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.

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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%27_War)

_____________________ 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)