He was a member of the naval war board that provided advice on strategy during the Spanish-American War. As a representative at the First International Conference at The Hague, he spoke against prohibiting poison gas, because he thought it inconsistent with permitting the use of the submarine torpedo.
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Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914), American naval historian and strategist, provided the intellectual and historical foundations for American imperial expansion. Alfred Thayer Mahan was born on Sept. 27, 1840. His father was an officer at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a professor of civil and military engineering.
[29] Mahan argued that the United States needed to play a role — an increasingly important role — in upholding the balance of power on a global scale. Mahan was warning his American readers that “the age of free security” — to use C. Vann Woodward’s apt phrase — was passing away. [30]
In 1890 Mahan published his college lectures as The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783. In this book he argued for the paramount importance of sea power in national historical supremacy. The book, which came at a time of great technological improvement in warships, won immediate recognition abroad.
For Mahan, the war between Japan and Russia held important lessons for the United States. He would write extensively about the war, and he wanted to stress the important role played by naval power in determining its outcome.
In 1890, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, a lecturer in naval history and the president of the United States Naval War College, published The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783, a revolutionary analysis of the importance of naval power as a factor in the rise of the British Empire.
Mahan retired from the U.S. Navy in 1896 but was subsequently recalled to serve on the Naval War Board during the Spanish-American War (1898). He served as president of the American Historical Association in 1902.
By arguing that sea power—the strength of a nation's navy—was the key to strong foreign policy, Alfred Thayer Mahan shaped American military planning and helped prompt a worldwide naval race in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
They wanted to access new sources of labor and natural resources. They wanted to open new markets for U.S. export goods. How did Alfred Thayer Mahan help in the creation of an American empire? He provided three strategies that would greatly increase America's sea power.
The reasons for war were many, but there were two immediate ones: America's support the ongoing struggle by Cubans and Filipinos against Spanish rule, and the mysterious explosion of the battleship U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor.
U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States.
Alfred Thayer Mahan was an advocate for sea power and Western imperialism. In 1890, he published The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 in which he argued that a nation's greatness and prosperity comes from maritime power.
Sea power. Mahan believed that national greatness was inextricably associated with the sea, with its commercial use in peace and its control in war; and he used history as a stock of examples to exemplify his theories, arguing that the education of naval officers should be based on a rigorous study of history.
Which one of Admiral Mahans goals for becoming a world power do you consider most important. I think having a stronger army was most important because if you have a strong army you can do more, and you have more of an advantage. You can fight with other countries that also have a tong army.
Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840–1914) was an American naval officer who wrote extensively on naval strategy and the history of sea power. From his studies of naval warfare he drew principles of strategy that greatly influenced the development and employment of naval forces during the first half of the twentieth century. As a historian he studied the relations of sea power and history, and he developed a philosophy of history in which the concept of force played a major role.
The basic biography of Mahan is William D. Puleston, Mahan: The Life and Work of Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan (1939). The author, however, is a Navy captain, and his exclusively naval viewpoint should be supplemented with William E. Livezey, Mahan on Sea Power (1947), which contains the essential biographical information while placing Mahan's ideas more correctly in the context of the times.
Mahan emphasized that naval operations were chiefly to be won by decisive battles and blockades. In the 19th-century the United States sought greater control over its seaborne commerce in order to protect its economic interests which relied heavily on exports bound mainly for Europe.
Mahan sought to resurrect Horatio Nelson as a national hero in Britain and used his biography as a platform for expressing his views on naval strategy and tactics.
Tirpitz used Mahan not only as a way of winning over German public opinion but also as a guide to strategic thinking. Before 1914, Tirpitz completely rejected commerce raiding as a strategy and instead embraced Mahan's ideal of a decisive battle of annihilation between two fleets as the way to win command of the seas.
He also believed that naval supremacy could be exercised by a transnational consortium acting in defense of a multinational system of free trade.
