The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783

By Alfred Thayer Mahan

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dick Press
• Release date: Apr 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781446548783

Alfred Thayer Mahan

Alfred Thayer Mahan (September 27, 1840 – December 1, 1914) was a United States naval officer and historian, whom John Keegan called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His book The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783 (1890) won immediate recognition, especially in Europe, and with its successor, The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812 (1892), made him world-famous and perhaps the most influential American author of the nineteenth century.

Reviews for The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783

[steve6clason · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of the foundational works of maritime strategy and puts Mahan in a category with history's other great strategic thinkers; Sun Tzu, Clausewitz, Moltke, Giap, Mao. Like those others, Mahan's tactical doctrines, and so the examples and illustrations taken from his writings, are obsolete and mostly irrelevant in the world of modern weaponry. Like the others, also, his strategic doctrine is suspect, but his influence is so great that everyone writing on maritime strategy gives him at least a hat-tip.The Japanese, arguably, based their entire naval strategy during WWII on Mahan's ideas, and his work is cited increasingly by Chinese strategists as they hurry to build a blue-water navy, two facts which argue for Mahan's continued relevance. The period he writes of here was during the age of sail, and descriptions of maneuver can be hard to follow, but the combat operations he details can be read through quickly without losing sight of the strategic ideas.Spoiler: A nation's strategic power rests on it's control of the seas. Control of the seas depends on production, commerce, and colonies (which provide friendly, foreign ports), and the purpose of a navy is to ensure these dependencies through an ability to destroy the enemy fleets.

[nielspeterqm · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First published 1890, this book now belongs on every Top 10 of military strategic thought, along with the works of a Sun Tzu or Clausewitz. Within purely naval strategy, it's a barely disputed Top 1. Light reading it isn't. Drawing mainly from the the Age of Sail, Mahan's substance may (or may not) be partly dated. But his repetitive style, however nourished by sharp & fresh details, surely hints of a bygone age. Still, it's a masterpiece. Mahan set himself a simple but decisive task: to explain why England's Royal Navy, from mainly 1660 to 1783, became the most decisive maritime force in history. His answers circle, with hypnotic iteration, around 3 main insights: 1) For ambitious nations (or any state hoping to defend itself against these), a credible naval policy is such a multiplier of strength that it has become fatal if not inconceivable to neglect this dimension. 2) An armed navy never rests on a vacuum, or on a merely militarist policy, but draws its resources & power from an even healthier, flourishing commercial navy. This insight, or instinct, is the innermost "secret" of England's maritime empire. 3) Yet to undermine an enemy sea power it won't do to attack its trade. You must specifically engage its armed fleet. Not its commercial vessels, colonies, or even supply posts alone. Destroy the warships that safeguard all that. Such was England's strategy, time after time. France stubbornly insisted on the opposite doctrine, & ended up as the also-ran. To Mahan, a flamboyant exception proving these principles was French Admiral Pierre André de Suffren. Almost alone among his compatriots he understood war in English terms, conducting it even better than his enemy. Yet without support from his peers & superiors, decisive victory kept eludíng him. Precisely because his success was so obviously shackled, he demonstrates what France or any nation might achieve, the very moment they sit down & copy the English way.