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Alfred Thayer Mahan Biography

Alfred Thayer Mahan

Alfred Thayer Mahan [məˈhæn] (September 27, 1840 – December 1, 1914) was a United States naval officer and historian, whom John Keegan called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His book The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783 (1890) won immediate recognition, especially in Europe, and with its successor, The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812 (1892), made him world-famous and perhaps the most influential American author of the nineteenth century.

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Alfred Thayer Mahan Quotes

War, once declared, must be waged offensively, aggressively. The enemy must not be fended off; but smitten down. You may then spare him every exaction, relinquish every gain, but „til then he must be struck incessantly and remorselessly.

Down, Enemy, Exaction, Military, Waged, War

The study of history lies at the foundation of all sound military conclusions and practice.

Foundation, History, Lies, Lying, Military, Practice

Those far distant, storm-beaten ships, upon which the Grand Army never looked, stood between it and the dominion of the world.

Army, Distant, Military, Storm, World

Organized force alone enables the quiet and the weak to go about their business and to sleep securely in their beds, safe from the violent without or within.

Bed, Enables, Quiet, Sea Power, Securely, Sleep

The surer of himself an admiral is, the finer the tactical development of his fleet, the better his captains, the more reluctant must he necessarily be to enter into a melee with equal forces, in which all these advantages will be thrown away, chance reign supreme, and his fleet be place on terms of equality with an assemblage of ships which have never before acted together.

Development, Fleet, Place, Sea Power, Terms, Together

Whether they will or not, Americans must now begin to look outward. The growing production of the country demands it.

Americans, Country, Growing, Looks, Outward

Force is never more operative than when it is known to exist but is not brandished.

Brandished, Force, Known, Power

Having therefore no foreign establishments, either colonial or military, the ships of war of the United States, in war, will be like land birds, unable to fly far from their own shores. To provide resting places for them, where they can coal and repair, would be one of the first duties of a government proposing to itself the development of the power of the nation at sea.

Government, Land, Military, Places, Power, War

There has been a constant struggle on the part of the military element to keep the end- fighting, or readiness to fight-superior to mere administrative considerations. The military man, having to do the fighting, considers that the chief necessity; the administrator equally naturally tends to think the smooth running of the machine the most admirable quality.

Element, Having, Military, Running, Struggle

Free supplies and open retreat are two essentials to the safety of an army or a fleet.

Army, Essentials, Free, Military, Retreat, Two