19th–20th century British īetween 18, Mahan and British admiral Jacky Fisher faced the problem of how to dominate home waters and distant seas with naval forces not strong enough to do both. Its ships would then be 'like land birds, unable to fly far from their own shores'". "Mahan warned that war might close the seas to the United States. ĭaniel Immerwahr in How to Hide an Empire: A Short History of the Greater United States outlines that Mahan's greatest concern is with trade and how to secure shipping routes throughout the complex process of ports, coaling stations, restocking supplies, and naval protection. Given the very rapid technological changes underway in propulsion (from coal to oil, from reciprocating engines to steam turbines), ordnance (with better fire directors, and new high explosives) and armor (hardened steel), the emergence of new craft such as destroyers and submarines, and the development of radio, Mahan's emphasis on the capital ship and the command of the sea came at an opportune moment. Seapower supported the new colonialism that Europe and Japan were imposing on Africa and Asia. Although his history was relatively thin (he relied on secondary sources), the vigorous style and clear theory won widespread acceptance by navalists across the world. Timeliness contributed no small part to the widespread acceptance and resultant influence of Mahan's views. Impact on naval thought Rear-admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, an American strategist and writer of The Influence of Sea Power upon History.
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