Theory and Nature of War
Modern Theorists I
Latter 19th Century Theorists:
Prussia
• Points to remember
– The adaptations of the Prussian Military
Revolution
– Characteristics of the professionalism race
– Problems with the Schlieffen Plan
– GGS needed to acknowledge
Modern Theorists I:
Naval - Mahan and Corbett
8801: Lesson 8
Overview
• Maritime strategy in early 20th Century
• Influence on strategic thinking today
Educational Objectives
• Compare the basic theories
• Describe how they were influenced by earlier
strategists
• Relate “Forward…From the Sea” to these theories
• Explain the use of sea power as an element of
military force
• Identify six elements that influence sea power
Background
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Late 19th century
Rising power and a declining power
Two views of Britain’s success
Two historians with different
– approaches to the past
– views of sea power
Analysis of Mahan and Corbett
• The Fundamental Questions of Military Theorists
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Influence of historical setting?
Use of historical analysis?
What are his ideas?
Build on or react to previous theorists?
Affect on later theorists and practitioners of war?
Alfred Thayer Mahan
• Background
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Dennis Hart Mahan
Major works
Insight
Purpose
Mahan’s Significance
• First general theory of
war at sea
• War at sea is a political
act
• Defined mission for the
Navy
• Boosted PME
Alfred Thayer Mahan
• Influence of historical setting?
Strategic Environment
• 1840-1865
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Expansion West
War with Mexico
Civil War
Industrialization
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1866-1914
Closing of the Frontier
Imperialism
Spanish-American War
Isthmian Canal
Naval Competition
Strategic Environment
• Technological Change
– Sail to Steam
– Armor
– Ordnance
• U.S. Navy Revival
Alfred Thayer Mahan
• Use of historical analysis?
Alfred Thayer Mahan
• What are his ideas?
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The fundamentals of strategy
Civil-military relations
The importance of material and moral factors
The influence of individuals on events
Relationship between offense and defense
The importance of chance
Fundamentals of Strategy
• Thesis: Mastery of the seas made nations
victorious in war and prosperous in peace.
– Not all nations possessed the raw ingredients of
sea power were.
– Principles of strategy included
• Lines of communication
• Central position Interior lines
• Key: concentration for a decisive victory
Mahan’s Theory of Sea Power
• “That overbearing power on the sea which
drives the enemy’s flag from the sea or allows it to
appear only as a fugitive;
• and which by controlling the great common,
closes the highway by which commerce moves to
and from the enemy’s shores.”
Mahan’s Theory of Sea Power
• Characteristics of a maritime power
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Geographic position
Physical conformation
Extent of territory
Number of population
National character
Character of the government
Mahan’s Theory of Sea Power
• Production
• Shipping
• Colonies
Mahan’s Theory of Sea Power
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Battleships and Merchantmen
Sea Lines of Communication
Overseas Bases
Concentration of Forces
Decisive Battle
Mahan’s Theory of Sea Power
• Battleships and Merchantmen
• Sea Lines of Communication
• Overseas Bases
• Concentration of Forces
• Decisive Battle
Mahan’s Theory of Sea Power
1. Command of the Sea through naval
superiority.
2. That combination of maritime commerce,
overseas possessions, and privileged
access to foreign markets that produces
national wealth and greatness.
Principles of Naval Warfare
• Central Position
• Interior Lines
• Secure SLOCs
Additional Principles of Naval
Warfare
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Concentration of Forces: “Never divide the fleet”
Offensive Operations Superior to Defensive
Overseas Bases
Decisive Battle (vice Commerce Raiding)
Blockade After Command of the Sea Achieved
Additional Principles of Naval Warfare
•Concentration of Forces: “Never divide the fleet”
•Offensive Operations Superior to Defensive
•Overseas Bases
•Decisive Battle (vice Commerce Raiding)
•Blockade After Command of the Sea Achieved
Alfred Thayer Mahan Mahan
– Build on or react to previous theorists?
• Jomini?
• Clausewitz?
Mahan the Jominian
• Scientific, Prescriptive
• Enduring Principles
– Objective - Enemy
Battle Fleet
– Concentrate Forces at
the Decisive Point
– Decisive Battle
– Lines of
Communication
Alfred Thayer Mahan Mahan
• Affect on later theorists and practitioners of
war?
