1On February 2, 805, a strategic battle involving160,000 troops broke out in a place called Ostritz in Czechoslovakia. After this war, Napoleon completely shattered the attack of the Russian-Austrian Coalition forces, and the French empire still stood tall.

90 years later, on the podium of the Rhode Island Naval Academy in the United States, a naval strategy lecturer named alfred thayer mahan was giving a speech in Kan Kan:

"The Napoleonic Wars proved that large-scale battles are the most effective means to determine the outcome of land warfare. What about naval battles? We also need this kind of fighting to pour our military strength. Only in this way can we seize the sea power! I believe that one day, there will be a' sea Austerlitz'! "

Mahan's voice is not high, but it shocked the world. "Austerlitz on the Sea" has become the unswerving pursuit goal of Admiral of the fleet and the naval generals in military uniforms of various countries. After another 2 1 year, the first world war in human history, Mahan's wish finally came true. However, this spectacular battle did not take place in American waters, the birthplace of his theory, but in jutland, a corner of the North Sea in Europe where his reputation was not very good. It was because of this battle that Jutland's name went down in history forever, and Mahan's theory began to be widely known.

Western countries that originated from marine civilization have long attached importance to the significance of the ocean. Cicero, an ancient Roman philosopher, said more than 20xx ago: "Whoever controls the ocean controls the world." For hundreds of years, the dominant forces of Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Britain and even the United States in the world today are based on sea power.

Alfred mahan (1840— 19 14) is an American historian and naval officer. He found that human mobility at sea exceeded that on land. After studying the history of the British Empire's long-term rule of the world, he published the book "The Influence of Sea Power on History" in 1890, and put forward the "ocean centre Theory". Mahan believes that the merchant fleet is the basis of maritime military power; A maritime power determines its national strength, and whoever can effectively control the ocean will become a world power; To control the ocean, we must have a strong navy and enough naval bases to ensure the control of the world's important strategic sea lanes; For the United States, the most important are the Hawaiian islands and the isthmus of Panama; Naval power = strength+status, the navy must take "concentration" as the strategic rule, and pay attention to "maritime communication line", "central position" and "interior line" at the same time; The navy must take the initiative, not the passive attack. Mahan's book The Influence of Sea Power on History was reprinted more than 30 times in the United States and widely circulated all over the world. Mahan is also recognized by later generations as the originator of sea power theory. His outstanding contribution lies in the creation and clarification of the concept of sea power, which has stood the test of time and embodied great theoretical value, and played an important role in the world at that time and the history of later generations. It can be said that Mahan is a great man who keeps up with the times and promotes the development of the times.

Mahan has more than 20 books on sea power theory. Mahan believes that no country can dominate the ocean as in the past, and the United States should cooperate with Britain, which is related by blood, to establish the rule of the same family over the ocean. Mahan made it clear that his theory of sea power provided a theoretical basis for American diplomatic and military strategy, and openly called it "might is right". Mahan is a naval adviser to US President theodore roosevelt, and his theory has become the theoretical basis for the development and maritime expansion of the US navy. 1890, the us congress passed the navy act, and the United States began to develop its navy on a large scale. In the last19th century, the naval strength of the United States jumped from 12 in the world to the third, second only to Britain and France. After World War I, the United States became the strongest sea power country in the world. At the end of World War II, the United States completely controlled the Pacific Ocean and regarded it as its own "inner lake". After the end of the Cold War, the United States still has more than 700 military bases, 4 combat fleets, 13 aircraft carrier battle groups and 468 ships of various types overseas.

In view of Mahan's important influence on the US naval strategy, President franklin roosevelt called Mahan "one of the greatest and most influential figures in American life". Today, powerful sea power is still the foundation of American global strategy, and Mahan's sea power thought still deeply affects many politicians and strategists in the United States and even the world. At the end of 1990s, the expenditure on naval construction in western countries accounted for a large proportion of national defense expenditure, which was 30% in the United States, 23% in Britain and Japan, 14% in France, 13% in Italy and 12% in Germany. In the final analysis, the navy also owes its pioneering work to Mahan's sea power theory.