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MAHAN, ALFRED THAYER (1840- )

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 394 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MAHAN, See also:ALFRED See also:THAYER (1840- ) , See also:American See also:naval officer and historian, was See also:born on the 27th of See also:September 1840 at See also:West Point, New See also:York. His See also:father, See also:Dennis See also:Hart Mahan (18o2-1871) was a See also:professor in the military See also:academy, and the author of textbooks on See also:civil and military See also:engineering. The son graduated at the naval academy in 1859, became See also:lieutenant in 1861, served on the " See also:Congress," and on the " Pocahontas," " See also:Seminole," and " See also:James Adger " during the Civil See also:War, and was instructor at the naval academy for a See also:year. In 1865 he was made lieut.-See also:commander, commander in 1872, See also:captain in 1885. Mean-while he saw service in the Gulf of See also:Mexico, the See also:South See also:Atlantic, the Pacific, and See also:Asia, and did See also:shore See also:duty at See also:Boston, New York and See also:Annapolis. In 1886-89 he was See also:president of the naval war See also:college at See also:Newport, Rhode See also:Island. Between 1889 and 1892 he was engaged in See also:special service for the See also:bureau of See also:navigation, and in 1893 was made commander of the " See also:Chicago," of the See also:European See also:squadron. In 1896 he retired from active service, but was a member of the naval See also:board of See also:strategy during the war between the See also:United States and See also:Spain. He was a member of the See also:peace congress at the See also:Hague in 1899. This See also:long and varied service gave him extensive opportunities for observation, which he supplemented by See also:constant study of naval authorities and reflection on the See also:interpretation of the problems of maritime See also:history. His first See also:book was a modest and compact See also:story of the affairs in The Gulf and Inland See also:Waters (1883), in a See also:series of volumes by various writers, entitled The See also:Navy in the Civil War; in 1890 he suddenly acquired fame by the See also:appearance of his masterly See also:work entitled The See also:Influence of See also:Sea See also:Power upon History, 166o-1783. Having been impressed by the failure of historians to allow for the influence of sea power in struggles between nations, he was led to make prolonged investigations of this See also:general theme (see SEA POWER).

The reception accorded the See also:

volume was instant and hearty; in See also:England, in particular, it was deemed almost an See also:epoch-making work, and was studied by naval specialists, See also:cabinet ministers and journalists, as well as by a large See also:part of the general public. It was followed by The Influence of Sea Power upon the See also:French Revolution and See also:Empire (2 vols. 1892); The See also:Life of See also:Nelson, the Embodiment of the Sea Power of See also:Great See also:Britain (1897) ; and Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812 (19o5). The author's general aim in these See also:works—some of which have been translated into French, See also:German and See also:Japanese—was to make the See also:consideration of maritime matters See also:paramount to that of military, See also:political or economic movements, without, however, as he himself says " divorcing them from their surroundings of cause and effect in general history, but seeking to show how they modified the latter, and were modified by them." He selected the year 166o as the beginning of his narrative, as being the date when the sailing-See also:ship era, with its distinctive features, had fairly begun." The series as a whole has been accepted as finally authoritative, sup-planting its predecessors of similar aim, and almost—in the words of See also:Theodore See also:Roosevelt—See also:founding a new school of naval See also:historical See also:writing. Other works by Mahan are a Life of See also:Admiral See also:Farragut (1892) ; The See also:Interest of See also:America in Sea Power (1897) ; Lessons of the War with Spain (1899); The Story of the War with South See also:Africa and The Problem of Asia (1900); Types of Naval See also:Officers See also:drawn from the History of the See also:British Navy (1901); Retrospect and Prospect, studies of See also:international relations (1902).

End of Article: MAHAN, ALFRED THAYER (1840- )

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