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The Military history of the United States spans a period of less than two and a half centuries. Over the course of
those years, the United States grew from an alliance of thirteen British colonies without a professional military, to Earth's sole military superpower as of 2005.
Origin of the U.S. military
The beginning of the United States military lies in civilian frontiersmen, armed for hunting and basic survival in the
wilderness. These were organized into local militias for small military operations, mostly against Native American tribes but also to resist possible raids by the small
military forces of neighboring European colonies. They relied on the support of the British regular army and navy for any serious military operation.
Organization
As of 2005, the U.S. military consisted of a army, navy, air force and marine
corps under the command of the United States Department of Defense. There also is the United States Coast Guard, which is controlled by the
Department of Homeland Security. In
each of these branches of miliary, the President of the United States is the commander in chief of the armed forces.
In addition, each state has a national
guard commanded by the state's governor and coordinated by the National Guard Bureau. The President of the United States has the
authority during national emergencies to assume control of individual state national guard units.
Origin of organized military
Until the Constitutional Convention, the
military presence in what became known as the United States was organized by each U.S. state as a voluntary or conscripted militia.
The United States Constitution provided
authotity for the Congress to levy taxes and to raise a
navy and national militia. Federal legislation eventually led to the modern nationalized system of military in the country.
Economics
Under authority of the United States
Constitution, the government levies federal taxes to fund its military. Historically, the amount of money the U.S. government
spends on the military has often been a politically contentious issue. Generally speaking, expressed as a percentage of discretionary spending or gross domestic product, the military budget has seen an overall
slow decline since the early 1950s.[1] (http://www.truthandpolitics.org/military-relative-size.php) As of 2005, according to the
General Accounting Office, the U.S. budget
included the following planned or requested military expenses:
| U.S. military budget request per Fiscal Year |
| Year |
Budget |
| 2005 |
$420.7 billion |
| 2004 |
$399.1 billion |
| 2003 |
$396.1 billion |
| 2002 |
$343.2 billion |
| 2001 |
$310 billion |
| 2000 |
$288.8 billion |
Timeline
Colonial wars (1622 – 1774)
In the early years of the British colonization of North America, military action in the colonies that would
become United States were the result of conflicts with Native
Americans, such as in the Pequot War of 1637 and King Philip's War in 1675. Slave uprisings such as the Stono Rebellion in
1739, and inter-colonial conflicts, such as the Pennamite Wars and the activities of the Green Mountain Boys, were also a part of the colonial military experience.
Beginning in 1689, the colonies also frequently became involved in a series of wars between Great Britain and France for control of North America. The war the colonists called the "French and Indian War," which was inadvertently started in the
backwoods of Pennsylvania by a young Virginian named George Washington, had a
significant impact on the emergence of the American
Revolution.
War of Independence (1774 – 1783)
There were many causes that led to the American Revolutionary War, but political tensions between Great Britain and her colonies became a crisis in 1774 when the British placed the
province of Massachusetts under martial law. While shooting began at Lexington and Concord in 1775, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief of the newly created Continental Army, which was augmented throughout the war by colonial militia. General Washington was no great battlefield tactician — he lost more battles than he won — but
his overall strategy proved to be sound: keep the army intact, wear
down British resolve, and avoid decisive battles except to exploit enemy mistakes.
The British, for their part, lacked both a unified command and a clear strategy for winning. With the use of the Royal Navy, the British were able to capture coastal cities, but control of the
countryside eluded them. An invasion from Canada in 1777 ended with the disastrous surrender of a British army at Saratoga. France entered the war against Great Britain
after Saratoga, finally convinced that the Americans could actually win.
The involvement of France (and then Spain) greatly complicated the British war effort.
A shift in focus to the southern American colonies resulted in a string of victories for the British, but guerilla warfare and the tenacity of General Nathanael Greene's army prevented the British from making strategic
headway. A French naval victory in the Chesapeake
finally offered the chance Washington had long waited for, and a British army was trapped and compelled to surrender at Yorktown in 1781, leading to the Treaty of
Paris in 1783 that recognized the independence of the United States.
