Summary
Chapter 10 discusses the years in between the two world wars, 1918 to 1941. It focuses on two intertwined trends that effected the United States military and its lack of preparation for the war that would eventually come knocking at the nation’s door in 1941. The first trend can be seen in the international arena where victorious French, British, and American leaders hammered out the Treaty of Versailles and established the League of Nations in 1920. The treaty determined the fate of Germany. The belligerent nation was required to accept responsibility for the war, pay reparations to the Entente Powers, and disarm its military forces. Thereafter, most leaders and people in France, Great Britain, and the United States saw little need for maintaining expensive armed forces. Into the late 1920s and the early 1930s, these nations made several additional attempts to ensure peace by controlling production of weapons and arbitrating disputes among nations. Their efforts yielded temporary solutions that could not, however, prevent the slide toward another global conflict by the end of the 1930s.
The second trend occurred as the United States military demobilized after World War I. The subsequent stagnation of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps was closely tied to public and Congressional support, entities which both grew isolationist in the post-war years. The onset of the Great Depression in 1929 caused further reductions in military budgets and exacerbated anti-military sentiments. New weapons systems developed at a slow pace in this austere environment. Strategic planning matched neither the nation’s military capabilities nor its foreign policy priorities. Meanwhile, the depression’s effects expanded to Europe and Asia, triggering the rise of a resurgent Germany and expansionist Italy and Japan in the 1930s. These nations, with their growing military power, increasingly threatened a tenuous global peace.
In this chapter, students will learn about the political and fiscal restraints on the U.S. military during the 1920s and into the Great Depression. A discussion of the evolution or armor, strategic bombing, naval aviation, and amphibious capabilities and doctrine highlights the analysis of American strategic plans in response to increasing threats on the land, in the air, and at sea. Ultimately, this chapter sets the scene for the gradual American slide into the Second World War.
Glossary
“Bomber Mafia”- An influential group of U.S. Army Air Corps air-power prophets during the interwar period who advocated for an expanded bomber fleet as a strategic tool, including Henry Arnold, Carl Spaatz, James Doolittle, and Curtis LeMay.
Adna R. Chaffee, Jr.- (1884-1941), A U.S. Army officer known as an armor warfare proponent. During the interwar period Chaffee championed the tank and helped to develop U.S. Army armor doctrine.
Collective Security- The protection of territory and sovereignty of nations against external threats through an alliance system where an attack on one is considered a threat to all; one of President Woodrow Wilson’s main goals in the League of Nations.
Giulio Douhet- (1869-1930), One of the most instrumental interwar period military theorists, the Italian general’s 1920 book Command of the Air outlined a strategic bombing doctrine that influenced American air power advocates.
Destroyers-for-Bases Agreement- A late 1940 deal during World War II between the neutral United States and Great Britain to provide fifty obsolete U.S. Navy destroyers to the British in return for several bases in the Caribbean and South America.
Earl H. Ellis- (1880-1923), A U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, “Pete” Ellis developed what would become the operational level of American amphibious operations in the Pacific Theater during World War II included in the War Plan ORANGE two decades before the conflict began.
Fall of France- The German victory over the French military in World War II after only six weeks of fighting. A June 22, 1940 armistice agreement gave German occupation forces direct control of northern France while a puppet government based in Vichy controlled the rest. The French surrender also left Great Britain with no major allies against Germany and no considerable obstacles but the English Channel between the Third Reich and British allies.
J.F.C. Fuller- (1878-1966), A British Army officer and along with B.H. Liddell Hart one of the most influential foreign advocates of armor operations during the interwar period.
Great Depression- The economic depression beginning with the stock market crash in America in the United States at the end of October 1929. Quickly creating worldwide financial problems, the Depression also markedly reduced budgets for the U.S. military in the interwar period which negatively affected strategic planning and slowed weapons developments.
B.H. Liddell Hart- (1895-1970), A British Army officer, and along with J.F.C. Fuller one of the most influential advocates of armor operations during the interwar period.
