Alfred Thayer Mahan

The Influence of Sea Power on History was one of the most influential books of its day. Written by Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan of the United States Navy, this book shaped the understanding of the navy’s place in the world of global politics and left a lasting impression on Theodore Roosevelt, who would serve as Assistant Secretary of the Navy before his presidency and was the driving force behind the Great White Fleet project.

Alfred Thayer Mahan was born on September 27^th, 1840, and lived there for twelve years before being sent to a boarding school in Maryland. He later attended Columbia College before moving on to the Naval Academy due to the influence of Jefferson Davis. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1859 he became a Lieutenant during the American Civil War and was granted the rank of Captain in 1885. During his military career he would command American military operations around the Philippine Islands during the Spanish-American War, serve in the American Civil War, and visited Europe and Asia.

When he wasn’t actively serving in the Navy, Admiral Mahan wrote books. His most famous would be The Influence of Sea Power on History. In this book he wrote about how control of a large navy allowed a nation to protect its trade overseas, project power outside of its geographic region, and served to enrich the nation. This book served a key role in Roosevelt’s arguments for the establishment of the Great White Fleet which was undertaken during the Roosevelt presidency. Other literary works penned by Mahan are The Neptune Factor, various biographic materials, and Naval Education for Officers and Men which was written during his time serving as a member for the Board of Examiners of the Naval Academy which he achieved in 1878.

Roosevelt shared a common affinity for the Navy with Admiral Mahan. Both men were members of a United States foreign policy group commonly known as the “naval expansionists” which argued for the United States to adopt a larger fleet and become an international player. Roosevelt had also written books on the navy himself, notably The Naval War of 1812 written while attending Harvard but published while attending Columbia. According to the Naval History and Heritage Command,from the period of 1884 to his death in 1914, Mahan would continue to work on many literary pieces, being awarded the Chesney Gold Medal in 1900 and was made President of the American Historical Society in 1902. Alfred Thayer Mahan was an influential figure in the United States Navy, whose award-winning literary works arguably surpassed his military prestige. The books he wrote would complete the transformation of the United States from middle to Great Power in the world and would continue to influence American and foreign naval strategy in the years to come.

Danby, Nicholas J. “The Roots of Roosevelt’s Navalism.” U.S. Naval Institute, 15 Mar. 2022, www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2021/february/roots-roosevelts-navalism.

“Mahan, Alfred Thayer.” Alfred Thayer Mahan, Naval History and Heritage Command, 30 Jan. 2020, www.history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/z-files/zb-files/zb-files-m/mahan-alfred.html.

Entry contributed by Isaac Baker – Theodore Roosevelt Center Student Employee