won an Olympic medal in the event. The judges' ruling was upheld. Patton's only comment on the matter was: The high spirit of sportsmanship and generosity manifested throughout speaks volumes for

2028-491: A lot of violence, all of it simulated but random in the way of simple-minded movie-making." Brass Target has a "plot so plausible that we have to remind ourselves it is fiction. The movie earns it's strips and they never have found the murder weapon." From "Brass Target" Classy Thriller by Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, Dec. 26 1978. George S. Patton Border War World War I World War II George Smith Patton III (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945)

2184-588: A lukewarm reception upon its release, is noted for its attention to historical detail in an early post-war Europe. The Cold War had not started but relations with the Russians are shown to have already become frosty. Many American soldiers from the 66th MI Group who were stationed in Munich appear as extras in the film. Brass Target was shot on location in Munich , Bavaria , West Germany and Switzerland . Brass Target

2340-510: A major propaganda effort began in 1949 was Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty , dedicated to bringing about the peaceful demise of the communist system in the Eastern Bloc. Radio Free Europe attempted to achieve these goals by serving as a surrogate home radio station, an alternative to the controlled and party-dominated domestic press in the Soviet Bloc. Radio Free Europe was a product of some of

2496-662: A meeting might make the headlines. Cold War The Cold War was a period of global geopolitical tension and struggle for ideological and economic influence between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc , that started in 1947, two years after the end of World War II , and lasted until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war

2652-626: A neutral Germany to prevent West Germany's incorporation into NATO, but his attempts were cut short after he was executed several months later during a Soviet power struggle. The events led to the establishment of the Bundeswehr , the West German military, in 1955. In 1949, CCP Chairman Mao Zedong 's People's Liberation Army defeated Chiang Kai-shek 's United States-backed Kuomintang (KMT) Nationalist Government in China. The KMT-controlled territory

2808-612: A new sword for such attacks. He was temporarily assigned to the Office of the Army Chief of Staff , and in 1913, the first 20,000 of the Model 1913 Cavalry Saber —popularly known as the "Patton saber"—were ordered. Patton then returned to Saumur to learn advanced techniques before bringing his skills to the Mounted Service School at Fort Riley , Kansas, where he would be both a student and

2964-655: A new war". On 6 September 1946, James F. Byrnes delivered a speech in Germany repudiating the Morgenthau Plan (a proposal to partition and de-industrialize post-war Germany) and warning the Soviets that the US intended to maintain a military presence in Europe indefinitely. As Byrnes stated a month later, "The nub of our program was to win the German people ... it was a battle between us and Russia over minds ..." In December,

3120-628: A plan envisioning an economically self-sufficient Germany, including a detailed accounting of the industrial plants, goods and infrastructure already taken by the Soviets. In June 1947, in accordance with the Truman Doctrine , the United States enacted the Marshall Plan , a pledge of economic assistance for all European countries willing to participate, including the Soviet Union. Under the plan, which President Harry S. Truman signed on 3 April 1948,

3276-598: A prisoner-of-war camp further damaged his standing with his superiors. His emphasis on rapid and aggressive offensive action proved effective, and he was regarded highly by his opponents in the German High Command . An award-winning biographical film released in 1970, Patton , helped popularize his image. George Smith Patton Jr. was born on November 11, 1885, in the Los Angeles suburb of San Gabriel, California , to George Smith Patton Sr. and his wife, Ruth Wilson,

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3432-483: A railway tunnel. Further investigation revealed that a group of corrupt American officers, led by a colonel, orchestrated the crime. General Patton launched a full-scale investigation and the clues seemed to be pointing to OSS Major Joe De Luca from whom the thieves had acquired a plan from his wartime operations that enabled them to steal the gold. The General immediately placed the OSS Major under arrest and saw to it that

3588-606: A ruptured aneurysm after falling while riding her horse in a hunt with her brother and others at the Myopia Hunt Club in South Hamilton, Massachusetts . Patton was an Episcopalian . The Patton family was of English , Irish , Scots-Irish , Scottish , French and Welsh ancestry. His great-grandmother came from an aristocratic Welsh family, descended from many Welsh lords of Glamorgan , which had an extensive military background. Patton believed he had formerly lived as

3744-613: A secret 1950 document, the National Security Council proposed reinforcing pro-Western alliance systems and quadrupling spending on defense. Truman, under the influence of advisor Paul Nitze , saw containment as implying complete rollback of Soviet influence in all its forms. United States officials moved to expand this version of containment into Asia , Africa , and Latin America , in order to counter revolutionary nationalist movements, often led by communist parties financed by

3900-412: A soldier and took pride in mystical ties with his ancestors. Though not directly descended from George Washington , Patton traced some of his English colonial roots to George Washington's great-grandfather. He is a 1st cousin six times removed of George Washington. He was also descended from England's King Edward I through Edward's son Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent . Family belief held

4056-477: A source of intelligence. During the late 1970s and 1980s, the KGB perfected its use of espionage to sway and distort diplomacy. Active measures were "clandestine operations designed to further Soviet foreign policy goals," consisting of disinformation, forgeries, leaks to foreign media, and the channeling of aid to militant groups. Retired KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin , former head of Foreign Counter Intelligence for

4212-721: A tank in an attack on German machine guns near the town of Cheppy . His orderly, Private First Class Joe Angelo , saved Patton, for which he was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). Patton commanded the battle from a shell hole for another hour before being evacuated. Although the 35th Division (of which Patton's tank troop was a component) eventually captured Varennes , it did so with heavy losses. Trying to move his reserve tanks forward, Patton relates that he might have killed one of his own men, stating: "Some of my reserve tanks were stuck by some trenches. So I went back and made some Americans hiding in

4368-417: A tough guy, Patton was deeply affected by the horror of war and suffered from post-traumatic stress. What had been a high on the battlefield turned into the giant letdown that is so common to soldiers who have been in combat. Patton left France for New York City on March 2, 1919. After the war, he was assigned to Camp Meade, Maryland , and reverted to his permanent rank of captain on June 30, 1920, though he

4524-479: A unified and neutral Germany was undesirable, with Walter Bedell Smith telling General Eisenhower "in spite of our announced position, we really do not want nor intend to accept German unification on any terms that the Russians might agree to, even though they seem to meet most of our requirements." Shortly thereafter, Stalin instituted the Berlin Blockade (June 1948 – May 1949), one of the first major crises of

