Influence of the History and Strategic Theory of Sea Power on Winston Churchill

• In Event: What Winston Churchill Read: The Education of a Statesman

Abstract

Winston Churchill played a central role in directing Great Britain’s naval efforts to fight at sea during the era of the two world wars. Churchill served on two occasions as First Lord of the Admiralty, the civilian head of Britain’s Royal Navy. Before and during the opening stages of the First World War, he directed British naval preparations and strategy for war against Imperial Germany. A generation later, he returned to lead the Royal Navy on the outbreak of the Second World War with Nazi Germany. What did Churchill read and study that prepared him for his role in guiding Britain’s naval efforts? My paper explores Churchill’s preparation for leadership by examining the books and articles that he read on sea power, maritime strategy, and naval history. One of the foremost authorities on strategy of his era was Alfred Thayer Mahan, the American naval officer, war college professor, and celebrated public intellectual, whose book “The Influence of Sea Power upon History” and articles on international strategic affairs were avidly read by Churchill. Churchill’s high regard for Mahan was shared by both Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Mahan’s writings served as a common strategic framework for leaders on both sides of the Atlantic. Churchill also read the works of Sir Julian Corbett, the leading British naval historian at the beginning of the twentieth century and author of the strategic text “Some Principles of Maritime Strategy.” My aim is to examine the influence of the writings of Mahan and Corbett on Churchill’s understanding of grand strategy and naval warfare. In addition, I will consider how Churchill sought to apply his study of history and theory to executing Britain’s strategy during the two world wars.

Author

• John Maurer, Naval War College