Since many Americans of the revolutionary generation had a strong distrust of permanent (or "standing") armies, the
Continental Army was quickly disbanded after the Revolution. General Washington, who throughout the war deferred to elected
officials, averted a potential crisis and submitted his
resignation as commander-in-chief to Congress after the war, establishing a tradition of civil control of the U.S. military.
Post-Revolutionary era (1784 – 1842)
Following the American Revolution, the United States faced potential military conflict on the high seas as well as on the
Native American frontiers.
In the Treaty of Paris, the British had ceded the lands between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi
River to the United States, without consulting the Native Americans who lived there. Because many of the tribes had fought as
allies of the British, the United States compelled the Indians to sign away lands in postwar treaties, and began dividing up these lands for settlement. This provoked a war in the Northwest Territory in which the U.S. suffered two major
defeats before President Washington dispatched a newly trained army to the region, which decisively defeated the Indian confederacy in 1794.
When revolutionary France declared war on Great
Britain in 1793, the United States sought to remain neutral, but the Jay Treaty, which was favorable to Great Britain, led to a "Quasi-War" at sea with France from 1798 to 1801. George Washington was called out of retirement to head a "provisional army" in case of invasion by France,
with Alexander Hamilton effectively in command. President
John Adams, suspicious of Hamilton's ambitions, negotiated a truce with France,
though this was unpopular within his party and may have contributed
to his defeat for reelection. His
successor, Thomas Jefferson, also faced naval issues in the
First Barbary War (1801–1805).
Naval issues and frontier unrest culminated with the War of 1812.
Native American wars such as Tecumseh's War and the Creek War became part of a larger struggle with Great Britain, particularly along the
Canadian border.
After the War of 1812 came the Second Barbary War (1815), the Seminole Wars, the Black Hawk War, and the era of Indian Removal.
Manifest Destiny (1845 – 1860)
With the independence of the United States established, military efforts then focused on ensuring a dominant role on the
continent, an idea which came to be known as "Manifest
Destiny."
Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American War was a war fought between the United States and Mexico between 1846 and 1848. It is also called the "US-Mexico War." In the U.S. it is also known as the "Mexican War;" in Mexico it is also
known as the "U.S. Invasion of Mexico," the "United States War Against Mexico," and the "War of Northern Aggression" (this last
name is more commonly used in the Southern United States to refer to the American Civil War). The war grew out of unresolved conflicts between
Mexico and Texas. After having won its independence from Mexico in 1836, the Republic of Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845; however,
the southern and western borders of Texas remained disputed during the Republic's lifetime.
During this time, the California Republic (also called the
"Bear Flag Republic"), like the Republic of Texas, was created as
the byproduct of increasing tensions between the United States and
Mexico. California
Republic began on June 10, 1846 when
John C. Frémont and his men in Sonoma declared independence from Mexico. The rebellion itself started on June 14.
American Civil War (1861 – 1865)
Sectional tensions had long existed between the states located north of the Mason-Dixon Line and those south of it, primarily centered on the "peculiar institution" of slavery and the ability of
states to overrule the decisions of the national government. During the 1840s and
1850s, conflicts between the two sides became progressively more violent. Beginning with
South Carolina in late 1860,
states in the South seceded from the United States. On April 12, 1861, forces of the South (known as the Confederate States of America or simply the
Confederacy) opened fire on Fort Sumter, whose garrison was loyal to the
forces of the North (who represented the United States or simply the Union).
The American Civil War caught both sides unprepared. Both
the Union and the Confederacy had to build their armies practically from scratch. Following the first real engagement, it became
apparently clear that the war would last much longer than a few months. It would become a war for mere existence, and the vast
resources of America would be consumed before it would be resolved. The American Civil War is sometimes called the "first modern
war" due to the use of mass conscription, military railroads, trench warfare, submarines and ironclads. It introduced the
modern world to the horrors of total war.
