He wrote his treatise in 1911 specifically toward that end, balancing (like Clausewitz) the ways, means, and ends of naval war. Ronald Spector, Professors at War: The Naval War College and the Development of the Naval Profession (Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 1977). First, Mahan looked for strategic points of convergence and concentration. Anyone curious about the period in question should save time and energy by turning to N.A.M. Sea Power as an organizing principle or even a grand strategy stems from a more holistic calculation of economic and geographic factors as well as contingent political choices. As he stressed, the safety and independence of [the United States] can be preserved only by a foreign policy that will make it impossible for the Eurasian landmass to harbor an overwhelmingly dominant power in Europe and the Far East.[64] Though critical of what he called the extraordinary Anglo-Saxon predilection for thinking that only naval warfare is important, Spykman agreed that a pillar of this balancing act was sufficient maritime power to sustain relations on either end of Eurasia. NB originally published in 1911, pre-WWI. [33] Without the former, the latter rests on weak foundations. Those commitments are not-so-distant descendants of Mahans insistence on overseas trade and logistical stations as a means of securing Sea Power, and with it, national strength. [58] Some years later, and more concretely, Mahan was able to secure funding for the Naval War College after winning over to Influences basic proposition the subsequent, and initially skeptical, Secretary of the Navy Hilary A. Herbert. 5 (JANUARY 1964), pp. Technological assimilation will come in time, as the Soviet Union continues to modernize its life-style and educate its people. In many ways, the Dutch Provinces make for an awkward departure point for Mahans comparative project. What concerned Mahan most was ensuring that the U.S. Government could guarantee access to these new international markets. For Mahan, ephemeral superiority in ship tonnage, technology, or proficiency is only a chimerical form of security. [19] A.T. Mahan, The Life of Nelson: The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain (London: Sampson Low, Marston, 1897). As the Peoples Liberation Army Navyto name one obvious examplebuilds an increasingly capable force, the tension between Chinas identity as a continental and maritime power is an issue of global importance. Robert Seager, Alfred Thayer Mahan: The Man and his Letters (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1977). B.J. The Inuence of Sea Power Upon History 1660-1783 - A. T. Mahan 2010 Mahan presents an examination of the general history of Europe and America with special reference to the eect of sea power on the course of history. [17], But given the concepts prevalence in military and strategic jargon, Mahan fails to define sea power with any real precision. Edward Mead Earle (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1943). Sea powera slippery term from its inceptionhas diverse meanings with different applications. Mahan, as a historian, (and roughly three-quarters of Influences actual text) is concerned chiefly with applying these basic principles and definitions to the 18th century and the rise of Great Britain to a position of what the historian Paul Kennedy called naval mastery.[38] Conversely, but of equal importance, Mahan is interested in why France failed to build enough Sea Power to upset Britains position in the North Atlantic. The essence of Mahan from a naval viewpoint is that a great navy is a mark and prerequisite of national greatness. Extrapolating from the history of Northern Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, Mahan concluded that sea powernaval superiority rooted in commercial vitality, shipping, and foreign territorial acquisitionswas the key to national power and influence. Besides being the right thing to do, apologies bring diplomatic and political gains in a region haunted by colonial and imperial atrocities. the Secretary of State, Travels of [40] Why did one succeed at sea and not the other? True, the book is both of those things, but Mahans account of Atlantic imperial rivalries is also more valuably an estimate of the effect of sea power upon the course of history and the prosperity of nations.[2] That form of comparative and nomological history makes Influence a strategic classic of enduring relevance. who believed in sea power endorsed Mahan's doctrine. This has resulted in the notion that military power deployed at or from the sea is the key component of a state's sea power. Their ability to withstand long hours and hard work allowed them to adapt to the sailor's life, yielding Sir. New and expanding corporations had built industrial productivity to rival that of the North Atlantic Great Powers. Commercial interests increasingly looked overseas, eyeing opportunities in Latin American and East Asia, as well as the territorial infrastructure (the Panama Canal and coaling stations) necessary to exploit them. The shift from Mahan to Corbett is reflective of a major shift in Chinese grand strategy - one that has implications for the U.S. and the Indo-Pacific at large. 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. Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. They encourage innovation, self-reliance and . They both primarily exist to protect economic interests within their respective domains. In this sense, Corbett is less a repudiation of Mahan than a refinement of Mahanian logics. Suzanne Geissler, God and Sea Power: The Influence of Religion on Alfred Thayer Mahan (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2015). 