United States Marine Corps HistoryThe United States Marine Corps was created on the 10th of November 1775. On the 28th of November 1775 Samuel Nicholas became the first Commandant of the Marine Corps. As you must likely know the United States declared its independance on the 4th of July 1776. This means that the United States Marine Corps is older than the Nation which it protects. After the Treaty of Paris was signed there was no longer a need for the Marine Corps and it was disbanded.
Re-establishment of Marine Corps occured on the 11th of July 1798. Following the Revolutionary War, Marines saw action in the quasi-war with France from1798-1800, landed in Santo Domingo in 1800, and took part in many operations against the Barbary pirates along the "Shores of Tripoli" from 1801-1815. The Marines also took part in the War of 1812. The decades following the War of 1812 saw the Marines protecting American interests around the world, in the Caribbean from 1821-1822, at the Falkland Islands in 1832, Sumatra from 1831-1832, and off the coast of West Africa from 1820-61, and also close to home in the operations against the Seminole Indians in Florida from 1836-1842.
During the Mexican War (1846-1848), Marines seized enemy seaports on both the Gulf and Pacific coasts. While landing parties of Marines and sailors were seizing enemy ports along the coast, a battalion of Marines joined General Scott's army at Pueblo and marched and fought all the way to the "Halls of Montezuma," Mexico City.
In World War I the Marine Corps distinguished itself on the battlefields of France as the 4th Marine Brigade earned the title of "Devil Dogs" for heroic action at Belleau Wood, Soissons, St. Michiel, Blanc Mont, and in the final Meuse-Argonne offensive (1918). More than 30,000 Marines had served in France and more than a third were killed or wounded in six months of intense fighting.
During the two decades before World War II, the Marine Corps began to develop in earnest the doctrine, and organization needed for amphibious warfare. The success of this effort was proven first on Guadalcanal, then on Bougainville, Tarawa, New Britain, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Saipan, Guam, Tinian, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. By the end of the war in 1945, the Marine Corps had grown to include six divisions, five air wings, and supporting troops. Its strength in World War II peaked at 485,113. The war had cost the Marines nearly 87,000 dead and wounded and 82 Marines had earned the Medal of Honor.
The Marine fought in the Vietnam War as well. The Marine withdrawal began in 1969 as the South Vietnamese began to assume a larger role in the fighting; the last ground forces were out of Vietnam by June 1971. The Vietnam War, longest in the history of the Marine Corps, exacted a high cost as well with over 13,000 Marines killed and more than 88,000 wounded.
The 1980s brought an increasing number of terrorist attacks on U.S. embassies around the world. Marines are the only military forces that guard U.S. embassies. Marine Security Guards, under the direction of the State Department, continued to serve with distinction in the face of this challenge. In August 1982, Marine units landed at Beirut, Lebanon, as part of the multi-national peace-keeping force. For the next 19 months these units faced the hazards of their mission with courage and professionalism. In October 1983, Marines took part in the highly successful, short-notice intervention in Grenada.
in August 1990, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait set in motion events that would lead to the largest movement of Marine Corps forces since World War II. Between August 1990 and January 1991 some 24 infantry battalions, 40 squadrons, and more than 92,000 Marines deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Desert Shield. Operation Desert Storm was launched January 16, 1991, the day the air campaign began. The main attack came overland beginning February 24 when the 1st and 2d Marine Divisions breached the Iraqi defense lines and stormed into occupied Kuwait. Meanwhile, the threat from the sea in the form of two Marine expeditionary brigades held in check some 50,000 Iraqis along the Kuwait coast. By the morning of February 28, 100 hours after the ground war began, almost the entire Iraqi Army in the Kuwaiti theater of operations had been encircled with 4,000 tanks destroyed and 42 divisions destroyed or rendered ineffective.
Overshadowed by the events in the Persian Gulf during 1990-91, were a number of other significant Marine deployments demonstrating the Corps' flexible and rapid response. Included among these were noncombatant evacuation operations in Liberia and Somalia to rescue civilians and diplomats, and humanitarian lifesaving operations in Bangladesh, the Philippines, and northern Iraq.
In December 1992, Marines landed in Somalia marking the beginning of a two-year humanitarian relief operation in that famine-stricken and strife-torn nation. In another part of the world, land and carrier-based Marine Corps fighter-attack squadrons and electronic warfare aircraft supported Operation Deny Flight in the no-fly zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina. During April 1994, Marines once again demonstrated their ability to protect American citizens in remote parts of the world when a Marine task force evacuated 142 U.S. citizens from Rwanda in response to civil unrest in that country.
Today's Marine Corps stands ready to continue in the proud tradition of those who so valiantly fought and died at Belleau Wood, Iwo Jima, Chosin Reservoir and Khe Sanh. As stated by the Corps' 31st Commandant, General Charles C. Krulak: 
"Our warfighting legacy is one of duty, strength, sacrifice, discipline, and determination. These themes are cornerstones of the individual Marine and of our Corps. Indeed, they are woven into the very fabric of our battle color. However, while we reflect on our past, let us also rededicate ourselves to a future of improvement. For, as good as we are now, we must be better tomorrow. The challenges of today are the opportunities of the 21st century. Both will demand much of us all."
Combining a long and proud heritage of faithful service with the leadership and resolve to face tomorrow's challenges will keep the Marine Corps the "best of the best."