Mahan’s Influence
• Read widely in both
Europe and Japan
• Shipbuilding and
Expansion
• Spanish-American
War
• Panama Canal
• Wrote 20 books and
over 137 articles
• Read widely in both
Europe and Japan
Mackinder’s Heartland (1904)
Once said of Mahan…
“... the peculiar psychology of the Navy Department,
which frequently seemed to retire from the realm of logic
into a dim religious world in which Neptune was God,
Mahan his prophet, and the United States Navy the only true
church.”
- Henry L. Stimson
Alfred Thayer Mahan
• What are his ideas about
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The fundamentals of strategy
Civil-military relations
The importance of material and moral factors
The ability of individuals to affect events
Relationship between offense and defense
The importance of chance in war
Critique of Mahan
• Use of history
• Over-emphasis on sea power
• Necessary v sufficient cause
Mahan’s Relevance Today?
• Merchant Marine
• SLOCs, Overseas
Bases
• Concentration,
Decisive Battle
• Sea Power and
Great Power
• Sea Power and
National Strategy
Sir Julian Corbett
• Background
– Briton
– Works
– Purpose
Sir Julian Corbett
• The Fundamental Questions of Military Theorists
– Influence of historical setting?
– Use of historical analysis?
– What are his ideas?
– Build on or react to previous theorists?
– Affect on later theorists and practitioners of
war?
Sir Julian Corbett
• Influence of historical setting?
Sir Julian Corbett
• Use of historical analysis?
The British Way In Maritime
Warfare
• Limited, not absolute war
Requirements for Limited War
• Object must be limited in area
• Of limited political importance
• Remote or capable of being isolated:
Limited Wars
• Maritime Nations
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Eighteenth Century Wars of England
Crimean War (1854-1856)
Spanish-American War (1898)
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
Sir Julian Corbett
• What are his ideas about?
– The fundamentals of strategy
What a maritime strategy must do
• Support or obstruct diplomacy
• Protect or destroy commerce
• Further or hinder military operations ashore
Corbett’s Trinity
• Support diplomacy
• Protect or destroy commerce
• Support or defeat shore operations
Sir Julian Corbett
• What are his ideas about?
– Civil-military relations
Sir Julian Corbett
• What are his ideas about?
– The importance of material and moral factors
Sir Julian Corbett
• What are his ideas about?
– The ability of individuals to affect events
Sir Julian Corbett
• What are his ideas about ?
– Relationship between offense and defense
Sir Julian Corbett
• What are his ideas about?
– The importance of chance in war
Sir Julian Corbett
• What are his ideas about?
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The fundamentals of strategy
Civil-military relations
The importance of material and moral factors
The ability of individuals to affect events
Relationship between offense and defense
The importance of chance in war
Principles: Clausewitz
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All wars tend to the absolute
The object is enemy's army
Only the offensive matters
Napoleon, master of war
Cult of the decisive battle
Blue Water School
• Fleet engagements decisive
• Command of the seas absolute
• Battleships the key to victory
Real Command Of The
Sea
SLOCs, SLOCs, and SLOCs
The Navy’s Projectile: The Army
Small Forces,
Strategically Targeted
Sir Julian Corbett
• Build on or react to previous theorists?
Sir Julian Corbett
• Affect on later theorists and practitioners of
war?
Critique of Corbett
• Applicability
• Utility
Summary: Corbett
• Questions?
Issues for Consideration
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Jomini and Mahan
Concept of sea power
Guerre d’escadre
Navies vice Armies
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Six Critical Elements
Corbett’s Basic Premise
Balanced Fleet Concept
Land vice Naval Warfare
Guerre de Course
Issues for Consideration
• Jomini
• Mahan
Concept of Sea Power
• Employment of the fleet
• Forward…From the Sea
Guerre d’escadre
• Large fleet of capital ships?
Navies versus Armies
Six Critical elements
Characteristics of a Maritime Power
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Geographic Position
Physical Conformation
Extent of Territory
Number of Population
National Character
Character of the Government
Corbett
• Basic Premise
• Concept of the balanced fleet
• Fundamental difference between
– Land Warfare
– Naval Warfare
Summary
Mahan and Corbett
Points to remember:
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Mahan’s beliefs
Corbett and sea control
FFS and Corbett and Mahan
Mahan’s Six General Conditions
Finally
• The other line always moves faster.
• A Smith and Wesson beats four aces.