Alfred Thayer Mahan: Difference between revisions

| place of burialplaceofburial= Quogue Cemetery<br>[[Quogue, New York]]

| allegiance = {{Flag|United States|name=[[United States of America|1891|size=23px}}]]

* {{Flagdeco|United States|1863}} [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]

|branch = {{Flag|[[United States Navy|1891|size=23px}}]]

* {{Flagdeco|United States Navy|1863|size=23px}} [[Union Navy]]

'''Alfred Thayer Mahan''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ə|ˈ|h|æ|n}}; September 27, 1840 – December 1, 1914) was a [[United States Navy|United States naval officer]] and [[historian]], whom [[John Keegan]] called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century."<ref>[[John Keegan|Keegan, John]]. ''The American Civil War'' Knopf, 2009, 272.</ref> His book ''[[The Influence of Sea Power upon History|The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783]]'' (1890) won immediate recognition, especially in Europe, and with its successor, ''The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812'' (1892), made him world-famous and perhaps the most influential American author of the nineteenth century.<ref>Suzanne Geisler, ''God and Sea Power: The Influence of Religion on Alfred Thayer Mahan'' (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2015), 1.</ref>

Mahan was born on September 27, 1840, at [[West Point, New York]], to [[Dennis Hart Mahan]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mahan, Alfred Thayer |url=httphttps://public2www.nhhcawshistory.localnavy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/research-guides/z-files/zb-files/zb-files-m/mahan-alfred.html |access-date=2023-07-13 |website=public2.nhhcaws.localNHHC |language=en-US}}</ref> a professor at the [[United States Military Academy]] and the foremost American expert on fortifications, and Mary Helena Okill Mahan (1815–1893), daughter of John Okill and Mary Jay, daughter of Sir [[James Jay]]. Mahan's middle name honors "the father of West Point", [[Sylvanus Thayer]]. Mahan attended [[St. James School, Maryland|Saint James School]], an Episcopal college preparatory academy in western Maryland. He then studied at [[Columbia University|Columbia]] for two years, where he was a member of the [[Philolexian Society]] debating club.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alfred Thayer Mahan |url=http://www.c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/alfred_thayer_mahan.html |access-date=2022-08-10 |website=www.c250.columbia.edu}}</ref> Against the better judgment of his father, Mahan then entered the [[United States Naval Academy|U.S. Naval Academy]], where he graduated second in his class in 1859.<ref>Geissler, 24–26.</ref>

While in actual command of a ship, his skills were not exemplary; and a number of vessels under his command were involved in collisions with both moving and [[dry dock|stationary]] objects. He had an affection forpreferred old square-rigged vessels rather than the smoky, noisy steamships of his own day; and he tried to avoid active sea duty.<ref name="makers445">{{Cite book | last = Paret | first = Peter | title = Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age | url = https://archive.org/details/makersmodernstra00pare | url-access = limited | publisher = Princeton University Press | year = 1986 | location = Princeton, New Jersey | page = [https://archive.org/details/makersmodernstra00pare/page/n454 445]}}</ref>

Mahan's lectures, based on secondary sources and the military theories of [[Antoine-Henri Jomini]], became his sea-power studies: ''The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783'' (1890); ''The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812'' (2 vols., 1892); ''Sea Power in Relation to the War of 1812'' (2 vols., 1905), and ''The Life of Nelson: The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain'' (2 vols., 1897). Mahan stressed the importance of the individual in shaping history and extolled the traditional values of loyalty, courage, and service to the state. Mahan sought to resurrect [[Horatio Nelson]] as a national hero in Britain and used his biography as a platform for expressing his views on naval strategy and tactics. Mahan was criticized for so strongly condemning Nelson's love affair with Lady [[Emma Hamilton]], but it remained the standard biography until the appearance of [[Carola Oman]]'s ''Nelson'', 50 years later.<ref>ODNB entry for Carola Oman: [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/71516 Retrieved 8 July 2012.] {{subscription required}}</ref>

