Sea Power
and Maritime Affairs
Lesson 9: the Dawning of the Age of
Mahan, 1890-1898
Learning Objectives:
• Comprehend the historical background to the
popularization of the doctrine of sea power in the late 19th
century.
• Comprehend (explain) Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan's
viewpoint of sea power as a geopolitical and naval
concept.
• Comprehend the distinctive British interpretation of sea
power as expounded by Sir Julian Corbett.
• Comprehend Alfred Thayer Mahan's influence on European
and American naval history between 1890 and 1898.
Background:
• Commerce Raiding
• Naval War College- Mahan was assigned
there.
• The Influence of Sea Power upon History,
1660-1783
Sea Power:
• Sea
•
•
•
•
Common over which people can pass in all directions.
Great medium of communication established by nature.
Important to the extent that men use it.
Sea Power
•
•
•
•
Possession of a powerful navy
Colonies
Increasing Wealth
Increase in Strength and Capacity.
• “Command of the Sea”
Elements of “Sea Power”:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Geographic Position
Physical Conformation
Extent of Territory
Number of Population
National Character
Character of the Government
• Strategic principles “remain as though
laid on a rock.”
Tactics versus Strategy:
• Tactics
•
Aspects of operations occurring after the beginning
of combat.
•
Dynamic due to changes in technology of armaments
and propulsion.
• Strategy
•
Should remain constant through periods of
technological change.
Mahan’s Strategic Questions:
• What is a navy’s function?
•
Answer: Command of the seas.
• How should a navy be deployed?
•
Answer: Battle fleets.
Mahan’s Strategic Questions
• Where should the coaling stations needed to
support them be established?
•
Answer: Near geographic "choke-points”.
• What is the value of commerce destruction, and
should this be a primary or secondary goal of
naval action?
•
Answer: It cannot win wars (CSS Alabama) -secondary mission.
Mahan’s Views:
• U.S. needs to build a battleship navy capable of
defeating enemy fleets.
• Colonies
• Valuable locations for coaling stations.
• Vital to a steam-driven battleship navy.
• Panama Isthmus passage necessary for U.S.
naval power.
•
•
Will become a critical maritime "choke-point”.
U.S. Navy must be a ”Two-Ocean" Navy - Atlantic and
Pacific.
Mahan’s Views
• Need to enlarge the merchant marine.
• Essence of Mahan: U.S. needs a “Great Navy”.
• Mark of and prerequisite for national greatness.
• Designed to fight an enemy in fleet engagements.
• In order to win command of the sea.
• Not designed for commerce raiding (guerre de course) or
protection.
Sir Julian Corbett
Some Principles of Maritime Strategy (1911)
• Points of agreement with Mahan:
•
•
Command of the sea is of prime importance.
Commerce raiding is the strategy of the weaker
power.
• Development of naval strategy related to
Clausewitz:
•
•
Relationship of naval strategy to government
policy.
Interdependence of all elements of national power.
Differences from Mahan:
• Interdependence of land and sea forces is
crucial to the success of a national military
effort.
• Strategic thinking itself may have to be
changed.
• A Navy's main purpose may be sea control,
combined operations, or commerce war.
Impact of Mahan:
• Validates naval and colonial policies of
European powers, Russian Empire, and Japan.
• Increasing naval arms race in Europe until World War
I, especially between Germany and Great Britain.
• Building large fleets of capital ships in late 1800’s.
• Writings become required reading of naval
officers.
• Further colonization of Africa and Asia.
Mahan in the United States:
• Not as quick to accept Mahan’s teachings as
other countries.
• President Theodore Roosevelt will use them as
the foundation of his naval policy in the early
1900’s.
1889-1898 Mahan’s Decade:
• Concept of Sea Power
• Strategic conclusion
• Operational conclusion
• Impact Nations
• Britain, Germany, Japan, US
• Naval Developments (Review from Lesson 8)
• Foreign Policy Developments
• Samoa (1889), Hawaii (1891-1898),
Venezuelan crisis (1895-1896), Cuban
Revolution (1895-1898)
• Spanish-American War (1898)
Learning Objectives:
• Comprehend the historical background to the
popularization of the doctrine of sea power in the late 19th
century.
• Comprehend (explain) Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan's
viewpoint of sea power as a geopolitical and naval
concept.
• Comprehend the distinctive British interpretation of sea
power as expounded by Sir Julian Corbett.
• Comprehend Alfred Thayer Mahan's influence on European
and American naval history between 1890 and 1898.
Reading Assignments:
To Review Today’s Class:
- Potter: chapter 15
- Hagan: chapter 7
To Prepare For Next Class:
- Potter: Chapter 17 / 18
- Hagan: Chapter 8
MIDTERM EXAM WILL BE 01 MARCH 2006!
Discussion
Next time: The U.S. Navy and American Imperialism,
1898-1914