4680-549: A weapon that would later become an icon of Patton's image. In March 1916, Mexican forces loyal to Pancho Villa crossed into New Mexico and raided the border town of Columbus . The violence in Columbus killed several Americans. In response, the U.S. launched the Pancho Villa Expedition into Mexico. Chagrined to discover that his unit would not participate, Patton appealed to expedition commander John J. Pershing , and

4836-577: A wobbly case for his conspiracy theory. As historical speculation goes, it's less interesting than wondering where we might be today if Ford's Theater had been playing Uncle Tom's Cabin that fateful night in 1865, instead of Our American Cousin . Would Lincoln have attended, or might he have said, " Mary , I just can't sit through it again"? You may elect not to sit through international claptrap like this film, which doesn't measure up even to The Cassandra Crossing ... The Brass Target , which has been rated PG ("Parental Guidance Suggested"), contains

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4992-458: Is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers , though each supported opposing sides in major regional conflicts known as proxy wars . Aside from the nuclear arms race starting in 1949 and conventional military deployment , the struggle for dominance was expressed indirectly via psychological warfare , propaganda campaigns , espionage , far-reaching embargoes , sports diplomacy , and technological competitions such as

5148-564: The Allied occupation of Germany , Patton was named military governor of Bavaria , but was relieved for making aggressive statements towards the Soviet Union and questioning denazification . He commanded the United States Fifteenth Army for slightly more than two months. Severely injured in an auto accident, he died in Germany twelve days later, on December 21, 1945. Patton's colorful image, hard-driving personality, and success as

5304-656: The American Revolutionary War . Patton's father, who graduated from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), became a lawyer and later the district attorney of Los Angeles County . Patton's maternal grandfather was Benjamin Davis Wilson , a merchant who had been the second Mayor of Los Angeles . His father was a wealthy rancher and lawyer who owned a one-thousand-acre (400 ha) ranch near Pasadena, California . Wilson had married into one of

5460-551: The Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic ". A week later, on 13 March, Stalin responded vigorously to the speech, saying Churchill could be compared to Adolf Hitler insofar as he advocated the racial superiority of English-speaking nations so that they could satisfy their hunger for world domination, and that such a declaration was "a call for war on the USSR." The Soviet leader also dismissed

5616-806: The Berlin Wall to prevent the citizens of East Berlin from fleeing to West Berlin , at the time part of United States-allied West Germany . Major crises of this phase included the Berlin Blockade of 1948–1949, the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1945–1949, the Korean War of 1950–1953, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the Suez Crisis of that same year, the Berlin Crisis of 1961 ,

5772-852: The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and the Vietnam War of 1964–1975. Both superpowers competed for influence in Latin America and the Middle East , and the decolonising states of Africa , Asia , and Oceania . Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, this phase of the Cold War saw the Sino-Soviet split . Between China and the Soviet Union's complicated relations within the Communist sphere, leading to

5928-837: The Eastern Bloc . Cominform faced an embarrassing setback the following June, when the Tito–Stalin split obliged its members to expel Yugoslavia, which remained communist but adopted a non-aligned position and began accepting financial aid from the US. Besides Berlin, the status of the city of Trieste was at issue. Until the break between Tito and Stalin, the Western powers and the Eastern bloc faced each other uncompromisingly. In addition to capitalism and communism, Italians and Slovenes, monarchists and republicans as well as war winners and losers often faced each other irreconcilably. The neutral buffer state Free Territory of Trieste , founded in 1947 with

6084-503: The KGB and involved in its intelligence operations, adhered to Moscow's line, although dissent began to appear after 1956. Other critiques of the consensus policy came from anti-Vietnam War activists , the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament , and the anti-nuclear movement . In early 1947, France, Britain and the United States unsuccessfully attempted to reach an agreement with the Soviet Union for

6240-506: The Kingdom of Greece in its civil war against Communist-led insurgents. In the same month, Stalin conducted the rigged 1947 Polish legislative election which constituted an open breach of the Yalta Agreement . The US government responded to this announcement by adopting a policy of containment , with the goal of stopping the spread of communism . Truman delivered a speech calling for

6396-627: The Knickerbocker Theatre in D.C. From 1922 to mid-1923 he attended the Field Officer's Course at the Cavalry School at Fort Riley, then he attended the Command and General Staff College from mid-1923 to mid-1924, graduating 25th out of 248. In August 1923, Patton saved several children from drowning when they fell off a yacht during a boating trip off Salem, Massachusetts . He was awarded

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6552-556: The Sino-Soviet border conflict , while France, a Western Bloc state, began to demand greater autonomy of action. The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia occurred to suppress the Prague Spring of 1968, while the United States experienced internal turmoil from the civil rights movement and opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War . In the 1960s–1970s, an international peace movement took root among citizens around

6708-718: The Soviet boycott of the Allied Control Council and its incapacitation, an event marking the beginning of the full-blown Cold War and the end of its prelude, as well as ending any hopes at the time for a single German government and leading to formation in 1949 of the Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic . The twin policies of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan led to billions in economic and military aid for Western Europe, Greece, and Turkey. With

6864-594: The Space Race . The US and USSR were both part of the Allies of World War II , the military coalition which had defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945. After the war, the USSR installed satellite governments in the territories of Eastern and Central Europe it had occupied, and promoted the spread of communism to North Korea in 1948 and created an alliance with the People's Republic of China in 1949. The US declared

7020-519: The Truman Doctrine of " containment " in 1947 as communist-led uprisings led to the Greek Civil War and First Indochina War , launched the Marshall Plan in 1948 to assist in Western Europe's economic recovery, and founded the NATO military alliance in 1949 (which was matched by the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact in 1955). The Berlin Blockade took place, and Germany's occupation zones solidified into East and West Germany in 1949. The USSR tested its first nuclear weapon in August 1949, four years after

7176-438: The Turkish Straits crisis and Black Sea border disputes were also a major factor in increasing tensions. In September, the Soviet side produced the Novikov telegram, sent by the Soviet ambassador to the US but commissioned and "co-authored" by Vyacheslav Molotov ; it portrayed the US as being in the grip of monopoly capitalists who were building up military capability "to prepare the conditions for winning world supremacy in

7332-415: The United Nations Security Council Resolution 82 and 83 backed the defense of South Korea, although the Soviets were then boycotting meetings in protest of the fact that Taiwan (Republic of China), not the People's Republic of China , held a permanent seat on the council. A UN force of sixteen countries faced North Korea, although 40 percent of troops were South Korean, and about 50 percent were from