Mahan struck up a friendship with pioneering British naval historian Sir [[John Knox Laughton]], the pair maintaining the relationship through correspondence and visits when Mahan was in London. Mahan was later described as a "disciple" of Laughton, but the two were at pains to distinguish between each other's line of work. Laughton saw Mahan as a theorist while Mahan called Laughton "the historian".<ref>{{cite web|author=Knight, Roger|date=2000|title=The Foundations of Naval History: John Knox Laughton, the Royal Navy and the Historical Profession, Review of book by Professor Andrew Lambert|location=London|publisher=Institute for Historical Research|url=http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/knight.html|access-date=April 3, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930073913/http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/paper/knight.html|archive-date=September 30, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> Mahan worked closely with [[William McCarty Little]], another critical figure in the early history of the Naval War College. A principal developer of wargaming in the United States Navy, Mahan credited Little for assisting him with preparing maps and charts for his lectures and first book.{{cncitation needed|date=June 2023}}

However, the [[naval warfare of World War I]] proved completely different than German planners, influenced by Mahan, had anticipated because the Royal Navy avoided open battle and focused on [[blockadeBlockade of Germany (1914–1919)|blockading Germany]]. As a result, after the [[Battle of Heligoland Bight (1914)|Battles of Heligoland Bight]] and [[Battle of Dogger Bank (1915)|Dogger Bank]], Admiral [[Hugo von Pohl]] kept most of Germany's surface fleet at its [[North Sea]] bases. In 1916, his successor, [[Reinhard Scheer]], tried to lure the Grand Fleet into a Mahanian decisive battle at the [[Battle of Jutland]], but the engagement ended in a strategic defeat.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Naval Warfare {{!}} International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1) |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/Naval_War |access-date=2022-07-20 |website=encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net}}</ref> Finally as the German army neared defeat in the [[Hundred Days Offensive]], the German Navy's high command, without informing the government, tried to mobilize the fleet for a decisive engagement with the Royal Navy. The sailors then rebelled in the [[Kiel mutiny]], instigating the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919]], which toppled the [[Hohenzollern monarchy]].<ref>{{Cite andweb forced|last=Jones the|first=Mark new|date=19 governmentMay to2016 sue|editor-last=Daniel for|editor-first=Ute peace.<ref>{{Cite|editor2-last=Gatrell web|editor2-first=Peter |titleeditor3-last=WorldJanz War|editor3-first=Oliver I|editor4-last=Jones –|editor4-first=Heather End|editor5-last=Keene of|editor5-first=Jennifer the|editor6-last=Kramer German|editor6-first=Alan war|editor7-last=Nasson and|editor7-first=Bill the|title=Kiel ArmisticeMutiny |url=https://www.britannicaencyclopedia.com/event/World1914-War1918-Ionline.net/The-end-of-the-German-wararticle/kiel_mutiny |access-date=2022-07-2029 April 2024 |website=www1914–1918-online.britannica.com International Encyclopedia of the First World War |languagepublisher=enFreie Universität Berlin}}</ref>

* Mahan Road is an entrance to the former [[Naval Ordnance Laboratory]] in [[White Oak, MD|White Oak]], [[Silver Spring, MD|Silver Spring]], [[Maryland]]. The facility is now the headquarters of the [[Food and Drug Administration]].

Alfred Thayer Mahan married Ellen Lyle Evans in June 1872.; Theythey had two daughters and one son.

==Awards and Honors==

[[Category:Union19th-century NavyAmerican officersEpiscopalians]]

[[Category:Members of the American navalAcademy of Arts and historiansLetters]]

[[Category:AmericanMilitary male non-fiction writerstheorists]]

[[Category:SaintNaval James School (Maryland) alumnihistory]]

[[Category:UnitedNaval States NavalWar AcademyCollege alumnifaculty]]

[[Category:NavalSaint WarJames CollegeSchool faculty(Maryland) alumni]]

[[Category:AmericanUnion militaryNavy writersofficers]]

[[Category:MilitaryUnited theoristsStates Naval Academy alumni]]

[[Category:NavalUnited historyStates Navy rear admirals (upper half)]]

[[Category:19th-centuryMembers of the American EpiscopaliansPhilosophical Society]]