The US Marine Corps, founded on 10 November 1775/11 July 1798, is a branch of the US Navy that is used for expeditionary, amphibious, and aerial warfare. They formed the cornerstone of the Pacific War against the Japanese Empire during World War II, and they have been the main force of American troops fighting overseas since 1942, taking part in conflicts such as the Vietnam War, Operation Blue Bat, Lebanese Civil War, Gulf War, Afghanistan War, and Iraq War.
History[]
On 10 November 1775, during the American Revolutionary War, two battalions of Continental Marines were formed to fight both at sea and on shore for the United States, which was fighting for independence from Great Britain. In April 1783 they were disbanded as the war ended, but on 11 July 1798, the Marine Corps was re-formed in preparation for war with France, with whom the Americans were engaged in a Quasi-War with.
Their first battle was the Battle of Derne on 27 April-13 May 1805, coincidentally the first land battle that the United States had fought overseas. 54 Marines defeated 4,000 Tripolitania Eyalet soldiers, killing 800 and wounding 1,200, while only 2 marines were killed and 3 wounded. During the War of 1812, they held the center of General Andrew Jackson's line at the 1815 Battle of New Orleans, and they would go on to storm Chapultepec Palace during the Mexican-American War, take part in overseas expeditions against uncivilized nations, invade the Caribbean during the Spanish-American War, put down rebels in the Philippine-American War, and defend westerners in the Boxer Rebellion. These actions made the Marines notable for their projection of American power abroad.
Their first hard-fought war took place in 1918 when they were deployed to France during World War I. The Marines fought the Imperial German Army at the Battle of Belleau Wood, during which they were nicknamed "Devil Dogs". German troops respected them as of the same quality as their Sturmtruppen elite troops, and by the end of the war, the Marine Corps was 70,000 troops-strong with 2,400 officers.
World War II was the finest hour of the Marines. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the United States entered the war. They fought the Japanese in a series of island battles, with "island hopping" resulting in bloody battles between the Imperial Japanese Army and Marines on small islands worth little strategically apart from their airbases and naval facilities. The American Marines were the main force in the war in the Pacific, during which they were very successful. They ended the war with their captures of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in late 1945, and they proved their abilities.
In the Korean War of 1950-53, the Marines fought against the Korean People's Army of North Korea and the People's Liberation Army of China, expanding to 261,000 troops by the end of the war. In 1955, when the United States sent advisers to South Vietnam, the Vietnam War began, although it would not be until 1963 when US Marines landed in Vietnam as advisers. In 1964, after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, thousands of Marines were deployed to Vietnam, and they were famous for their defense of Hue City, Con Thien, and Khe Sanh. They were the main force of US troops in the conflict until their withdrawal in 1973.
From 1973 to 2001, the Marines were involved in only a few wars, none of them serious. They were sent as part of the Multinational Force in Lebanon in 1982 to keep the peace in the region, with assistance from Italian and French troops. In 1983, they invaded Grenada briefly, defeating the Grenadian Army easily. On 23 October 1983, the Marines left Lebanon after their barracks was bombed. In 1990, they got involved in the Gulf War as a large part of the US forces sent to fight Iraq, and won the war in a week. They also took part in the Somali Civil War in 1993.
Their next major war was the War on Terror from 2001 onwards. They invaded Afghanistan in November 2001 and defeated the Taliban without the need for several armies, winning in a month. However, more were deployed later on to put down the insurgency. In 2003, they invaded Iraq, where they put down the Ba'athist Iraqi government, and also fought insurgents until they withdrew in 2011. This war saw them fighting an unpopular war against enemies that fought so that they could die and have several virgins in heaven, and they were forced to withdraw due to popular opposition to the conflict.
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