Isolationism- The policy of political and/or strategic non-alignment in peacetime or war. Prevalent through much of American history, the country long remained reticent to declare alliances or consider binding agreements. Isolationist sentiment contributed to America’s refusal to join the League of Nations after World War I.
Invasion of Manchuria- An indicator of an aggressive Japanese empire, Japan’s conquest of Manchuria in 1931 on manufactured pretext led to extensive depredations and a puppet regime that lasted the duration of World War II.
Invasion of Poland- One of the earliest aggressive acts in Europe of World War II, Germany’s conquest of Poland began from the west on September 1, 1939 followed by an invasion from the east by Soviet Union forces on September 17. The combined onslaught defeated the Polish military by October.
League of Nations- An international organization formed after World War I in 1920 with the intent of maintaining global stability by arbitrating disputes before hostilities started, as well as through collective security.
Lend-Lease- An American program begun in March 1941 that provided military supplies and aid to allied nations to help fight the Axis powers during World War II.
Douglas MacArthur- (1880-1964), One of the most controversial U.S. Army officers of the twentieth-century. Army chief of staff from 1930-1935, MacArthur’s overzealous nature contributed to the public relations fiasco of the Bonus Army March in 1932. His advocacy of motorizing the army and mechanizing the Cavalry Branch helped modernize the U.S. military.
George C. Marshall- (1880-1959), U.S. Army officer, chief of the War Plans Division in 1938 and promoted to brigadier general and chief of staff one year later. In that position Marshall made sweeping changes, including increasing the Army’s size, organizationally restructuring it, and modernizing the service.
William “Billy” Mitchell- (1879-1936), A flamboyant, and sometimes insubordinate, U.S. Army officer who became one of the Army’s primary air power proponents during the interwar period. Eliciting support for the airplane’s destructive potential, Mitchell staged bombing tests in July 1920 that sank the captured German battleship Ostfriesland.
William A. Moffett- (1869-1933), Senior U.S. Navy officer during the interwar period and the most notable proponent of naval aviation.
National Defense Act of 1920- Did away with the idea of an expansible U.S. Army and organized it as three parts: the Regular Army, National Guard, and Reserves, while also continuing to support the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) in colleges and universities.
Neutrality Acts (1935, 1936, 1937)- Acts passed by the U.S. Congress to remain an isolationist nation during the interwar; stipulated that in the event of war, the United States prohibited the supply of American weapons, loans to belligerent nations, and travel by Americans on belligerent ships.
Oil Embargo- President Franklin Roosevelt’s restriction on the American sale of oil to Japan in 1941 in order to deter Japanese expansion and growing power.
ORANGE War Plan- Part of the American strategic plans in the interwar in the event of conflict, War Plan ORANGE dealt with war against Japan.
George S. Patton, Jr.- (1885-1945), A promising young U.S. Army officer during the interwar and an advocate of armor doctrine and development.
RAINBOW PLANS- A series of American strategic war plans approved by President Roosevelt before American entry into World War II that detailed the course of U.S. war efforts in a coalition on multiple fronts.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt- (1882-1945), U.S. president from 1933 to 1945, responsible for leading the United States through much of the Great Depression and World War II. FDR capably balanced American neutrality and assistance to friendly European powers until the nation declared war against the Axis Powers following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Selective Training and Service Act (1940)- America’s first peacetime draft, passed in September 1940; required all American men aged 21 to 35 to register with local draft boards.
Self-determination- The right of peoples to determine their own government systems without external compulsion; part of President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points and one of his two main goals in a post-WWI world.
Strategic Bombing- Dropping bombs from aircraft in order to attain strategic objectives. Targets could include factories, railroad, shipyards, and other logistic or war production facilities of strategic value. Interwar period visionaries such as Giulio Douhet, Hugh Trenchard, and Brigadier General William “Billy” Mitchell theorized about the use of strategic bombing, having a direct influence on the extensive use of the method in World War II.
tank- Armored vehicles that make use of tractor crawler-type undercarriage. First utilized in 1916 during World War I, interwar proponents such as Liddell Hart and Fuller in Great Britain and Chaffee in America developed armor doctrine that became crucial to the expanded use of tanks during World War II.