Post-Civil War era (1866 – 1916)
The scope of the Civil War was as great as many of those in Europe, and the United States began to see itself as potential
player on the world stage. With the country now stretching to the Pacific, eyes turned to overseas. The motivation behind the
Spanish-American War and US involvement in the Boxer Rebellion are debated among historians.
Indian Wars (1866 – 1890)
After the Civil War, work began in earnest on the Transcontinental Railroad, linking California with the eastern states. Many Native American
tribes of the Great Plains resisted this encroachment. Generals from the
Civil War such as William Tecumseh Sherman and
Philip Sheridan were assigned to conquer any Indians who offered
military resistance to the building of the railroad and the expansion of the United States.
Spanish-American War
The Spanish-American War took place in 1898, and resulted in the United States of
America gaining control over the former Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and Pacific, most
notably Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines.
Philippine-American War
The Philippine-American War was between the armed
forces of the United States and the Philippines from 1899 through 1913.
This conflict is also known as the "Philippine Insurrection." This name was historically the most commonly used in the U.S.,
but Filipinos and an increasing number of American historians refer to these hostilities as the "Philippine-American War," and in
1999 the U.S. Library of
Congress reclassified its references to use this term.
The Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion was an uprising against Western commercial and political influence in China during the final years of the 19th century. The US
contributed army and marine units, the China Relief
Expedition, to an international joint force which captured Peking and forced a
Chinese capitulation. By August 1900, over 230 foreigners, thousands of Chinese Christians and unknown numbers of rebels, their sympathisers and other Chinese had been
killed in the revolt and its suppression.
First World War (1917 – 1918)
Previously isolationist, the United States became involved in Europe during the First World War, a
world conflict occurring from 1914 to
1918. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers or involved so many in the field
of battle. Never before had casualties been so high. Chemical weapons
were used for the first time, the first mass bombardment of civilians from the sky was executed, and some of the century's first
large-scale civilian massacres took place. Four dynasties, the Habsburgs, the Romanovs, the Ottomans and the Hohenzollerns, who had
roots of power back to the days of the Crusades, all fell after the war.
Between the wars (1919 – 1940)
Russian Revolution
The so-called Polar Bear Expedition was the
involvement of U.S. troops, during the tail end of World War I and the
Russian Revolution, in fighting the "Bolsheviks" in Arkhangelsk, Russia in 1918 and 1919, despite
having been sent there on the pretext of halting a German advance on the eastern front of the war.
Spanish Civil War
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade was an organization of
United States volunteers supporting or fighting for the anti-fascist Spanish Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War as part of the International Brigade.
The name "brigade" is something of a misnomer, as there were several American
battalions organized under the Fifteenth International Brigade of the Spanish Republican
army. This brigade was loosely organized by the Comintern and was made up of
volunteers from nations around the globe.
Most of the people making up the Abraham Lincoln Brigade were official members of the Communist Party USA or affiliated with other socialist organizations. The IWW, or "Wobblies", were lightly represented. However, the brigade was made up of
volunteers from all walks of American life, and from all socio-economic classes. It was the first unit of soldiers made up of
Americans to have an African-American officer, Oliver Law, lead white soldiers.
Second World War (1941 – 1945)
During the interwar period it again reduced its military, but
mobilized to its largest levels for the ensuing Second World War. The
global conflict that started in 1937 or in
1939 and fought until 1945, involving the majority of
the world's states and every continent
except Antarctica. It was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the
world.
Attributed in varying degrees to the Treaty of
Versailles, the Great Depression, nationalism, and militarism, the causes of the war are a matter of debate. On which date the war
began is also debated, cited as either the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, the Japanese invasion of China on 7 July 1937 (the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War), or earlier yet the 1931 Japanese
invasion of Manchuria. Still others argue that the two world wars are one conflict separated only by a "ceasefire".
