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70-572: Garshuni originated in the seventh century, when Arabic was becoming the dominant spoken language in the Fertile Crescent , but the Arabic alphabet was not yet fully developed. There is evidence that writing Arabic in Garshuni influenced the style of modern Arabic script. After this initial period, Garshuni writing has continued to the present day among some Syriac Christian communities in

140-730: A Pacific power, and therefore it should take possession of Hawaii to protect the West Coast . Nevertheless, his support for American imperialism was more ambivalent than is often stated, and he remained lukewarm about American annexation of the Philippines . Mahan was a major influence on the Roosevelt family . In addition to Theodore, he corresponded with Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt until his death in 1914. During World War II, Roosevelt would ignore

210-618: A conversion experience about 1871, when he realized that he could experience God's favor, not through his own merits, but only through "trust in the completed work of Christ on the cross." Geissler called one of his religious addresses almost "evangelical, albeit of the dignified stiff-upper-lip variety." And Mahan never mentioned a conversion experience in his autobiography. In later life, Mahan often spoke to Episcopal parishes. In 1899, at Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn , Mahan emphasized his own religious experience and declared that one needed

280-627: A globally-known and regarded military strategist, historian, and theorist. Mahan's works encouraged the development of large capital ships — eventually leading to dreadnought battleships — as he was an advocate of the 'decisive battle' and of naval blockades . Critics, however, charged him with failing to adequately explain the rise of largely land-based empires, such as the German or Ottoman Empires , though Mahan did accurately predict both empires' defeats in World War I . Mahan directly influenced

350-589: A household word in the Imperial German Navy after Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered his officers to read Mahan, and Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz (1849–1930) used Mahan's reputation to finance a powerful High Seas Fleet . Tirpitz, an intense navalist who believed ardently in Mahan's dictum that whatever power rules the sea also ruled the world, had The Influence of Sea Power Upon History translated into German in 1898 and had 8,000 copies distributed for free as

420-562: A long history of irrigation. Prehistoric seedless figs were discovered at Gilgal I in the Jordan Valley , suggesting that fig trees were being planted some 11,400 years ago. Cereals were already grown in Syria as long as 9,000 years ago. Small cats ( Felis silvestris ) also were domesticated in this region. Also, legumes including peas , lentils and chickpea were domesticated in this region. Domesticated animals include

490-473: A national hero in Britain and used his biography as a platform for expressing his views on naval strategy and tactics. Mahan was criticized for so strongly condemning Nelson's love affair with Lady Emma Hamilton , but it remained the standard biography until the appearance of Carola Oman 's Nelson , 50 years later. Mahan struck up a friendship with pioneering British naval historian Sir John Knox Laughton ,

560-673: A net advantage for world peace. In 1902, Mahan was elected president of the American Historical Association , and his address, "Subordination in Historical Treatment", is his most explicit explanation of his philosophy of history. In 1906, Mahan became rear admiral by an Act of Congress that promoted all retired captains who had served in the American Civil War . At the outbreak of World War I , he published statements favorable to

630-1274: A personal relationship with God given through the work of the Holy Spirit . In 1909, Mahan published The Harvest Within: Thoughts on the Life of the Christian , which was "part personal testimony, part biblical analysis, part expository sermon." Mahan died in Washington, D.C. , of heart failure on December 1, 1914, a few months after the outbreak of World War I. Alfred Thayer Mahan married Ellen Lyle Evans (born November 27th, 1851) in June 1872. Together, they had two daughters and one son; Helen Evans Mahan, born August 6th, 1873; Ellen Kuhn Mahan, born July 10th, 1877; and Lyle Evans Mahan, born 12 February 1881. Lyle Mahan alleged that his mother and father inherited several modest fortunes, though he admits that between maintaining multiple households (the Mahans owned at least two homes for most of their lives) and funding his sisters' and his own educations, they were not immensely wealthy. Lyle would go on to be

700-641: A result. Technological advances in the region include the development of agriculture and the use of irrigation , of writing , the wheel , and glass , most emerging first in Mesopotamia . The term "Fertile Crescent" was popularized by archaeologist James Henry Breasted in Outlines of European History (1914) and Ancient Times, A History of the Early World (1916). He wrote: It lies like an army facing south, with one wing stretching along

770-698: A secret contingency plan for war between the British Empire and the United States. Mahan believed that if the Royal Navy blockaded the East Coast of the United States , the US Navy should be concentrated in one of its ports, preferably New York Harbor with its two widely separated exits, and employ torpedo boats to defend the other harbors. This concentration of the U.S. fleet would force

