The Influence Of Sea Power On History Summary

In the late 19th century, the United States already had the largest economy in the world and a naval force comparable only with England. The advance of the borders was limited and all territories in the east and the west were colonized. A severe economic downturn, which began in 1893, helped to start some social tensions, but it was kept under control thanks to permanent opening of new lands for exploration. Among the economic elites, began to prosper the idea that the only solution to the crisis was the expansion of markets overseas. At the same time, a captain in the US Navy, Alfred Thayer Mahan, published his book The Influence of Sea Power on History. The work, which had among its most enthusiastic readers the future president Theodore Roosevelt, proposed the installation of American naval bases in the Caribbean and the Pacific and the opening of a connection between the oceans by Panama. It would only be possible to sustain the commercial breakthrough of Americans in the Far East, which focused competition among Western economic powers. Mahan's ideas have guided the decision to annex Hawaii in 1897. It also influenced the determination to resort to arms to conquer the Spanish possessions still left. …show more content…
Those people had the idea of American predestination to lead the country towards democracy should go beyond North America. Spain, in full decay, faced anti-colonial rebellions in Cuba and the Philippines, and the supporters of the war believed that the United States had a duty to help the rebels in fight for freedom. The pretext for military action occurred after the explosion of an American ship in the port of Havana, on February 18, 1898. American newspapers have treated this as an attack masterminded by Spain. Pressed by the hysteria, on April 25, President William McKinley declared war on