Tripartite Pact- Agreement signed in September 1940 that unified Germany, Italy, and Japan.
Tentative Manual for Landing Operations- A 1934 U.S. Marine Corps tactical manual that became the blueprint for all American amphibious operations in the Pacific and European Theaters during World War II.
Treaty of Versailles- The June 1919 multilateral peace treaty that ended World War I, outlining harsh reparations for Germany and a multinational organization in the form of the League of Nations. The failure of the treaty to pass the U.S. Senate based upon the League of Nations issue meant that the United States sought a separate peace with Germany.
Carl Vinson- (1883-1981), U.S. Representative from Georgia and a staunch advocate for a strengthened military during the interwar period, especially the Navy as evidenced by the 1934 Vinson-Trammel Act.
XB-17 Flying Fortress- The prototype version of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, one of America’s key strategic bombers during World War II.
Washington Naval Arms Limitation Treaty (1922)- A five power treaty coming out of the Washington Naval Conference of 1921 that sought to prevent a naval arms race. Great Britain, United States, Japan, Italy, and France agreed to reduce the size, number, and armament of their capital ships.
Woodrow Wilson- (1856-1924), Two term US president from 1913 to 1921, and in office for the duration of World War I. Wilson’s progressivism influenced much of his presidency, including a failed attempt to join the League of Nations.
Flashcards
Annotated Bibliography
Armstrong, Benjamin J. Naval Presence and the Interwar US Navy and Marine Corps: Forward Deployment, Crisis Response, and the Tyranny of History. New York: Routledge, 2023.
Drawing on the annual reports of the Navy Department’s senior leaders, Armstrong tracks the use of U.S. Navy ships as they conducted humanitarian, diplomatic, and maritime security missions across the globe. Whereas most American embraced isolationism from global affairs, the U.S. Navy, as well as the U.S. Marine Corps, maintained visibility during the 1920s and 1930s. Both services meanwhile planned and prepared for future conflicts.
Bickel, Keith. Mar Learning: The Marine Corps’ Development of Small Wars Doctrine, 1915–1940. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000.
An institutional study, this book examines the feedback loops and lessons learned processes that Marines drew from their deployments to Latin American and later compiled as the Small Wars Manual (1940).
Coffman, Edward M. The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
This work is the sequel to Coffman’s classic The Old Army: A Portrait of the American Army in Peacetime, 1784-1898, whichappeared in 1988. Coffman traces the evolution of the Army from a small frontier force to one capable of fielding millions of soldiers and fighting two global wars. The social history shows how the ebbs and flows between conflict and peace affected the soldiers and the institution as a whole.
Dickson, Paul. The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army before Pearl Harbor. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 2020.
This book explores how the U.S. Army expanded from 200,000 soldiers serving in posts all over the United States to more than a million soldiers in 1940 and 1941. Chief of Staff of the Army General George Mashall plays a pivotal role in this mobilization process. This expansion occurred against the backdrop of powerful isolationist forces that did not want such exponential growth of the U.S. Army.
Hinkleman, Jeffrey A. For No Reason at All: The Changing Narrative of the First World War in American Film. Oxford: University of Mississippi Press, 2022.
Hinkleman analyzes how and why the First World War transformed filmmaking in the United States. He finds that some filmmakers drew on personal experiences during the war to craft heroic tales, while others rejected the belligerent wartime rhetoric in favor of pacifist or anti-war motifs.
Johnson, David E. Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers: Innovation in the U.S. Army, 1917-1945. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998.
This short survey contrasts the technological development of two weapons systems new to warfare in 1917 and then seminal in warfare by 1945. Johnson demonstrates how personality conflicts and bureaucratic inertia left the Army unprepared to undertake combined arms operations at the beginning of the Second World War. Later, aviators and tankers learned to cooperate and achieve victory in the air and on the ground.