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840-485: A stock of examples to exemplify his theories, arguing that the education of naval officers should be based on a rigorous study of history. Mahan's framework derived from Jomini, and emphasized strategic locations (such as choke points , canals, and coaling stations), as well as quantifiable levels of fighting power in a fleet. Mahan also believed that in peacetime, states should increase production and shipping capacities and acquire overseas possessions, though he stressed that

910-414: A successful attorney and financier, and named his only son Alfred Thayer Mahan II (born 1905, died 1985). In 1901 , an alternate history by Robert Conroy , the main character is a young United States Army officer named Patrick Mahan, a fictitious nephew of Admiral Mahan, who himself appears briefly in the story as well. In Harry Turtledove 's Southern Victory , another alternate history, Mahan

980-445: A synthesis of old and new ideas arose from the lessons of the war, especially by Admiral Raoul Castex (1878–1968), 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. The Influence of Seapower Upon History, 1660–1783

1050-463: A transnational consortium acting in defense of a multinational system of free trade . His theories, expounded before the submarine became a serious factor in warfare, delayed the introduction of convoys as a defense against the Imperial German Navy 's U-boat campaign during World War I. By the 1930s, the U.S. Navy had built long-range submarines to raid Japanese shipping; but in World War II,

1120-525: A visit to Europe, where he was feted. He returned to lecture at the War College and then, in 1896, he retired from active service, returning briefly to duty in 1898 to consult on naval strategy during the Spanish–American War . Mahan continued to write, and he received honorary degrees from Oxford , Cambridge , Harvard , Yale , Columbia , Dartmouth , and McGill . In 1902, Mahan popularized

1190-545: A way of pressuring the Reichstag to vote for the First Navy Bill . Tirpitz used Mahan not only as a way of winning over German public opinion but also as a guide to strategic thinking. Before 1914, Tirpitz completely rejected commerce raiding as a strategy and instead embraced Mahan's ideal of a decisive battle of annihilation between two fleets as the way to win command of the seas. Tirpitz always planned for

1260-624: Is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East , spanning modern-day Iraq , Israel , Jordan , Lebanon , Palestine , and Syria , together with northern Kuwait , south-eastern Turkey , and western Iran . Some authors also include Cyprus and northern Egypt . The Fertile Crescent is believed to be the first region where settled farming emerged as people started the process of clearance and modification of natural vegetation to grow newly domesticated plants as crops . Early human civilizations such as Sumer in Mesopotamia flourished as

1330-706: Is frequently mentioned but never appears. He is spoken of as having been President of the United States from 1889 to 1897, and the Mahan Bedroom is a famous room in the Powel House in Philadelphia , analogous to the actual Lincoln Bedroom in the White House . As President, Mahan prevented the construction of a Confederate shipping canal in Nicaragua and opined that the main problem with republics

1400-520: The American Civil War . Commissioned as a lieutenant in 1861, Mahan served as an officer on USS  Worcester and James Adger and as an instructor at the Naval Academy. In 1865, he was promoted to lieutenant commander , and then to commander (1872), and captain (1885). As commander of the USS ; Wachusett he was stationed at Callao , Peru , protecting U.S. interests during

1470-538: The Basques and Canary Islanders of the same time period, as the studies demonstrate those ancient peoples to be "clearly associated with modern Europeans". Additionally, no evidence from the studies demonstrates Cro-Magnon influence, contrary to former suggestions. The studies further suggest a diffusion of this diverse population away from the Fertile Crescent, with the early migrants moving away from

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1540-522: The Bronze Age , the region's natural fertility has been greatly extended by irrigation works, upon which much of its agricultural production continues to depend. The last two millennia have seen repeated cycles of decline and recovery as past works have fallen into disrepair through the replacement of states, to be replaced under their successors. Another ongoing problem has been salination —gradual concentration of salt and other minerals in soils with

1610-601: The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars . British naval superiority eventually defeated France, consistently preventing invasion and an effective blockade. Mahan emphasized that naval operations were chiefly to be won by decisive battles and blockades . In the 19th century, the United States sought greater control over its seaborne commerce in order to protect its economic interests which relied heavily on exports bound mainly for Europe. According to Peter Paret 's Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to

