In its narrowest sense, sea power means military power at sea, in other words, navies. But no one can study the history of nations in relation to the sea without realizing that the nations that have been maritime forces have usually not depended on naval power alone -- a condition that Admiral Mahan recognized when he pointed out, in 1890, that sea power consisted of merchant ships, naval vessels, plus bases from which they could be serviced. As a matter of fact, one condition recognized as fundamental to a nation's being a sea power has been that a great and powerful navy is dependent for its financial support on a large and active merchant marine engaged in a flourishing commerce. The only great nation that has attempted to support a navy without a corresponding merchant marine has been the United States.
For a nation to emerge as a sea power and to retain that status, however, more than ships and bases to serve those ships is involved. A nation's strength on the sea is conditioned by its "national" status and by its ability to absorb imports and to produce for export. The Dutch attained commercial supremacy at sea at a time when their country was little more than a loose federation of seven provinces, and the rich burghers who sat in the provincial legislative bodies were so fearful of central power that they failed to provide for the protection of their commerce. In addition to the Dutch, the early trading nations were the Portuguese, Spanish, English, and French -- all of whom emerged as nations before the other peoples of western Europe. Germany, Italy, and Japan did not assume importance on the sea until late in the nineteenth century. It is not surprising that one of the first peoples to evolve as a nation -- the British, with their commercial policy, their fleets, and their ability to absorb imports and to produce for export -- should have developed as the great maritime and great national power. For almost a century, her navy policed the seas, keeping the sea lanes open not only for her own merchant ships but also for the ships of any nation that were, in the words of His Majesty's Navy, pursuing "their lawful occupations."
National powers may be defined as nations whose policies dominate world affairs economically and politically. Throughout history, world powers have almost always been sea powers. This was true of the ancient world. In more recent times, the only countries not powerful on the sea that could be termed world powers were Austria-Hungary and Imperial Russia, although the "Russo-Japanese War...revealed Russia as far less formidable than her size and the multitude of her peoples had caused men to suppose." 10
Immediately before World War I, the national powers were AustriaHungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States. The peace of Europe between 1815 and 1914, or rather the absence of a major war, had rested on a balance of power
...which presupposed the existence of France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia as dominant elements -- and all of this flanked by an England instinctively conscious of her stake in the preservation of the balance among them and prepared to hover vigilantly about the fringes of the Continent, tending its equilibrium as one might tend a garden, yet always with due regard for the preservation of her own maritime supremacy and the protection of her overseas empire. In this complicated structure lay concealed not only the peace of Europe but also the security of the United States. Whatever affected it was bound to affect us. And all through the latter part of the nineteenth century things were happening which were bound to affect it: primarily the gradual shift of power from Austria-Hungary to Germany. This was particularly important because Austria-Hungary had not had much chance of becoming a naval and commercial rival to England, whereas Germany definitely did have such a chance and was foolish enough to exploit it aggressively...
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