7488-477: The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He also applied to several universities with military corps of cadet programs, and was accepted to Princeton , but eventually decided on Virginia Military Institute (VMI), which his father and grandfather had attended. He attended the school from 1903 to 1904, and though he struggled with reading and writing, performed exceptionally in uniform and appearance inspection, as well as military drill. While he

7644-603: The armistice of November 11, 1918 . For his actions in Cheppy, Patton received the Silver Star , later upgraded to the DSC. The citation for the medal read: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Colonel (Armor) George Smith Patton, Jr. (ASN: 0-2605), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Tank Corps, A.E.F., near Cheppy, France, 26 September 1918. Colonel Patton displayed conspicuous courage, coolness, energy, and intelligence in directing

7800-419: The equestrian competition, and third in the footrace, finishing fifth overall and first among the non-Swedish competitors. There was some controversy concerning his performance in the pistol shooting competition, in which he used a .38 caliber U.S. Army-issue pistol while most of the other competitors chose .22 caliber firearms. He claimed that the holes in the paper from his early shots were so large that

7956-400: The fall of the communist regimes of the Eastern Bloc in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Western Bloc included the US and a number of First World nations that were generally capitalist and liberal democratic but tied to a network of often authoritarian Third World states, most of which were the European powers' former colonies . The Eastern Bloc was led by

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8112-432: The "Patton Saber." He competed in the modern pentathlon in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm , Sweden. Patton entered combat during the Pancho Villa Expedition of 1916, the United States' first military action using motor vehicles. He fought in World War I as part of the new United States Tank Corps of the American Expeditionary Forces : he commanded the U.S. tank school in France, then led tanks into combat and

8268-433: The 304th Tank Brigade and was reassigned to Fort Myer as commander of 3rd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry . Loathing duty as a peacetime staff officer , he spent much time writing technical papers and giving speeches on his combat experiences at the General Staff College. In July 1921 Patton became a member of the American Legion Tank Corps Post No. 19. Maj. Patton led the rescue effort after the January 1922 blizzard destroyed

8424-419: The American Army. In addition, he was also awarded the Purple Heart for his combat wounds after the decoration was created in 1932. On 11 November 1918, World War I ended. In the months and years that followed Patton was haunted by his experience in the Meuse–Argonne. Although he emerged from the war with honours and acclaim, the year 1918 took its toll and the price was indeed high. Contrary to his image as

8580-414: The Cold War was in its essence a war of ideas. The United States, acting through the CIA, funded a long list of projects to counter the communist appeal among intellectuals in Europe and the developing world. The CIA also covertly sponsored a domestic propaganda campaign called Crusade for Freedom . The rearmament of West Germany was achieved in the early 1950s. Its main promoter was Konrad Adenauer ,

8736-404: The Cold War, preventing Western food, materials and supplies from arriving in the West Germany's exclave of West Berlin . The United States (primarily), Britain, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and several other countries began the massive "Berlin airlift", supplying West Berlin with food and other provisions despite Soviet threats. The Soviets mounted a public relations campaign against

8892-408: The Communist governments militarily. The fall of the Iron Curtain after the Pan-European Picnic and the Revolutions of 1989 , which represented a peaceful revolutionary wave with the exception of the Romanian revolution and the Afghan Civil War (1989–1992) , overthrew almost all of the Marxist–Leninist regimes of the Eastern Bloc. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union itself lost control in

9048-461: The General Staff College. With Christie, Eisenhower, and a handful of other officers, Patton pushed for more development of armored warfare in the interwar era. These thoughts resonated with Secretary of War Dwight Davis , but the limited military budget and prevalence of already-established Infantry and Cavalry branches meant the U.S. would not develop its armored corps much until 1940. On September 30, 1920, then-Major Patton relinquished command of

9204-400: The KGB (1973–1979), described active measures as "the heart and soul of Soviet intelligence ." During the Sino-Soviet split , "spy wars" also occurred between the USSR and PRC. In September 1947, the Soviets created Cominform to impose orthodoxy within the international communist movement and tighten political control over Soviet satellites through coordination of communist parties in

9360-428: The Marshall Plan, seeing it as an effort by the US to impose its influence on Europe. In response, the Soviet Union established Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) to foster economic cooperation among communist states. The United States and its Western European allies sought to strengthen their bonds and used the policy of containment against Soviet influence; they accomplished this most notably through

9516-494: The Pattons were descended from sixteen barons who had signed Magna Carta . Patton believed in reincarnation , stating that he had fought in previous battles and wars before his time, additionally, his ancestry was very important to him, forming a central part of his personal identity. The first Patton in North America was Robert Patton, born in Ayr , Scotland . He emigrated to Culpeper, Virginia , from Glasgow , in either 1769 or 1770. George Patton, Jr.'s paternal grandfather

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9672-431: The Philippines. Fearing this assignment would dead-end his career, Patton travelled to Washington, D.C. , during 11 days of leave and convinced influential friends to arrange a reassignment for him to the 8th Cavalry at Fort Bliss , Texas, anticipating that instability in Mexico might boil over into a full-scale civil war. In the meantime, Patton was selected to participate in the 1916 Summer Olympics , but that Olympiad

9828-446: The Russian Civil War further complicated relations, and although the Soviet Union later allied with Western powers to defeat Nazi Germany , this cooperation was strained by mutual suspicions. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, disagreements about the future of Europe, particularly Eastern Europe , became central. The Soviet Union's establishment of communist regimes in the countries it had liberated from Nazi control—enforced by

9984-444: The Silver Lifesaving Medal for this action. He was temporarily appointed to the General Staff Corps in Boston, Massachusetts , before being reassigned as G-1 and G-2 of the Hawaiian Division at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu in March 1925. Patton was made G-3 of the Hawaiian Division for several months, before being transferred in May 1927 to the Office of the Chief of Cavalry in Washington, D.C., where he began to develop

10140-421: The Soviet Union and its communist party , which had an influence across the Second World and was also tied to a network of authoritarian states. The Soviet Union had a command economy and installed similarly communist regimes its in satellites. United States involvement in regime change during the Cold War included support for anti-communist and right-wing dictatorships , governments, and uprisings across

