Nevertheless, a vague feeling of contempt for the past, supposed to be obsolete, combines with natural indolence to blind men even to those permanent strategic lessons which lie close to the surface of naval history. To illustrate this concept, Mahan wrote in his The Influence of Sea Power upon History 1660-1783: In the decade before the First World War, many of the naval officers in Britain preferred a simple strategy of a decisive battle over the enemy fleet which was at the base of Mahan’s theory. This monumental work was important as it revealed Mahon’s thoughts on sea power elevated his status as America’s greatest theorist on sea power and gained him respect in other countries, especially in England. At an early age he developed a strong interest in history and began to explore the role and importance sea power played on the grand strategy of a nation and in 1890 his work The Influence of Sea Power upon History 1660-1783 was published. This essay will demonstrate that the dominant navies prior to World War I preferred the theory of Mahan to Corbett and that led to an arms race and World War I.Īlfred Thayer Mahan, the son of a professor at West Point, was born in 1840. It is reasonable to argue that these two men are the most influential thinkers and theorists in the history of sea power. Corbett (1854-1922), and the American Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914). Two of the more prominent and respected such theorists were the British naval historian and lawyer, Sir Julian S. Many historians would argue that the golden age for theorist on naval warfare occurred at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. ![]() What Role the Sea Power theories of Alfred Thayer Mahan and Julian Corbett Played in the Arms Race That Lead to World War One
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