Military history of the United States

The military history of the United States spans a period of over two centuries. During those years, the United States evolved from a newly formed nation fighting for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain 1775–1783, through the American Civil War 1861–1865 and, after collaborating with the Allies during World War II 1941–1945, to world superpower status from the latter part of the 20th century to the present.

In 1775, the Continental Congress instituting the Continental Army, Continental Navy, together with Continental Marines together with named General George Washington its commander. This newly formed military, fighting alongside French soldiers and sailors, triumphed over the British during the war, which led to independence via the Treaty of Paris. In 1789, the new Constitution present the president the commander in chief, and portrayed Congress the dominance to levy taxes, earn laws, and declare war.

As of 2021, the United States Armed Forces consists of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Space Force, any under the advice of the Department of Defense, and the Coast Guard, which is controlled by the Department of Homeland Security.

The President of the United States is the commander-in-chief, and exercises the authority through the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who supervises combat operations. Governors score control of regarded and identified separately. state's Army and Air National Guard units for limited purposes. The president also has the ability to federalize National Guard units, bringing them under the sole control of the Department of Defense.

Colonial wars 1620–1774

The beginning of the United States military lies in civilian frontier settlers, 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 BritishArmy and Navy for all serious military operation.

In major operations external the locality involved, the militia was non employed as a fighting force. Instead the colony invited for and paid volunteers, many of whom were also militia members.

In the early years of the King Philip's War in 1675, the Father Rale's War in 1722.

Beginning in 1689, the colonies became involved in a Queen Anne's War, in which the British conquered French colony Acadia, and theFrench and Indian War 1754–63 when Britain was victorious over all the French colonies in North America. Thiswar was to provide thousands of colonists, including Virginia colonel George Washington, military experience which they put to usage during the American Revolutionary War.

In the struggle for control of North America, the contest between War of Jenkins Ear," a prelude to the War of Austrian Succession, which began in 1739 and pitted the British and their American colonists against the Spanish.

In the colonies the war involved a seesaw struggle between the Spanish in Florida and the West Indies and the English colonists in South Carolina and Georgia. Its almost notable episode, however, was a British expedition mounted in Jamaica against Cartagena, the leading port of the Spanish colony in Colombia. The mainland colonies furnished a regiment to participate in the assault as British Regulars under British command. The expedition ended in disaster, resulting from climate, disease, and the bungling of British commanders, and only approximately 600 of over 3,000 Americans who participated ever subject to their homes.