Alfred Thayer Mahan

Alfred Thayer Mahan was a <a href="/facts/United_States_Navy/xYK0fUou">United States Navy</a> officer and historian whom <a href="/facts/John_Keegan/mylJr9um">John Keegan</a> called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His 1890 book <a href="/facts/The_Influence_of_Sea_Power_upon_History/9aB0PnBM">The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783</a> won immediate recognition, especially in Europe, and with the publication of its 1892 successor, <a href="/facts/The_Influence_of_Sea_Power_upon_the_French_Revolution_and_Empire/yQgHxqYS">The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812</a>, he affirmed his status as a globally-known and regarded military strategist, historian, and theorist. Mahan's works encouraged the development of large <a href="/facts/Capital_ships/fw4MXxB2">capital ships</a>—eventually leading to <a href="/facts/Dreadnoughts/Sf8jhx0s">dreadnought battleships</a>—as he was an advocate of the 'decisive battle' and of <a href="/facts/Blockade/TzW69ybu">naval blockades</a>.
Critics, however, charged him with failing to adequately explain the rise of largely land-based empires, such as the <a href="/facts/German_Empire/lwQutJyN">German</a> or <a href="/facts/Ottoman_Empire/6QvfTRsg">Ottoman Empires</a>, though Mahan did accurately predict both empires' defeats in <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a>. Mahan directly influenced the dominant <a href="/facts/Interwar_period/EWLuS41R">interwar period</a> and <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>-era Japanese naval doctrine of the "decisive battle doctrine" (艦隊決戦, <a href="/facts/Kantai_Kessen/RfKJEcln">Kantai Kessen</a>), and he became a "<a href="/facts/Celebrity/SALdkGV6">household name</a>" in Germany. He also promoted American control over <a href="/facts/Hawaii/ImxFefeK">Hawaii</a> though he was "lukewarm" in regard to <a href="/facts/American_imperialism/hd2Pxs5u">American imperialism</a> in general. Four U.S. Navy ships have borne <a href="/facts/USS_Mahan/v03zfGEF">his name</a>, as well as various buildings and roads; and his works are still read, discussed, and debated in military, historical, and scholarly circles.

Alfred Thayer Mahan open-in-new

Alfred Thayer Mahan