Mahan believed that national greatness was inextricably associated with the sea , with its commercial use in peace and its control in war; and he used history as a stock of examples to exemplify his theories, arguing that the education of naval officers should be based on a rigorous study of history. Mahan's framework derived from Antoine-Henri Jomini, and emphasized strategic locations (such as choke points, canals, and coaling stations), as well as quantifiable levels of fighting power in a fleet. Mahan also believed that in peacetime, states should increase production and shipping capacities and acquire overseas possessions, though he stressed that the number of coal fueling stations and strategic bases should be limited to avoid draining too many resources from the mother country.
Mahan's middle name honors "the father of West Point", Sylvanus Thayer. Mahan attended Saint James School, an Episcopal college preparatory academy in western Maryland. He then studied at Columbia for two years, where he was a member of the Philolexian Society debating club.
Four ships have been named USS Mahan, including the lead vessel of a class of destroyers. The United States Naval Academy 's Mahan Hall was named in his honor, as was Mahan Hall at the Naval War College. (Mahan Hall at the United States Military Academy was named for his father, Dennis Hart Mahan .)
Mahan considered the decline of British power in the face of challenges from other great powers as the cardinal feature of the international system in the early twentieth century . He was concerned with Britain’s ability to hold its position in world affairs against rising great-power challengers.
Mahan’s words carried such weight that, after the outbreak of the First World War in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson issued a notorious gag order, meant to silence him because his candid remarks in support of Great Britain in the struggle against Germany contradicted the administration’s views on American neutrality.
While made famous by the publication of The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, Mahan was also a close student of international relations and policy analyst of strategic affairs. Indeed, he sought to apply the study of history to understand foreign policy and strategy problems of his own day.
Mahan argued that the “entire conception of the work [by Angell] is itself an illusion based on a profound misreading of human action.”.
Alfred Thayer Mahan stands out as one of the foremost thinkers on naval warfare and maritime strategy. Indeed, he might be considered the thinker on sea power, the essential starting point for studying the course and conduct of war at sea and for understanding ...
Mahan’s study of history also made him dubious of the ability of states to promote cooperation by the means of international law or the organization and political activity of peace societies.
Many of his tenets about world politics and strategy are mainstays of contemporary international relations theory. From his study of history, Mahan concluded that war and change in world politics was rooted in competitions among the great powers, which struggled for security, wellbeing, and leadership.
BY PLACING THE need for a powerful Navy at the center of national interest, Mahan merged naval operations and political and economic destiny. Mahan looked at what was required within a nation, its economy, its politics, and its people to support naval power.
Mahan illustrated his central point by explaining what happened to Portugal and Spain.
Using a concept central to Clausewitz, Mahan viewed the sea as a “center of gravity,” a vital strategic interest of the United States.
Mahan wrote of sea power as a basis for a nation’s fitness to play a great role in world affairs. He came up with compelling, navalist-oriented insights on matters of geography and territory, population and national character, and the soundness of a nation’s governance.
The young Ensign Mahan served on the Union side during the Civil War, learning his naval profession by working on ships that supported the Northern blockade of the Southern ports. After the war, Mahan spent the next two decades making his career in the sea service.
Mahan was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1859 (just a few months before Edwin Drake brought in the world’s first commercial oil well at Titusville, Pa., for those of you who have been taking staff rides through history in our previous essays in Whiskey & Gunpowder.
Mahan’s theory called for nations to construct and maintain large fleets, composed of big ships armed with big guns. (Yes, I know what you are probably thinking…but just try to command the seas with a little fleet composed of small ships armed with small guns.)
Mahan's autobiography, From Sail to Steam: Recollections of Naval Life (1907), is essential. The basic biography of Mahan is William D. Puleston, Mahan: The Life and Work of Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan (1939). The author, however, is a Navy captain, and his exclusively naval viewpoint should be supplemented with William E.
Mahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer), Letters and papers of Alfred Thayer Mahan, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1975.
Mahan argued that British control of the seas, combined with a corresponding decline in the naval strength of its major European rivals , paved the way for Great Britain’s emergence as the world’s dominant military, political, and economic power.
