Amphibious Warfare Part 1

Amphibious warfare is the oldest form of naval warfare, dating back to the day when a tribe first crossed a lake to take their enemy by surprise. Since then, the art of moving soldiers across bodies of water into enemy territory has been practiced in a staggering number of variations worldwide. In the late Bronze Age, the Sea Peoples practiced amphibious warfare in the eastern Mediterranean, invading and toppling several civilizations.

Ships beached at Marathon

The first well-attested amphibious operation is the Persian landing at Marathon in 490 BC. Darius of Persia wanted to bring Athens under his control as a base for conquering all of Greece, and dispatched a force across the Aegean to do so. The Athenians managed to prevent the Persians from moving inland from the plain of Marathon, then attacked them five days after they landed, ultimately throwing them back into the sea despite being badly outnumbered.¹ It's possible that an attempt to reembark part of the army and attack Athens directly was involved. In any case, the Persians learned the first lesson of amphibious warfare: An army must move quickly off the beach, and not allow itself to be bogged down. They would not be the last to pay for this lesson in blood.

A Viking Longship

We can divide amphibious operations into two broad categories, raids and invasions. Raids are usually small and of limited duration, attempting to destroy or seize something specific before withdrawing back to the sea. In the days before modern transportation and communications, these were easy and profitable, as ships could approach undetected from over the horizon, land troops in an undefended area, then withdraw before a response could be made. The best-known practitioners of the amphibious raid were the Vikings, who would often row far up rivers to pillage towns, although it remained a common strategy until the 19th century.

Invasions are much harder because they cannot simply withdraw before defending forces arrive. The challenge of the invader is to place sufficient forces on the beachhead quickly enough to be able to win the resulting battle. The mobility provided by the sea is helpful in landing where the enemy isn't, but ships are relatively expensive, which limits the size of the invading force.

Normans going ashore

One notable invasion is that of England by William the Conqueror in 1066. He put his force ashore at Pevensey, then marched to Hastings where he erected a castle. The King of England, Harald, had been distracted by a Norwegian invasion in the north, and took nearly a month to respond. The resulting battle saw Harald dead and his army defeated, and the Normans under William soon had control of the country. This invasion is notable for its success, aided by Harald's distraction, but most invasions failed. Notable examples included the attempted Mongol invasions of Japan and the Spanish invasion of England.

Continental Marines go ashore at Nassau, 1776

The modern concept of marines goes back to the 16th century. Troops had been going to sea since ancient times, but as military forces grew more professional, a need was seen for a dedicated naval infantry force, for use in boarding actions and landings on hostile shores, instead of using normal infantry in this role. The ship's crew was expected to fight alongside them in these operations. Landings were usually raids of some sort, often cutting-out expeditions launched to seize enemy ships. An excellent picture of these operations during the Napoleonic Wars can be found in various volumes of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series.²

The fall of Louisbourg, 1745

These marines also formed the core of invasion forces, something commonly required in the Americas during the wars of the 18th century. With a few notable exceptions, such as the failed attempt to take Cartagena, the British, often aided by the American colonists, usually swept up most of the colonies of whoever they were fighting. The biggest problem was that they had to give them back after the war was over. The best example is probably Louisbourg in Nova Scotia. It was first taken by the colonists alone in 1745, during the War of Austrian Succession, and then a second time 13 years later during the Seven Years War. That cleared the way for the British assault on Quebec, which culminated in a major crossing of the St. Lawrence River. During the American Revolution, Washington famously crossed the Delaware, taking the British by surprise.

The landing at Aboukir

During the Napoleonic Wars, the first large invasion against a defended beach occurred at Aboukir Bay in Egypt. The British were attempting to destroy the remnants of Napoleon's army he had left behind after the Battle of the Nile. General Abercromby, the British commander, planned and trained, and his landing overran the defenders, aided by apparent apathy on the part of the French. Later, Napoleon assembled a fleet to follow William the Conqueror across the English Channel, but dispersed it in 1805 to go fight the Austrians after his fleet's defeat at Trafalgar removed any chance of wresting control of the Channel from the British.

The Mexican-American War, Crimean War, and American Civil War all saw major amphibious operations, with increasing success at dealing with defending forces.

Chilean troops landing at Pisagua

In all of these campaigns, and many more that I haven't mentioned, the primary landing craft was the standard ship's boat. This could carry infantry, and some artillery and supplies, but it was not suited to quick loading and unloading, and it was totally unable to carry horses, important to provide mobility and scouting once ashore. There were a few specialized transports built on an experimental basis, but the ancestors of the modern landing craft wasn't developed until the War of the Pacific, which saw a major amphibious operation as the Chileans moved north into Peru.

By the dawn of the 20th century, the traditional amphibious operation was doomed. Improved communications and transportation allowed the defender to respond much more quickly, and the traditional, slow landing was no longer feasible. How these challenges were met will form the next part of our tale.