The Influence of Sea Power of Ancient History

by Chester G. Starr

Book Overview

Alfred Thayer Mahan's nineteenth-century classic, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, has long occupied a central place in the canon of strategic thought. But as Chester G. Starr shows in this... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0760708134
• ISBN13: 9780760708132
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble Inc
• Length: 106 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A good book for mariner types

This is a nice, quick read that discusses the importance (and sometimes irrelevance) of thalassocracy in antiquity. In this book, the author detail the ages of Early Greece thru to the fall of the Roman Empire. Starr details for us how Alexander of Macedon conquered the Persian Navy by taking over the Persian ports (and thus giving the Persian fleet nowhere to land). He also writes of the immense importance that Piraeus held for Athens; it was due to the revenues of her seapower that Athens was able to build such wonders as the Parthenon. Starr then demonstrates why this authority over the seas was so very important for Athens during the early stages of the Peloponnesian war.We also learn how seapower was one of the primary ingrediants that made Rome a power to reckon with. It was the turning-of-the tables with Carthage as far as seapower was concerned which was the decisive factor of the First Punic War.Starr continues with the use of seapower by Julius Caesar to both rid the Meditteranean of pirates as well as to further his empire.While one may disagree with some of the opinions of Starr, this book is well worth reading for any maritime scholars or historians of antiquity.