Marine Corps, United States definition of Marine Corps, United States in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Marine Corps, United States, military corps that forms a separate service within the U.S. Dept. of the Navy. The commandant of the Marine Corps is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. statutory agency, created in 1949 within the Dept. of Defense. The chairman is the principal military adviser to the President, the National Security Council, and the Secretary of Defense.
..... Click the link for more information. . During conflicts, the Corps is charged with conducting all land operations essential to the successful prosecution of a naval campaign (see marines marines, troops that serve on board ships of war or in conjunction with naval operation. A British marine corps was established in 1664, and the need for skilled riflemen aboard military vessels brought about intermittent renewal of this organization.
..... Click the link for more information. ); during peacetime, its top priority is combat readiness. Famous for its esprit de corps, the Corps emphasizes physical fitness and intensive training. In 1775, the Continental Congress created two federal battalions of marines to serve as naval infantry infantry, body of soldiers who fight in an army on foot and are equipped with hand-carried weapons, in contradistinction originally to cavalry and other branches of an army.
..... Click the link for more information. . In 1798, the United States Marine Corps was established and placed under the control of the Secretary of the Navy. Marines have participated in every major war, especially the Mexican War Mexican War, 1846–48, armed conflict between the United States and Mexico.

Causes

While the immediate cause of the war was the U.S. annexation of Texas (Dec., 1845), other factors had disturbed peaceful relations between the two republics.
..... Click the link for more information. ; World War I World War I, 1914–18, also known as the Great War, conflict, chiefly in Europe, among most of the great Western powers. It was the largest war the world had yet seen.
..... Click the link for more information. ; World War II World War II, 1939–45, worldwide conflict involving every major power in the world. The two sides were generally known as the Allies and the Axis .

Causes and Outbreak

..... Click the link for more information. ; the Korean War Korean War, conflict between Communist and non-Communist forces in Korea from June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet (North Korean) and U.S. (South Korean) zones of occupation.
..... Click the link for more information. ; and the Vietnam War Vietnam War, conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam.
..... Click the link for more information. . They have developed expertise in counterinsurgency and guerrilla warfare guerrilla warfare (gərĭl`ə) [Span.
..... Click the link for more information. , as well as in commando commando, small, elite military raiding and assault unit or soldier. Although the word was coined in the Boer War (1899–1902), the role is as old as battles themselves. In 1940, when the British organized a number of such units, the term came into wide use.
..... Click the link for more information. operations and amphibious warfare amphibious warfare (ămfĭb`ēəs), employment of a combination of land and sea forces to take or defend a military objective.
..... Click the link for more information. . Marine units are self-sufficient, with their own tanks tank, military, armored vehicle having caterpillar traction and armed with machine guns, cannon, rockets, or flame throwers. The tank, together with the airplane, opened up modern warfare, which had been immobilized and stalemated by the use of rifled guns (see
..... Click the link for more information. and other armor, artillery artillery, originally meant any large weaponry (including such ancient engines of war as catapults and battering rams) or war material, but later applied only to heavy firearms as opposed to small arms .
..... Click the link for more information. , and air forces air forces, those portions of a nation's military organization employing heavier-than-air aircraft for reconnaissance, support of ground troops, aerial combat, and bombing of enemy lines of communication and targets of industrial and military importance.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Bibliography

See A. Millett, Semper Fidelis (1982).