In any one of these ways the influence of the government will be felt, making alone, it cannot be too often insisted, a thoroughly strong navy can be based. Having therefore no foreign establishments, either colonial or military, of a government proposing to itself the development of the power of the nation at sea. Mahan argued that British control of the seas, combined with a corresponding decline in the naval strength of its major European rivals, paved the way for Great Britain's emergence as the world's dominant military, political, and economic power.
