The Influence of Seapower Upon History

Rating:
Summary: This is a classic work.
Review: Mahan was a lecturer at the U.S. Naval academy at the end of the nineteenth century. His books was on the compulsory reading list at the U.S. Naval academy for many, many years. It remains a very fine text. Although another reviewer has indicated that this work is obsolete, the principles set forth, and the observations made by Mahan have reflect great insight. It is a superb text, recent issues being thoughtfully illustrated as well. Cross Reference: Frederick Thomas Jane, one of Mahan's contemporaries, who had an encyclopaedic knowledge of maritime affairs.

Rating:
Summary: Anaethema-The Worst Possible Thing
Review: The great historian Rex Sanders once said that this book was highly influential to the onset of the imperialistic mindset in American society in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Upon reading this so-called historical document, I found it to be far more fiction than fact, far more exploitative than informative, and on the whole written solely for the purpose of propaganda with complete disregard for the actual influence of the ideas it claimed to represent.

Rating:
Summary: A book as important as Marx's Capital
Review: The work of Admiral Mahon is now largely forgotten. With the passing of empires his doctrines became obsolete. He discussed the history of the British Empire in its struggles with France prior to the napoleonic period. He was of the view that the possession of a large fleet with secure bases was the key to retaining a large empire. An empire in turn was the key to the wealth of nations.

His writing contributed to the development of the German navy at the beginning of the century and indirectly to the tensions which led to the first world war. The history of Japan between the wars was characterised by a whole hearted adoption of his ideas.

An examination of his work is a key to understanding much of what happened in the twentieth century.