Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914) was a US Navy officer and author of influential marine history and strategy books. Andrew Lambert, Navy Records Society, 259-260; Kings College (London) to A.T. Mahan, March 11, 1893, Mahan Papers, Library of Congress, Box 2, Reel 2. [57] Sadao Asada, From Mahan to Peral Harbor: The Imperial Japanese Navy and the United States (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2006), 26-27. looking outside the continental United States in order to satiate their desire [58] Benjamin Cooling, Benjamin Franklin Tracy: Father of the Modern American Fighting Navy (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1973). In a virtuous cycle, physical access to the sea, commercial trade, and colonial possessions created national wealth. In many ways, the Dutch Provinces make for an awkward departure point for Mahans comparative project. Chapter 1 analyzes the ideas of the naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan. Today, as nations increasingly deploy their coast guards to assert sovereignty, the role of coast guards within Mahans conceptions of maritime powernamely, to maintain a nations access to the global commons and thereby bolster its domestic shipping capabilitywarrants further examination. [39] What distinguishes Influence as grand strategy, strategy, and polemicand why it is worth reading todayis the neat thread throughout weaving evidence around Mahans central thesis: that Britain rose to preeminence in the European system as a result of Sea Power. For example, this section contains his "six elements" of sea power. A further complication in the Soviet development problem is a small number of stable overseas bases- Currently, the Soviet Mediterranean force (part of tbe Black Sea Fleet) must spend a good deal of time at anchor. 16, No. Stipulating his consistent skepticism of commerce raiding as a viable policy, Mahans text actually has relatively little to say about tactics (though he sometimes digresses) or even strategy qua naval strategy. In subsequent articles and books, Mahan accurately envisioned the geopolitical struggles of the 20th and 21st centuries. What is the value of commerce destruction, and should this be a primary or secondary goal of naval action? Many critics have read Influence as transparent propaganda for a domestic audience or a set of dated prescriptions about naval strategy. Deployment of ships at sea means the Soviet government must relinquish some of its cherished authority into the hands of naval officers, even though these officers are considered thoroughly dependable. Jeremy Greenwood and Emily Miletello, To Expand the Navy Isnt Enough. William P. Dickson (London: R. Bentley, 1862-1866). Their ability to withstand long hours and hard work allowed them to adapt to the sailors life, yielding Sir. 4 (1904): 421-437; Nicholas Spykmans Geography and Foreign Policy, I-II, The American Political Science Review, Vol XXXII, Issue I, Vol XXXII, Issue II, (1938). [32] But the relationship of population to Sea Power is not a matter of raw numbers. As Captain William H. J. Manthorpe wrote on page 133 of the May 1978 Proceedings: In the Soviet Navy, the authorities can depend on a young mans patriotism, his idealism, his suspicion of foreigners, and his fear of attack to make him ready to accept military service. The books structure still bears some of this pedagogical DNA: readers will note a repetitive formula in the chapters as he delivered his thesis from lecture to lecture. Without those elements of Sea Power, pure military or naval strength is a colossus with feet of clay. [73] Andrew Lamberts ambitious and engaging Seapower States (2018) is the most critical and provocative of this vein (though Lamberts larger project is much more than a refutation of Mahanian sea power). Hello Select your address Kindle Store Hello, Sign in. Alabama; it can only be a secondary goal of naval action. While there, Mahan took to Theodor Mommsens account of the Hannibalic episode in The History of Rome. Like the Netherlands, the U.S.S.R. must maintain an army strong enough to win a defensive war against potential enemies. They encourage innovation, self-reliance and . Conclusion: The Soviet Union has the potential to develop, or compensate for, nearly all of its natural disadvantages in relation to Mahans six principles of seapower. Non-members can read five free Proceedings articles per month. In 1974, Russia was operating 23 shipyards which employed 265,000 people. They both primarily exist to protect economic interests within their respective domains. 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. [27] Though the metropole of an imperial network applies as well. Dutton & Co., 1968), 35. They must allow the Russian sailors to go ashore in foreign ports and see things differently, and often better, than those existing at home. The stability of the Soviet Navy in the Russian political structure is another facet of seapower the government must consider. He stated, "In general . Consider the strategic indecisiveness of Confederate cruiser warfare during the U.S. Civil War. Mahan's book became an instant success in military circles in the United . He has written articles and reviews on historical and foreign policy topics for Strategic Review, American Diplomacy, Joint Force Quarterly, the University Bookman, the Washington Times, the Claremont Review of Books, and other publications. Peter Paret (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986). affected sea power. Seward also attempted to purchase suitable Caribbean naval bases. 