How Did Mahan Build Naval Power

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Afred Thayer Mahana was a great realist, a U.S naval officer and a historian. Mahan was also a professor in the Naval War College and lectured on naval history and naval strategy. Out of his lectures grew his two major works on historical naval power, “The Influence of Sea Power Upon History,1660-1783” and “The Influence Of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire ,1793-1812”.In these works he argued that Naval power was the key for a successful international politics. To Mahan, the nation that controlled the sea held the decisive factor in modern warfare. By arguing that a strong sea power makes a strong country, Mahan was the key to a strong American foreign policy and started a worldwide naval race in the late 19th and early 20th …show more content…

Mahan’s work appeared at a time when the nations of Europe and Japan were engaged in a fiercely competitive arms race. His books were widely popular. They where quickly translated into several languages and read by political leaders and Naval professionals all around the world including Kaiser Wilhelm the second. Europe started applying Mahan`s theories to build their naval power. So much so that, Mahan`s theories were taught in war colleges in Germany and used as a justifications for naval buildup. Mahan said to the American people, “Wither they will or not, the Americans must now begin to look outwards” (Afred Thayer Mahana). To Mahan the US has to expand across the oceans in order to build its naval power. He Played a role in the U.S occupation of the Hawaiian Island applying to the theory that in order to build a strong navy, Hey have to acquire strategic island bases. To Mahan the ward is a cruel place and war is an essential element of our life that we can’t …show more content…

His effort for peace was best revealed in his working to keep America out of World War 1. In his message urging congress to declare war on Germany, president Woodrow Wilson presented the progressive understanding of foreign policy that Americans have a duty to spread across the world when he said, ”The world must be made safe for democracy, its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty” (Wilson's War Message to Congress). Throughout his address in front of the congress, Wilson appeals variously to humanity, mankind, and a “league of honor.” He would have America conform to the highest aspirations of mankind as expressed by the wishes of the people of other nations-hence the need for a league of nations and, later, a United Nations. Prior to Wilson, the shapers of American foreign policy kept “independence“ as the main principle. Wilson justified the U.S entry into war “for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free”(Wilson’s War Message to Congress). Wilson’s passion to make ”the world…safe for democracy“ assumed that his progressive democracy could be safe and salutary for any world but not only the one nation that is based on individual natural

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