Yvonne DePalma
In The Influence of Sea Power Upon History 1660-1783, Captain Mahan argues that nations had dominated or had been dominated throughout history in direct relation to the strength of their navies and merchant marines:
The profound influence of sea commerce upon the wealth and strength of countries was clearly seen long before the true principles which governed its growth and prosperity were detected. To secure to one's own people a disproportionate share of such benefits, every effort was made to exclude others, either by peaceful legislative methods... or, when these failed, by direct violence. The clash of interests...led to wars....wars arising from other causes have been greatly modified...by the control of the sea. Therefore the history of sea power, while embracing in its broad sweep all that tends to make a people great upon the sea or by the sea, is largely a military history.1
In The Influence of Sea Power Upon History 1660-1783, Captain Mahan argues that nations had dominated or had been dominated throughout history in direct relation to the strength of their navies and merchant marines:
The profound influence of sea commerce upon the wealth and strength of countries was clearly seen long before the true principles which governed its growth and prosperity were detected. To secure to one's own people a disproportionate share of such benefits, every effort was made to exclude others, either by peaceful legislative methods... or, when these failed, by direct violence. The clash of interests...led to wars....wars arising from other causes have been greatly modified...by the control of the sea. Therefore the history of sea power, while embracing in its broad sweep all that tends to make a people great upon the sea or by the sea, is largely a military history.1