1680-686: The Imperial Japanese Armed Forces , still tied to Mahan, designed its submarines as ancillaries to the fleet and failed to attack American supply lines in the Pacific. Mahan's analysis of the Spanish-American War suggested to him that the great distances in the Pacific required the American battle fleet to be designed with long-range striking power. Mahan believed first, that good political and naval leadership

1750-695: The Jordan River . The inner boundary is delimited by the dry climate of the Syrian Desert to the south. Around the outer boundary are the Anatolian and Armenian highlands to the north, the Sahara Desert to the west, Sudan to the south, and the Iranian plateau to the east. As crucial as rivers and marshlands were to the rise of civilization in the Fertile Crescent, they were not

1820-660: The Naval War College . Before entering on his duties, College President Rear Admiral Stephen B. Luce pointed Mahan in the direction of writing his future studies on the influence of sea power. During his first year on the faculty, he remained at his home in New York City researching and writing his lectures. Though he was prepared to become a professor in 1886, Luce was given command of the North Atlantic Squadron , and Mahan became President of

1890-525: The Near East —westward into Europe and North Africa , northward to Crimea , and northeastward to Mongolia . They took their agricultural practices with them and interbred with the hunter-gatherers whom they subsequently came in contact with while perpetuating their farming practices. This supports prior genetic and archaeological studies which have all arrived at the same conclusion. Consequently, contemporary in situ peoples absorbed

1960-546: The New Imperialism in Africa and Asia. Given the rapid technological changes underway in propulsion (from coal to oil and from reciprocating engines to turbines), ordnance (with better fire directors, and new high explosives), and armor and the emergence of new craft such as destroyers and submarines , Mahan's emphasis on the capital ship and the command of the sea came at an opportune moment. Mahan's name became

2030-1028: The Tigris–Euphrates river basin , including Sumer , Akkad , Babylonia , Assyria , and the Abbasid Caliphate . It is in this region where the first libraries appeared about 4,500 years ago. The oldest known libraries are found in Nippur (in Sumer) and Ebla (in Syria), both from c.  2500 BCE . Both the Tigris and Euphrates start in the Taurus Mountains of what is modern-day Turkey . Farmers in southern Mesopotamia had to protect their fields from flooding each year. Northern Mesopotamia had sufficient rain to make some farming possible. To protect against flooding they made levees. Since

2100-474: The cattle , sheep , goat , domestic pig , cat , and domestic goose . Mesopotamia Egypt Iran Anatolia The Levant Arabia Cosmology Modern analyses comparing 24 craniofacial measurements reveal a relatively diverse population within the pre- Neolithic , Neolithic and Bronze Age Fertile Crescent, supporting the view that several populations occupied this region during these time periods. Similar arguments do not hold true for

2170-459: The American coast. This contingency plan was a clear example of Mahan's application of his principles of naval war, with a clear reliance on Jomini's principle of controlling strategic points. Timeliness contributed no small part to the widespread acceptance of Mahan's theories. Although his history was relatively thin, based as it was on secondary sources , his vigorous style, and clear theory won widespread acceptance of navalists and supporters of

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2240-758: The Arabic-speaking regions of the Levant and Mesopotamia , who commonly use the Sertâ script. The Syriac alphabet has three principal varieties: The Syriac alphabet is extended by use of diacritics to write Arabic Garshuni. Occasionally, other languages such as Turkish , Persian , Sogdian , the Kurdish languages and Malayalam have been written in the Syriac alphabet, and these are sometimes also referred to as "Garshunis". With several additional characters,

2310-678: The British to tie down such a large proportion of their navy to watch the New York exits that other American ports would be relatively safe. Detached American cruisers should wage "constant offensive action" against the enemy's exposed positions; and if the British were to weaken their blockade force off New York to attack another American port, the concentrated U.S. fleet could capture British coaling ports in Nova Scotia , thereby seriously weakening British ability to engage in naval operations off

2380-639: The French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812 (2 vols., 1892); Sea Power in Relation to the War of 1812 (2 vols., 1905), and The Life of Nelson: The Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain (2 vols., 1897). Mahan stressed the importance of the individual in shaping history and extolled the traditional values of loyalty, courage, and service to the state. Mahan sought to resurrect Horatio Nelson as

2450-670: The German High Seas Fleet to win the Entscheidungsschlacht (decisive battle) against the British Grand Fleet somewhere in "the waters between Helgoland and the Thames ", a strategy he based on his reading of The Influence of Sea Power Upon History . However, the naval warfare of World War I proved completely different than German planners, influenced by Mahan, had anticipated because

