Page "Alfred Thayer Mahan" Paragraph 7

Mahan plunged into the library and wrote lectures that drew heavily on standard classics and the ideas of work of Henri Jomini.

The lectures became his sea-power studies: The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660 – 1783 ( 1890 ); The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793 – 1812 ( 2 vols., 1892 ); and Sea Power in Relation to the War of 1812 ( 2 vols., 1905 ).

The Life of Nelson: The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain ( 2 vols., 1897 ) supplemented the series.

Mahan stresses the importance of the individual in shaping history, and extols the traditional values of loyalty, courage, and service to the state.

Mahan sought to resurrect Horatio Nelson as a national hero in Britain and used the book as a platform for expressing his views on naval strategy and tactics.

Criticisms of the work focused on Mahan's handling of Nelson's love affair with Lady Emma Hamilton, but it remained the standard biography until the appearance of Carola Oman's Nelson fifty years later.

In addition to these works, Mahan wrote more than a hundred articles on international politics and related topics, which were closely read by policy makers.