Geopolitical Thinkers: Alfred Thayer Mahan
Born in 1840 on the campus of West Point, where his father was an instructor, Alfred Thayer Mahan graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1859 and served in the Union Navy during the American Civil War. In 1884, he joined the faculty of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, later becoming President of the War College.
He gained international fame and renown with the publication in 1890 of The Influence of Sea Power Upon History 1660-1783, wherein he examined historically the importance of maritime power in its broadest sense to the global balance of power, and identified the elements of sea power that included geographical position and extent of territory. Mahan wrote 19 more books and hundreds of articles on historical, biographical, and geopolitical subjects.
His most important geopolitical works were The Problem of Asia (1900), which predicted the geopolitical alignment of the Cold War and envisioned the rise of China as a world power, and The Interest of America in International Conditions (1910), which explained the importance of the European balance of power to U.S. security.
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Mahan was America’s most important public intellectual, and his geopolitical analysis remains relevant to our 21st century world. He died in 1914, after having attained the rank of Admiral on the retired list.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
The Influence of Sea Power Upon History 1660-1783 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1890).
The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793-1812 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1892).
“The United States Looking Outward,” Atlantic Monthly (December 1890), reprinted in The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future (1897).
“Hawaii and Our Future Sea Power,” The Forum (March 1893), reprinted in The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future (1897).
“The Isthmus and Sea Power,” Atlantic Monthly (October 1893), reprinted in The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future (1897).
“Possibilities of an Anglo-American Reunion,” North American Review (November 1894), reprinted in The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future (1897).
“The Future in Relation to American Naval Power,” Harper’s Monthly (October 1895), reprinted in The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future (1897).
“A Twentieth Century Outlook,” Harper’s Monthly (September 1897), reprinted in The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future (1897).
“Strategic Features of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico,” Harper’s Monthly (October 1897), reprinted in The Interest of America in Sea Power Present and Future (1897).
“The Relation of the United States to Their New Dependencies,” Engineering Magazine (January 1899), reprinted in The Lessons of War with Spain and Other Articles (1899).
“The Philippines and the Future,” The Independent (March 22, 1900).
The Problem of Asia and Its Effects Upon International Policies (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1900).
Retrospect and Prospect: studies in International Relations, Naval and Political (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1902).
“The Monroe Doctrine,” National Review (February 1903).
“Germany’s Naval Ambition,” Collier’s Weekly (April 24, 1909).
The Interest of America in International Conditions (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1910).
Naval Strategy, Compared and contrasted with the Principles of military Operations on Land (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1911).
Armaments and Arbitration, or the Place of Force in the International Relations of States (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1912).
--Francis P. Sempa