Kuehn, John T. Agents of Innovation: The General Board and the Design of the Fleet That Defeated the Japanese Navy. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2008.
This book focuses on the activities of the Navy’s General Board during the interwar years. The senior admirals on this board helped to drive new technologies and designs, as well as strategic plans, that later paid dividends in the Second World War.
Licursi, Kimberly J. Lamay. Remembering World War I in America. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2018.
Although the United States did not suffer the incredibly large numbers of casualties that the Europeans did, the First World War did leave marks in American memory and memorialization. Yes, Licursi finds that no single, consistent narrative of America in the war emerged in the 1920s and 1930s. Instead, the war faded into the past as apathy toward conflict gradually dominated American popular culture.
Linn, Brian, Guardians of Empire: The U.S. Army in the Pacific, 1902-1940. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1997.
Linn expands on his expert analyses of the Philippines Insurrection to craft a sweeping study of the Army in the Pacific in the first four decades of the twentieth century. This book incorporates policy, strategy, and command to better understand the Army’s efforts to maintain its presence in the Pacific as well as prepare for potential war with Japan.
Matheny, Michael. Carrying the War to the Enemy: American Operational Art to 1945. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2011.
This revisionist work challenges previous histories that assumed that the U.S. military learned its operational art on the fly in the two world wars. Matheny, however, argues that the U.S. military (air, sea, and ground components) developed its own operational art – the ability to conduct battles and campaigns to achieve strategic objectives. He particularly points to efforts by some senior American military leaders to develop combine arms and joint operations.
Miller, Edward S. War Plan Orange: The Strategy to Defeat the Japanese, 1897-1945. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1991.
This seminal work tracks the evolution of War Plan Orange from before the Spanish-American War through the Second World War. Delving into enormous numbers of primary sources, Miller explains how American naval strategists divided into two camps: thrusters and cautionaries. The former favored a direct aggressive strike against Japanese forces in the Pacific, and the latter believed the wiser course would be a slow campaign of attrition through the Central Pacific. As the Second World War played out, the cautionaries proved to be correct in their assumptions.
Moy, Timothy. War Machines: Transforming Technologies in the U.S. Military 1920–1940. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2002.
In this book, Moy compares and contrasts the processes of technological innovation using the U.S. Marine Corps’ amphibious mission and the U.S. Army Air Corps’ strategic bombing mission as case studies.
Muth, Jörg. Command Culture: Officer Education in the U.S. Army and the German Armed Forces, 1901–1940, and the Consequences for World War II. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2011.
This controversial, yet award-winning, book contrasts the officer training in the U.S. and German armies before the Second World War. Muth finds the Army’s professional military education at the command and staff level at Fort Leavenworth to be inferior.
Prange, Gordon W, with Daniel M Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon. At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. New York: Penguin, 1981.
Although more than three decades in print, this book remains the best, most thorough, and most balanced study of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Prange and his assistants examined sources in American and Japanese archives to conclude that the United States military and political institutions failed to assess the potential threat of Japan resulting in a tragedy of errors.
Trimble, William F. Admiral William A. Moffett: Architect of Naval Aviation. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994.
Trimble has written the definitive biography of one of the giants on the interwar Navy and naval aviation. Although he died in an aviation accident in 1933, Moffett’s efforts of the previous decade made the aircraft and naval aviation into viable weapons. He laid the foundation for these to become the critical weapons that would defeat Japan in the Second World War.
Ulbrich, David J. Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of the Modern Marine Corps 1936-1943. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2011.
Using the lens of biography, this book covers the interwar history of the U.S. Marine Corps in its first three chapters. Ulbrich explores how and why the Corps transformed from a small force stationed in Latin America in the 1920s into a large force capable of conducting successful amphibious assaults in the Second World War. As a rising officer and late Commandant of the Marine Corps, Thomas Holcomb played an integral role in the development of amphibious doctrines and technologies to execute those doctrines.
