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."

Quotes

• The study of history lies at the foundation of all sound military conclusions and practice.
  • The Influence of Sea Power upon History.[1]

• The history of Sea Power is largely, though by no means solely, a narrative of contests between nations, of mutual rivalries, of violence frequently culminating in war.
  • The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 (Boston, MA: Little Brown, 1890), 1.

• It may be urged that, with the extensive sea−coast of the United States, a blockade of the whole line cannot be effectively kept up. No one will more readily concede this than officers who remember how the blockade of the Southern coast alone was maintained.
  • The Influence of Sea Power upon History.

• I am frankly an imperialist
  • From Sail to Steam: Recollections of Naval Life (New York, NY: Harper, 1907), 324.