30 seconds. Charles Beard, The Navy: Defense or Portent? Kaiser Wilhelm II ostensibly absorbed from Mahan the need to construct an ocean-going High Seas Fleet to compete with the Royal Navy. The Inuence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire 1793-1812, Vol II (of 2) - Alfred Thayer Mahan 2020-08-15 [28] Element two, Physical Conformation, thoroughly examines the type and specific features of the permanent base. [60] More systematically, subsequent geopolitical thinkers were quick to raise alternate foundations of national and international power, even as they borrowed Mahans fundamental interest in the nexus of geography, economics, and policy. The Soviet Union, in contrast, is a country amply endowed with rich raw materials. The author, Alfred Thayer Mahan, was a United States Naval officer and the son of the esteemed West Point professor Dennis Hart Mahan. Philip Crowl, Alfred Thayer Mahan: The Naval Historian, in Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, ed. Mahan was one of the foremost proponents of the vigorous foreign policy referred to by Turner. Naval War College professors Toshi Yoshihara and James Holmes have examined the writings of contemporary Chinese military thinkers and strategists in this regard in their important work, Chinese Naval Strategy in the 21st Century: The Turn to Mahan. Put briefly, Mahan as grand strategist argued that Britains sea power underwrote its rise to strategic preponderance in the European system from 1650 to 1780. Consider the context: By the 1880s, railway lines knit together the United States continental empire from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He is a graduate of Marine Corps Command and Staff College and a doctoral candidate in atmospheric and oceanic science at the University of Maryland, College Park. During the interwar period, Charles Beard famously saw the Mahanian navy as more portent of war than authentic defense. Non-members can read five free Proceedings articles per month. It was his second book, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History 1660-1783 (1890), however, that brought him national and international fame. It is worth repeating, in closing, that Sea Power is not naval power or the capacity to wage war. [88] Likewise, though World War II was not settled in a single fleet encounter, decisive naval engagements were key to winning whole theaters of the war. He recalled that the books basic thesis dawned first on my inner consciousness. 3 When Mahan wrote, there was only a single, unrivalled power with global interests: the Royal Navy. Answer: At geographic "choke points" (e.g. Like Germany before the First World War, China in the 21st century has embraced Mahan. Securing such access would require three things: a merchant navy, which could carry American products to new markets across the great highway of the high seas; an American battleship navy to deter or destroy rival fleets; and a network of naval bases capable of providing fuel and supplies for the enlarged navy, and maintaining open lines of communications between the United States and its new markets. These element focuses on a country's geographicalshow more content This compares to the United State's 46.5 million, TEU. argue for a shift towards commercial expansion overseas, he did note that calls The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Istilah Sea Power pertama kali muncul di akhir abad 19 oleh Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan dalam bukunya The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, hal.1660-1783. Today, U.S. strategists concerned with the vulnerability of sea lines of communication, a retreat from global commitments, or the hollowing out of the domestic industrial base, could find common cause with Mahans logic. Internal resources, strategic situation. communications between the United States and its new markets. In The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, Mahan reviewed the role of sea power in the emergence and growth of the British Empire. Prior to 1940 articles all text has been corrected, but from 1940 to the present most still remain uncorrected. Mahan was a middling sailor and a still worse intelligence collector. 6. William P. Dickson (London: R. Bentley, 1862-1866). Letters and Papers of Alfred Thayer Mahan, Vol I-III, ed. The distances between these seas, moreover, are greater than those that hampered France, and the seas themselves are entirely cut off from the major oceans of the w.orld. Best Sellers . Britain was successful in the War of the League of Augsburg (1688-1697) and the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), chiefly as a result of its ability to maintain overseas trade and finance armed conflict on the Continent. In a virtuous cycle, physical access to the sea, commercial trade, and colonial possessions created national wealth. [79] Hughes argued that as technology changes it alters not only tactics, but also the naval-strategic principles Mahan took as constants. Corbett, by contrast, played chess: Though using the same board, he was quick to recognize the importance of specialized assets, maneuvering in concert, often toward limited ends. What might be called the human resources of Sea Power are generally employed in peacetime by the merchant marine and related industries, making for a ready reserve that can be drawn on by the navy. Today, as it was in Mahans day, the character of a nations peopletheir inclination toward the seais one of a handful of factors that will determine Russias role and rank on the seas in the years ahead. [67] While this school of criticism was right to stress Mahans pervasive racism and interest in overseas possessions, LaFeber and the revisionists overestimated Mahans pre-1895 influence as well as the scope of his explicit imperial ambitionswhich were always more pointillist than territorial. [58] Benjamin Cooling, Benjamin Franklin Tracy: Father of the Modern American Fighting Navy (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1973). Commodore Robert W. 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