Alfred Thayher Mahan

A detailed Summary of Alfred Thayher Mahan

Alfred Thayer Mahan, born on September 27, 1840 in West Point, New York was son of dean of the faculty at the United States Military Academy and one of the most important naval historians and strategists of his time. Although both Philip A. Crowl and Paul M. Kennedy have their own opinions on the degree to which Mahan influenced society and naval doctrine as a strategist and historian, the validity and brilliance of some of his ideas can't be denied.

Mahan was a firm believer that sea power was the single most important factor in determining national dominance. He said sea power was the command of the sea through naval superiority. His second important principle concentrated on the importance of shipping and commerce to national economy, with a large fleet to protect this overseas activity. Mahan believed not only in the importance of the navy as a fighting force but also as a tool of national policy.

Philiip A. Crowl's assessment of Alfred Thayer Mahan is skeptical at best. He gives credit only where credit is absolutely due and never in the form of compliment. Crowl believed "Mahan's failure as a logican (and therefore as a historian) was the direct result of his methodology: he began his labors with an insight, a li

Paul Kennedy, although criticizing Mahan just as Crowl had was much more subtle than in his attacks on Mahan's ideas. Kennedy was far more inclined to point out the pure brilliance and significance in many of Mahans's thougths. He said that whatever reservations one has about how Mahan analyzed the past, "his interpretation and ideas were most significant, throwing new light upon the course of European history." Kennedy goes on to fully acknowledge the role sea power played in the rise of the British Empire yet at the same time points out that "what was true from the past was not necessarily so of the future."

Kennedy believed that "Mahan's mind was far too rooted in the

past to be of much success in the field of future prophecy."

ght dawning on his 'inner consciousness'; the insight hardened into a predetermined

There is no doubt that Alfred Thayer Mahan was a great historian and analyst of naval strategy, but, I believe the level to which he was influential is limited. A far better historian than strategist, Mahan essentially told the story of approximately 200 years of British sea power in his most famous work The Influence of Sea Power upon History. Had his strategies come before the time of British naval domination where they were proved time and again, Mahan's role as a great naval strategist would have been more deserved. Summarily, Mahan observed why and how the English navy was so strong, falling short of what can be considered great strategy as it was not all his own as the British had been applying it effectively for years. While some of Mahan's ideas such as use overseas bases and coaling stations and using the navy to implement national policy have shaped modern naval philosophy and are undeniably

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