2520-838: The German army neared defeat in the Hundred Days Offensive , the German Navy's high command, without informing the government, tried to mobilize the fleet for a decisive engagement with the Royal Navy. The sailors rebelled in the Kiel mutiny , instigating the German Revolution of 1918–1919 which toppled the Hohenzollern monarchy . Mahan and British First Sea Lord John Fisher (1841–1920) both addressed

2590-726: The Malayalam version is better known as Karsoni and had been in use till early 20th century among the Keralite Syriac Christian clergymen and followers. For the analogous Jewish practice of writing Arabic in Hebrew letters, see Judeo-Arabic languages . Today, Assyrians use the word 'garshuni' when referring to a spoken language written using something other than its corresponding script, i.e. spoken Assyrian written using Latin script. Fertile Crescent The Fertile Crescent ( Arabic : الهلال الخصيب )

2660-496: The Naval War College by default (June 22, 1886 – January 12, 1889, July 22, 1892 – May 10, 1893). There, in 1888, he met and befriended future president Theodore Roosevelt , then a visiting lecturer. Mahan's lectures, based on secondary sources and the military theories of Antoine-Henri Jomini , became his sea-power studies: The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783 (1890); The Influence of Sea Power upon

2730-591: The Naval War College. A principal developer of wargaming in the United States Navy, Mahan credited Little for assisting him with preparing maps and charts for his lectures and first book. Mahan's views were shaped by 17th-century conflicts between the Dutch Republic , the Kingdom of England , the Kingdom of France , and Habsburg Spain , and by the naval conflicts between France and Spain during

2800-454: The Nuclear Age , Mahan's emphasis on sea power as the most important cause of Britain's rise to world power neglected diplomacy and land arms. Furthermore, theories of sea power do not explain the rise of land empires, such as Otto von Bismarck 's German Empire or the Russian Empire . Mahan believed that national greatness was inextricably associated with the sea, with its commercial use in peace and its control in war; and he used history as

2870-423: The Royal Navy avoided open battle and focused on blockading Germany . As a result, after the Battles of Heligoland Bight and Dogger Bank , Admiral Hugo von Pohl kept most of Germany's surface fleet at its North Sea bases. In 1916, his successor, Reinhard Scheer , tried to lure the Grand Fleet into a Mahanian decisive battle at the Battle of Jutland , but the engagement ended in a strategic defeat. Finally as

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2940-432: The agricultural way of life of those early migrants who ventured out of the Fertile Crescent. This is contrary to the suggestion that the spread of agriculture disseminated out of the Fertile Crescent by way of sharing of knowledge. Instead, the view now supported by a preponderance of evidence is that it occurred by actual migration out of the region, coupled with subsequent interbreeding with indigenous local populations whom

3010-435: The cause of the Allies , but in an attempt to enforce American neutrality, President Woodrow Wilson ordered that all active and retired officers refrain from publicly commenting on the war. Mahan was reared as an Episcopalian and became a devout churchman with High Church sympathies. For instance, late in life he strongly opposed revision of the Book of Common Prayer . Nevertheless, Mahan also appears to have undergone

3080-430: The course of World War I changed ideas about the place of the navy. 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 French Navy 's new role in combined operations with the French Army . The Navy's part in securing victory was not fully understood by French public opinion in 1918, but

3150-465: The development of the submarine and the aircraft carrier , combined with advances in technology, largely rendered obsolete the doctrine of the decisive battle between fleets. Nevertheless, the IJN did not adhere strictly to Mahanian doctrine because its forces were often tactically divided, particularly during the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway . Mahan believed that if the United States were to build an Isthmian canal , it would become

3220-513: The dominant interwar period and World War II -era Japanese naval doctrine of the "decisive battle doctrine" ( 艦隊決戦 , Kantai Kessen ) , and he became a " household name " in Germany. He also promoted American control over Hawaii though he was "lukewarm" in regards to American imperialism in general. Four U.S. Navy ships have borne his name , as well as various buildings and roads; and his works are still read, discussed, and debated in military, historical, and scholarly circles. Mahan

3290-614: The earliest era of prehistory, this debate is unlikely to be resolved in the near future. The evidence that does exist suggests that, by the third millennium BCE and into the second, several language groups already existed in the region. These included: Links between Hurro-Urartian and Hattic and the indigenous languages of the Caucasus have frequently been suggested, but are not generally accepted. 36°N 40°E  /  36°N 40°E  / 36; 40 Alfred Thayer Mahan Alfred Thayer Mahan ( / m ə ˈ h æ n / ; September 27, 1840 – December 1, 1914)