10296-408: The Soviet Union was used to monitor dissent from official Soviet politics and morals. Although to an extent disinformation had always existed, the term itself was invented, and the strategy formalized by a black propaganda department of the Soviet KGB. Based on the amount of top-secret Cold War archival information that has been released, historian Raymond L. Garthoff concludes there probably

10452-400: The Soviet Union, which at the time was undergoing the Era of Stagnation . This phase saw the new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introducing the liberalizing reforms of glasnost ("openness") and perestroika ("reorganization") and ending Soviet involvement in Afghanistan in 1989. Pressures for national sovereignty grew stronger in Eastern Europe, and Gorbachev refused to further support

10608-499: The Soviet Union. A number of self-proclaimed Marxist–Leninist governments were formed in the second half of the 1970s in developing countries , including Angola , Mozambique , Ethiopia , Cambodia , Afghanistan , and Nicaragua . Détente collapsed at the end of the decade with the beginning of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979. Beginning in the 1980s, this phase was another period of elevated tension. The Reagan Doctrine led to increased diplomatic, military, and economic pressures on

10764-455: The Soviets accumulated after broken promises by Stalin and Molotov concerning Europe and Iran. Following the World War II Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran , the country was occupied by the Red Army in the far north and the British in the south. Iran was used by the United States and British to supply the Soviet Union, and the Allies agreed to withdraw from Iran within six months after the cessation of hostilities. However, when this deadline came,

10920-425: The Soviets agreed to withdraw from Iran after persistent US pressure, an early success of containment policy. By 1947, US president Harry S. Truman was outraged by the perceived resistance of the Soviet Union to American demands in Iran, Turkey, and Greece, as well as Soviet rejection of the Baruch Plan on nuclear weapons. In February 1947, the British government announced that it could no longer afford to finance

11076-404: The Soviets had permitted to retain democratic structures. The public brutality of the coup shocked Western powers more than any event up to that point, set in motion a brief scare that war would occur, and swept away the last vestiges of opposition to the Marshall Plan in the United States Congress. In an immediate aftermath of the crisis, the London Six-Power Conference was held, resulting in

11232-580: The Soviets remained in Iran under the guise of the Azerbaijan People's Government and Kurdish Republic of Mahabad . Shortly thereafter, on 5 March, former British prime minister Winston Churchill delivered his famous " Iron Curtain " speech in Fulton, Missouri . The speech called for an Anglo-American alliance against the Soviets, whom he accused of establishing an "iron curtain" dividing Europe from " Stettin in

11388-455: The Truman Doctrine marked the beginning of a US bipartisan defense and foreign policy consensus between Republicans and Democrats focused on containment and deterrence that weakened during and after the Vietnam War , but ultimately persisted thereafter. Moderate and conservative parties in Europe, as well as social democrats, gave virtually unconditional support to the Western alliance, while European and American Communists , financed by

11544-493: The U.S. initiated contacts with China in 1972 . In the same year, the US and USSR signed a series of arms control treaties limiting their nuclear arsenals, which eased tensions in a détente . In 1979, the toppling of pro-US governments in Iran and Nicaragua and a Soviet invasion of Afghanistan again raised fears of war. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev rose to leader of the USSR and expanded political freedoms in his country, which led to

11700-570: The U.S.'s first test , thus starting an arms race. A major proxy war was the Korean War of 1950 to 1953, which ended in stalemate. The Cuban Revolution of 1959 installed the first communist regime in the Western Hemisphere, and in 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis began after deployments of U.S. missiles in Europe and Soviet missiles in Cuba; it is considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into nuclear war . Another major proxy conflict

11856-552: The US assistance, the Greek military won its civil war . Under the leadership of Alcide De Gasperi the Italian Christian Democrats defeated the powerful Communist – Socialist alliance in the elections of 1948 . All major powers engaged in espionage, using a great variety of spies, double agents , moles , and new technologies such as the tapping of telephone cables. The Soviet KGB ("Committee for State Security"),

12012-572: The US government gave to Western European countries over $ 13 billion (equivalent to $ 189 billion in 2016) to rebuild the economy of Europe . Later, the program led to the creation of the OECD . The plan's aim was to rebuild the democratic and economic systems of Europe and to counter perceived threats to the European balance of power , such as communist parties seizing control through revolutions or elections. The plan also stated that European prosperity

12168-572: The US was trying to buy a pro-US re-alignment of Europe. Stalin therefore prevented Eastern Bloc nations from receiving Marshall Plan aid. The Soviet Union's alternative to the Marshall Plan, which was purported to involve Soviet subsidies and trade with central and eastern Europe, became known as the Molotov Plan (later institutionalized in January 1949 as the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance ). Stalin

12324-477: The USSR. In this way, this US would exercise " preponderant power ," oppose neutrality, and establish global hegemony . In the early 1950s (a period sometimes known as the " Pactomania "), the US formalized a series of alliances with Japan (a former WWII enemy), South Korea , Taiwan , Australia , New Zealand , Thailand and the Philippines (notably ANZUS in 1951 and SEATO in 1954), thereby guaranteeing

12480-516: The United Nations, was split up and dissolved in 1954 and 1975, also because of the détente between the West and Tito. The US and Britain merged their western German occupation zones into " Bizone " (1 January 1947, later "Trizone" with the addition of France's zone, April 1949). As part of the economic rebuilding of Germany, in early 1948, representatives of a number of Western European governments and

12636-509: The United States a number of long-term military bases. One of the more significant examples of the implementation of containment was the United Nations US-led intervention in the Korean War . In June 1950, after years of mutual hostilities, Kim Il Sung 's North Korean People's Army invaded South Korea at the 38th parallel . Stalin had been reluctant to support the invasion but ultimately sent advisers. To Stalin's surprise,

12792-401: The United States announced an agreement for a merger of western German areas into a federal governmental system. In addition, in accordance with the Marshall Plan , they began to re-industrialize and rebuild the West German economy, including the introduction of a new Deutsche Mark currency to replace the old Reichsmark currency that the Soviets had debased. The US had secretly decided that

12948-461: The United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. By his energy and sound judgment, Colonel Patton rendered very valuable services in his organization and direction of the Tank Center at the Army schools at Langres, France. In the employment of Tank Corps troops in combat he displayed high military attainments, zeal, and marked adaptability in a form of warfare comparatively new to