212-228. The Soviet government is, however, detrimental in many ways to the development of seapower. RADM Stephen B. Luce established the Naval War College in 1884. John Keegan, The Price of Admiralty: The Evolution of Naval Warfare (New York: Viking, 1988). 4. 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. [6] Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost, The Court and Society Review (1887). We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. 71: No. Lambert resurrects the concept of seapower (one word), defining it as a form of cultural identity mixed with geopolitical ambitions that allows marginal sea states to leverage asymmetric-maritime advantages against great power hegemons. Mahan argued for a universal principle of concentration of powerful ships in home waters and minimized strength in distant seas, while Fisher reversed Mahan by utilizing technological change to propose submarines for defense of home waters and mobile battle cruisers for protection of distant imperial interests. What concerned Mahan most was ensuring that the U.S. Government could While Mahan could work under the assumption of robust U.S. commercial shipping, modern strategists do not have the same luxury. [49]In asking what lessons might flow from the influence of Roman sea power on the fall of the Carthaginian Empire, Mahan arrived at the germ of his project. [17] Margaret Sprout, Mahan: Evangelist of Sea Power, in Makers of Modern Strategy: Military Thought from Machiavelli to Hitler, ed. The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 is an influential treatise on naval warfare written in 1890 by Alfred Thayer Mahan. His reading of history also demonstrated, time and again, that attacks on adversary merchant vessels by raidersa guerre de coursewere never as effective as a decisive battle with the enemy that drove his force from the sea or at least allowed it to appear only as a fugitive.[12] Toward that end, the construction of a fleet of armored battleships was an essential condition of national power. Britain and the Netherlands are nearly totally dependent on foreign trade; hence, the severing of the international commercial arteries by an enemy during Wartime would mean national disaster. 2.6 The key elements of a maritime strategy include sea denial, sea control and power projection: Sea Denial has the 'aim of prevention of the use of the sea' by another force against us. Either is possible. States as spatial organisms Chapter 2 - Rudolph Challen and Friedrich Naumann "Central Europe" Chapter 3 - Halford Mackinder "The Geographical Axis of History" 1, Article 7; Arne Roksund, The Jeune Ecole: The Strategy of the Weak (Boston: Brill, 2007); Theodore Ropp, The Development of a Modern Navy: French Naval Policy 1871-1904, ed. answer choices. mahan six principles of sea power. Russias historical preparation of its people has left the majority with a penchant for shoddy workmanship and with little knowledge of advanced technology. seminal essay of 1893, The Significance of the Frontier in American History. Since 1945, the maintenance of Freedom of the Seas through a preponderant navy and a vast archipelago of overseas bases has remained a consistent feature of the U.S.-led post-war order. During the interwar period, Charles Beard famously saw the Mahanian navy as more portent of war than authentic defense. Andrew Lambert, Seapower States: Maritime Culture, Continental Empires, and the Conflict that Made the Modern World (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2018). Mahan was a middling sailor and a still worse intelligence collector. Panama. These are not fatal deficiencies. The first is the confluence of (1) Production; (2) Shipping; (3) Colonies and Markets,in a word, sea power.[22] A strong national economy is the foundation of Sea Power, and that foundation grows (Mahan believes) in large part through the movement of trade over the sea. Character of the Government: Mahan shows us time and again that the path a nation takes in its climb to or fall from greatness results from the character of the government. Explaining the political geography at the center of a serious India-China standoff in the Himalayas. [16] As what Margaret Sprout called an Evangelist of Sea Power, he was remarkably successful: The Mahanian phrase has been appropriated by all the other branches of the armed services with varying degrees of fidelity (land power, air power, and surely space power is not too far off in the future). 