The Influence of Sea Power upon History The Influence of Sea Power Upon History : 1660 - 1783 ( ISBN 0 - 486 - 25509 - 3 ) is a history of naval warfare written in 1890 by Alfred Thayer Mahan . It details the role of sea power during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries , and discusses the various factors needed to support and achieve sea power , with emphasis on having the largest and most powerful fleet . Scholars consider it the single most influential book in naval strategy . Its policies were quickly adopted by most major navies , ultimately causing the World War I naval arms race . Overview . Mahan formulated his concept of sea power while reading a history book in Lima , Peru . The book was published by Mahan while President of the US Naval War College , and was a culmination of his ideas regarding naval warfare . Mahan began the book with an examination of what factors lead to a supremacy of the seas , especially how Britain was able to rise to its near dominance . He identifies such features as geography , population , and government , and expands the definition of sea power as comprising a strong navy and commercial fleet . Mahan also promotes the belief that any army would succumb to a strong naval blockade . Recently scholars have called attention to his role as significant in the growth of American overseas possessions , the rise of the new American navy , and the adoption of the strategic principles upon which it operated . The book then goes on to describe a series of European and American wars and how naval power was used in each . Impact on naval thought . Timeliness contributed no small part to the widespread acceptance and resultant influence of Mahan ' s views . Although his history was relatively thin ( he relied on secondary sources ) , the vigorous style and clear theory won widespread acceptance of navalists across the world . Sea power supported the new colonialism which was asserting itself in Africa and Asia . Given the very rapid technological changes underway in propulsion ( from coal to oil , from reciprocating engines to steam turbines ) , ordnance ( with better fire directors , and new high explosive s ) and armor ( hardened steel ) , the emergence of new craft such as destroyers and submarines , and the development of radio , Mahan ' s emphasis on the capital ship and the command of the sea came at an opportune moment . Mahan ' s name became a household word in the German navy , as Kaiser William II ordered his officers to read Mahan , and Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz ( 1849 – 1930 ) used Mahan ' s reputation to finance a powerful surface fleet . His ideas decisively shaped Japanese naval doctrine , especially in the fleet actions of World War II . Between 1890 and 1915 , Mahan and British admiral Jackie Fisher ( 1841 – 1920 ) faced the problem of how to dominate home waters and distant seas with naval forces not strong enough to do both . Mahan argued for a universal principle of concentration of powerful ships in home waters and minimized strength in distant seas , while Fisher reversed Mahan by utilizing technological change to propose submarines for defense of home waters and mobile battle cruiser s for protection of distant imperial interests . The French at first adopted Mahan ' s theories . French naval doctrine in 1914 was dominated by Mahan ' s theory of sea power and therefore geared toward winning decisive battles and gaining mastery of the seas . But the course of World War I changed ideas about the place of the navy , as the refusal of the German fleet to engage in a decisive battle , the Dardanelles expedition of 1915 , the development of submarine warfare , and the organization of convoys all showed the navy ' s new role in combined operations with the army . The navy ' s part in securing victory was not fully understood by French public opinion in 1918 , but a synthesis of old and new ideas arose from the lessons of the war , especially by admiral Raoul Castex ( 1878 – 1968 ) , from 1927 to 1935 , who synthesized in his five - volume " Théories Stratégiques " the classical and materialist schools of naval theory . He reversed Mahan ' s theory that command of the sea precedes maritime communications and foresaw the enlarged roles of aircraft and submarines in naval warfare . Castex enlarged strategic theory to include nonmilitary factors ( policy , geography , coalitions , public opinion , and constraints ) and internal factors ( economy of force , offense and defense , communications , operational plans , morale , and command ) to conceive a general strategy to attain final victory . Although Mahan ' s influence on foreign powers has been generally recognized , only rather recently have scholars called attention to his role as significant in the growth of American overseas possessions , the rise of the new American navy , and the adoption of the strategic principles upon which it operated . He died in Washington a few months after the outbreak of World War I .