For his son, the United States Army general, see Joseph Warren Stilwell Jr.
"General Stilwell" redirects here. For other uses, see General Stilwell (disambiguation).
Joseph Stilwell
Nickname(s)
"Vinegar Joe", "Uncle Joe"
Born
(1883-03-19)March 19, 1883 Palatka, Florida, US
Died
October 12, 1946(1946-10-12) (aged 63) San Francisco, California, US
Allegiance
United States
Service/branch
United States Army
Years of service
1904–1946
Rank
General
Service number
0-1912
Unit
Infantry Branch
Commands held
7th Infantry Division III Corps China Burma India Theater Chinese Expeditionary Force (Burma) Chinese Army in India Northern Combat Area Command Army Ground Forces Tenth United States Army Sixth United States Army Western Defense Command
Battles/wars
Philippine–American War
World War I
Battle of Saint-Mihiel
Chinese Civil War
World War II
Second Sino-Japanese War
Burma Campaign
Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan
Battle of Okinawa
Awards
Distinguished Service Cross Army Distinguished Service Medal (2) Legion of Merit Bronze Star Medal
Other work
Chief of Staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek
Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (March 19, 1883 – October 12, 1946) was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II. Stillwell was made the Chief of Staff of the Chinese Nationalist Leader, Chiang Kai-shek. He spent the majority of his tenure striving for a 90-division army trained by American troops and equipped with American lend-lease and fighting to reclaim Burma from the Japanese. His efforts led to friction with Chiang who viewed troops not under his immediate control as a threat and who saw the Chinese communists as a greater rival than Japan. An early American popular hero of the war for leading a column walking out of Burma pursued by the victorious Imperial Japanese Armed Forces, his implacable demands for units debilitated by disease to be sent into heavy combat resulted in Merrill's Marauders becoming disenchanted with him. The U.S. government was infuriated by the 1944 fall of Changsha to a Japanese offensive. Stilwell delivered a message to the Chinese Nationalist leader, Chiang Kai-shek from President Roosevelt that threatened that lend-lease aid to China would be cut off. The resulting friction atop an already tense relationship made Ambassador Patrick J. Hurley advocate that Stilwell had to be replaced. Chiang had been intent on keeping Lend-Lease supplies to fight the Chinese Communist Party, but Stilwell had been obeying his instructions to get the Communists and the Nationalists to co-operate against Japan.
Influential voices such as the journalist Brooks Atkinson viewed the Communists as benign and Stilwell as a victim of a corrupt regime. The ousting of Stilwell fermented the disillusionment of US policymakers with Chiang that culminated in the 1947 end of American assistance to the Republic of China during the Chinese Civil War.
Stilwell's admirers saw him as having been given inadequate resources and incompatible objectives. Critics viewed him as a hard-charging officer whose temperament and conduct towards Chiang contributed to the loss of China. Barbara Tuchman, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her work on Stillwell, concluded he failed to accomplish an impossible task notwithstanding his indomitable will, and the failure lay with the Chinese's innate rejection of Western means.
Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (March 19, 1883 – October 12, 1946) was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India Theater during...
mathematician JosephStilwell (1883–1946), U.S. Army four-star general Joseph Warren Stilwell Jr. (1912–1966), U.S. Army general, son of JosephStilwell Michelle...
The Stilwell Museum (Chinese: 史迪威博物馆) is a museum in Yuzhong District of Chongqing that which preserves the former residence of General Joseph W. Stilwell...
Frank C. Stilwell (1856 – March 20, 1882) was an outlaw Cowboy who killed at least two men in Cochise County during 1877–82. Both killings were considered...
Burma and Western Yunnan which succeeded in opening the Ledo Road. JosephStilwell intended to make a rapid march against Myitkyina, prophesying it to...
Lieutenant General JosephStilwell. The CEF entered Burma in February 1942 and engaged with the Imperial Japanese Army at the Toungoo. Stilwell arrived at the...
units that replaced it in 1942. He feuded constantly with General JosephStilwell, the U.S. Army commander in China, and helped China's Generalissimo...
or China. In practice, U.S. forces were usually overseen by General JosephStilwell, the Deputy Allied Commander in China; the term "CBI" was significant...
the construction of the Ledo Road. It was renamed the Stilwell Road, after General JosephStilwell of the U.S. Army, in early 1945 at the suggestion of...
clashing strategies proposed by General JosephStilwell and Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek would lead to Stilwell's eventual removal from his position...
National Army, and the deputy commander of the campaign was General JosephStilwell of the US Army. The main force of the Japanese army was the Japanese...
Simon; Stilwell, Joseph (2004). Nicholas Evan Sarantakes (ed.). Seven Stars: The Okinawa Battle Diaries of Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. and JosephStilwell. Coski...
field army, and led the Tenth Army until relieved by General JosephStilwell on 23 June. Stilwell commanded the Tenth Army until it was disbanded on 15 October...
Geiger successfully led the Tenth Army until relieved by General JosephStilwell. Geiger was born in Middleburg, Florida. Geiger attended Florida State...
the 15-year period between 1900 and 1915: Douglas MacArthur (1903), JosephStilwell (1904), Henry "Hap" Arnold (1907), George S. Patton (1909), Dwight...
Commander South East Asia. US Army General JosephStilwell was appointed deputy supreme commander. Stilwell was also, officially, deputy to Chiang Kai...
Times, "Burma's Stilwell Road: A backbreaking WWII project is revived", December 30, 2008. Transcribed copies of Joseph Warren Stilwell's World War II diaries...
organization and strategy during the Chinese Civil War. American General JosephStilwell, who commanded Chinese troops during World War II in China, praised...
Vinegar Joe may mean: nickname for JosephStilwell, US general Vinegar Joe (band) This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Vinegar...
FOR BARTOW'S SON". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 3, 2023. Plambeck, Joseph (February 8, 2008). "Spotlight On: Bob Knight". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331...
commanders of operations in South East Asia (South East Asia Command SEAC), JosephStilwell, was based in the city. This made it a city of world importance in...
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