Abstract
Much was written by Mahan1 and much has been written about him.2 In the United States his name is known to every officer in the Navy and his authority is often evoked and applied to issues of naval strategy. By contrast, in Britain Mahan’s works are now regarded as old and outdated. From either point of view, Mahan’s contributions must be seen as part of the development of naval thought and, although he had precursors, Mahan is the proper starting-point in an outline of the progression and refinement of naval thinking in the English-speaking world during the twentieth century. Mahan found the literature of naval history largely a record of battles, and he was the first successfully to convert it to a subject which related activity at sea to foreign policy and the general activity of nation-states. In so doing he persuaded naval thinkers and writers to accept a new conceptual basis.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
For published documents and bibliography, see Robert Seager II and Doris Maguire (eds), The Letters and Papers of Alfred Thayer Mahan (Annapolis, 1977) 3 volumes
John B. Hattendorf and Lynn C. Hattendorf, compilers, A Bibliography of the Works of Alfred Thayer Mahan (Newport, 1986).
The main collection of Mahan manuscripts is in the Library of Congress, but for a guide to the complementary collection at the Naval War College, see John B. Hattendorf, compiler, Register of the Alfred Thayer Mahan Papers (Newport, 1987).
René Albrecht-Carrie, A Diplomatic History of Europe since the Congress of Vienna (New York, 1973) p. 208.
John D. Hayes and John B. Hattendorf (eds), The Writings of Stephen B. Luce (Newport, 1975) p. 68.
Russell Weigley, The American Way of War (Bloomington, 1973) pp. 81–9.
Michael Howard, ‘Jomini and the Classical Tradition’, in The Theory and Practice of War (Bloomington, 1967) p. 16.
also printed in Richard W. Turk, The Ambiguous Relationship: Theodore Roosevelt and Alfred Thayer Mahan (Westport, 1987) p. 154.
Crane Brinton, Gordon Craig and Felix Gilbert, ‘Jomini’, in Edwin M. Earle (ed.), Makers of Modern Strategy (Princeton, 1943) p. 90.
See also John Shy, ‘Jomini’, in Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age (Princeton, 1986) pp. 143–85.
Jomini, Traité des Grandes Opérations Militaires (Paris, 1851, iii) pp. 57–8.
Mahan, The Major Operations of the Navies in the War of American Independence (Boston, 1913) p. 1.
Mahan, Lessons of the War with Spain and other Articles (Boston, 1899) p. 230.
William E. Livezey, Mahan on Sea Power (Norman, 1981) p. 230. See also Mahan to Thursfield, 28 October 1899 in Letters and Papers, ii, p. 664.
Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History 1660–1783 (Boston, 1890) p. 25.
Mahan, Naval Strategy Compared and Contrasted with the Principles and Practice of Military Operations on Lan d (Boston, 1918) p. 115.
Mahan, Naval Administration and Warfare: Some General Principles (Boston, 1908) p. 173.
Mahan, ‘Reflections, Historic and Other, Suggested by the Battle of the Japan Sea’, Journal of the Royal United Services Institution, vol. 50, part 2 (November 1906) p. 1330.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1989 John B. Hattendorf and Robert S. Jordan
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hattendorf, J.B. (1989). Alfred Thayer Mahan and his Strategic Thought. In: Hattendorf, J.B., Jordan, R.S. (eds) Maritime Strategy and the Balance of Power. St Antony's. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09392-2_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09392-2_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-09394-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-09392-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)