Differing Views On Imperialism

Views on Imperialism: Alfred T Mahan

Mahan wrote that influence in world affairs requires underlying military readiness, like the proverbial iron hand under the velvet glove. To provide this, three things are needful: First, protection of the [nation’s] chief harbors by fortifications and coast-defence ships, which gives defensive strength . . . Secondly, naval force, the arm of offensive power, which alone enables a country to extend its influence outward. Thirdly, it should be an inviolable [unbreakable] resolution of our national policy, that no foreign state should henceforth acquire a coaling position [station] within three thousand miles of San Francisco . . . For fuel is the life of modern naval war; it is the food of the ship; without it the modern monsters of the deep die.

—Alfred Thayer Mahan, “The United States Looking Outward,” Atlantic Monthly, 1890