![]() Since the 1980s, the marines have functioned as a globally positioned, hi-tech force, able to rush hurriedly to the world’s trouble spots with usually decisive effect. Shortly afterward, the Marine Corps reverted back to an all-volunteer force, and much closer to its original roots. This was followed by six frustrating years in South Vietnam, 1965–1971, where impressive victories like Khe Sanh and Hue did little to thwart Communist victory in a war of national liberation. Under the defense unification scheme, followed by equally valorous performances during the Korean War at Inchon and the Chosin Reservoir. The postwar period found the Marine Corps successfully waging a battle for survival Marines initially distinguished themselves with heroic, if doomed, performances at Wake Island and Corregidor, then bounced back with legendary conquest of Guadalcanal, Tawara, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, all of which spelled the doom of Japan’s Pacific empire. This constructive interval also witnessed theorizing and practice of large-scale amphibious tactics, so by the time of American intervention in World War II, the Marine Corps was the world’s best exponent of this intricate and dangerous form of warfare. The next two decades were a period of fiscal entrenchment for the entire military establishment, and the marines reverted largely back to interventions throughout Central America, where Marine Corps aviators pioneered the new technique of dive-bombing. The marines performed magnificently at Belleau Wood and a dozen other pitched battles along the Western Front, and so impressed their veteran German adversaries that they acquired the moniker “Devil Dogs” from them. ![]() The first years of the 20th century witnessed the advent of the Boxer Rebellion and numerous brush wars in Haiti and Central America, but it was not until 1917, following American entry into World War I, that the Marine Corps came into being as a full-fledged land force. The famous “globe and anchor” emblem was finally adopted in 1868, an appropriate motif for America’s increasing military role worldwide, and during the SpanishĪmerican War of 1898, marines were increasingly coming ashore as battalion-sized units. Over the next six decades the marines performed well during the Quasi-War with France, the war against the Barbary pirates, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War, fighting with distinction as part of a ship’s complement but, at Bladensburg, 1814, Mexico City, 1847, and Bull Run, 1861, functioned well as regular infantry. The Marine Corps Band, a standard fixture in Washington, D.C., since 1800, was also created to elevate the corps’s political and public profile, and has performed at presidential inaugurations ever since. Marine Corps on March 27, 1794, under Lieutenant Colonel William Burrows. Fifteen years later Congress was forced by increasing friction with the Barbary states of Africa and revolutionary France to reverse itself and found the U.S. Major Samuel Nicholas functioned as the first commandant but, despite good performance on Nassau Island, the Battle of Princeton, and elsewhere, they were summarily disbanded following the onset of peace in 1783. It first manifested as the Continental Marines, founded by the Second Continental Congress on November 10, 1775, and saw widespread service onboard vessels of the equally nascent Continental Navy. ![]() NE WOULD HAVE to search the annals of military history far and wide to find a more storied organization than the United States Marines Corps. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of Americaīibliography, 347 Index, 357 About the Author, 363 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Includes bibliographical references and index. ![]() The United States Marine Corps : a chronology, 1775 to the present / John C. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fredriksen, John C. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. ![]() THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS A CHRONOLOGY, 1775 TO THE PR ESENTĬopyright © 2011 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. ![]()
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