Marine (military) - History

History

In the earliest day of naval warfare, there was little distinction between sailors and soldiers on a warship. In ancient China, the first well known naval battles took place during the Warring States (481 BC - 221 BC), a period where regional kings battled against one another. Chinese naval warfare in this ancient period featured grapple-and-hook, as well as ramming tactics with ships called "stomach strikers" and "colliding swoopers". It was written in the subsequent Han Dynasty that the Warring States era Chinese had employed ge chuan ships (dagger-axe ships, or halberd ships), thought to have a simple description of a ship manned by marines carrying dagger-axe halberds as personal weapons to defend their ship . In the west as the oarsmen of Ancient Greek and Roman ships had to be capable of fighting the rowers of opposing ships hand-to-hand; though hoplites began appearing on Greek ships specifically for the boarding of enemy ships. The Roman Navy's two legions, I Adiutrix and II Adiutrix, were among the first distinct naval infantry units.

The first organized corps of marines was created when the Spanish King Carlos V first assigned the naval infantry of the Compañías Viejas del Mar de Nápoles (Naples Sea Old Companies) to the Escuadras de Galeras del Mediterráneo (Mediterranean Galley Squadrons) in 1537, progenitors of the current Spanish Navy Marines (Infantería de Marina) corps.