Wildenberg, Thomas. Billy Mitchell’s War with the Navy: The Interwar Rivalry over Air Power. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2014.
In addition to Bill Mitchell’s conflicts with senior leaders in the U.S. Army, he also feuded with the U.S. Navy because he believed that aviation made navies obsolete. The author delves into how and why Mitchell’s personality became the flashpoint for this rivalry between aviation arms of both services.
Wilson, Kathy. Marshall’s Great Captain: Lieutenant General Frank M. Andrews and Air Power in the World Wars. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2024.
This is the first biography of the general for which Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland is named. Wilson traces Andrews’ life from his childhood through his time at the Military Academy, his rise through the ranks in the interwar years, and finally to his senior leadership during the first two years of the World War II before his tragic death in May 1943. Wilson finds Andrews to be an outstanding officer who enjoyed a close friendship with General George Marshall. Wilson speculates what role Andrew might have played in the coming D-Day invasion had he lived.
Woolley, William J. Creating the Modern Army: Citizen-Soldiers and the American Way of War, 1919-1939. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2022.
Woolley argues that the U.S. Army of the 21st century can be traced back to the Army of the interwar years. The National Defense Act of 1920 established the U.S. Army as an expandable force with a few career soldiers that would be augmented by many more American in a what Woolley terms as the “Citizen Army,” either through conscription or volunteerism. The interwar years saw the Citizen’s Military Training Corps, the Officer Reserve Corps, the National Guard, and the Reserve Officer Training Corps as the vehicles to maintain that small professional cadre of soldiers and to prepare the larger body of American men for service in a conflict.
Expanded Bibliography
Dickson, Paul, and Thomas B. Allen. The Bonus Army: An American Epic. New York: Walker and Company, 2004.
Felker, C. C. Testing American Sea Power: U.S. Navy Strategic Exercises, 1923–1940. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2006.
Hurley, Alfred F. Billy Mitchell: Crusader for Air Power. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975.
Kuehn, John T. Agents of Innovation: The General Board and the Design of the Fleet that Defeated the Japanese Navy. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2008.
MacIsaac, David. “Voices from the Central Blue: The Air Power Theorists.” In Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, edited by Peter Paret. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986.
Murray, Williamson, and Allan R. Millett, eds. Military Innovation in the Interwar Period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Mauer, Mauer. Aviation in the U.S. Army, 1919–1939. Washington: Office of Air Force History, 1987.
Muth, Jörg. Command Culture: Officer Education in the U.S. Army and the German Armed Forces, 1901–1940, and the Consequences for World War II. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2011.
Moy, Timothy. War Machines: Transforming Technologies in the U.S. Military, 1920–1940. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2001.
Pogue, Forrest. George C. Marshall: Education of a General, 1800–1939. Vol. 1. New York: Viking, 1964.
Winton, Harold R., and David R. Mets, eds. The Challenge of Change: Military Institutions and New Realities, 1918–1941. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000.
Annotated Weblinks
Site: Aftermath: When the Boys Came Home
URL: http://www.aftermathww1.com/
Description: Though a British website, Aftermath: When the Boys Came Home speaks to issues that cross national borders. On this website, you will find how society coped with the aftermath of World War I through newsclips, music, poetry, and other social mediums.
Site: National Archives, Our Documents: President Wilson’s Fourteen Points
URL: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=62
Description: Follow this link to see and read President Woodrow Wilson’s address he gave on 8 January 1918 to Congress, titled “War Aims and Peace Terms.” From this speech came Wilson’s famous Fourteen Points.
Site: American Rhetoric: “Woodrow Wilson’s Final Address in Support of the League of Nations”
URL: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/wilsonleagueofnations.htm
Description: President Woodrow Wilson fought an extended battle in order to see that the United States joined the League of Nations. He went on a public speaking tour to garner support from the American people. Follow this link to read the last speech he gave in support of the League, delivered in Pueblo, Colorado, on 25 September 1919. After the speech, Wilson collapsed due to exhaustion. A week later, he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on his left side.