Mahan’s books complemented the work of one of his contemporaries, Professor Frederick Jackson Turner, who is best known for his seminal essay of 1893, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History.”.
Following the successful conclusion of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the United States gained control of territories that could serve as the coaling stations and naval bases that Mahan had discussed, such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
Seward also attempted to purchase suitable Caribbean naval bases. Finally, he attempted to ratify a treaty with the Colombian Government that would allow the United States to build an isthmian canal through the province of Panama.
An American history professor at the University of Wisconsin, Turner postulated that westward migration across the North American continent and the country’s population growth had finally led to the “closing” of the American frontier, with profound social and economic consequences.
Mahan was one of the foremost proponents of the “vigorous foreign policy” referred to by Turner. Mahan believed that the U.S. economy would soon be unable to absorb the massive amounts of industrial and commercial goods being produced domestically, and he argued that the United States should seek new markets abroad.
Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power upon History: Securing International Markets in the. 1890s. In 1890, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, a lecturer in naval history and the president of the United States Naval War College, ...
Alfred Thayer Mahan was a United States naval officer and historian, whom John Keegan called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His book The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783 (1890) won immediate recognition, especially in Europe, and with its successor, The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812 (1892), made him world-famous and perhaps the most influential American author of the ninete…
Mahan was born on September 27, 1840, at West Point, New York, to Dennis Hart Mahan (a professor at the United States Military Academy) and Mary Helena Okill Mahan (1815–1893), daughter of John Okill and Mary Jay (daughter of Sir James Jay). Mahan's middle name honors "the father of West Point", Sylvanus Thayer. Mahan attended Saint James School, an Episcopal college preparatory academy in western Maryland. He then studied at Columbia for two years, wh…
After graduation he was assigned to the frigate Congress from 9 June 1859 until 1861. He then joined the steam-corvette Pocahontas of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and participated in the attack on Port Royal, South Carolina, early in the American Civil War. Commissioned as a lieutenant in 1861, Mahan served as an officer on USS Worcester and James Adger and as an instructor at the Naval Academy. In 1865, he was promoted to lieutenant commander, and then to
In 1885, he was appointed as a lecturer in naval history and tactics at the Naval War College. Before entering on his duties, College President Rear Admiral Stephen B. Luce pointed Mahan in the direction of writing his future studies on the influence of sea power. During his first year on the faculty, he remained at his home in New York City researching and writing his lectures. Though he was prepared to become a professor in 1886, Luce was given command of the North Atlantic Sq…
Mahan's views were shaped by 17th-century conflicts between the Dutch Republic, England, France and Spain, and by the nineteenth-century naval wars between France and Great Britain. British naval superiority eventually defeated France, consistently preventing invasion and an effective blockade. Mahan emphasized that naval operations were chiefly to be won by decisive battles and blockades. In the 19th-century the United States sought greater control over its seabo…
Mahan believed that national greatness was inextricably associated with the sea, with its commercial use in peace and its control in war; and he used history as a stock of examples to exemplify his theories, arguing that the education of naval officers should be based on a rigorous study of history. Mahan's framework derived from Antoine-Henri Jomini, and emphasized strategic locations (such as choke points, canals, and coaling stations), as well as quantifiable levels of fi…
Timeliness contributed no small part to the widespread acceptance of Mahan's theories. Although his history was relatively thin, based as it was on secondary sources, his vigorous style, and clear theory won widespread acceptance of navalists and supporters of the New Imperialism in Africa and Asia.
Given the rapid technological changes underway in propulsion (from coal to oil and from recipro…
Between 1889 and 1892, Mahan was engaged in special service for the Bureau of Navigation, and in 1893 he was appointed to command the powerful new protected cruiser Chicago on a visit to Europe, where he was feted. He returned to lecture at the War College and then, in 1896, he retired from active service, returning briefly to duty in 1898 to consult on naval strategy during the Spanish–American War.