The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the U.S. military
responsible for providing power projection from the sea, utilizing the
mobility of the U.S. Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces
to global crises. Alongside the U.S. Navy, the Marine Corps operates
under the United States Department of the Navy. Originally organized
as the Continental Marines, the Marine Corps has evolved its mission
with changing military doctrine and American foreign policy. The
Marine Corps has served in every American armed conflict including the
Revolutionary War. It attained prominence in the twentieth century
when its theories and practice of amphibious warfare proved prescient,
and ultimately formed the cornerstone of the Pacific campaign of World
War II. By the early twentieth century, the Marine Corps had become
the dominant theorist and practitioner of amphibious warfare. Its
ability to rapidly respond to regional crises has made and continues
to make it an important body in the implementation and execution of
American foreign policy. The United States Marine Corps, with 180,000
active duty and 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2005, is the smallest of
the United States' armed forces in the Department of Defense.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1895:
The Empire of Japan and the Qing Empire signed the Treaty of
Shimonoseki, an unequal treaty that ended the First Sino-Japanese War.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Shimonoseki)
1942:
World War II: Captured French General Henri Giraud escaped from German
captivity in the Königstein Castle.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Giraud)
1975:
The Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot captured Phnom Penh, ending the
Cambodian Civil War, and established Democratic Kampuchea.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Civil_War)
1982:
A new "patriated" Constitution of Canada, including the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, was signed into law.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Charter_of_Rights_and_Freedoms)
1986:
The Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly declared peace, ending the
Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Hundred_and_Thirty_Five_Years'_War)
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Wikiquote of the day:
Man is not an end but a beginning. We are at the beginning of the
second week. We are children of the eighth day. -- Thornton Wilder
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thornton_Wilder)