3360-427: The eastern shore of the Mediterranean and the other reaching out to the Persian Gulf, while the center has its back against the northern mountains. The end of the western wing is Palestine; Assyria makes up a large part of the center; while the end of the eastern wing is Babylonia. [...] This great semicircle, for lack of a name, may be called the Fertile Crescent. There is no single term for this region in antiquity. At

3430-476: The enemy fleet. Such a strategy called for the concentration of naval forces composed of capital ships, not too large but numerous, well-manned with crews thoroughly trained, and operating under the principle that the best defense is an aggressive offense. Mahan contended that with a command of the sea , even if local and temporary, naval operations in support of land forces could be of decisive importance. He also believed that naval supremacy could be exercised by

3500-491: The evolution of many "r" type annual plants , which produce more edible seeds than "K" type perennial plants . The region's dramatic variety in elevation gave rise to many species of edible plants for early experiments in cultivation. Most importantly, the Fertile Crescent was home to the eight Neolithic founder crops important in early agriculture (i.e., wild progenitors to emmer wheat , einkorn , barley , flax , chick pea , pea , lentil , bitter vetch ), and four of

3570-433: The final stages of the War of the Pacific . While in actual command of a ship, his skills were not exemplary; and a number of vessels under his command were involved in collisions with both moving and stationary objects. He preferred old square-rigged vessels rather than smoky, noisy steamships of his own day; and he tried to avoid active sea duty. In 1885, he was appointed as a lecturer in naval history and tactics at

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3640-460: The five most important species of domesticated animals— cows , goats , sheep , and pigs ; the fifth species, the horse , lived nearby. The Fertile Crescent flora comprises a high percentage of plants that can self-pollinate , but may also be cross-pollinated . These plants, called " selfers ", were one of the geographical advantages of the area because they did not depend on other plants for reproduction. As well as possessing many sites with

3710-417: The late Mahan's prior advice to him that the Commonwealth of the Philippines could not be defended against an Imperial Japanese invasion, leading to a futile defense of the islands against the Japanese Philippines campaign . Between 1889 and 1892, Mahan was engaged in special service for the Bureau of Navigation , and in 1893 he was appointed to command the powerful new protected cruiser Chicago on

3780-399: The migrants came in contact with. The studies show also that not all present day Europeans share strong genetic affinities to the Neolithic and Bronze Age inhabitants of the Fertile Crescent; the closest ties to the Fertile Crescent rest with Southern Europeans. The same study further demonstrates all present-day Europeans to be closely related. Linguistically, the Fertile Crescent

3850-479: The number of coal fueling stations and strategic bases should be limited to avoid draining too many resources from the mother country. The primary mission of a navy was to secure the command of the sea, which would permit the maintenance of sea communications for one's own ships while denying their use to the enemy and, if necessary, closely supervise neutral trade. Control of the sea could be achieved not by destruction of commerce but only by destroying or neutralizing

3920-444: The only factor. The area is geographically important as the "bridge" between North Africa and Eurasia , which has allowed it to retain a greater amount of biodiversity than either Europe or North Africa , where climate changes during the Ice Age led to repeated extinction events when ecosystems became squeezed against the waters of the Mediterranean Sea . The Saharan pump theory posits that this Middle Eastern land bridge

3990-407: The pair maintaining the relationship through correspondence and visits when Mahan was in London. Mahan was later described as a "disciple" of Laughton, but the two were at pains to distinguish between each other's line of work. Laughton saw Mahan as a theorist while Mahan called Laughton "the historian". Mahan worked closely with William McCarty Little , another critical figure in the early history of

4060-432: The problem of how to dominate home waters and distant seas with naval forces unable to do both. Mahan argued for a universal principle of concentration of powerful ships in home waters with minimized strength in distant seas. Fisher instead decided to use submarines to defend home waters and mobile battlecruisers to protect British interests. Though in 1914, French naval doctrine was dominated by Mahan's theory of sea power,

4130-406: The rivers Tigris and Euphrates , lies in the east of the Fertile Crescent), also saw the emergence of early complex societies during the succeeding Bronze Age . There is also early evidence from the region for writing and the formation of hierarchical state level societies. This has earned the region the nickname "The cradle of civilization ". From ancient times empires arose and fell in