13104-504: The Warsaw Pact's primary function was to safeguard Soviet hegemony over its Eastern European satellites, with the pact's only direct military actions having been the invasions of its own member states to keep them from breaking away; in the 1960s, the pact evolved into a multilateral alliance, in which the non-Soviet Warsaw Pact members gained significant scope to pursue their own interests. In 1961, Soviet-allied East Germany constructed

13260-469: The Western agencies paid special attention to debriefing Eastern Bloc defectors . Edward Jay Epstein describes that the CIA understood that the KGB used "provocations", or fake defections, as a trick to embarrass Western intelligence and establish Soviet double agents. As a result, from 1959 to 1973, the CIA required that East Bloc defectors went through a counterintelligence investigation before being recruited as

13416-456: The accusation that the USSR was exerting increasing control over the countries lying in its sphere. He argued that there was nothing surprising in "the fact that the Soviet Union, anxious for its future safety, [was] trying to see to it that governments loyal in their attitude to the Soviet Union should exist in these countries." Soviet territorial demands to Turkey regarding the Dardanelles in

13572-473: The advance of his brigade down the valley of the Aire. Later he rallied a force of disorganized infantry and led it forward, behind the tanks, under heavy machine-gun and artillery fire until he was wounded. Unable to advance further, Colonel Patton continued to direct the operations of his unit until all arrangements for turning over the command were completed. For his leadership of the tank brigade and tank school, he

13728-547: The allocation of $ 400 million to intervene in the war and unveiled the Truman Doctrine , which framed the conflict as a contest between free peoples and totalitarian regimes. American policymakers accused the Soviet Union of conspiring against the Greek royalists in an effort to expand Soviet influence even though Stalin had told the Communist Party to cooperate with the British-backed government. Enunciation of

13884-665: The army, but Pershing intervened on his behalf. After the United States entered World War I , in April 1917, and Pershing was named commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on the Western Front , Patton requested to join his staff. Patton was promoted to captain on May 15, 1917, and left for Europe, among the 180 men of Pershing's advance party which departed May 28 and arrived in Liverpool , England, on June 8. Taken as Pershing's personal aide, Patton oversaw

14040-477: The bureau responsible for foreign espionage and internal surveillance, was famous for its effectiveness. The most famous Soviet operation involved its atomic spies that delivered crucial information from the United States' Manhattan Project , leading the USSR to detonate its first nuclear weapon in 1949, four years after the American detonation and much sooner than expected. A massive network of informants throughout

14196-646: The chancellor of West Germany, with France the main opponent. Washington had the decisive voice. It was strongly supported by the Pentagon (the US military leadership), and weakly opposed by President Truman; the State Department was ambivalent. The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 changed the calculations and Washington now gave full support. That also involved naming Dwight D. Eisenhower in charge of NATO forces and sending more American troops to West Germany. There

14352-525: The character of the officers of the present day. There was not a single incident of a protest or any unsportsmanlike quibbling or fighting for points which I may say, marred some of the other civilian competitions at the Olympic Games. Each man did his best and took what fortune sent them like a true soldier, and at the end we all felt more like good friends and comrades than rivals in a severe competition, yet this spirit of friendship in no manner detracted from

14508-508: The communist party. Radio and television organizations were state-owned, while print media was usually owned by political organizations, mostly by the local communist party. Soviet radio broadcasts used Marxist rhetoric to attack capitalism, emphasizing themes of labor exploitation, imperialism and war-mongering. Along with the broadcasts of the BBC and the Voice of America to Central and Eastern Europe,

14664-479: The concepts of mechanized warfare . A short-lived experiment to merge infantry, cavalry and artillery into a combined arms force was cancelled after U.S. Congress removed funding. Patton left this office in 1931, returned to Massachusetts and attended the Army War College , becoming a "Distinguished Graduate" in June 1932. In July 1932, Patton (still a Major) was executive officer of the 3rd Cavalry, which

14820-492: The country and was banned following the 1991 Soviet coup attempt that August. This in turn led to the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991 and the collapse of Communist governments across much of Africa and Asia. The Russian Federation became the Soviet Union's successor state, while many of the other republics emerged from the Soviet Union's collapse as fully independent post-Soviet states . The United States

14976-491: The crack of my bottom about two inches to the left of my rectum. It was fired at about 50 m [160 ft] so made a hole about the size of a [silver] dollar where it came out." While recuperating from his wound, Patton was promoted to temporary colonel in the Tank Corps of the U.S. National Army on October 17. He returned to duty on October 28 but saw no further action before hostilities ended on his 33rd birthday with

15132-502: The criminals responsible for the crime were brought to justice. But the mastermind behind the heist continued to evade detection and justice for years. De Luca began his own investigation in order to prove General Patton's murder was not an accident. His first stop was a visit to his old wartime commander, Colonel Mike McCauley, who was now living in a requisitioned German castle. Behind the closed doors of Colonel McCauley's quarters, De Luca got leads on names and key events that were part of

15288-452: The culprits and foiling Webber's plans in the nick of time. In what could be one of the most shocking events of the war, Webber, a hired assassin, posed as an American soldier to take the life of General Patton. It was an elaborate scheme that required extensive planning and execution. Webber had set up a traffic accident that would take place at the precise moment to facilitate the killing. The military truck collided with Patton's car, and, at

15444-598: The daughter of Benjamin Davis Wilson , the second mayor of Los Angeles, and Margaret Hereford, a widow from Virginia. The wealthy Patton family resided at Lake Vineyard, built by Benjamin Wilson, on 128 acres (52 ha) in present-day San Marino, California . Patton had a younger sister, Anne, nicknamed "Nita". Nita became engaged to John J. Pershing , Patton's mentor, in 1917, but the engagement ended because of their separation during Pershing's time in France during World War I. As

15600-535: The demoralized II Corps . He commanded the U.S. Seventh Army during the Allied invasion of Sicily , where he was the first Allied commander to reach Messina . There he was embroiled in controversy after he slapped two shell-shocked soldiers , and was temporarily removed from battlefield command. He was assigned a key role in Operation Fortitude , the Allies' military deception campaign for Operation Overlord . At

15756-426: The duo discovers that a former secret service agent, Webber, is also on their trail. Not only is he looking to capture the mutineers, he is also planning on assassinating General Patton. With the time ticking, De Luca and Mara must race against time to save the general and apprehend the mutineers. De Luca is hesitant, but Mara's bravery and dexterous overtures prevail. She successfully guides De Luca, helping him identify

