Name: ______Date: ______Period: ____
Mahan and the Influence of Sea Power ___/21
Directions: Use context clues and your background knowledge to fill in the blanks below. On the back of this sheet, complete the flow map, then summarize this reading in one full paragraph with four complete sentences including five key facts.
In 1890, Captain Alfred (1) ______, the president of the United States Naval War College, published The Influence of
(2) ______ Power upon History, 1660-1783. It was a groundbreaking analysis of the importance of naval power. Mahon argued that naval power was a major factor in the rise of the British Empire. (3) ______control of the seas, he said, paved the way for Great Britain’s emergence as the world’s dominant military, political, and economic power. Mahan and some leading American politicians believed that these lessons could be applied to U.S. foreign policy, particularly in the effort to expand U.S. markets overseas.
The 1890s were marked by social and economic unrest throughout the United States. The U.S. experienced an economic depression between 1893 and 1894, in part because agricultural over-production caused a steep drop in the price of farm
(4) ______. Mahan worried that in time the U.S. economy would be producing so much that prices for all sorts of goods would (5) ______, causing even greater economic problems. He argued that the United States needed to seek new markets abroad. For U.S. businesses to risk their capital overseas, Mahan believed, the U.S. government would have to guarantee safe access to these new international (6) ______. Securing such access, he said, would require three things: a merchant navy to carry American products to new markets across the high seas; an American battleship navy to deter or destroy rival fleets; and a network of naval bases capable of providing fuel and supplies for the enlarged navy.
In the 1890s, Mahan’s ideas resonated with leading politicians, including Assistant Secretary of the Navy (7) ______Roosevelt. After the outbreak of war with Spain in May of 1898, President William McKinley finally annexed Hawaii. Following the successful conclusion of the (8) ______-American War later that year, the United States gained control of more territories that could serve as the coaling stations and (9) ______bases that Mahan had proposed; places like Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. Five years later, the United States obtained a perpetual lease for a naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Late in Roosevelt’s final term as president, he sent the Great White Fleet, an armada of the Navy’s most impressive ships, around the world in a demonstration of America’s military power. With secure access to international markets, American business prospered, much as (10) ______had predicted.
Directions: Complete the flow map with key events from the reading to make the sequence of events clear, then summarize this reading in one full paragraph with four complete sentences including five key facts.
Mahan and the Influence of Sea Power
Directions: Summarize this reading in one full paragraph with four complete sentences including five key facts.
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