The concept of amphibious warfare seemed impractical and generally absurd to naval powers, which led to the ideas being ignored for an extended period of time. The main deterrent from utilizing amphibious forces was Great Britain’s attempted landing at Gallipoli in 1915, which ended in a horrible failure due to poor planning and execution. However, the idea of using Marines to fulfill an amphibious role for the United States gained traction and set the tone for many beach landings that would occur following the Marines being tasked with those duties. The most important factor in the development of the Marine amphibious assault doctrine was the threat of being overtaken by the Army. The United States waited far too long to implement the Marines as a land force because they felt that they would be doing the same job as the Army; however, once they were trained and ready to take on amphibious landings, despite being noticeably underfunded, the Marines proved to be a tremendous asset in the island battles that soon took place in the Pacific. The idea of Marines being utilized as an expeditionary group dates back to 1861; however, this plan was far ahead of its time, failing to capture any attention from the leaders of the Navy and Corps. One of the officers that agreed that the US needed to have a force capable of capturing, securing, and defending bases in the Pacific was General Lejeune. He recognized that the current operations of Marines was retrospective to 100 years prior and that they should actually be responsible for land operations and securing bases of interest for the US (75). Being the first true proponent of these concepts, it took some time before they caught
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General MacArthur was open about his animosity towards Marine forces being on the ground because he felt that they were taking funds to do the same job as the Army. After his proposal to the president and Congress to move all Marine forces to the control of the Army, the Commandant of the Marine Corp was “impressed with the gravity of the threat” (80), and he knew that something must be done to preserve the branch. He decided to carry out the already proposed plan to make the Marines a landing and amphibious force. Had the threat not come, they would have likely continued on the path they were on, which consisted of Marines being spread out over its other obligations in the Caribbean and China, meaning that the doctrine that define amphibious assault forms and trainings that was created following the official purpose change may not have been created to meet the same goals. The leaders of the Corps may have never been in the position to get support behind this desperately needed mission revitalization, therefore making the threat from MacArthur the most important aspect in developing the amphibious doctrine. To conclude, the concept for amphibious assault had been discussed for a long time leading up to the 1900s. In 1933, however, the Marine Corps faced near extinction due to threats of being disbanded and moved to the Army. Following these threats, the Corps changed their official primary mission and developed training doctrine for amphibious assault, which helped to define the branch as a whole as well as playing a key role in the United States’ strategy during the Second World
General MacArthur was open about his animosity towards Marine forces being on the ground because he felt that they were taking funds to do the same job as the Army. After his proposal to the president and Congress to move all Marine forces to the control of the Army, the Commandant of the Marine Corp was “impressed with the gravity of the threat” (80), and he knew that something must be done to preserve the branch. He decided to carry out the already proposed plan to make the Marines a landing and amphibious force. Had the threat not come, they would have likely continued on the path they were on, which consisted of Marines being spread out over its other obligations in the Caribbean and China, meaning that the doctrine that define amphibious assault forms and trainings that was created following the official purpose change may not have been created to meet the same goals. The leaders of the Corps may have never been in the position to get support behind this desperately needed mission revitalization, therefore making the threat from MacArthur the most important aspect in developing the amphibious doctrine. To conclude, the concept for amphibious assault had been discussed for a long time leading up to the 1900s. In 1933, however, the Marine Corps faced near extinction due to threats of being disbanded and moved to the Army. Following these threats, the Corps changed their official primary mission and developed training doctrine for amphibious assault, which helped to define the branch as a whole as well as playing a key role in the United States’ strategy during the Second World