Positions, involve, now as always, dangerous germs of quarrel, against which

With great military or commercial importance, as is the case with most of these Unsettled political conditions, such as exist in Haiti, Central America,Īnd many of the Pacific islands, especially the Hawaiian group, when combined That the world has passed into a period of assured peace outside the limits Over the world German commercial and colonial push is coming into collision May bring, and, even under our present contracted policy, have already brought On guard against their continental rivals they cherish also aspirations forĬommercial extension, for colonies, and for influence in distant regions, which But the great seaboard powers there do not only stand State of Europe, whence, if disturbances arise, the effect upon us may be but It is beside our purpose to dwell upon the internal In our own policy there is a restlessness in the world at large which is deeply Power to which Great Britain owes her wealth and greatness. Is, the carrying trade the three together constituting that chain of maritime Logically the recognition of the link that joins the products and the markets,-that Markets, and the relation to them of our own immense powers of production, implies Only, to seek the welfare of the country. Of this changing attitude is the turning of the eyes outward, instead of inward Will cleave a channel by which to reach them. Opportunities for gain abroad are understood, the course of American enterprise Of all bias for or against protection, it is safe to predict that, when the The American people is essentially alien to such a sluggish attitude. Within, the home market is secured but outside,īeyond the broad seas, there are the markets of the world, that can be enteredĪnd controlled only by a vigorous contest, to which the habit of trusting to Ironclad that has heavy armor, but an inferior engine and no guns mighty forĭefense, weak for offense. In their mutual relations, these industries resemble the activities of a modem Has assumed the force of a tradition, and is clothed in the mail of conservatism. Therefore, American industries have been thus protected, until the practice The prospect of advantage in another quarter has been overlooke. Or the eye is exclusively fixed in one direction, that the danger of loss or The inevitable consequence has followed, as in all cases when the mind Upon their own domain, and rather to demand increasingly rigorous measures ofĮxclusion than to acquiesce in any loosening of the chain that binds the consumer Regard with hostility any step favoring the intrusion of the foreign producer Look at the various economical measures proposed from this point of view, to The employer and the workman have alike been taught to Shaped the course of the government, has been to preserve the home market for The predominant idea, which has successfully asserted itself at the polls and With the world outside their own borders.

States Looking Outward,' Atlantic Monthly, LXVI (December, 1890),Īn approaching change in the thoughts and policy of Americans as to their relations Thus Mahan's work to a certain extent underlay the conflicts that led to the First World War. The Kaiser was the grandson of Queen Victoria Edward VII was the Kaiser's uncle, and Wilhelm despised him, gloating openly at Edward's funeral in 1910. Mahan influenced not only American strategists such as future president Theodore Roosevelt, who was strongly influenced by Mahan's work, but other international leaders as well, including Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, who set out to build “a navy second to none,” placing him in direct conflict with Great Britain. Thus Mahan's ideas formed much of the basis for American imperialism. In his thinking was the notion that a nation needed overseas possessions, orĪt least controls and assets, that would enable it to project its power intoĭistant areas.

Its position as a maritime nation to strengthen its position in the world. That the time had come for the United States to begin to look outward and use By that time his ideas were well known, and he argued widely and publicly Mahan's most famous work was The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 (1890), which became one of the most influential books on strategy and foreign policy ever written. Mahan was, naturally, widely admired among the British. National power, Mahan claimed, was sea power, which had made a small nation such as England a world power. Maritime force, including both merchant and naval fleets, had been the most enduring. Of Alexander the Great, he argued that those nations which had built a powerful Of sea power as a key to national greatness. President of the College he began writing books and articles extolling the value Was sent by the Navy to found the United States Naval War College in 1873. Alfred Thayer Mahan: The United States Looking Outwardįrom The Atlantic Magazine, December 1890

Alfred thayer mahan argued that