Military Leadership

Essay by nickmarine2006University, Master'sA+, June 2007

download word file, 9 pages 5.0

MILITARY LEADERSHIP

Issue Paper #3

Nick Nicosia

Student Number: 1050886

LW540 - Great Military Philosophers

29 October, 2006

The Books

The later part of the Nineteenth-Century produced a few of the World's greatest military thinkers. There are four note-worthy military theorists during this time period. These four thinkers would revolutionize how war would be fought in the air and on the seas. The books, letters, and articles that those four men wrote have stood the test of time and are still used by the military in the Twenty-first Century.

There is one book that sums up all four of theorists' ideals, "The Roots of Strategy Book Four." This one book alone provides readers with an introduction to all four men's major works of theory. The "Roots of Strategy" only provides a small portion of the theories, and in order to fully understand the authors intent one must go deeper into the individual books.

The first theorist Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote volumes of letters and over 180 articles during his life time. Mahan's most inspiring book would be "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660−1783." The definite object proposed in this work is an examination of the general history of Europe and America with particular reference to the effect of sea power upon the course of that history."�

Mahan also produced another informative and highly praised work titled, "The Interest of America in Sea Power, Present and Future." This book is composed of a collection of Mahan's detached papers written over the years 1890-1897, submitted to various monthly magazines. The compilation of these articles centers on the need for America to enlarge and expand the use of their naval powers for the benefit of the nation's growth as a World power.

The principle of Mahan's ideals for America can be...