The Influence of Sea Power upon History
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The Influence of Sea Power Upon History (ISBN 0-486-25509-3) is an influential treatise on naval warfare written in 1890 by Alfred Thayer Mahan. It details the role of sea power throughout history and discusses the various factors needed to support a strong navy.
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[edit] Overview
The book was published by Mahan while President of the US Naval War College, and was a culmination of his ideas regarding naval warfare and its superiority.
Mahan began the book with an examination of what factors lead to a supremacy of the seas, especially how Britain was able to rise to its near dominance. He identifies such features as geography, population, and government, and expands the definition of sea power as comprising a strong navy and commercial fleet. Mahan also promotes the belief that any army would succumb to a strong naval blockade.
The book then goes on to describe a series of European and American wars and how naval power was used in each.
[edit] Impact
The arguments of Mahan's book influenced the policies of governments with regard to naval policy for decades. In the United States it made President Teddy Roosevelt a supporter of greater naval development; Mahan and Roosevelt had become friends after Roosevelt had published his own naval histories in the 1880s. It also helped motivate many in the government to seek to project American power through its navy, which led to a period of American Imperialism.
Its influence was not limited to America. Kaiser Wilhelm II was an ardent fan, and it spurred the enlargement of navies from Germany to Japan. This may have contributed to the naval arms race between Britain and Germany before The First World War.
[edit] References
- Downs, Robert B. Books that Changed the World, New American Library: New York, NY, 1983. ISBN 0-451-52928-6