Fighting occurred across the Atlantic
Ocean, in Western and Eastern
Europe, in North Africa, the Middle East, and the
Mediterranean Sea, in the Pacific and Oceania, and much of East Asia and South East Asia. In Europe, the
war ended with the surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945 (V-E and Victory Days), but continued in Asia until Japan surrendered on 2 September
1945 (V-J Day).
Approximately 57
million people died as a result of the war, including acts of genocide such as the Holocaust. As a case of total war, it involved the "home front"
and bombing of civilians to a new degree. Nuclear weapons, jet
aircraft, and radar are only a few of many war-time inventions.
Postwar Military Reorganization (1947)
Following World War II, top level planners realized the need for a military reorganization to coincide with the U.S. rise to
global superpower. The National Security Act of 1947 created the Defense Department (formerly the War Department), the National
Security Council, and the CIA (among other things).
There are differing points of view regarding this move. One of the more controversial assessments is that the U.S. intended to
change its military posture from defense (under the War Department) to aggression (Defense Department), and needed a planning
body and agency (the National Security Council and the CIA, respectively) to carry it out. Under this interpretation, it is clear
that the move was Orwellian in nature, but, again, there are differing points of view regarding the nature of these actions.
Cold War (1946 – 1991)
Following the WWII, the United States emerged as a superpower vis-a-vis the
Soviet Union in the Cold War.
In this period of some forty years, the United States provided foreign military aid and direct involvement in proxy wars against the Soviet Union. It was the principal
foreign actor in the Korean War and Vietnam War during this era. Nuclear weapons were held in ready by the United States under a concept of
mutually assured destruction with the
Soviet Union.
Korean War
The Korean War was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea. It was also a Cold War
proxy war between the United
States and its United Nations allies and the communist powers of the People's Republic of China and the Soviet
Union (also a UN member nation). The principal combatants were North and South Korea. Principal allies of South Korea
included the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, although many other
nations sent troops under the aegis of the United Nations. Allies of
North Korea included the People's Republic of China, which supplied military forces, and the Soviet Union, which supplied
combat advisors and aircraft pilots, as well as arms, for the Chinese
and North Korean troops. In the United States, the conflict was termed a police action under the aegis of the United Nations rather than a war, largely in order to remove the
necessity of a Congressional declaration of war.
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a war fought
between 1957 and 1975 on the ground in South Vietnam and bordering areas of Cambodia and Laos (see Secret War) and in the strategic bombing
(see Operation Rolling Thunder) of
North Vietnam. In Vietnam, the conflict is known as the "American War."
Fighting on one side was a coalition of forces including the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam or the "RVN"), the United States,
South Korea, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and the
Philippines. Participation by the South Korean military was financed by the United
States, but Australia and New
Zealand fully funded their own involvement. Other countries normally allied with the United States in the Cold War, including the United Kingdom and Canada, refused to
participate in the coalition, although a few of their citizens volunteered to join the US forces.
Tehran hostage rescue
Following the Iranian revolution and the resulting Iran hostage crisis a military operation named Eagle Claw attempted to rescue the hostages using a combination of
special forces and helicopter evacuation, but the rescue failed with the destruction of several aircraft in an accident in the
Iranian desert. The failure was attributed to inappropriate equipment, incomplete and unrealistic planning, and the lack of joint
service training. Despite its size, the mission had significant effects on U.S. military doctrine and training.
Grenada
After a leftist government sympathetic to Cuba took over Grenada, Operation Urgent Fury dispatched hundreds of marines, Rangers, and
special forces to the island; ostensibly a mission to rescue U.S. citizens, mainly medical students, the invasion force quickly
moved to seize the entire island, eventually taking hundreds of military and civilian prisoners from a variety of East Bloc nations.
