This study aims to determine how the early life of Soeharto was, how a military career of Soeharto was, and how the role of Soeharto in the military field was. In line with the problem and research carried out by the method of history. The historical method was to examine and to analiyze critically the records and the past relics to understand the occured events.
The historical method stages are: 1. Heuristics (search for and find the sourch); 2. Critcism it self is divided into two, the first external criticism, the criticism is done from the outside (the authenticity of the source), the second is an internal critique, that is criticism from with in (the authenticity of the contents of the source); 3. Interpretation of the data; 4. Historiography or historical writing.
The results of the research, namely the role of Soeharto in the military field in the years 1921-1965. Soeharto was a member of a military known as a Dutch military forces (KNIL) in 1940, later joined PETA forces in 1943 and in 1945 officially became TNI. Soeharto’s military role had also become a force for, among others, participated in the General Offensive March 1, 1949, became a leader in the Mandala Command liberated West Irian from the Dutch and became a military officer in Indonesia. It can be concluded that Soeharto had a considerable role in the history of Indonesian independence during being military forces.