Mahan, << muh HAN, >> Alfred Thayer (1840-1914), an American admiral, wrote many books on naval strategy and the influence of sea power on international affairs. His writings had an important effect on how nations viewed sea power in the 20 years before World War I (1914-1918). His great work, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783 (1890), influenced President Theodore Roosevelt and others who supported colonial expansion overseas. Mahan argued in other writings for a strong navy, naval bases in Latin America and Asia, and an expanded merchant fleet. His ideas helped the United States develop as a world power and influenced naval experts in Great Britain and Germany.
Mahan thought that “Americans must now begin to look outward” to maintain the influence of the United States in world affairs. He believed a powerful navy was needed to achieve that end. Without overseas bases, he said, American ships in wartime “will be like land birds, unable to fly far from their own shores.”
Mahan was born at West Point, New York, on Sept. 27, 1840. He studied at Columbia University and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1859. During the Civil War (1861-1865), he served on blockade duty in the South Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. His first book, The Gulf and Inland Waters (1883), was a naval history of the war.
Mahan lectured at the Naval War College in 1886. These speeches later became The Influence of Sea Power upon History. He headed the War College from 1886 to 1889 and again in 1892 and 1893. He retired in 1896 as as rear admiral. But in 1898, he was recalled to serve on the Naval War Board during the Spanish-American War. His books include The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793-1812 (1892); Lessons of the War with Spain (1899); and his autobiography, From Sail to Steam (1907). Mahan died on Dec. 1, 1914.