15912-629: The end of the year. President Woodrow Wilson forbade the expedition from conducting aggressive patrols deeper into Mexico, so it remained encamped in the Mexican border states for much of that time. In October Patton briefly retired to California after being burned by an exploding gas lamp. He returned from the expedition permanently in February 1917. After the Villa Expedition, Patton was detailed to Front Royal, Virginia , to oversee horse procurement for

16068-452: The exploits of Hannibal , Scipio Africanus , Julius Caesar , Joan of Arc , and Napoleon Bonaparte , as well as those of family friend John Singleton Mosby , who frequently stopped by the Patton family home when George was a child. He was also a devoted horseback rider . Patton never seriously considered a career other than the military. At the age of seventeen he sought an appointment to

16224-430: The film. Numerous books have since been published on the subject culminating in the "sensationalist" but "widely read" 2008 best-seller Target: Patton, The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton . Although approximately $ 2.5 billion in German gold, most of which is still missing, was determined to have been pilfered in several separate thefts, no train robbery occurred as depicted in the film. Brass Target , despite

16380-454: The formation of NATO , which was essentially a defensive agreement in 1949. The Soviet Union countered with the Warsaw Pact in 1955, which had similar results with the Eastern Bloc. As by that time the Soviet Union already had an armed presence and political domination all over its eastern satellite states, the pact has been long considered superfluous. Although nominally a defensive alliance,

16536-479: The front for much of their attack, which began on September 12. He walked in front of the tanks into the German-held village of Essey , and rode on top of a tank during the attack into Pannes , seeking to inspire his men. While outside the village of Essey he had his first chance meeting with Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur , then commanding a brigade of the 42nd "Rainbow" Division , who, at just thirty-eight,

16692-518: The kind of world-view, the kind of beliefs, and the social structure that would probably prevail in a state which was at once unconquerable and in a permanent state of "cold war" with its neighbours. In The Observer of 10 March 1946, Orwell wrote, "...after the Moscow conference last December, Russia began to make a 'cold war' on Britain and the British Empire." The first use of the term to describe

16848-414: The most prominent architects of America's early Cold War strategy, especially those who believed that the Cold War would eventually be fought by political rather than military means, such as George F. Kennan. Soviet and Eastern Bloc authorities used various methods to suppress Western broadcasts, including radio jamming . American policymakers, including Kennan and John Foster Dulles , acknowledged that

17004-439: The opportunity to command troops, and was assigned to Troop C of the 13th Cavalry to assist in the manhunt for Villa and his subordinates. His initial combat experience came on May 14, 1916, in what would become the first motorized attack in the history of U.S. warfare. A force of ten soldiers and two civilian guides, under Patton's command, with the 6th Infantry in three Dodge touring cars surprised three of Villa's men during

17160-444: The order to employ armed force to disperse the veterans. Patton later stated that, though he found the duty "most distasteful", he also felt that putting the marchers down prevented an insurrection and saved lives and property. He personally led the 3rd Cavalry down Pennsylvania Avenue , dispersing the protesters. Patton also encountered his former orderly, Joe Angelo , as one of the marchers and forcibly ordered him away, fearing such

17316-533: The original Southern California settler families by marrying Ramona Yorba, who was the daughter of prominent Californio (Spanish and Mexican settlers in California) Bernardo Yorba , after whom the city of Yorba Linda is named. Patton is also a descendant of French Huguenot Louis DuBois . Personality George S. Patton is believed to have had Narcissistic Personality Disorder by many modern psychologists and historians. Patton's first posting

17472-661: The policy change. Once again, the East Berlin communists attempted to disrupt the Berlin municipal elections , which were held on 5 December 1948 and produced a turnout of 86% and an overwhelming victory for the non-communist parties. The results effectively divided the city into East and West, the latter comprising US, British and French sectors. 300,000 Berliners demonstrated and urged the international airlift to continue, and US Air Force pilot Gail Halvorsen created " Operation Vittles ", which supplied candy to German children. The Airlift

17628-441: The political decision-making level on either side. Similarly, there is no evidence, on either side, of any major political or military decision that was prematurely discovered through espionage and thwarted by the other side. There also is no evidence of any major political or military decision that was crucially influenced (much less generated) by an agent of the other side. According to historian Robert L. Benson, "Washington's forte

17784-474: The presence of the Red Army —alarmed the US and UK. Western leaders saw this as a clear instance of Soviet expansionism, clashing with their vision of a democratic Europe. Economically, the divide was sharpened with the introduction of the Marshall Plan in 1947, a US initiative to provide financial aid to rebuild Europe and prevent the spread of communism by stabilizing capitalist economies. The Soviet Union rejected

17940-600: The results of this attack by the chief of staff of the British Tank Corps , Colonel J. F. C. Fuller . On the way back to Paris, he visited the Renault factory to observe French tanks being manufactured. Patton was promoted to major on January 26, 1918. He received the first ten tanks on March 23, 1918, at the tank school at Bourg , a small village close to Langres , Haute-Marne département. The only US soldier with tank-driving experience, Patton personally backed seven of

18096-445: The same time, Webber fired a rubber bullet that struck Patton and broke his neck. De Luca, an FBI agent, eventually tracked down Webber and killed him with his own pistol, ensuring his fate. This incredible tragedy wrought much sorrow throughout the military as the loss of such a great leader could not easily be diminished. The film is based on the 1974 historical novel The Algonquin Project by British writer Frederick W. Nolan in which

18252-461: The secret service in WWII-torn Europe. He must hunt down a group of mutinous officers who falsely accused General Patton of being a traitor. As De Luca begins his mission, he is met with a number of unexpected challenges and setbacks. One such challenge comes in the form of Mara, a former lover of De Luca's who can provide valuable assistance in his mission. Before they can inquire further however,

18408-462: The source of the term, Lippmann traced it to a French term from the 1930s, la guerre froide . The roots of the Cold War can be traced back to diplomatic and military tensions preceding World War II. The 1917 Russian Revolution and the subsequent Treaty of Brest-Litovsk , where Soviet Russia ceded vast territories to Germany, deepened distrust among the Western Allies. Allied intervention in

18564-463: The specific post-war geopolitical confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States came in a speech by Bernard Baruch , an influential advisor to Democratic presidents, on 16 April 1947. The speech, written by journalist Herbert Bayard Swope , proclaimed, "Let us not be deceived: we are today in the midst of a cold war." Newspaper columnist Walter Lippmann gave the term wide currency with his book The Cold War . When asked in 1947 about