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. This study will then examine each of the following elements of national power in light of Mahan's six principal conditions: - Sea Power (The combination of military strength afloat and peaceful commerce through shipping) in the 21st century. Borrowing a phrase from: Charles Maier, Among Empires: American Ascendancy and Its Predecessors (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006). the 1890s, but his work resonated with many leading intellectuals and In Influence, Mahan offers two possible formulas for grand strategic Sea Power. for Us, Chinese Naval Strategy in the 21st Century: The Turn to Mahan, Geopolitics: From the Cold War to the 21st Century, Americas Global Role: Essays and Reviews on National Security, Geopolitics, and War. [50] South America proves the point. Answer: In battle fleets. [19] A.T. Mahan, The Life of Nelson: The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain (London: Sampson Low, Marston, 1897). The term "dollar diplomacy" primarily referred to. Empire, 17931812. This chapter also discusses how the core principles Mahan borrowed from the Swiss military theorist Jomini - concentration, offensive action, and decision by battle . . 149/3/1,441. All of these factors, however, are mere functions of the controlling equation the character of the government. Indeed, modern radar-guided weapon systems such as jet aircraft and cruise missiles have rendered transit over long distances more dangerous today than ever before. NB originally published in 1911, pre-WWI. 3 A. T. Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History: 1660-1783 (Sioux Falls, SD: Nu Vision PUblications, 2007), 24. Releases, Administrative [79] Hughes argued that as technology changes it alters not only tactics, but also the naval-strategic principles Mahan took as constants. Mahan was one of the foremost proponents of the vigorous foreign policy (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1932). Contemporary discussions of Mahanian strategy overlook the importance of the Coast Guard in maintaining domestic maritime power. Philip Crowl, Alfred Thayer Mahan: The Naval Historian, in Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, ed. Momentary superiority in tonnage or deployable warships often masks a deeper brittleness. Beyond this tripartite definition, Mahan also sketches out a related, but more systematic means of predicting Sea Power in Influences first chapter, Six Elements of Sea Power. This list is unusually explicit and does not necessarily track across the texts empirical core. China employs military actions to achieve political outcomes in territorial disputes. The U.S. Navy has chosen its next frigate; what will Chinas look like? Alfred Thayer Mahan, The Influence of Seapower Upon History: 16601783 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1890), 26. Jon Tetsuro Sumida, New Insights from Old Books: The Case of Alfred Thayer Mahan, Naval War College Review 54, no. Economic Depression of 1890s lead politicians to Re-evaluate Mahan's Ideas, Mahan argued that United States had to find foreign markets for its goods, Mahan advocating creating US naval bases around the world, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 16601783, The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 17931812, Cmo ver como era una pgina web hace aos, Office of the Historian, United States Department of State, Mahans The Influence of Sea Power upon History: Securing International Markets in the 1890s, https://dailyhistory.org/index.php?title=How_did_Charles_Mahan%27s_%22The_Influence_of_Sea_Power%22_shape_American_Foreign_Policy&oldid=24267. 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. Defense, China Just $5 a month. Jomini's work depended heavily on fixed principles that could be stated with mathematical precision and comprehensiveness. 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 Britains emergence as the worlds dominant military, political, and economic power. Following the Civil War, Secretary of State William Seward had attempted to expand the U.S. commercial presence in Asia by purchasing Alaska in 1867, and increasing American influence over Hawaii by concluding a reciprocity treaty that would bind the islands economy to that of the United States. In an immediate sense, Mahans concept or strategy of sea power (lower case s; lower case p) refers to naval preponderance or military command of the sea. In the 1890s, Mahans ideas resonated with leading politicians, including Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, and Secretary of the Navy Herbert Tracy. Southeast Index, A Short History [51] After defeating Peru in a decisive naval battle in 1879, Chile leveraged its maritime preponderance to cut off Peruvian trade, finance war spending, and move amphibious armies along the Peruvian coast. Alfred Thayer's Mahan's The Influence of Sea Power Upon History was a two-volume work that argued that sea power was the key to military and economic expansion. who believed in sea power endorsed Mahan's doctrine. In 1890, United States Navy Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan published a book titled "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History." The monumental text addressed the importance of both military and commercial fleets in the success of a nation in war and peacetime. In doing so it encourages readers to consider the text through three lenses: polemic, naval strategy, and grand strategy. Writing during the interwar period and World War II, he argued that the real contest for power in the 20th century would take place in the rimland around Eurasia (what Mackinder called the Inner Crescent) where Sea Power and Land Power meet in a sort of geopolitical estuary. To become a major naval power, the United States began to replace its wooden sailing ships with With a broader understanding of Sea Power in mind, Influences aim is to identify the mutually reinforcing relationships between geography, commerce, and military or commercial shippingas well as to explain why individual states do or do not mobilize Sea Power to pursue national goals. with profound social and economic consequences. Sea power describesanation's ability to Summary of Theory Alfred Mahan, the originator of the North - Studocu Development theory summary of theory alfred mahan, the originator of the north american school of geopolitics and an american naval officer and historian, DismissTry Ask an Expert Ask an Expert Sign inRegister Sign inRegister Home . . 