4200-710: The skeletal and cultural remains of both pre-modern and early modern humans (e.g., at Tabun and Es Skhul caves), later Pleistocene hunter-gatherers , and Epipalaeolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherers (the Natufians ); the Fertile Crescent is most famous for its sites related to the origins of agriculture . The western zone around the Jordan and upper Euphrates rivers gave rise to the first known Neolithic farming settlements (referred to as Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)), which date to around 9,000 BCE and includes very ancient sites such as Göbekli Tepe , Chogha Golan , and Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) . This region, alongside Mesopotamia (Greek for "between rivers", between

4270-424: The term " Middle East ," which he used in the article "The Persian Gulf and International Relations," published in September in the National Review . As a delegate to the 1899 Hague Convention , Mahan argued against prohibiting the use of asphyxiating gases in warfare on the ground that such weapons would inflict such terrible casualties that belligerents would be forced to end wars more quickly, thus providing

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4340-410: The time that Breasted was writing, it roughly corresponded with the territories of the Ottoman Empire ceded to Britain and France in the Sykes–Picot Agreement . Historian Thomas Scheffler has noted that Breasted was following a trend in Western geography to "overwrite the classical geographical distinctions between continents, countries and landscapes with large, abstract spaces", drawing parallels with

4410-452: The work of Halford Mackinder , who conceptualised Eurasia as a 'pivot area' surrounded by an 'inner crescent', Alfred Thayer Mahan's Middle East , and Friedrich Naumann's Mitteleuropa . In current usage, the Fertile Crescent includes Israel , Palestine , Iraq , Syria , Lebanon , Egypt , and Jordan , as well as the surrounding portions of Turkey and Iran . In addition to the Tigris and Euphrates , riverwater sources include

4480-420: Was a United States naval officer and historian , whom John Keegan called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His 1890 book The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783 won immediate recognition, especially in Europe, and with the publication of its 1892 successor, The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812 , he affirmed his status as

4550-444: Was a member of the Philolexian Society debating club. Against the wishes of his father, Mahan then entered the U.S. Naval Academy , where he graduated second in his class in 1859. After graduation he was assigned to the frigate Congress from 9 June 1859 until 1861. He then joined the steam-corvette Pocahontas of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and participated in the Battle of Port Royal in South Carolina early in

4620-673: Was a region of great diversity. Historically, Semitic languages generally prevailed in the modern regions of Iraq , Syria , Jordan , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Sinai and the fringes of southeast Turkey and northwest Iran , as well as the Sumerian (a language isolate ) in Iraq, whilst in the mountainous areas to the east and north a number of generally unrelated language isolates were found, including; Elamite , Gutian and Kassite in Iran , and Hattic , Kaskian and Hurro-Urartian in Turkey. The precise affiliation of these, and their date of arrival, remain topics of scholarly discussion. However, given lack of textual evidence for

4690-521: Was born on September 27, 1840, at West Point, New York , to Dennis Hart Mahan , a professor at the United States Military Academy and the foremost American expert on fortifications, and Mary Helena Okill Mahan (1815–1893), daughter of John Okill and Mary Jay, daughter of Sir James Jay . Mahan's middle name honors "the father of West Point", Sylvanus Thayer . Mahan attended Saint James School , an Episcopal college preparatory academy in western Maryland. He then studied at Columbia for two years, where he

4760-441: Was extremely important to the modern distribution of Old World flora and fauna , including the spread of humanity . The area has borne the brunt of the tectonic divergence between the African and Arabian plates and the converging Arabian and Eurasian plates, which has made the region a very diverse zone of high snow-covered mountains. The Fertile Crescent had many diverse climates , and major climatic changes encouraged

4830-470: Was no less important than geography when it came to the development of sea power. Second, Mahan's unit of political analysis insofar as sea power was concerned was a transnational consortium, rather than a single nation state. Third, his economic ideal was free trade rather than autarky . Fourth, his recognition of the influence of geography on strategy was tempered by a strong appreciation of the power of contingency to affect outcomes. In 1890, Mahan prepared

4900-402: Was translated into Japanese and was used as a textbook in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). That usage strongly affected the IJN's plan to end Russian naval expansion in the Far East, which culminated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05. It has been argued that the IJN's pursuit of the "decisive battle" ( Kantai Kessen ) contributed to Imperial Japan 's defeat in World War II , because

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