Site: Global Security: “War Plan Rainbow”
URL: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/war-plan-rainbow.htm
Description: If curious about the specifics of the color-coded war plans the Joint Army and Navy Board drafted between 1890 and 1939, follow this link to see just what the “Rainbow Plans” proposed.
Site: League of Nations Photo Archive
URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~league/
Description: In 2000, Indiana University’s Center for the Study of Global Change undertook a project to digitize the League of Nation’s Archives’ photograph collections, located in Geneva, Switzerland. The product is this website, a digital repository for photos of League of Nations’ personalities, assemblies, council, delegations, commissions, conferences, the Secretariat, the Permanent Court of International Justice, and the Bureau International du Travail.
Site: United Nations Office at Geneva, League of Nations Chronology
URL: http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/%28httpAssets%29/3DA94AAFEB9E8E76C1256F340047BB52/$file/sdn_chronology.pdf
Description: The League of Nations’ rocky birth and life is complicated to chart. To better understand the key events during the League’s life, visit this United Nations-supplied timeline.
Site: History of the League of Nations
URL: http://www.leagueofnationshistory.org/homepage.shtml
Description: The result of scholars who study the League of Nations working together, this website is a network to facilitate research on the League. The project provides visitors with the most recent resources, lectures, and publications on the League of Nations, making this website the starting point for anyone interested in learning more about the League.
Site: U.S. Army Center of Military History Online Bookshelf, The Interwar Years
URL: http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/tiy.html
Description: To read the U.S. Army’s official history of the interwar period, follow this link to the Center of Military History’s online bookshelf. Be sure to visit the CMH website when looking for in-depth narrative history of the U.S. Army in any period.
Site: United States Combined Arms Center, Combined Arms Research Library
URL: http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/resources/biblio/interwar.asp
Description: The U.S. Army’s Combined Arms Research Library is an indispensable tool when researching any topic regarding combined arms warfare. This link will take you to a host of digitally-scanned studies and primary documents about the interwar period, making it easy for you to reference materials that the Research Library holds.
Site: The American Fighting Vehicle Database
URL: http://afvdb.50megs.com/
Description: If you want to chart the development of tanks in the U.S. military, visit this website. Divided by type of vehicle, The American Fighting Vehicle Database has detailed specifications, photographs, and histories for every tank, infantry and reconnaissance vehicle, artillery, and support vehicle that has served in the U.S. military.
Site: Mount Holyoke College, Vincent Ferraro, The Ruth C. Lawson Professor of International Politics: “Documents on the Interwar Period”
URL: https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/interwar.htm
Description: A professor of international politics at Mount Holyoke College, Vincent Ferraro, has created an extensive list of primary documents that are important to the interwar period. Broken down by year, the documents are not confined to just the United States. If looking for the text for the Kellogg-Briand Pact or the Japanese declaration of war against the United States, this is a good place to begin looking.
Site: Sam Houston State University Professor Website, “The U.S. Navy in the Interwar Period”
URL: http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/cno/cnorpt_1.html
Description: An excerpt from Admiral Ernest J. King’s report to the Secretary of Navy in 1944, this link is an interesting look into how an important officer in the U.S. Navy viewed the interwar period and its effect on the service in World War II.
Site: Naval Historical Center’s United States Naval History: A Bibliography
URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliography_of_early_U.S._naval_history
Description: This link will take you to the Naval History and Heritage Command’s bibliography of works pertaining to the interwar period. If ever in need of books on U.S. naval history, reference the NHHC’s website.
Site: Hyperwar: Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia
URL: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/ref/AdvBaseOps/index.html
Description: For insight into Marine Corps preparations for war during the interwar period, reference this document, Fleet Marine Force Reference Publication (FMFRP) 12-46, Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia. Marine Corps Major E.H. Ellis was the primary author of the war plan in 1921. As a Marine Corps contingency plan for a potential war with Japan, Ellis’s writings have incredible foresight into what would actually occur twenty years later.