7. Given authority, he is likely to be bureaucratic and to exercise his power arbitrarily and harshly.. Kaiser Wilhelm II reportedly ordered a copy of the book placed aboard every German warship. In the wake of the Civil War, however, Congress became preoccupied with Reconstruction in the South, and the Senate rejected all of Sewards efforts to create a network of American naval bases. [45] The final triumph of British Sea Power was (predictably) the defeat of the Napoleonic Empire through command of the sea after Trafalgarthe Salamis or Armada of its age. 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. As an analysis of purely naval strategy, it is also a thesis emphasizing concentrated battle fleet engagements as a means of achieving command of the sea. Less intuitively, poor soil and climate often encourage Sea Power because domestic inadequacies force commercial interests abroad in search of resources and profits. a fascinating sequel to Mahan 's writings could be entitled the "influence of Mahan upon sea power." At this point we should briefly ex amine the high points in Mahan's life and career. Though originally published in 1890, this essay has cited the 1898 version throughoutthe edition most readily available via Google. [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. [9] Wayne Hughes, Fleet Tactics and Coastal Combat (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000), 9. [30] Drawing from his experience in the Civil War, Mahan noted that the sparsely populated inlets and harbors of the Confederacy were not a source of strength, but rather highways for riverine penetration by Union gunboats. Money, Tokyo He famously wrote in The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire that it was the navy of Great Britain (those far distant storm-beaten ships) that stood between Napoleon and the dominion of the world. [14] German[ edit] Today, however, the U.S.-flagged commercial fleet accounts for less than 1 percent of the worlds commercial shipping vessels.7 Critical to mitigating this deficit is the Coast Guards port state control program, which inspects foreign ships in national ports to verify that the condition of the ship and its equipment comply with the requirements of international regulations and that the ship is manned and operated in compliance with these rules.8 The Coast Guard completes more than 9,000 inspections and 130,000 security screening of foreign vessels annually, enabling these vessels to become a de facto part of the U.S. trade fleet. Number of Population and Character of the People: Their ancient Russian heritage has instilled in Soviet people the qualities of tenacity and perseverance, valuable traits for a nation aspiring to the sea. Indeed, many contemporary maritime strategists regard the Coast Guard as a white-hulled extension of the Navy rather than the linchpin in preserving U.S. maritime trade.9. Mahans evidentiary base consists of several case studies, beginning with the Anglo-Dutch Wars in the 17thcentury. Robert Seager II and Doris Maguire (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1975), Vol II, 494. [20] Mahans only book dedicated to strategy and tactics as such was, by his own admission, the worst writing he ever produced. reciprocity treaty that would bind the islands economy to that of the United perpetual lease for a naval base at Guantanamo Bay, B.J. The merchant marine has grown from 400 ships in 1945 mustering 2 million tons deadweight to 1,700 ships in 1976 totaling 16 million tons deadweight, a growth rate of 425% in 31 years. [56] For an account of the parallels and interplay see: Dirk Bonker, Militarism in a Global Age: Naval Ambitions in Germany and the United States Before World War One (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2012). Jutland (1916)what should have been a new Trafalgarfailed to produce a decisive impact on the war. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. One example of this is the fact that Soviet submarines are towed to station on the surface, submerge for the duration of their cruise, and then resurface to be towed back to port. Patriotism is another Russian strongpoint. 3. The United States must protect its domestic shipping infrastructure to access maritime trade, and the Coast Guard is the agency bearing the responsibility. As a matter of naval strategy, Mahans argument is relatively straightforward. Endorsed Mahan & # x27 ; s doctrine as a matter of warfare... 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