Mahan stresses the importance of the individual in shaping history, and extols the traditional values of loyalty, courage, and service to the state. The Life of Nelson: The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain (2 vols., 1897) supplemented the series. The lectures became his sea-power studies: The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783 (1890) The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812 (2 vols., 1892) and Sea Power in Relation to the War of 1812 (2 vols., 1905). Mahan plunged into the library and wrote lectures that drew heavily on standard classics and the ideas of Henri Jomini. There, in 1887, he met and befriended Theodore Roosevelt, then a visiting lecturer, who would later become president of the United States. Upon completion of this research period, he was to succeed Luce as President of the Naval War College from June 22, 1886, to January 12, 1889, and again from July 22, 1892, to May 10, 1893. For his first year on the faculty, he remained at his home in New York City researching and writing his lectures. Luce pointed Mahan in the direction of writing his future studies on the influence of sea power. Before entering on his duties, College President Rear Admiral Stephen B. In 1885, he was appointed as a lecturer in naval history and tactics at the Naval War College. On the other hand, the books he wrote ashore made him arguably the most influential naval historian of the period.Ĭareer Naval War College and writings He had an affection for old square-rigged vessels and did not like the smoky, noisy steamships of his time he tried to avoid active sea duty. File:ATMahan.pngĭespite his success in the Navy, his skills in actual command of a ship were not exemplary, and a number of vessels under his command were involved in collisions, with both moving and stationary objects.

As commander of the USS Wachusett he was stationed at Callao, Peru, protecting American interests during the final stages of the War of the Pacific. In 1865, he was promoted to lieutenant commander, and then to commander (1872), and captain (1885). He then studied at Columbia for two years where he was a member of the Philolexian Society debating club and then, against his parents' wishes, transferred to the Naval Academy, where he graduated second in his class in 1859.Ĭommissioned as a lieutenant in 1861, Mahan served the Union in the American Civil War as an officer on USS Worcester, Congress, Pocahontas, and James Adger and as an instructor at the Naval Academy. He attended Saint James School, an Episcopal college preparatory academy in western Maryland. His middle name, Thayer, honors 'the father of West Point', Sylvanus Thayer. Mahan was born on September 27, 1840, in West Point, New York to Dennis Hart Mahan (a professor at the United States Military Academy) and Mary Helena Mahan. Several ships have been named as the USS Mahan, including the lead vessel of a class of destroyers. The concept had an enormous influence in shaping the strategic thought of navies across the world, especially in the United States, Germany, Japan and Britain, ultimately causing a European naval arms race in the 1890s, which included the United States. Alfred Thayer Mahan (Septem– December 1, 1914) was a United States Navy flag officer, geostrategist, and historian, who has been called 'the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century.' His concept of 'sea power' was based on the idea that countries with greater naval power will have greater worldwide impact it was most famously presented in The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783 (1890).

Alfred thayer mahan 1897