Vision, Education and Experimentation: Marine Corps Organizational Behavior and Innovation during the Interwar Period

The Marine Corps' development of amphibious warfare doctrine during the Interwar Period provides an example of successful peacetime innovation. The development of amphibious capabilities provides a guide for future innovation. The senior leadership of the Marine Corps provided a centralized vision in the development of amphibious warfare doctrine, training, experimentation, and equipment procurement. In turn, the Marine Corps fostered an intellectualism that critically examined and integrated lessons from World War I, the Army formal school system, emerging educational models, and private industry to professionalize and develop an amphibious warfare capability. Closely related, the Marine Corps empowered relatively junior officers, to include students at the Marine Corps Schools, to solve the most complex problems facing the organization's preparation for WW II. Last, the Navy and Marine Corps conducted a series of experiments that tested the Tentative Landing Manual and examined a wide array of tactics and technological solutions.