THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON HISTORY, 1660-1783

by Alfred Thayer Mahan


PREFACE


The definite object proposed in this work is an examination of the
general history of Europe and America with particular reference to the
effect of sea power upon the course of that history. Historians
generally have been unfamiliar with the conditions of the sea, having
as to it neither special interest nor special knowledge; and the
profound determining influence of maritime strength upon great issues
has consequently been overlooked. This is even more true of particular
occasions than of the general tendency of sea power. It is easy to say
in a general way, that the use and control of the sea is and has been
a great factor in the history of the world; it is more troublesome to
seek out and show its exact bearing at a particular juncture. Yet,
unless this be done, the acknowledgment of general importance remains
vague and unsubstantial; not resting, as it should, upon a collection
of special instances in which the precise effect has been made clear,
by an analysis of the conditions at the given moments.

A curious exemplification of this tendency to slight the bearing of
maritime power upon events may be drawn from two writers of that
English nation which more than any other has owed its greatness to the
sea. "Twice," says Arnold in his History of Rome, "has there been
witnessed the struggle of the highest individual genius against the
resources and institutions of a great nation, and in both cases the