18720-557: The start of the Western Allied invasion of France , Patton was given command of the Third Army, which conducted a highly successful rapid armored drive across France . Under his decisive leadership, the Third Army took the lead in relieving beleaguered American troops at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge , after which his forces drove deep into Nazi Germany by the end of the war. During

18876-509: The tanks off the train. In the post, Patton trained tank crews to operate in support of infantry, and promoted its acceptance among reluctant infantry officers. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on April 3, 1918, and attended the Command and General Staff College in Langres. In August 1918, he was placed in charge of the U.S. 1st Provisional Tank Brigade (redesignated the 304th Tank Brigade on November 6, 1918). Patton's Light Tank Brigade

19032-535: The training of American troops in Paris until September, then moved to Chaumont and was assigned as a post adjutant, commanding the headquarters company overseeing the base. Patton was dissatisfied with the post and began to take an interest in tanks , as Pershing sought to give him command of an infantry battalion. While in a hospital for jaundice , Patton met Colonel Fox Conner , who encouraged him to work with tanks instead of infantry. On November 10, 1917, Patton

19188-429: The trenches dig a passage. I think I killed one man here. He would not work so I hit him over the head with a shovel." Patton stopped at a rear command post to submit his report before heading to a hospital. Sereno E. Brett , commander of the U.S. 326th Tank Battalion, took command of the brigade in Patton's absence. Patton wrote in a letter to his wife: "The bullet went into the front of my left leg and came out just at

19344-421: The unfolding conspiracy. He went on to investigate some of the other men closely associated to Patton. He discovered evidence of some American officers who were involved in a shady business venture with some Germans. He also came across strong indications that these men had hired a professional assassin to kill Patton and halt the ongoing investigation. At this point, De Luca was certain that General Patton’s death

19500-411: The world, while Soviet involvement in regime change included the funding of left-wing parties , wars of independence , revolutions and dictatorships. As nearly all the colonial states underwent decolonization and achieved independence in the period from 1945 to 1960, many became Third World battlefields in the Cold War. At the end of World War II, English writer George Orwell used cold war , as

19656-473: The world. Movements against nuclear weapons testing and for nuclear disarmament took place, with large anti-war protests . By the 1970s, both sides had started making allowances for peace and security, ushering in a period of détente that saw the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and the 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China that opened relations with China as a strategic counterweight to

19812-440: The zeal with which all strove for success. Following the 1912 Olympics, Patton traveled to Saumur , France, where he learned fencing techniques from Adjutant Charles Cléry, a French "master of arms" and instructor of fencing at the cavalry school there. Bringing these lessons back to Fort Myer, Patton redesigned saber combat doctrine for the U.S. cavalry, favoring thrusting attacks over the standard slashing maneuver and designing

19968-497: Was 'signals' intelligence - the procurement and analysis of coded foreign messages." leading to the Venona project or Venona intercepts, which monitored the communications of Soviet intelligence agents. Moynihan wrote that the Venona project contained "overwhelming proof of the activities of Soviet spy networks in America, complete with names, dates, places, and deeds." The Venona project

20124-566: Was George Smith Patton , who commanded the 22nd Virginia Infantry under Jubal Early in the Civil War and was killed in the Third Battle of Winchester , while his great-uncle Waller T. Patton was killed in Pickett's Charge leading the 7th Virginia Infantry regiment during the Battle of Gettysburg . Patton also descended from Hugh Mercer , who had been killed in the Battle of Princeton during

20280-786: Was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II , then the Third Army in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Born in 1885, Patton attended the Virginia Military Institute and the United States Military Academy at West Point . He studied fencing and designed the M1913 Cavalry Saber , more commonly known as

20436-410: Was a political move orchestrated by the corrupt officers. He was determined to find the evidence he needed to prove his theory and bring justice to the man who had inspired him and many other to serve their country with honor. De Luca knew this meant placing himself directly in harm's way, but it was a risk he was willing to take in order to bring justice. Soon De Luca is sent on a dangerous mission with

20592-412: Was a strong promise that West Germany would not develop nuclear weapons. Widespread fears of another rise of German militarism necessitated the new military to operate within an alliance framework under NATO command. In 1955, Washington secured full German membership of NATO. In May 1953, Lavrentiy Beria , by then in a government post, had made an unsuccessful proposal to allow the reunification of

20748-463: Was already one of the most highly decorated officers in the AEF, and with whom Patton would serve later in his career. Patton's brigade was then moved to support I Corps for the upcoming Meuse–Argonne offensive , which began on September 26. He personally led a troop of tanks through thick fog as they advanced 5 miles (8 km) into German lines. Around 09:00, Patton was wounded while leading six men and

20904-547: Was also fearful of a reconstituted Germany; his vision of a post-war Germany did not include the ability to rearm or pose any kind of threat to the Soviet Union. In early 1948, following reports of strengthening "reactionary elements", Czech Communists executed a coup d'état in Czechoslovakia (resulting in the formation of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (9 May 1948)), the only Eastern Bloc state that

21060-433: Was as much a logistical as a political and psychological success for the West; it firmly linked West Berlin to the United States. In May 1949, Stalin backed down and lifted the blockade. In 1952, Stalin repeatedly proposed a plan to unify East and West Germany under a single government chosen in elections supervised by the United Nations, if the new Germany were to stay out of Western military alliances, but this proposal

21216-628: Was assigned to establish the AEF Light Tank School. He left Paris and reported to the French Army 's tank training school at Champlieu near Orrouy , where he drove a Renault FT light tank . On November 20, the British launched an offensive towards the important rail center of Cambrai , using an unprecedented number of tanks. At the conclusion of his tour on December 1, Patton went to Albert , 30 miles (48 km) from Cambrai, to be briefed on

21372-479: Was at VMI, Senator Thomas R. Bard nominated him for West Point. He was an initiate of the Beta Commission of Kappa Alpha Order . In his plebe (first) year at West Point, Patton adjusted easily to the routine. However, his academic performance was so poor that he was forced to repeat his first year after failing mathematics . He excelled at military drills, though his academic performance remained average. He

21528-605: Was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal , the citation for which reads: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Colonel (Tank Corps) George Smith Patton, Jr. (ASN: 0-2605), United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of

