Naval Strategy in the War of the Pacific

1963 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-37
Author(s):  
Donald E. Worcester
Keyword(s):  
Face To Face ◽  
Naval Warfare ◽  
Naval Power ◽  
Armor Plate ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Sea Power ◽  
War Of The Pacific ◽  
Total Tonnage ◽  
High Seas

One of the special characteristics of naval warfare is its aggressive nature and the speed of its resolution. Unless combat is avoided, naval warfare is invariably swift and decisive. Armies may stand face-to-face for days or months, both up to their shoulders in mud. When warships meet on the high seas, usually one side will soon be celebrating a victory, It is not often that a nation's sea power comes to rest on a single warship, but in the contest between Chile and Peru (1879-1883) this was the case, because this war occurred during the change from wooden ships to ironclads.Naval strength is customarily measured by counting guns and the weight of the metal they discharge, total tonnage of all combatant ships, thickness of armor plate, and the number of the crews. Before fighting commences this is the only convenient way to assess the strength of opposing forces. But hardware is only one factor of naval power. Once the cannons have been unlimbered an unmeasurable factor can change all calculations, a factor best expressed by the venerable naval maxim: “Men, not ships, win battles.”

José Martí's “Evening of Emerson” and the United Statesian Literary Tradition

2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
LAURA LOMAS
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Literary Tradition ◽  
Jose Marti ◽  
Chinese Exclusion ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Imperial Expansion ◽  
A Minor ◽  
War Of The Pacific ◽  
Exclusion Act

Revising a century of interpretation that has emphasized the identification of José Martí with Ralph Waldo Emerson, this essay draws on Martí's unpublished and published manuscripts about Emerson to reveal Martí's keen sense of his difference from the New England bard. When we read Martí's 1882 eulogy to Emerson alongside contemporaneous essays about the Chinese Exclusion Act and the War of the Pacific, Martí's epiphany – which he calls the “evening of Emerson” – comes to suggest the evanescence of Emerson's influence. Martí here glimpses his contribution: a creative resignification and translation of Emerson and US culture more broadly in order to arrive at a distinct version of nuestra América. Although Emerson's influence persists, as he provides the phrase “our America,” Martí's interpretation transposes the phrase to a minor key and reveals the perspective of the Latin American migrant who presciently observes the threat of imperial expansion.

scholarly journals Cross-border Life in an American Exclave: Point Roberts and the Canada–US Border

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 38-51
Author(s):  
Pierre-Alexandre Beylier
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Border Studies ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Border Town ◽  
Canadian City

By applying a theoretical framework based on different models proposed in border studies literature, this article analyzes the morphological, functional, institutional and identity characteristics that make Point Roberts—an American exclave in the Pacific Northwest—a “cross-border town”. Using an online survey and face-to-face interviews, the author combines both quantitative and qualitative research methods in order to examine the forces that link Point Roberts and the Canadian city of Delta that lies across the Canada–US border. This paper highlights the specificities of this unique geographic configuration as well the challenges that the border represents.

The legacy of Admiral von Tirpitz: a geopolitical understanding of China's naval buildup through sea-denial strategies

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Paolo Pizzolo
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Power Projection ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Us ◽  
Sea Power ◽  
Military Development ◽  
Maritime Strategy

Abstract As manifest challenger of the United States (US)-led international order, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has inaugurated a revisionist strategy that encompasses a multifaceted spectrum of initiatives, including an ambitious naval military build-up. History has shown that revisionist and challenging powers tend to defy the established order through arm races. US Admiral Mahan and German Admiral Tirpitz theorized two different approaches to naval strategy, the former focusing on global maritime hegemony and the latter on regional counterbalance based on risk theory. This article attempts at explaining the puzzle of China's naval buildup through the lenses of geopolitics, adding a geopolitical dimension to the current debate. It suggests that the PRC's naval military development does not follow a Mahanian global maritime strategy aimed at challenging the US primacy worldwide, but rather a Tirpitzian regional approach focused on counterbalancing the US presence within the scope of China's sea power projection, that is, the Pacific region. To substantiate this hypothesis, the study compares diachronically contemporary Chinese naval arm race with Wilhelmine Germany's High Seas Fleet. The findings underscore that, in maritime terms, China's revisionism vis-à-vis the US somewhat resembles that of Imperial Germany vis-à-vis Imperial Britain, both aiming at regional counterbalance and anti-access and area-denial (A2/AD) tactics rather than global maritime counterhegemony. Although Chinese sea power is still far from posing a serious threat to that of the US and its allies, an unrestrained continuation of Beijing's naval buildup could encourage arms races and direct confrontation due to regional security dilemmas.

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