American geostrategist Alfred Thayer Mahan publishes his…
1890 CE
His book wins immediate recognition, especially in Europe, and with its successor, The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812 (1892), will make him world-famous and perhaps the most influential American author of the nineteenth century.
Mahan, who serves as President of the Naval War College from 1888, believes that national greatness is inextricably associated with the sea, with its commercial use in peace and its control in war; and he uses history as a stock of examples to exemplify his theories, arguing that the education of naval officers should be based on a rigorous study of history.
Mahan's framework derives from Antoine-Henri Jomini—a French-Swiss officer who served as a most celebrated writers on the Napoleonic art of war—and emphasizes strategic locations (such as choke points, canals, and coaling stations), as well as quantifiable levels of fighting power in a fleet.
Mahan also believes that in peacetime, states should increase production and shipping capacities and acquire overseas possessions, though he stresses that the number of coal fueling stations and strategic bases should be limited to avoid draining too many resources from the mother country.
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Northern North America
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