Beirut
In 1983 fighting between Palestinian refugees and
Lebanese factions reignited that nation's long-running civil war. A UN agreement
brought an international force of peacekeepers to occupy Beirut and guarantee security. The US stationed marines in an urban
compound including a multi-story dormitory, once a hotel; a terrorist bombing destroyed the building, killing 241 marines. Subsequently the US Navy engaged
in bombing of militia positions inside Lebanon proper.
Panama
Operation Just Cause was a 1991 invasion of Panama, mainly from U.S. bases within the former Canal
Zone, to oust dictator Manuel Noriega, whose government was
becoming a narco-state. The U.S. did
not wish to turn over control to Noriega of the Panama Canal, which it was
obligated to do under treaty, due to the canal's strategic importance.
Post-Cold War era (1992 – present)
Following the end of the Cold War, the United States armed forces fought
numerous limited wars as a self-envisioned constabulatory force. It began a
"global war on terrorism" after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War was a conflict between Iraq and a coalition force of 34 nations led by the United
States. The lead up to the war began with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 which was met with immediate economic sanctions by the United Nations against Iraq. Hostilities commenced in January 1991, resulting in a decisive victory for the coalition forces, which drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait with minimal
coalition deaths. The main battles were aerial and ground combat within Iraq, Kuwait and bordering areas of Saudi Arabia. The war did not expand outside of the immediate Iraq/Kuwait/Saudi
border region, although Iraq fired missiles on Israeli cities.
War on Terrorism
The War on terrorism is a global effort by the governments of
several countries (primarily the United States and its principal allies)
to neutralize international groups it deems as "terrorist" (primarily radical Islamist terrorist groups, including al-Qaida) and insure "rogue nations" no longer
support terrorist activities. It has been adopted as a consequence of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United
States.
The invasion of Afghanistan in order to depose
that country's Taliban government and destroy training camps associated with al-Qaida
is understood to have been the opening, and in many ways defining, campaign of the broader war on terrorism. The emphasis on
special forces, political negotiation with autonomous military units, and the use of proxy militaries marked a significant change
from prior U.S. military approaches.
Most recently, the current war in Iraq has been tied to the "War on terrorism" by the Bush administration, which has stated that Saddam
Hussein of Iraq was giving safe haven to and supporting terrorist groups. This assertion was and remains highly
controversial.
Iraq War
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a war begun 20 March 2003
fought between a Coalition consisting primarily of
the United States, and Iraq. It
began after the expiration of a 48-hour deadline was set by U.S. President George W. Bush,
demanding that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his two sons Uday and Qusay leave
Iraq, the last action of the Iraq disarmament crisis; Iraqi President Hussein refused. After approximately three weeks of
fighting, the Ba'ath Party was removed from Iraq's government and the
period known as post-invasion Iraq
began.
Approximately 250,000 United States troops, with support from 45,000
British, 2,000 Australian and 200 Polish combat forces, entered Iraq primarily through their staging area in Kuwait. Plans for an invasion force from the north were abandoned when Turkey officially refused the use of its territory for such purposes. Coalition forces also supported Iraqi
Kurdish militia troops, estimated to number upwards of 50,000.
Related lists
References
- Atlas of American Military History, Stuart Murray (2005) ISBN 0816055785
- American Military History: 1775-1902, Ed. Maurice Matloff (1996) ISBN 0938289705
- American Military History and the Evolution of Western Warfare, Robert Doughty (1996) ISBN 0669416835
- The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy, Russell Frank Weigley (1977)
ISBN 025328029X
- A Handbook of American Military History: From the Revolutionary War to the Present, Ed. Jerry K. Sweeney and Kevin B.
Byrne (1997) ISBN 0813328713
- The Oxford Companion to American Military History, Ed. John Whiteclay II Chambers, Fred Anderson, Lynn Eden, Joseph T.
Glatthaar, Ronald H. Spector, and G. Kurt Piehler (2000) ISBN 0195071980
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