21684-519: Was cadet sergeant major during his junior year, and the cadet adjutant his senior year. He also joined the football team, but he injured his arm and stopped playing on several occasions. Instead he tried out for the sword team and track and field and specialized in the modern pentathlon . He competed in this sport in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm , and he finished in fifth place—right behind four Swedes . Patton graduated number 46 out of 103 cadets at West Point on June 11, 1909, and received

21840-461: Was cancelled due to World War I . In 1915, Lieutenant Patton was assigned to border patrol duty with A Troop of the 8th Cavalry, based in Sierra Blanca . During his time in the town, Patton took to wearing his M1911 Colt .45 in his belt rather than a holster. His firearm discharged accidentally one night in a saloon , so he swapped it for an ivory-handled Colt Single Action Army revolver,

21996-648: Was contingent upon German economic recovery. One month later, Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 , creating a unified Department of Defense , the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the National Security Council (NSC). These would become the main bureaucracies for US defense policy in the Cold War. Stalin believed economic integration with the West would allow Eastern Bloc countries to escape Soviet control, and that

22152-463: Was kept highly secret even from policymakers until the Moynihan Commission in 1995. Despite this, the decryption project had already been betrayed and dispatched to the USSR by Kim Philby and Bill Weisband in 1946, as was discovered by the US by 1950. Nonetheless, the Soviets had to keep their discovery of the program secret, too, and continued leaking their own information, some of which

22308-502: Was left as the world's sole superpower. In February 1946, George F. Kennan 's " Long Telegram " from Moscow to Washington helped to articulate the US government's increasingly hard line against the Soviets, which would become the basis for US strategy toward the Soviet Union for the duration of the Cold War. The telegram galvanized a policy debate that would eventually shape the Truman administration 's Soviet policy. Washington's opposition to

22464-464: Was named his personal aide for the expedition. This meant that Patton would have some role in organizing the effort, and his eagerness and dedication to the task impressed Pershing. Patton modeled much of his leadership style after Pershing, who favored strong, decisive actions and commanding from the front. As an aide, Patton oversaw the logistics of Pershing's transportation and acted as his personal courier. In mid-April, Patton asked Pershing for

22620-540: Was now restricted to the island of Taiwan , the nationalist government of which exists to this day. The Kremlin promptly created an alliance with the newly formed People's Republic of China. According to Norwegian historian Odd Arne Westad , the communists won the Civil War because they made fewer military mistakes than Chiang Kai-Shek made, and because in his search for a powerful centralized government, Chiang antagonized too many interest groups in China. Moreover, his party

22776-430: Was ordered to Washington by Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur . Patton took command of the 600 troops of the 3rd Cavalry, and on July 28, MacArthur ordered Patton's troops to advance on protesting veterans known as the " Bonus Army " with tear gas and bayonets . Patton was dissatisfied with MacArthur's conduct, as he recognized the legitimacy of the veterans' complaints and had himself earlier refused to issue

22932-403: Was parity in the quantity and quality of secret information obtained by each side. However, the Soviets probably had an advantage in terms of HUMINT (human intelligence or interpersonal espionage) and "sometimes in its reach into high policy circles." In terms of decisive impact, however, he concludes: We also can now have high confidence in the judgment that there were no successful "moles" at

23088-468: Was part of Colonel Samuel Rockenbach 's Tank Corps, part of the American First Army . Personally overseeing the logistics of the tanks in their first combat use by U.S. forces, and reconnoitering the target area for their first attack himself, Patton ordered that no U.S. tank be surrendered. Patton commanded American-crewed Renault FT tanks at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel , leading the tanks from

23244-878: Was promoted to major again the next day. Patton was given temporary duty in Washington D.C. that year to serve on a committee writing a manual on tank operations. During this time he developed a belief that tanks should be used not as infantry support, but rather as an independent fighting force. Patton supported the M1919 design created by J. Walter Christie , a project which was shelved due to financial considerations. While on duty in Washington, D.C., in 1919, Patton met Dwight D. Eisenhower , who would play an enormous role in Patton's future career. During and following Patton's assignment in Hawaii, he and Eisenhower corresponded frequently. Patton sent notes and assistance to help Eisenhower graduate from

23400-556: Was released in theaters on December 22, 1978 in the United States and March 2, 1979 in the United Kingdom. The film was released on DVD on August 30, 2012 by the Warner Archive Collection . MGM Home Entertainment (under license from WB) released Brass Target on DVD as part of its Sophia Loren Collection . Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote in his review: "It is the dubious premise of The Brass Target ,

23556-486: Was still useful to the American program. According to Moynihan, even President Truman may not have been fully informed of Venona, which may have left him unaware of the extent of Soviet espionage. Clandestine atomic spies from the Soviet Union, who infiltrated the Manhattan Project at various points during WWII, played a major role in increasing tensions that led to the Cold War. In addition to usual espionage,

23712-414: Was the Vietnam War of 1955 to 1975, which ended in defeat for the U.S. The USSR solidified its domination of Eastern Europe with the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Both powers used economic aid in an attempt to win the loyalty of non-aligned countries , such as India . After the Sino-Soviet split between the USSR and China in 1961,

23868-625: Was turned down by the Western powers. Some sources dispute the sincerity of the proposal. Britain, France, the United States, Canada and eight other western European countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty of April 1949, establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). That August, the first Soviet atomic device was detonated in Semipalatinsk , Kazakh SSR . Following Soviet refusals to participate in

24024-434: Was weakened during the war against Japan . Meanwhile, the communists told different groups, such as the peasants, exactly what they wanted to hear, and they cloaked themselves under the cover of Chinese nationalism . Confronted with the communist revolution in China and the end of the American atomic monopoly in 1949, the Truman administration quickly moved to escalate and expand its containment doctrine. In NSC 68 ,

24180-446: Was with the 15th Cavalry at Fort Sheridan, Illinois , where he established himself as a dilligent leader who impressed superiors with his dedication. In late 1911, Patton was transferred to Fort Myer , Virginia, where many of the Army's senior leaders were stationed. Befriending Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson , Patton served as his aide at social functions on top of his regular duties as quartermaster for his troop. Patton had

24336-504: Was wounded near the end of the war. In the interwar period, Patton became a central figure in the development of the army's armored warfare doctrine, serving in numerous staff positions throughout the country. At the United States' entry into World War II, he commanded the 2nd Armored Division . Patton led U.S. troops into the Mediterranean theater with an invasion of Casablanca during Operation Torch in 1942, and soon established himself as an effective commander by rapidly rehabilitating

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