Mahan, Alfred Thayer

Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840 to 1914) was a US Navy officer and historian whose 1890 work, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, argued that command of the sea, won by a concentrated battle fleet, was decisive for national greatness and prosperity. His emphasis on the decisive fleet engagement and on overseas bases shaped the naval buildups of the great powers before 1914. He is paired and contrasted with Julian Corbett, who stressed sea control as a means to joint and limited ends.