The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783

The Influence of Sea Power Upon
History,
by A. T. Mahan

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1660-1783, by A. T. Mahan
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Title: The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783
Author: A. T. Mahan

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THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON HISTORY 1660-1783
by
A. T. MAHAN, D.C.L., LL.D.
Author of "The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution
and Empire, 1793-1812," etc.
Twelfth Edition

[Illustration]

Boston Little, Brown and Company
Copyright, 1890, by Captain A. T. Mahan.
Copyright, 1918, by Ellen Lyle Mahan.

Printed in the United States of America

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 nation
was victorious. For seventeen years Hannibal strove against Rome, for
sixteen years Napoleon strove against England; the efforts of the first
ended in Zama, those of the second in Waterloo." Sir Edward Creasy,
quoting this, adds: "One point, however, of the similitude between the
two wars has scarcely been adequately dwelt on; that is, the remarkable
parallel between the Roman general who finally defeated the great
Carthaginian, and the English general who gave the last deadly
overthrow to the French emperor. Scipio and Wellington both held for
many years commands of high importance, but distant from the main
theatres of warfare. The same country was the scene of the principal

military career of each. It was in Spain that Scipio, like Wellington,
successively encountered and overthrew nearly all the subordinate
generals of the enemy before being opposed to the chief champion and
conqueror himself. Both Scipio and Wellington restored their
countrymen's confidence in arms when shaken by a series of reverses,
and each of them closed a long and perilous war by a complete and
overwhelming defeat of the chosen leader and the chosen veterans of
the foe."
Neither of these Englishmen mentions the yet more striking
coincidence, that in both cases the mastery of the sea rested with the
victor. The Roman control of the water forced Hannibal to that long,
perilous march through Gaul in which more than half his veteran troops
wasted away; it enabled the elder Scipio, while sending his army from
the Rhone on to Spain, to intercept Hannibal's communications, to
return in person and face the invader at the Trebia. Throughout the war
the legions passed by water, unmolested and unwearied, between Spain,