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Admin moved page How did Charles Mahan's "The Influence of Sea Power" shape American Foreign Policy? to How did Charles Mahan's "The Influence of Sea Power" shape American Foreign Policy
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In 1890, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, a lecturer in naval history and the president of the United States Naval War College, published [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486255093/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0486255093&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=6af39f430c29f3dbe72f7f98764f5893 The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783], a revolutionary analysis of the importance of naval power as a factor in the rise of the British Empire. Two years later, he completed a supplementary volume, [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/198760749X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=198760749X&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=0845bc003071ddd9422e048f7a0259f6 The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812].
Mahan argued that British control of the seas, combined with a corresponding decline in the naval strength of its major European rivals, paved the way for Great Britain’s emergence as the world’s dominant military, political, and economic power. Mahan and some leading American politicians believed that these lessons could be applied to U.S. foreign policy, particularly in the quest to expand U.S. markets overseas.
====Conclusion====
In the 1890s, Mahan’s ideas resonated with leading politicians, including Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, and Secretary of the Navy Herbert Tracy. After the outbreak of hostilities with Spain in May 1898, President William McKinley finally secured the annexation of Hawaii by means of joint resolution of Congress. Following the successful conclusion of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the United States gained control of territories that could serve as the coaling stations and naval bases that Mahan had discussed, such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. Five years later, the United States obtained a perpetual lease for a naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
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* Republished from [https://history.state.gov/| Office of the Historian, United States Department of State]
* Article: [https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/mahan| Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power upon History: Securing International Markets in the 1890s]
[[Category:US State Department]] [[Category:Wikis]][[Category:United States History]] [[Category:19th Century History]] [[Category:Political History]] [[Category:Diplomatic History]]
