The Emergence of American Amphibious Warfare, 1898–1945. David S. Nasca
malleable concept, but throughout history it has been a vital component of national power.”7
This book focuses on amphibious warfare and the manner in which it shaped American geopolitical strategy from the Spanish-American War in 1898 to the final defeat of the Axis Powers during World War II in 1945. During this period, America used its industrial and technological superiority to develop modern amphibious capabilities in order to move its massive military strength against its enemies. New technologies, such as aviation and nuclear weapons, were introduced during this time period and later influenced U.S. geopolitical strategy in the second half of the twentieth century. However, the use of aviation and nuclear weapons had drawbacks and limitations that became apparent during World War II. Land- and carrier-based aviation was not powerful enough to force enemy states to surrender, while nuclear weapons were not only too destructive, they were soon found to cause longterm health and environmental problems. However, the modernization of amphibious warfare positioned the United States to become the most powerful nation in the world and, ultimately, established the foundations of an international system shaped under American leadership. Russell Weigley points out that once American military power became great enough to make the destruction of the United States’ enemies an object worth contemplating, American strategy soon focused on the problem of how to secure victory.8
While amphibious warfare has been in use since ancient times, the rise of the Second Industrial Revolution radically transformed this type of warfare in unforeseen ways. The introduction of bolt-action rifles, machine guns, indirect artillery, battleships, steamboats, aircraft, aircraft carriers, combustible engines, and wireless communications enhanced the speed, support, and destructive power of military forces. During this period of industrial development, the United States began its transformation into a world superpower based on its growing economic, political, and military base in North America. Through its growing economic and technological capabilities, the United States became part of a growing interconnected international system that brought it into conflict with many competing states. Henry Kissinger points out that the United States played contradictory roles in the world in terms of being involved with and indifferent to other countries’ affairs as well as being so globally ideological and isolationist at the same time. The fact of the matter is that the United States became an empire of influence through a combination of hard and soft power.9
During the expansion of the United States’ influence in the international system, the American political and military leadership began to appreciate the potential threats that other powerful competitor nations posed to American security interests and values. William H. McNeill discusses the growing relationship between the military and industry dating back to the European powers of the eighteenth century. McNeill uses the example of the symbiotic relationship that built the strength and power of the British Empire’s military during the nineteenth century when five-year plans were utilized to develop and shape British power projection capabilities through the Royal Navy. The British government’s efforts in industrial mobilization were the result of political and military leaders working together to develop strategic planning with industrial management. This union not only led to the design of military technologies to meet geopolitical requirements, but also led other nations to adopt this policy of developing industrial and technological efforts in building up their respective military forces.10
Many of the world’s political and military leaders during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries believed that war was a rational course of action because of the ease and quickness with which conflicts could now be waged overseas to conquer various peoples through the leaders’ respective country’s monopoly on technological violence. The use of technology on amphibious warfare essentially allowed powerful, industrialized nations to project military power at almost any point of the globe. It was now possible to land large military forces, supported by the Second Industrial Revolution’s technological inventions and mass production capabilities, to fight wars overseas and impose their nation’s will on another nation through the deployment of a permanent ground force. Max Boot points out in his historical study of various different weapons technologies that the nations capable of taking advantage of technological changes and incorporating them into their militaries have been history’s winners, while those that have fallen behind in harnessing innovation have been consigned to irrelevance or oblivion.11
Among the major powers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the United States recognized the potential capabilities of technology on amphibious warfare and called for a reorganization of its naval and ground forces, especially in regard to the traditional use of the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. William F. Fullam led the effort by arguing for reforms that would incorporate the presence of ground troops onto naval warships. By expanding the capabilities of the U.S. Navy beyond just projecting power on the oceans, Fullam was convinced that reorganizing infantry battalions to serve on ships and troop transports would enhance the power of its naval forces. No longer would the U.S. Navy be restricted to the water, but it could now project more military power on the coasts and islands in terms of seizing fortifications and harbors as well as being able to set up coastal guns to support warships in fleet maneuvers against an enemy fleet.12
Through the use of technology and the reorganization of its ground and naval forces, the United States was now able to transform its political and industrial strength into hard power to protect and exert its influence across the international system. America’s easy victory in the Spanish-American War through the application of technology on amphibious war brought worldwide recognition that the United States was finally a world power. Afterward, growing American involvement in the Western Hemisphere went from maintaining order and stability to becoming involved in complex diplomatic situations overseas where amphibious warfare was used to protect American interests and citizens overseas as seen during the Boxer Rebellion, the Philippines, and the Tangier Crisis. The growth in American involvement beyond its borders was influenced in part by the world becoming dominated by the great European empires. European empires Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Russia, as well as Japan quickly utilized modern technologies to establish extensive imperial empires, which were seen as potential threats to the security of the United States and its interests.13
Soon the United States was caught up in two world wars in which amphibious warfare was more important than ever in securing America’s global position as a world superpower. In both world wars, the United States required the total mobilization of its industrial base as well as the movement of massive numbers of troops overseas against hostile states. By the end of World War II, the United States had military forces deployed around the world and took to maintaining a long-term presence overseas, especially in Germany and Japan. The forward deployment of these forces was based on geopolitical considerations in the post-World War world, and the need to deal with the growing threat of the Soviet Union. This rivalry became more pronounced when the Soviet Union sought to grow its own power projection capabilities through airpower, nuclear weapons, and the development of its own amphibious capabilities. In Dominik G. Nargele’s study of the Soviet Union’s military during the Cold War, he assesses that the Soviet Navy had the largest number of warships in the world with an amphibious lift that included about one hundred amphibious ships with naval infantry specifically trained to conduct amphibious warfare. The Soviet Union looked at having an amphibious warfare capability to protect its core interests in Eurasia by being able to seize choke points and coastal regions from the United States such as the Straits of Denmark, the coast of Norway, and the entrances to the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Japan.14
While military technology transformed the conduct of war, its application to amphibious warfare changed the balance of power in the international system. No longer was military power monopolized by Europe, but instead resided with America. Bevin Alexander’s study of the United States in the aftermath of World War II reveals that the American republic had emerged as the supreme political, economic, and military power in the world. It not only had 12.5 million people in uniform, but also had 1,200 warships, 2,000 heavy bombers, and a monopoly on nuclear weapons. This power enabled the United States to establish the foundations of a new international system that was shaped by American political, social, and economic values. By creating a new world order in the aftermath of World War II, the United States became the indispensable power on earth.15
The