Alfred Thayer Mahan

Alfred Thayer Mahan , 1840-1914, U.S. naval officer and historian, b. West Point, N.Y. A Union naval officer in the Civil War, he later lectured on naval history and strategy at the Naval War College, Newport, R.I., of which he was president (1886-89, 1892-93). Out of his lectures grew his two major works on the historical significance of sea power— The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783 (1890) and The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793-1812 (2 vol., 1892). In these he argued that naval power was the key to success in international politics; the nation that controlled the seas held the decisive factor in modern warfare. Mahan's work appeared at a time when the nations of Europe and Japan were engaged in a fiercely competitive arms race. His books were quickly translated into several languages and were widely read by political leaders, especially in Germany, where they were used as a justification for a naval buildup. In the United States, Theodore Roosevelt and other proponents of a big navy and overseas expansion were much influenced by Mahan's writings. Among his many works are biographies of David Farragut and Horatio Nelson and the autobiographical From Sail to Steam (1907, repr. 1968).

Mahan, Alfred Thayer (1840–1914), naval historian and strategist.Alfred Thayer Mahan, the son of Dennis Hart Mahan, a professor of engineering at West Point, graduated second in his class at the Naval Academy in 1859. During the Civil War he taught at the Naval Academy and participated in the naval blockade of the Confederacy. Routine duty followed as he rose by seniority to captain in 1885. An essay on naval reform and a short monograph on Civil War naval operations led to his assignment to the new Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1885. Mahan's lectures there formed the basis of The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783 (1892) and The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812 (1897), in which he analyzed the characteristics of a sea power and the advantages such nations enjoy over land powers.

Applying his ideas to U.S. foreign and naval policies, Mahan in a series of essays advocated constructing a Central American canal and a battle fleet and expanding commerce and the merchant marine. He also urged a naval strategy based on fleet engagements aimed at gaining command of the sea, in place of the traditional U.S. strategy of coastal defense and commerce raiding. Mahan's thought rested on Social Darwinism, economic determinism, and tactical principles first developed by others. Deftly synthesized and cogently stated in numerous publications, Mahan's ideas laid the philosophical basis for an era of global navalism, influenced leaders such as Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II and Theodore Roosevelt, and popularized American expansionism. Mahan served as president of the Naval War College from 1886 to 1889 and in 1892–1893; on the Board of Naval Strategy during the Spanish‐American War; as a delegate to the Hague Peace Conference in 1899; and as president of the American Historical Association in 1902. He was promoted to rear admiral on the retired list in 1906.
See also Military, The; Military Service Academies.

Bibliography

Alfred Thayer Mahan , From Sail to Steam: Recollections of a Naval Life, 1907.
Robert Seager II , Alfred Thayer Mahan: The Man and His Letters, 1977.
William E. Livesey , Mahan on Sea Power, 1981.

James C. Bradford